Wednesday, 13 May 2020
Saturday, 9 May 2020
This article is about the standard violin
This article is about the standard violin
Violin
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A standard modern
violin shown from the front and the side
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Other names
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321.322-71
(Composite chordophone sounded by a bow) |
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Developed
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Early 16th century
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Viol family (some historians argue
the double bass developed
from the bass viol)
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Musicians
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Builders
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Part of a series on
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Fiddle and Violin
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The violin,
sometimes known as a fiddle, is a
wooden string instrument in
the violin family.
Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and highest-pitched
instrument (soprano) in the family in regular use. Smaller violin-type
instruments exist, including the Violino piccolo and the pochette, but these are virtually unused. The
violin typically has four strings, usually tuned in perfect fifths with notes G3, D4, A4, E5,
and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across its strings. It can also be played
by plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and, in specialized cases, by
striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow (col legno).
Violins are important
instruments in a wide variety of musical genres. They are most prominent in
the Western classical
tradition, both in ensembles (from chamber music to orchestras) and as solo instruments. Violins
are also important in many varieties of folk music, including country music, bluegrass music, and jazz. Electric violins with solid bodies
and piezoelectric
pickups are used in some forms of rock music and jazz fusion, with the pickups, plugged
into instrument amplifiers and
speakers to produce sound. The violin has come to be incorporated in many
non-Western music cultures, including Indian music and Iranian music. The name fiddle is
often used regardless of the type of music played on it.
The violin was first
known in 16th-century Italy, with some further
modifications occurring in the 18th and 19th centuries to give the instrument a
more powerful sound and projection. In Europe, it served as the basis for the
development of other stringed instruments used in Western classical music, such
as the viola.[1][2][3]
Violinists and
collectors particularly prize the fine historical instruments made by the Stradivari, Guarneri, Guadagnini, and Amati families
from the 16th to the 18th century in Brescia and Cremona (Italy) and by Jacob Stainer in Austria. According to their reputation, the
quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or equal it, though this
belief is disputed.[4][5] Great numbers of instruments have come from
the hands of less famous makers, as well as still greater numbers of
mass-produced commercial "trade violins" coming from cottage
industries in places such as Saxony, Bohemia, and Mirecourt. Many of these trade instruments
were formerly sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co. and
other mass merchandisers.
The components of a
violin is usually made from different types of wood.
Violins can be strung with gut, Perlon, or other synthetic, or steel
strings. A person who makes or repairs violins is called a luthier or violinmaker. One who makes or
repairs bows is called an archetier
Tuesday, 5 May 2020
wonderful instruments across the world (did you know we currently insure over 400 different types of instruments!)
wonderful instruments across the world (did you know we currently insure over 400 different types of instruments!)
There are so many weird and wonderful
instruments across the world (did you know we currently insure
over 400 different types of instruments!) so we’ve taken the opportunity
to research some of them. Take a look and have a listen to some of our
favorites:
Crowdy Crawn - Cornwall, UK
Crowdy Crawn - Cornwall, UKThe Crowdy Crawn is
a percussion instrument made of a wooden hoop covered with sheepskin, which
originated from a tool to gather or measure grain. Played in western Cornwall
from as early as 1900, the name is derived from the Cornish "croder
croghen", literally "skin sieve".
Crowdy
crawn
Theremin
Theremin - Russia
The only musical instrument you play without
touching! The Theremin is an early electronic musical
instrument controlled without physical contact, by hovering your hands
near to the prongs to alter the pitch and volume. It originally performed
classical music and transcriptions, but was later discovered by film composers
and has since been typecast as a spooky sound effect. You may recognize it
from The Day the Earth Stood Still’s soundtrack.
Guqin - China
Known as the "Father of Chinese
music", the Guqin is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of
the zither family. It has been played since ancient times and has traditionally
been favored by scholars as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement.
The sounds are produced by plucking open and stopped strings and using
harmonics and glissandi - giving it a sound reminiscent of a fretless bass or
slide guitar.
Guqin
The
Great Stalacpipe Organ
The Great Stalacpipe Organ - Virginia, USA
Found in the Luray Caverns of Virginia, the
Great Stalacpipe Organ is the largest musical instrument in the
world. Instead of using pipes, the organ uses soft rubber mallets to strike
stalactites of varying lengths and thicknesses. The organ’s
stalactites range over 3.5 acres, but due to the enclosed nature of the
cave, the full sound can be heard anywhere in the 64-acre cavern.
Kuisi - Colombia, South America
A Native American flute made from
a hollowed cactus stem, while charcoal, beeswax, and a turkey or eagle
feather make the mouthpiece. The earliest known use is among the Koguis and Ika
tribes of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range in Colombia, where it
was used strictly for religious ceremonies. There are male and female
versions of the Kuisi, which are played as a pair in counterpoint to one
another, imitating the sounds of birds and nature.
Kuisi
Selection
of ugly sticks
Lagerphone
Ugly Stick - Canada + Lagerphone - Australia
The Ugly Stick is a traditional Newfoundland
percussion instrument fashioned out of household and tool-shed items,
typically a mop handle with tin cans, small bells, and other noisemakers. They
are traditionally played in concerts (colloquially referred to as
"times") and kitchen parties.
Similar instruments can be found across the
world, like the Monkey Stick, which is popular in English folk music. The
Australian equivalent is called the Lagerphone which is constructed
with bottle tops - a variation of the traditional aboriginal
instrument using shells. They are very simple to make and play and produce a
tambourine-like quality.
The top 5 most expensive instruments in the world
The top 5 most expensive instruments in the world
1
The Vieuxtemps
Guarneri Violin - $16million/£10.5million
This Guarneri del Gesù instrument is now the most expensive
violin in the world, selling for an estimated $16million. Its new owner
anonymously donated the historic instrument to violinist Anne Akiko
Meyers, on loan for the rest of her life.
The violin is said to be in perfect condition, with no
patching work at all. It gained its name after being owned by the Belgian 19th
century violinist Henri Vieuxtemps and was later used by Yehudi Menuhin and
Pinchas Zukerman, among others.
The Vieuxtemps Guarneri Violin
2
The Paganini
Stradivarius Cello - >$6million
Even if you don't play a string instrument, you've probably
heard of Antonio Stradivari, the famous Italian luthier. This beautifully
preserved Stradivarius cello was once owned by Nicolò Paganini and most
recently by Bernard Greenhouse. After his death the Greenhouse family decided
to sell it, hoping it would go to a deserving musician.
The purchaser was a “patroness of the arts from Montreal” who
lent the cello to Stéphane Tétreault, a young musician with a budding
career.
The Paganini Stradivarius Cello
The Heintzman
Crystal Piano - $3.2million
This extraordinary instrument was introduced to the world during
the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, performed by our
global ambassador Lang Lang, to a global audience of almost a billion people.
Designed by Canadian piano manufacturer Heintzman Pianos, this
exquisitely-crafted instrument retired early after its only performance and was
sold at auction to an anonymous bidder.
The Heintzman Crystal Piano
4
The Reach Out To Asia
Fender Stratocaster - $2.7million
To help raise money for the relief efforts for the 2004
Indian Ocean Tsunami, a signed Fender Strat was auctioned off - and it wasn’t
signed by just anybody! This epic instrument features the signatures of music
legends including Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Bryan Adams, Keith Richards,
Mick Jagger, Brian May, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend,
Mark Knopfler, Ray Davies, Liam Gallagher, Ronnie Wood, Tony Iommi, Angus and
Malcolm Young, Sting, Ritchie Blackmore and Def Leppard.
Reach Out To Asia Fender Stratocaster
5
Charlie Parker’s
Grafton Alto Saxophone - £93,500 in 1994
The Grafton Saxophone was an acrylic plastic alto
saxophone, designed by Hector Sommaruga in the late 1940s. Commercial
production of the sax commenced in 1950 with a selling price of only
£55 - half the cost of a conventional brass saxophone at that time.
The most notable player of the Grafton was Charlie Parker. The
stories say that a sales representative for Grafton asked Parker to use one for
a recorded gig in Toronto in 1953. Parker can be heard playing the Grafton on
the gig’s CD, titled Jazz at Massey Hall, with Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie,
Charles Mingus and Max Roach.
Parker’s saxophone was later sold at Christie's auction house in
London in September 1994 for £93,500 (an estimated £168,000 in today’s money).
The buyer was the American Jazz Museum, located in Parker's home town of
Kansas City, Missouri, where the legendary saxophone is still displayed.
Charlie Parker Grafton Alto Saxophone
Sunday, 3 May 2020
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WELCOME TO VIOLINIST SITE
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