In the non-literate period, they apparently experimented with locally made instruments which were referenced in documents from the Carolingian Renaissance. Foreign sources came in through Byzantium, Sicily and Andalusia. From these two, and from skin topped lutes known today as rubabs and plucked fiddles, instruments developed in Europe.Įuropeans had access to lutes in several ways. The short wood-topped lute moved east to China (as the pipa) south to India (as the Vina), and west to the Middle East, Africa and Europe as the Barbat and Oud. The short lute developed in Central Asia or Northern India in areas that had connection to Greece, China, India and the Middle East through trade and conquest. The lute spread eastward as well long lutes today are found everywhere from Europe to Japan and south to India. 1500 the lute had reached Egypt, through conquest, and it had reached Greece by 320 BC both through Egypt and eastern neighbors. The instrument spread among the Hittites, Elamites, Assyrians, Mari, Babylonians and Hurrians. The lute's existence in art was more plain between 2330–2000 BC (the 2nd Uruk period), when the art had sufficient detail to show the instrument clearly. The discovery of an apparent lute on an Akkadian seal, now in the British Museum, may have pushed the known existence of the plucked lute back to c. This date was based on the archaeological evidence available to him at that time. The lutes were pierced lutes long-necked lutes with a neck made from a stick that went into a carved or turtle-shell bowl, the top covered with skin, and strings tied to the neck and instrument's bottom.Ĭurt Sachs, a musical historian, placed the earliest lutes at about 2000 BC in his 1941 book The History of Musical Instruments. Lutes either rose in ancient Mesopotamia prior to 3100 BC or were brought to the area by ancient Semitic tribes. The lute family includes not only short-necked plucked lutes such as the lute, oud, pipa, guitar, citole, gittern, mandore, rubab, and gambus and long-necked plucked lutes such as banjo, tanbura, bağlama, bouzouki, veena, theorbo, archlute, pandura, sitar, tanbur, setar, but also bowed instruments such as the yaylı tambur, rebab, erhu, and the entire family of viols and violins. Lutes are stringed musical instruments that include a body and "a neck which serves both as a handle and as a means of stretching the strings beyond the body". Lute player with short-necked lute, far right. As we saw above, the initial shape of the string when it is plucked or struck determines which harmonics are more present.Hellenistic banquet scene from the 1st century AD, Hadda, Gandhara. The clavichord, harpsichord and piano sound different in large part because the strings are set into vibration by different mechanisms. As long as the key is held down another set of levers keeps the damper off the string. The back check keeps the hammer from bouncing back and striking the string twice. When the key is pressed a series of levers acts to throw the hammer upward so that it hits the string. Below is a very simplified diagram of the mechanism of the strike action of the piano (more details can be found in this animation of a piano mechanism). Because it was significantly louder it was originally called the 'piano forte' (forte is Latin for loud). The piano was developed in the early 1700s This instrument overcame several limitations of the earlier harpsichords and clavichords. A spring mechanism moves the plectrum out of the way while the mechanism returns to its starting point (see Wikipeda for details). The harpsichord was developed in about a century later and uses a quill (originally from the feather of a bird) called the plectrumto pluck one or two strings when the key is pressed. In the clavichord, developed in the 15th century, a small metal piece called the tangenthits the string (sometimes two strings) when a lever is pressed by the performer. Strictly speaking keyboard instruments such as the piano, harpsichord and clavichord are classified as percussion instruments because there is a mechanism that strikes or plucks the string. The process of how they were made was a secret that was lost hundreds of years ago and has not been replicated. It has been claimed that the famous Stradivarius violins have a special sound in part because the wood was treated with special chemicals. The more uniform the wood grain the less likely there will be an unwanted resonance. More expensive guitars and violins are made from wood that is picked to be very dense and have very uniform and fine grain. \( \newcommand\) for a violin.Īnother factor that affects the sound of a string instrument is the material of which it is constructed and the finish.
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