Glass harp

As usual it haven't any relations to harp ^_^_^ From now on i begin a week of music from that things which originally weren't made as musical instruments.

Some information from Wikipedia:

A glass harp is an instrument made of upright wine glasses. It was created in 1741 by Irishman Richard Pockrich, who is known as the first virtuoso of the musical glasses.

The instrument was popular in the 18th century. Pockrich's contemporary, Ford, published Instructions for the Playing of the Musical Glasses while Bartl published a German version.

It is played by running moistened or chalked fingers around the rim of the glasses. Each glass is tuned to a different pitch, either by grinding each goblet to the specified pitch, in which case the tuning is permanent, or by filling the glass with water until the desired pitch is achieved.

How it looks:


Example of playing:

Pipa

I thought that pipa is just a chinese variant of lute, but now i understand that its sounds really different.

Some information from Wikipedia:

The pipa is a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12–26. Another Chinese 4 string plucked lute is the liuqin, which looks like a smaller version of the pipa.

The pipa appeared in the Qin Dynasty (221 - 206 BCE) and was developed during the Han Dynasty. It is one of the most popular Chinese instruments and has been played for nearly two thousand years in China. Several related instruments in East and Southeast Asia are derived from the pipa; these include the Japanese biwa, the Vietnamese đàn tỳ bà, and the Korean bipa. The Korean instrument is the only one of the three that is no longer used. Attempts to revive the instrument have failed, although examples survive in museums.

The name "pípá" is made up of two Chinese syllables, "pí" (琵) and "pá" (琶). These are the two most common ways of playing this instrument. "Pí" is to push the fingers of the right hand from right to left, thus more than one finger can be used at a time striking multiple notes, and "pá" is to pull the thumb of the right hand from left to right, in the opposite direction. The strings were originally played using a large plectrum in the Tang Dynasty, then gradually replaced by the fingernails of the right hand. Since the revolutions in Chinese instrument making during the 20th century, the softer twisted silk strings of earlier times have been exchanged for nylon-wound steel strings, which are far too strong for human fingernails, so false nails are now used, constructed of plastic or tortoise-shell, and affixed to the fingertips with the player's choice of elastic tape.

How it looks:


Example of playing:

truncating of the posts

Pages with all pictures and videos too heavy. so i decided to truncate all posts excluding last one. But page became much more ugly. Maybe i should return old style? I need your opinions, my readers. P.s. i'm really afraid that no one will answer...

Xaphoon

Thanks to Lothmak for this post.

Some information from Wikipedia:

The Xaphoon is a single-reed keyless wind instrument, very similar in construction to the chalumeau, a European keyless single-reed renaissance folk instrument that was the ancestor of the clarinet. The sound of a Xaphoon is actually somewhere between that of a sax and a clarinet, and overblows in 12ths, like a clarinet. The originator, Brian Whitman, still makes the bamboo instruments by hand in his home on the island of Maui, Hawaii, using local bamboo cut from the forests of the eastern end of the island.

The Xaphoon Bamboo Sax, which is available in the keys of C, B♭, and D (as well as any other key via special order) uses a regular tenor saxophone reed. Its body is 31.75 centimeters in length (for the instrument pitched in C) and has nine holes (eight holes in front, and one hole in back, for the left thumb) that resemble those of a recorder. The Xaphoon's fingerings, however, are significantly different from those of either a saxophone or recorder. It has a range of two octaves and is fully chromatic.

In the spring of 2000, a molded ABS version of the instrument was introduced, which is marketed under the trade name Pocket Sax. Currently, it is available in the key of C, with its lowest tone being middle C. Its durability, rich tone, low price, and portability made it a suitable alternative to the harmonica or tin whistle for travelers who wish to bring an instrument with them in their pocket or daypack.

How it looks:




Example of playing:

ondes Martenot

Thanks for all people who help me with this blog. And thanks mr.Flasher for telling me about this instrument.

Some information from Wikipedia:

The ondes Martenot, also known as the ondium Martenot, Martenot and ondes musicales, is an early electronic musical instrument invented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot. The original design was similar in sound to the theremin. The sonic capabilities of the instrument were later expanded by the addition of timbral controls and switchable loudspeakers.

The instrument's eerie wavering notes are produced by varying the frequency of oscillation in vacuum tubes. The production of the instrument stopped in 1988, but several conservatories in France still teach it. Since 2008, Jean-Loup Dierstein, with the support of Maurice Martenot's son, has been building ondes Martenot instruments based on the model used when production stopped in 1988.

The ondes Martenot is unique among electronic musical instruments in its methods of control. Maurice Martenot was a cellist, and it was his vision to bring the degree of musical expressivity associated with the cello to his new instrument. The ondes, in its later forms, can be controlled either by depressing keys on the six-octave keyboard, or by sliding a metal ring worn on the right-hand index finger in front of the keyboard. The position of the ring corresponds in pitch to the horizontal location along the keyboard. The latter playing method allows for unbroken, sweeping glissandi to be produced in much the same manner as a Theremin. The keyboard itself has a lateral range of movement of several millimeters, permitting vibrati of nearly a semitone below or above the pitch of the depressed key to be produced.

By depressing keys or moving the ring, no sound is initially produced. A control operated by the left hand and situated in a small drawer of controls on the left side of the instrument controls the musical dynamics, from silence to fortissimo. This control is glass and lozenge-shaped, and can be depressed several centimetres. The depth to which this key is depressed determines the dynamic level: the deeper, the louder. The manner in which it is pressed determines the attack of the note: quick taps produce staccato articulations, whilst more controlled and deliberate depressions are used to play legato.

The small drawer of controls also contains flip-switches to control the instrument's timbre. These function in much the same way as a pipe organ's stops can be added or removed. Like organ stops, each switch has its own sound color which can be added to the chorus of other timbres.

How it looks:




Example of playing:

Harp Guitar

One of the best plucked string instruments. I think it should be more popular than usual guitar, but people even don't know about it...

Some information from Wikipedia:

The harp guitar is a stringed instrument with a history of well over two centuries. While there are several unrelated historical stringed instruments that have appropriated the name “harp-guitar” over the centuries, the term today is understood as the accepted vernacular to refer to a particular family of instruments defined as "A guitar, in any of its accepted forms, with any number of additional unstopped strings that can accommodate individual plucking." Additionally, in reference to these instruments, the word "harp" is now a specific reference to the unstopped open strings, and is not specifically a reference to the tone, pitch range, volume, silhouette similarity, construction, floor-standing ability, nor any other alleged "harp-like" properties. To qualify in this category, an instrument must have at least one unfretted string lying off the main fretboard. Further, the unfretted strings can be, and typically are, played as an open string.

Duduk

Some information from Wikipedia:

The duduk is a traditional woodwind instrument of Armenian origins, that is popular in the Caucasus, the Middle East and Central Asia. The English word is often used generically for a family of ethnic instruments including the doudouk or duduk in Armenian, the düdük or mey in Turkey, the duduki in Georgia, the balaban (or düdük) in Azerbaijan, the narmeh-ney in Iran, the duduka or dudka in Russia and Ukraine. This instrument is not to be confused with the northwestern Bulgarian folk instrument of the same name - Balkan duduk.

Kazoo

Simple but funny and nice instrument. And really simple for playing.

Some information from Wikipedia:

The kazoo is a wind instrument which adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when one vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton which is a membranophone – a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane.

While blowing is the term typically used to describe the technique required to play a kazoo, a more accurate term would be humming into the kazoo. Blowing with the lips closed around the mouthpiece of the kazoo will not make sound – one must vibrate air from his or her lungs by humming into the instrument in order for the kazoo to make any sound. Increased air flow and harder blowing will result in a more effective and authoritative sound.

Svirel'

Some information from Wikipedia:

Svirel is an old folk Russian wind instrument of the end-blown flute type. In the Old Rus’ this instrument was made either of hollow reed or cylindrical wood branches. A legend says that Lel', son of the Slavic goddess of love Lada was a svirel player. In spring he would make his svirel of birch branches.

Traditional Russian svirel has not yet been studied well enough. Specialists have long tried to relate the present day’s pipe instruments to their Old Russian names. Most often the chroniclers used three names for this type instruments: svirel, sopel (sopilka) and tsevnitsa.

Gudok

It was hard to find this instrument cause name of instrument translates as "toot".

Some information from Wikipedia:

The gudok is an ancient Eastern Slavic string musical instrument, played with a bow.

A gudok usually had three strings, two of them tuned in unison and played as a drone, the third tuned a fifth higher. All three strings were in the same plane at the bridge, so that a bow could make them all sound simultaneously. Sometimes the gudok also had several sympathetic strings (up to eight) under the sounding board. These made the gudok's sound warm and rich.

The player held the gudok on his lap, like a cello or viola da gamba. It was also possible to play the gudok while standing and even while dancing, which made it popular among skomorokhs. Initially in the 12th century (and probably before), the gudok did not have a neck for pressing strings. This suggests that it was played by stopping the strings from the side with fingernails (similarly to the Byzantine lyra), rather than pressing strings onto the instrument's neck. Later in the 14th century some modifications of the gudok had a real neck for pressing strings.