Ancient Instruments: The Lute

Lute is almost a general term for any instrument with frets, strings, and a deep shell or back. The Lute(s) experienced its peak in popularity around the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Though their history is debated, Lutes may have been in existence for over 1000 years prior.

The length of the neck can categorize these fascinating instruments, Langhalslaute (long-necked) and short necked. The longer necks are considered to have the eldest origins.

Lutes had a presence in the following cultures- Egyptian (in the Middle Kingdom), Hittite, Greek, Roman, Bulgar, Turkic, Indian, Chinese, and Armenian/Cilician. Do you recognize some of their counterparts?

Persian relative- Barbat
Arab- Oud
Iran- Tanbur (hammer dulcimer relative)
Central Asia- Komuz
Ancient Greece- Pandura
Italy- Viola De Mano- the ancestor of the modern guitar

Medieval lutes usually had 4 or 5 course* and were plucked with a quill.
By the end of the Renaissance, 7 different sizes of lute existed! The lack of written music pre 1500AD may be evidence that most lute music was improvised accompaniment. A player of the lute would have been called a lutist, lutenist, or lutanist. A maker of Lutes is a Luthier.


*A course is a pair or more of adjacent strings tuned to unison or an octave and usually played together as if a single string. It may also refer to a single string normally played on its own on an instrument with other multi-string courses, for example the bass string on a nine string baroque guitar.

Here are a couple quotes on the evolution of the Medieval Lute-

“In the last few decades of the 15th century, in order to play Renaissance polyphony on a single instrument, lutenists gradually abandoned the quill in favor of plucking the instrument with the fingertips. The number of courses grew to six and beyond. The lute was the premier solo instrument of the 16th century, but continued to be used to accompany singers as well.”

“By the end of the Renaissance the number of courses had grown to ten, and during the Baroque era the number continued to grow until it reached 14 (and occasionally as many as 19). These instruments, with up to 26-35 strings, required innovations in the structure of the lute. At the end of the lute's evolution the archlute, theorbo and torban had long extensions attached to the main tuning head in order to provide a greater resonating length for the bass strings, and since human fingers are not long enough to stop strings across a neck wide enough to hold 14 courses, the bass strings were placed outside the fretboard, and were played "open", i.e. without fretting/stopping them with the left hand.”

The lute began to be replaced by the keyboard instruments and almost fell completely out of use after 1800AD.

The art of playing the lute formed a major part of instrumental music making in the Renaissance before keyboard instruments assumed central significance. It was a refined, soft, and at the same time colorful art, in sharp contrast to the agitated times in which it was practised.
— Karl Schumann [1]

This style knows nothing of the otherwise usual requirements and prohibitions of voice-leading; it can only be understood in relation to the fingering technique; it frequently applies the sound of open strings and in no way avoids the otherwise so despised parallel 5ths and octaves or unisons. The dissonances and other conflicting sounds which appear so often...strike me as exciting and revealing.
— Carl Orff [1]

[1] Quotation taken from the liner notes to the Wergo edition of Orff's Kleines Konzert, with English translations by John Patrick Thomas.

SOURCES
Wikipedia
http://www.art-robb.co.uk/hist.html
http://www.ronnmcfarlane.com/a-brief-history-2/
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~lsa/aboutUs/index.html

Tuesday Feature: Vince Conaway- Reprise

About Vince:
A musician and composer, Vince can be found performing a wide variety of music on hammered dulcimer throughout the US, Canada, and Europe. Vince's music is a combination of medieval and Celtic styles, coupling the passion of Irish music and the stateliness of ancient forms.

Reprise
Thoughtful traditional Celtic music performed on hammered dulcimer.

Genre: Folk: Celtic Folk

Release Date: 2007

Track List

1. Flowers of Edinburgh 3:51
2. Carousel 4:41
3. Swallowtail Jig 2:28
4. Hole in the Wall 3:51
5. Over the Waterfall 3:06
6. Promenade/Gathering Peasecods 4:25
7. Simple Gifts 4:30
8. Harvest Home 4:54
9. Jump at the Sun 3:15
10. A Dream in D 4:03
11. Haste to the Wedding/Kesh Jig 3:47
12. Official Bransle 3:01
13. The Maid Behind the Bar 4:17
14. Greensleeves 3:30
15. John Ryan's Polka 3:03
16. Planxty Fanny Power 5:29
17. Red Haired Boy 2:47
18. Il Campo 4:30
19. Cantiga 6:38

In Reprise, Vince's ninth album, he returns to his Celtic roots. Featuring more thoughtful versions of tunes he has previously recorded.
With recent additions to his Celtic repertoire, and four original tunes,
Reprise includes an impressive 76 minutes of instrumental hammered dulcimer music.

We have one of these in stock @$15.00 + S/H&I Remember we are a road vendor and plastic wrapping does help, but things do get worn in boxes in travel and weather.

Contact here or

SKYPE 216-298-1549 or Travelingraggyman

Vince Conaway Group on Traveling Within The World.

Vince's Website and Twitter.

Ancient Instruments: The Harp

The Harp and where it came from-

The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. Note that our friend, the Hammer Dulcimer, is a multi-stringed instrument whose strings are parallel to the soundboard and are struck not plucked. Therefore placing it in a separate family. All harps have a neck, resonator, and strings. Some, known as frame harps, also have a forepillar; those lacking the forepillar are referred to as open harps.

Various types of harps are found in Africa, Europe, North, and South America, and in Asia. In antiquity, harps and the closely related lyres were very prominent in nearly all cultures. The oldest harps found thus far have been uncovered in ruins from ancient Sumer. The harp also predominant in the hands of medieval bards, troubadors and minnesingers, as well as throughout the Spanish Empire.

A medieval harp (left) and a single-action pedal harp.

Harps were most likely independently invented in many parts of the world in remote prehistory. The harp's origins might lie in the sound of a plucked hunter's bow-string or the strings of a loom.

A type of harp called a 'bow harp' is nothing more than a bow like a hunter's, with a resonating vessel such as a gourd fixed somewhere along its length. To allow a greater number of strings, harps were later made from two pieces of wood attached at the ends: this type is known as the 'angle harp'. They can also come in different colors. The strings, possibly made of hair or plant fiber, were attached to a diaphragm at one end, and tied around the string arm or neck at the other. The strings were tuned by sliding or rotating the knots that held them.

Bow Harps

Detail of a wall painting from an XVIIIth dynasty tomb at Thebes, showing a musician with a type of arched harp. Oriental Institute, Chicago.

Min Adungu (Bass Bow Harp) Player of Wamidan World Music Ensemble.

The Angle Harp

The harpist chants laudation of the Pharaoh before the god Shu,
symbolizing the space between Heaven and Earth, who wears an ostrich feather headdress
and holds a scepter Was, symbolizing the power and domination, and the sign of life – The Key Ankh.
Tomb of Pharaoh Ramesses III, XX Dynasty, 1185-1070 BC, The Valley of the Kings, Western Thebes.
Sketch after James Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, 1813.

 

Wooden statuette of musician with an angled harp. Egypt, 750-656 B.C. British Museum, London.

The oldest depictions of harps without a forepillar are from 4000 BC in Egypt the sumerian harp of Ur 3500 BC,and 3000 BC in Persia. Other ancient names for harps include magadis and sambuca.

Angle harps and bow harps continue to be used up to the present day. In Europe, however, a further development took place: adding a third structural member, the pillar, to support the far ends of the arch and sound box. The 'Triangular Frame harp' is depicted in manuscripts and sculpture from about the 8th century AD, especially in North-West Europe, although specific nationalistic claims to the invention of the triangular frame harp cannot be substantiated. The graceful curve of the harp's neck is a result of the proportional shortening of the basic triangular form so that the strings are equidistant. If the strings were proportionately distanced, the strings would be farther and farther apart.

An Anglo-Saxon manuscript known as Caedmon's Metrical Paraphrase of Scripture History, illustrated in the second quarter of the 11th century, shows Jubal of Genesis playing a handsome harp of this kind. This harp appears to be at least three feet in height. It rests on his right shoulder, and he is clutching the bottom of the soundbox with his knees.

 

Detail of Jubal playing the harp. 11th c., Caedmon's Metrical Paraphrase of Scripture History, ms. Junius 11, folio 54. Bodleian Library, Oxford.

By the 12th century, manuscript illustrations depict harps of a more advanced design. The neck of the harp is now curved so as to make the middle strings a little shorter, a feature of all later designs that gives the strings a more uniform tension.

King David, as Keeper of Order in the realm of sounds, is often shown tuning the harp with one hand while plucking the strings with the other.

 

Detail of King David from the Hunterian Psalter, ca. 1170. He holds a tuning key in his left hand. Ms. U.3.2, folio 21v. University Library, Glasgow.

Something Extra

"The sound is all in the neck, Westling says. The graceful curved neck of every harp has the job of producing the sweetest note possible. That harmonic curve between the neck and the base has to be just right. If the distance is too long, tightening the string to the right pitch would break it. Too short of a distance, and good luck tuning that string.
The goal is to get the right note to fit the right shape -- and when your customer wants a certain shape or size of a harp that fits their body or their hand, each design is different than the last. "-Making Wood Sing by Jake Wilhelm

Did you know?

 European harps in medieval and Renaissance times usually had a bray pin fitted to make a buzzing sound when a string was plucked. By the baroque period, in Italy and Spain, more strings were added to allow for chromatic notes; these were usually in a second line of strings. At the same time single-row diatonic harps continued to be played.

 

A medieval European harp (the Wartburg harp) with buzzing bray pins.

Bray pins are the ancient crooked pegs which both secure the string into its position on the soundboard and act as a wedge against which the plucked string vibrates. They can be set to produce a range of timbral effects from a soft hum to a loud snarl. Often described by modern listeners as having an "Eastern" tone color, the bray harp was the characteristic harp sound of the Renaissance. The brays can be tuned aside when the buzzing is not desired, and the harp regains its original timbre.

"...the strings of the harp also rattle and crackle..."

"SYNTAGMA MUSICA"

-- Michael Praetorius, 1618

Castle Life Artisans that handle harps:

Argent Fox

Caera 

Tune in next time for the Lyre and many more!

^SOURCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harp

http://www.zwoje-scrolls.com/zwoje39/text07p.htm

http://www.silcom.com/~vikman/isles/scriptorium/harps/harps.html

http://oregonmag.com/HarpMaker.htm

http://www.wabash.edu/academics/music/wamidan

http://www.lynnelewandowski.com/harps.html