Interesting Instruments Bingo - We have a winner!!

[tiffstitch]

None today, so 7/10

[jocellogirl]

Sorry for being so hit and miss posting the numbers. It's quite manic at the moment and I'm hoping to have a bit of time to spend on the forum this evening when I PROMISE to post the latest numbers. I'll explain in a separate post later. Thanks for being so patient.

[Fizzbw]

Don't worry Jo, it's fine

Niki xx

Ps STILL on 1!!!!!!!

[jocellogirl]

After a bit of a delay (sorry ) today's numbers are

1. Balalaika
The balalaika is a Russian folk stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular body and three strings.
The balalaika family of instruments includes instruments of various sizes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest, the prima balalaika, secunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass balalaika, and contrabass balalaika. All have three-sided bodies; spruce, evergreen, or fir tops; and backs made of three to nine wooden sections (usually maple). They are typically strung with three strings.
The prima balalaika is played with the fingers, the secunda and alto either with the fingers or a plectrum, depending on the music being played, and the bass and contrabass (equipped with extension legs that rest on the floor) are played with leather plectrums.
The most common solo instrument is the prima, which is tuned E-E-A (thus the two lower strings are tuned to the same pitch). Sometimes the balalaika is tuned "guitar style" by folk musicians to G-B-D (mimicking the three highest strings of the Russian guitar), whereby it is easier to play for Russian guitar players, although classically trained balalaika purists avoid this tuning. It can also be tuned to E-A-D, like its cousin, the domra, to make it easier for those trained on the domra to play the instrument, and still have a balalaika sound. The folk (pre-Andreev) tuning D-F#-A was very popular, as this makes it easier to play certain riffs.
Factory-made six-string prima balalaikas with three sets of double courses are also common and popular, particularly in Ukraine. These instruments have three double courses similar to the stringing of the mandolin and often use a "guitar" tuning. Four string alto balalaikas are also encountered and are used in the orchestra of the Piatnistky Folk Choir.
The piccolo, prima, and secunda balalaikas were originally strung with gut with the thinnest melody string made of stainless steel. Today, nylon strings are commonly used in place of gut.
An important part of balalaika technique is the use of the left thumb to fret notes on the lower string, particularly on the prima, where it is used to form chords. The side of the index finger of the right hand is used to sound notes on the prima, while a plectrum is used on the larger sizes. One can play the prima with a plectrum, but it is considered rather heterodox to do so.
Due to the large size of the contrabass's strings, it is not uncommon to see players using plectrums made from a leather shoe or boot heel. The bass balalaika and contrabass balalaika rest on the ground, on a wooden or metal pin that is drilled into one of its corners.
Early representations of the balalaika show it with anywhere from two to six strings, which resembles certain Central Asian instruments. Similarly, frets on earlier balalaikas were made of animal gut and tied to the neck so that they could be moved around by the player at will (as is the case with the modern saz, which allows for the microtonal playing distinctive to Turkish and Central Asian music).
The first known document mentioning the instrument dates back to 1688. A guard's logbook from the kremlin records that two serfs were stopped from playing the balalika whilst drunk. Further documents from 1700 and 1714 also mention the instrument. In the early 18th century the term appeared in Ukrainian documents, where it sounded like "balabaika". Balalaika appeared in "Elysei", a 1771 poem by V. Maikov. In the 19th century, the balalaika evolved into a triangular instrument with a neck that was substantially shorter than that of its Asian counterparts. It was popular as a village instrument for centuries, particularly with the skomorokhs, sort of free-lance musical jesters whose tunes ridiculed the Tsar, the Russian Orthodox Church, and Russian society in general.
A popular notion is that the three sides and the strings of the balalaika represent the Holy Trinity. This idea, while whimsical, is quite difficult to fathom when one is confronted with the fact that at various times in Russian history, the playing of the balalaika was banned because of its use by the skomorokhi, who were generally highly irritating to both church and state. Musical instruments are not allowed in Russian Orthodox liturgy. A likelier reason for the triangular shape is given by the writer and historian Nikolai Gogol in his unfinished novel Dead Souls. He states that a balalaika was made by peasants out of a pumpkin. If you quarter a pumpkin, you are left with a balalaika shape.
In the 1880s, Vasily Vasilievich Andreyev, who was then a professional violinist in the music salons of St Petersburg, developed what became the standardized balalaika, with the assistance of violin maker V. Ivanov. The instrument began to be used in his concert performances. A few years later, St. Petersburg craftsman Paserbsky further refined the instruments by adding a fully chromatic set of frets and also a number of balalaikas in orchestral sizes with the tunings now found in modern instruments. Andreyev patented the design and arranged numerous traditional Russian folk melodies for the orchestra. He also composed a body of concert pieces for the instrument.
The end result of Andreyev's labours was the establishment of an orchestral folk tradition in Tsarist Russia, which later grew into a movement within the Soviet Union. The balalaika orchestra in its full form — balalaikas, domras, gusli, bayan, kugiklas, Vladimir Shepherd's Horns, garmoshkas and several types of percussion instruments — has a distinctive sound: strangely familiar to the ear, yet decidedly not entirely Western European.
With the establishment of the Soviet system and the entrenchment of a proletarian cultural direction — the culture of the working classes, which included that of village labourers — was actively supported by the Soviet establishment. The concept of the balalaika orchestra was adopted wholeheartedly by the Soviet government as something distinctively proletarian (that is, from the working classes) and was also deemed progressive. Significant amounts of energy and time were devoted to support and foster formal study of the balalaika, from which highly skilled ensemble groups such as the Osipov State Balalaika Orchestra emerged. Balalaika virtuosi such as Boris Feoktistov and Pavel Necheporenko became stars both inside and outside the Soviet Union. The movement was so powerful that even the renowned Red Army Choir, which initially used a normal symphonic orchestra, changed its instrumentation, replacing violins, violas, and violoncellos with orchestral balalaikas and domras.

Here is the balalaika being played.

29. Wagner Tuba
The Wagner tuba is a comparatively rare brass instrument that combines elements of both the French horn and the tuba. Also referred to as the Bayreuth tuba, it was originally created for Richard Wagner's operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. Since then, other composers have written for it, most notably Anton Bruckner, in whose Symphony No. 7 a quartet of them is first heard in the slow movement in memory of Wagner. The euphonium is often used as a substitute in modern orchestras.
Wagner was inspired to invent this instrument after a brief visit to Paris in 1853, when he visited the shop of Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone. Wagner wanted an instrument that could intone the Valhalla motif somberly like a trombone but with a less incisive tone like that of a horn. That effect was obtained by a conical bore (like a horn) and the use of the horn mouthpiece (tapered as opposed to a cup mouthpiece such as on a trombone). The instrument is built with rotary valves, which (like those on the horn) are played with the left hand.
The Wagner tuba nominally exists in two sizes, tenor in B-flat and bass in F, with ranges comparable to those of horns in the same pitches while being less adept at the highest notes. Several 20th-century and later manufacturers have, however, combined the two instruments into a double Wagner tuba in B-flat and F. Wagner tubas are normally written as transposing instruments, but the notation used varies considerably and is a common source of confusion—Wagner himself used three different and incompatible notations in the course of the Ring, and all three of these systems (plus some others) have been used by subsequent composers. An additional source of confusion is the fact that the instruments are invariably designated in orchestral scores simply as "tubas", leaving it sometimes unclear as to whether true tubas or Wagner tubas are intended (for example, the two tenor tubas in Janáček's Sinfonietta are sometimes wrongly assumed to be Wagner tubas when they are euphoniums).
The sound of the Wagner tuba is mellower than that of the horn and sounds more distant, yet also more focused. Bruckner generally uses them for pensive melodic passages at piano to pianissimo dynamics. They can hold their own in a forte tutti but Bruckner generally gives them sustained tones rather than melodic motifs in such passages. In Bruckner's Eighth and Ninth Symphonies, the four Wagner tubas are played by four players who alternate between playing horn and Wagner tuba, which is the same procedure Wagner used in the Ring. This change is simplified by the fact that the horn and Wagner tuba use the same mouthpiece.

Here are Wagner Tubas playing Wagner conducted by a very energetic Sir Georg Solti.

[geekishly]

one more for me today. up to 3/10.

[Squirrel]

Creeping up slowly got another 1 today making it 6/10 Interesting reading Jo

[imogenX]

I hadn't checked at all yet (life got crazy!), but I have 4

[tiffstitch]

one more makes 8/10!!

[Fizzbw]

Wow I got one more!! Now 2/10!!

Nxxx

[jocellogirl]

Tonight's numbers are

17 Ocarina
The ocarina is a wind instrument in the category of vessel flutes. Variations do exist, but a typical ocarina is an enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouthpiece that projects from the body. It is traditionally made from clay or ceramic, but other materials may also be used, such as plastic, wood, glass, metal, or bone. An example of an ocarina made of an animal horn is the medieval German gemshorn.
The ocarina belongs to a very old family of instruments, believed to date back to over 12,000 years ago. Ocarina-type instruments have been of particular importance in Chinese and Mesoamerican cultures. For the Chinese, the instrument played an important role in their long history of song and dance. Different expeditions to Mesoamerica, including the one conducted by Cortés, resulted in the introduction of the ocarina to the courts of Europe. Both the Mayans and Aztecs had produced versions of the ocarina, but it was the Aztecs who brought to Europe the song and dance that accompanied the ocarina. The ocarina went on to become popular in European communities as a toy instrument.
Its earliest use in Europe dates back to the 19th century in Budrio, a town near Bologna, Italy, where Giuseppe Donati transformed the ocarina from a toy, which only played a few notes, into a more comprehensive instrument (known as the first "classical" ocarinas). The word ocarina in the Bolognese dialect of the Italian language means "little goose." The earlier form was known in Europe as a gemshorn, which was made from animal horns of the chamois (Dutch: gems).
In 1998, the ocarina was featured in the Nintendo 64 video game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, attracting a marked increase in interest and a dramatic rise in sales.
How an ocarina works:
1. Air enters through the windway
2. Air strikes the labium, producing sound
3. Air vibrates throughout the inside of the ocarina
4. Covering holes lowers pitch; uncovering holes raises the pitch
The airstream is directed on the labium by a fipple or internal duct, which is a narrowing rectangular slot in the mouthpiece, rather than relying on the player's lips as in a transverse flute. Like other flutes, the airstream alternates quickly between the inner and outer face of the labium as the pressure in the ocarina chamber oscillates. At first the sound is a broad-spectrum "noise" (i.e. "chiff"), but those frequencies that are identical with the fundamental frequency of the resonating chamber, (which depends on the fingering), as well as its overtones to a lesser extent, are selectively amplified. The ocarina, unlike other vessel flutes, has the unusual quality of not relying on the pipe length to produce a particular tone. Instead the tone is dependent on the ratio of the total surface area of opened holes to the total cubic volume enclosed by the instrument. This means that, unlike a flute or recorder, sound is created by resonance of the entire cavity and the placement of the holes on an ocarina is largely irrelevant – their size is the most important factor. Instruments that have toneholes close to the voicing/embouchure should be avoided, however; as an ocarina is a Helmholtz resonator, this weakens tonal production.
The resonator in the ocarina can create overtones, but because of the common "egg" shape, these overtones are many octaves above the keynote scale. In similar Helmholtz resonator instruments with a narrow cone shape, like the Gemshorn or Tonette, some partial overtones are available. The technique of overblowing to get a range of higher pitched notes is possible with the ocarina but not widely used because the resulting note is not "clean" enough, so the range of pitches available is limited to a 12th. Some Ocarina makers increase the range by designing double- or triple-chambered ocarinas (sometimes simply referred to as double or triple ocarinas) tuned 1 octave apart although some double ocarinas are not made to increase the range, but to play in harmony with the other chambers.
These double and triple ocarinas can also play chords. Different notes are produced by covering the holes, and by opening and closing more or less of the total hole area. The tone is then produced through the sound hole/embouchure. The tone can also be varied by changing blowing strength to bend pitch.
Ocarina music is written in three main ways. The most apparent is the use of sheet music. There are archives of sheet music either specifically written for ocarinas, or adapted from piano sheet music. Since some ocarinas are fully chromatic and can be played in professional musical situations, including classical and folk, sheet music is an ideal notation for ocarinas.
Second is the use of numerical tablature, which expresses the musical notes as numbers. Some makers have developed their own system of numerical tablature for their ocarinas, while others follow a more universal system where numbers correspond to different notes on the scale. This method is typically used by beginners who have not learned to read sheet music.
A third method uses a pictorial tablature similar to the ocarina's finger hole pattern, with blackened holes that represent which holes to cover. The tablature represents the holes on the top of the ocarina, and, where necessary, the holes on the underside. This enables easy playing, particularly for beginners. The two most popular tabulature systems are:
• The John Taylor four-hole system (invented in 1964 by British mathematician John Taylor)
• The 10 hole sweet potato system (invented by Giuseppe Donati of Budrio Italy)
Depending on the artist, some may write a number or figure over the picture to depict how many beats to hold the note.
There are many different styles of ocarinas varying in shape and the number of holes.
• Transverse (Sweet potato) – This is the best known style of ocarina. It has a rounded shape and is held with two hands horizontally. Depending on the number of holes, one just needs to open one more hole than the previous to ascend in pitch. The two most common Transverse ocarinas are the 10-holes (originated by Giuseppe Donati in Italy) and the 12-holes.
• Pendants: There are two types:
o English Pendant – These are usually very small and very portable, and use an English fingering system (4–6 holes).
o Peruvian Pendant – Dating from the time of the Incas, used as instruments for festivals, rituals and ceremonies. They are (usually the area occupied by them) today with designs of animals or simply oval (8–9 holes).
• Inline – These are often called a "fusion" of the Pendant and the Transverse. This style is known for being very small and compact, yet there are more holes than the pendant. This allows one to ascend in pitch with the linear finger pattern rather than finger combinations
• Multi chambered ocarinas – Better known as "Double" and "Triple" ocarinas, this type exists within the three broad categories of ocarina. These ocarinas overcome the disadvantage of ocarinas of having a limited range of notes. A Transverse Double ocarina typically plays 2 octaves + 2 notes, and a Transverse Triple ocarina plays with a range about 2 octaves + 7 notes. Double ocarinas for Pendant and Inline ocarinas also exist. Double Inline ocarinas are specially designed to be able to play chords, for harmonic playing.
• Ocarinas with keys have been produced by several makers, mostly experimentally, beginning in the late 19th century. Keys and slides may be added with the intention of either expanding the instrument's range, or to enable the fingers to reach holes that are widely spaced.

Watch and listen to the ocarina being played.

30 Zither
The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, northwestern Croatia, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures, including China. The term "cithare" or "sitar", or "cithar" is also used more broadly, to describe the entire family of stringed instruments in which the strings do not extend beyond the sounding box, including the hammered dulcimer, psaltery, Appalachian dulcimer, guqin, guzheng (Chinese zither), koto, gusli, kantele, gayageum, đàn tranh, kanun, autoharp, santoor, yangqin, piano, harpsichord, santur, swarmandal, and others. Zithers can be divided into two classes: fretted and fretless. They are played by strumming or plucking the strings like a guitar.
The term zither is mentioned in Daniel during the Jewish exile of 606 BC; however, the earliest known instrument of the zither family is a Chinese guqin [a fretless instrument], found in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng dating from 433 BC.
The instrument has a prominent solo in one of Johann Strauss II's most famous waltzes, "Tales from the Vienna Woods" (sometimes played on a mandolin, when a zither is not available). In Slovenia, at the end of the 19th century, they were used in small towns or villages and for concerts.
The zither went through two periods of great popularity in the United States. The first of these was in the late 19th through early 20th century, when it was greatly in vogue as a parlour instrument in may homes. During that period, a number of U.S.-based instrument manufacturers, many of them founded by, or employing European (and especially German and Austrian) luthiers, were producing concert zithers. By the 1920s zither popularity had begun to wane, as other instruments (notably guitars) increased in popularity. There was, however, a revival of interest in the 1950s, due in great measure to the success the 1949 British film The Third Man, the soundtrack of which prominently featured the zither. This new popularity lasted until well into the 1960s, as evidenced by the many successful albums during that period of performers like Anton Karas, Ruth Welcome, and Shirley Abicair.
In modern entertainment, the zither is perhaps most famous for its role in the soundtrack of the classic noir film The Third Man. The music for the film was played by Anton Karas, who is playing it on the Youtube clip below. His "The Third Man Theme" was released as a single in 1949/50 and became a best-seller in the UK. Following its release in the U.S. in 1950, it spent eleven weeks at number one on Billboard's U.S. Best Sellers in Stores chart from 29 April to 8 July. The exposure made Karas an international star, and the trailer for the film stated that "the famous musical score by Anton Karas" would have the audience "in a dither with his zither".
Australian-born singer Shirley Abicair popularised the zither when she used it widely as accompaniment in her TV shows, live performances and recordings in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. American Ruth Welcome released a number of very popular theme-based zither albums between 1958 - 1965 (e.g., "Romantic Zither"; "Zither South of the Border"; "Zither Goes to Hollywood"; etc.) Zither music is also the preferred music of Mr. Bevis, a Twilight Zone character in 1960.
More recently, the zither is used by multi-instrumentalist Laraaji on the third release of Brian Eno's ambient music series, Ambient 3: Day of Radiance. Jerusalem-based multi-instrumentalist Bradley Fish has used zithers in a multitude of styles on the soundtracks of various Sony Digital Pictures films. In 2005 Austrian composer Christoph Dientz released a double CD ("Zithered") of zither music recorded using a loop generator, used to give the music the rhythmic drive of European techno, and played using various found objects (paperclips etc) through a guitar amplifier giving a sound pallet similar to John Cage's prepared piano pieces. Kenneth, the eccentric, would-be time traveler in the 2012 film, Safety Not Guaranteed plays and sings a song to his lost love that he composed on his zither.
While the term zither organologically refers to a broad family of musical instruments, in modern usage it most commonly refers to one of three specific instruments: the concert zither and the Alpine zither (which are often considered variants of the same instrument), and the fretless or "guitar" zither. Like many other stringed instruments, acoustic and electric forms exist; in the acoustic version, the strings are stretched across the length of the soundbox, and neither version has a neck.
The concert zither may have from 29 to 35 strings, with 34 or 35 being most typical. These are arranged as follows: 5 fretted melody strings, placed above a guitar-like fretboard; 12 unfretted "accompaniment" strings; followed by 12 unfretted "bass" strings; a varying number of "contrabass" strings, with 5 or 6 being the most common number.
The Alpine zither has 42 strings, and differs from the concert zither primarily in having more contrabasses, which require the addition of a harplike post at the top of the instrument to support the tuners for these additional strings. Alpine zither strings are set in the same arrangement as the concert zither, except there are 13 contrabass strings instead of 5 or 6.
Both of these zithers are tuned in a similar manner, with the accompaniment and bass strings each providing a full set of 12 chromatic pitches arranged in a cycle of fifths. Contrabass strings are arranged in a descending chromatic scale. There are two popular tunings for the fretted melody strings: Munich and Vienna. See the Zither Tuning Chart, below, for details of the pitches and octaves employed.
The fretless zither may have from 12 to 50 (or more) strings, depending on design. There are no frets or fingerboard, and all strings are played "open," in the manner of a harp. Strings on the left are arranged in groups of three or four, which form various chords; strings to the right are single melody strings. Tuning can vary widely from manufacturer to manufacturer and even from model to model, but the tuning is usually indicated on the instrument itself, in the form a painted chart or paper chart glued under the strings.
A popular contemporary form of the fretless zither is the autoharp, on which all of the strings are placed singly, and a series of buttons activate dampers which silence all but the strings in the particular chord named on the button. (The autoharp is played in a different manner from the other zithers discussed here, and for playing purposes is best considered as a separate instrument in its own right.)
The zither is played by plucking the strings while it lies flat on a table (which acts as a resonator to amplify the sound), or it can be held on the lap.
On concert and Alpine zithers the melody strings are pressed to the fingerboard ("fretted") with the fingers of the left hand, and plucked with a plectrum on the right thumb. First and second fingers of the right hand pluck the accompaniment and bass strings, and the third finger of the left hand plucks the contrabass strings (there are variants on this basic method).
The fretless "guitar" zither is played in a similar manner, except there is no function for the left hand, since there is no fretboard; all melody strings are played "open" with the right thumb, and other fingers of the right hand play the accompaniment chord strings.
A person who plays the zither is called a zitherist.

Watch and listen to Anton Karas play some of his theme to 'The Third Man' (well it had to be, didn't it!!).

[geekishly]

both for me today. up to 5/10

[Squirrel]

another one today bringing me to 7/10.

The zither is a lot of fun to play. My cousin had one for a brief time and I used to sneak into the room to have fun with it when I was about 7 or 8 - along time ago.

[Ketta]

After an awfully long dry spell, I finally picked up another one....I'm now at a measly 5/10. Yay for the zither

[jocellogirl]

Today's numbers are:

6. Clavichord
The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was widely used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances. The clavichord produces sound by striking brass or iron strings with small metal blades called tangents. Vibrations are transmitted through the bridge(s) to the soundboard. The name is derived from the Latin word clavis, meaning "key" (associated with more common clavus, meaning "nail, rod, etc.") and chorda (from Greek χορδή) meaning "string, especially of a musical instrument".
The clavichord was invented in the early fourteenth century. In 1504, the German poem "Der Minne Regeln" mentions the terms clavicimbalum (a term used mainly for the harpsichord) and clavichordium, designating them as the best instruments to accompany melodies.
One of the earliest references to the clavichord in England occurs in the privy-purse expenses of Elizabeth of York, queen of Henry VII, in an entry dated August 1502, “The same day, Hugh Denys for money by him delivered to a stranger that gave the queen a payre of clavycordes. In crowns form his reward iiii libres.”
The clavichord was very popular from the 16th century to the 18th century, but mainly flourished in German-speaking lands, Scandinavia, and the Iberian Peninsula in the latter part of this period. It had fallen out of use by 1850. In the late 1890s, Arnold Dolmetsch revived clavichord construction and Violet Gordon-Woodhouse, among others, helped to popularize the instrument. Although most of the instruments built before the 1730s were small (four octaves, four feet long), the latest instruments were built up to seven feet long with a six octave range.
Today clavichords are played primarily by Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical music enthusiasts. They attract many interested buyers, and are manufactured worldwide. There are now numerous clavichord societies around the world, and some 400 recordings of the instrument have been made in the past 70 years.
The clavichord has also gained attention in other genres of music, in the form of the clavinet, which is essentially an electric clavichord which uses a magnetic pickup to provide a signal for amplification. Stevie Wonder uses a clavinet in many of his songs, such as "Superstition" and "Higher Ground". A clavinet played through an instrument amplifier with guitar effect pedals is often associated with funky, disco-infused 1970s rock.
Guy Sigsworth has played clavichord in a modern setting with Björk, notably on the studio recording of "All Is Full of Love". Björk also made extensive use of and even played the instrument herself on the song "My Juvenile" of her 2007 album Volta.
Tori Amos uses the instrument on "Little Amsterdam" from the album Boys for Pele and on the song "Smokey Joe" from her 2007 album American Doll Posse. Amos also featured her use of the clavinet on her 2004 recording "Not David Bowie", released as part of her 2006 box set, A Piano: The Collection.
In 1976 Oscar Peterson played (with Joe Pass on acoustic guitar) songs from Porgy And Bess on the clavichord. Keith Jarrett also recorded an album entitled Book of Ways (1987) in which he plays a series of clavichord improvisations. The Beatles' "For No One" (1966) features Paul McCartney playing the clavichord. Rick Wakeman plays the clavichord in the track "The Battle" from the album Journey to the Centre of the Earth.


Watch and listen to the clavichord being played.


12. Hurdy Gurdy
The hurdy gurdy is a stringed musical instrument that produces sound by a crank-turned rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to a violin. Melodies are played on a keyboard that presses tangents (small wedges, typically made of wood) against one or more of the strings to change their pitch. Like most other acoustic stringed instruments, it has a sound board to make the vibration of the strings audible.
Most hurdy gurdies have multiple drone strings, which give a constant pitch accompaniment to the melody, resulting in a sound similar to that of bagpipes. For this reason, the hurdy gurdy is often used interchangeably or along with bagpipes, particularly in French and contemporary Hungarian and Galician folk music.
Many folk music festivals in Europe feature music groups with hurdy gurdy players, with the most famous annual festival occurring at Saint-Chartier, in the Indre département, in central France, during the week nearest July 14 (Bastille Day).
The hurdy gurdy is generally thought to have originated from fiddles in either Western Europe or the Middle East (e.g. rebab) some time prior to the eleventh century A.D. The first recorded reference to fiddles in Europe was in the 9th century by the Persian geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih (d. 911) describing the lira (lūrā) as a typical instrument within the Byzantine Empire. One of the earliest forms of the hurdy gurdy was the organistrum, a large instrument with a guitar-shaped body and a long neck in which the keys were set (covering one diatonic octave). The organistrum had a single melody string and two drone strings, which ran over a common bridge and a relatively small wheel. Due to its size, the organistrum was played by two people, one of whom turned the crank while the other pulled the keys upward. Pulling keys upward is a cumbersome playing technique, and as a result only slow tunes could be played on the organistrum.
During the Renaissance, the hurdy gurdy was a very popular instrument, along with the bagpipe, and a characteristic form with a short neck and a boxy body with a curved tail end developed. It was around this time that buzzing bridges first appeared in depictions of the instrument. The buzzing bridge (commonly called the dog) is an asymmetrical bridge that rests under a drone string on the sound board. When the wheel is accelerated, one foot of the bridge lifts from the soundboard and vibrates, creating a buzzing sound. The buzzing bridge is thought to have been borrowed from the tromba marina (monochord), a bowed string instrument.
During the late Renaissance, two characteristic shapes of hurdy gurdies developed. The first was guitar-shaped and the second had a rounded lute-type body made of staves. The lute body is especially characteristic of French instruments.
By the end of the 17th century changing musical tastes that demanded greater polyphonic capabilities than the hurdy gurdy could offer had pushed the instrument to the lowest social classes; as a result it acquired names like the German Bauernleier ‘peasant’s lyre’ and Bettlerleier ‘beggar’s lyre.’ During the 18th century, however, French Rococo tastes for rustic diversions brought the hurdy gurdy back to the attention of the upper classes, where it acquired tremendous popularity among the nobility, with famous composers writing works for the hurdy gurdy (the most famous of which is Nicolas Chédeville’s Il pastor Fido, attributed to Vivaldi). At this time the most common style of hurdy gurdy developed, the six-string vielle à roue. This instrument has two melody strings and four drones tuned such that by turning drones on or off, the instrument can be played in multiple keys (e.g., C and G or G and D).
During this time the hurdy gurdy also spread further east, where further variations developed in western Slavic countries, German-speaking areas and Hungary. Most types of hurdy gurdy were essentially extinct by the early twentieth century, but a few have survived—the best-known of which are the French vielle à roue, the Hungarian tekerÅ‘lant, and the Spanish zanfona. In Ukraine, a variety called the lira was widely used by blind street musicians, most of whom were purged by Stalin in the 1930s. Today the tradition has resurfaced. Revivals have been underway for many years as well in Sweden, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Italy, Spain and Portugal. The revival of hurdy gurdies has resulted in the instrument’s use in a variety of styles of music, including contemporary forms not typically associated with the hurdy gurdy.
The hurdy gurdy is featured and played prominently in the film Captains Courageous (1937) as the instrument belonging to the character Manuel, acted by Spencer Tracy.
The instrument came into a new public consciousness when Donovan released his hit rock song, Hurdy Gurdy Man, in 1968. Although the song didn't feature an actual hurdy gurdy in the mix, the repeated reference to the Hurdy Gurdy in the song's lyrics sparked a new curiosity and interest about the instrument by the youth at the time, eventually resulting in an annual hurdy gurdy music festival in the Olympic Peninsula area of the state of Washington each September.



An interesting clip with an explanation of how the hurdy gurdy is played, together with some Medieval rock music!

Good luck to those of you getting close

[rcperryls]

Just checked all the days I was gone, thinking how cool it would be if they brought me to bingo. No bingo but I did get one so I'm up to 6/10 and have had great fun listening to so many interesting instruments.

Carole

[Lizzieh]

I'm at 6/10 too!

[tiffstitch]

BINGO!!!!!
Woohoo!!! my first ever! I'm pretty sure!

edit: double checked, think I'm right!

[jocellogirl]

You're right Tiff. Well done!!

[rcperryls]

Congratulations Tiffany!!!!!!!
What a fun Bingo to win!! Can't wait to see what you come up with now that its your turn to run a BINGO.

Carole

[tiffstitch]

Thanks Carole. I'll have to think on it for a day or so and figure out something. It will be hard to be as inventive as Jo, or have as many fun links! Thanks for a great bingo Jo!