Musical wood is hardwood and softwood that is used to make musical instruments. Wood differs from each other in a number of ways. It is necessary to distinguish between the concept of a tree, that is, a growing tree, and wood, a material obtained from a tree cut down and peeled of branches and bark. The trunk gives the main amount of wood, which is 50-90% of the volume of parts of a growing tree ...
Choosing wood for guitars
The sound of a guitar is determined primarily by how it is made. plays a decisive role: how stable will the characteristics of the instrument be, will the neck “lead”, and most importantly, will the future instrument sound decent? The careful selection of materials for the guitar is the first and one of the most important tasks that guitar makers have to solve.
Among the huge amount of wood that is harvested for, not every board is suitable for making a musical instrument. The best option for choosing a tree are natural drying blanks. Despite the fact that natural drying of wood requires an order of magnitude more time than artificial drying, only it allows preserving the structure of pores and fibers, on which the resonant characteristics of the material depend. It is also necessary to take into account the profile of the cut, the direction of the fibers and their curvature, the presence (or, in our case, the absence) of knots, curl and other nuances. That is why we carefully select each piece and even keep dried wood in warehouses for at least a year.
Ash for guitars
Ash for guitars is a traditional material. Its transparent and sonorous sound is familiar to us from Fender guitars.
Swamp Ash is a light and strong wood with large pores, perfect for solid body guitars. White Ash is a bit heavier and a bit tight in acoustic performance, but has more interesting decorative features due to good contrast. different layers wood. White ash is suitable for making a guitar top from another material.
Scope: mainly the manufacture of bodies and tops for guitars.
Alder for guitars
Alder is one of the most popular woods for making electric guitars. Almost all well-known manufacturers (Fender, Jackson, Ibanez, Washburn and many others) have alder guitars in their product line, with the possible exception of Gibson conservatives. Excellent resonance characteristics in almost everything frequency range(slightly more pronounced in the highs) practically do not limit the range of use of alder for the manufacture of electric guitars.
Linden for guitars
Linden is a bit similar to alder, but has a somewhat muffled sound due to the softer and looser wood. Until recently, it was considered suitable only for inexpensive student instruments, but the Japanese Ibanez in tandem with Joe Satriani have erased this myth to powder, showing the whole world how a basswood guitar can sound with good electronics and in the hands of a master.
Scope: production of cases of electric guitars.
Mahogany for guitars
Mahogany is a common name for many different types of wood, ranging from inexpensive woods such as agathis, which is used to produce student electric guitars with very mediocre characteristics, to excellent examples of Honduran and African mahogany. Redwood is characterized beautiful drawing with a pronounced longitudinal swirl, deep and rich colors, from dark beige to red-brown. The acoustic properties of mahogany - a pronounced lower middle, giving the sound a "meaty" density. In the manufacture of mahogany guitars, they are often used with various tops that emphasize the high-frequency component of the guitar range.
The main types of mahogany used in guitar building are Honduran and African mahogany.
Honduran mahogany is a charismatic breed from which virtually all American mahogany guitars are made. Quite rare in our area - firstly, because of the expensive transportation, and secondly, because today the Honduran mahogany is listed in the Red Book. One of its closest relatives is the even more valuable Cuban mahogany, which, for obvious reasons, does not find its way into the United States.
African mahogany (kaya) is the common name for some related subspecies of mahogany that grows in Africa. They differ slightly in their characteristics, mainly in density. The commercial name "Kaya" (Khaya) is usually applied to lighter (0.56-0.57 g / cm3, like Honduran mahogany) varieties, heavier varieties are usually referred to as "mahogany". According to its acoustic parameters, this tree is similar to the Honduran mahogany.
There are also other types of mahogany suitable for the production of guitars - sapele, cosipo, merbau and others. The density of these rocks is quite high (from 650 g/cm3 to 900 g/cm3), the pores are smaller than those of kaya or Honduran mahogany, and the tools from them are quite heavy.
Korina for guitars
Korina is also often found under the names ofram or limba. It is as "korina" that this tree became widely known by the legendary Gibson Korina Flying V. Dense and light wood, has a pronounced fibrous structure, reminiscent of the structure of mahogany, but without bright streaks, a beige-yellow hue. In commercial classification, it is subdivided into white and black corina due to the different color of the interlayer - from light beige in white to gray-brown in black. Apart from the color of the picture, there are no fundamental differences between them. The sound of corina guitars resembles that of mahogany guitars, but the peak of the acoustic range is shifted to the upper frequencies.
Scope: production of necks and cases of guitars.
Maple for guitars
For the manufacture of guitars, mainly American (hard maple) and European maple is used. Unlike European maple, American maple has a denser structure and specific gravity (approx. 750 g/cm3 versus 630 g/cm3 for the European colleague), more rigid and brittle. With certain reservations, we can say that maple, like wood for making guitars, is valued not for acoustic, but for mechanical and decorative properties. Excellent hardness and elasticity allows maple to take the place of the main material in the production of electric guitar necks, and a variety of textured patterns makes maple indispensable in the manufacture of decorative tops. In addition, the maple top allows you to enrich the sound palette of the base material of the soundboard with a high-frequency component. It would be unfair to say that its use is limited to this - for example, everyone knows Rickenbacker guitars, which are almost completely made of maple.
Scope: production of fingerboards, fingerboards, tops, guitar bodies.
Wenge for guitar
Wenge is very well suited for the production of fretboards for guitar necks.
Wood-guitar.ru is a store specializing in the sale of material for the manufacture of musical instruments, mainly guitars. We strive to offer our customers a wide variety of woods for making different guitar parts. In order to provide convenience in choosing a product, our entire range is divided into subgroups by type: material for necks, decks, etc.
In our store you can buy wood for guitars of high quality and at an affordable price in the quantity you need.
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Buy mahogany
What wood are guitars made from?
A well-known instrument, the guitar, is very unique in its sound. In the hands of a virtuoso, she gives out sounds that involuntarily make a person laugh and cry, rejoice and worry, freeze and come to life. And if, in addition, this musical instrument is of high quality, a good one is able to hide some flaws of the performer, then a low-quality guitar can ruin the most talented and professional game. The sound quality of a guitar is largely determined by the type of wood its body is made of.
The wood in this instrument plays a decisive role: if the wood produces “dead” sounds in terms of sound, then no matter how hard a great musician tries, no matter how hard he puts in good and beautiful music, he will not succeed. Alder is considered the highest quality and most popular instrument. About how to tune the guitar. 
And the most sonorous guitars obtained from ash and maple. Maple and ash have a "glassy" wood than other woods, these materials concentrate sound very well, high frequencies are clearly and vividly expressed. Of course, wood has great importance in excellent guitar sound quality. But, everyone should remember that a tree is everywhere and there is a tree, and it would be a mistake to forget, and even more so to place high hopes on it.
Only a musician with a capital letter will be able to turn a guitar made from a piece of wood into a real instrument that will become an extension of his soul and hands. And then a truly real and beautiful melody of music will flow.
The origins and features of the manufacture of wooden musical instruments
Even in ancient times, people made primitive wooden musical instruments. They were used both for hunting and for moments of rest.
Over time, interest in music and musical instruments has increased. As a result, a science arose and such a science is musical acoustics. The ancient Greeks played an important role in its development. One of the first known musical instruments was the monochord, which is mentioned in the writings of Euclid. The guitar appeared much later. This peculiar stringed musical instrument is known from oral translations and written sources of many peoples of the world.
According to the playing technique, the guitar belongs to the group of plucked musical instruments. It consists of a resonating body, a neck with a fingerboard and strings stretched parallel in the plane of the soundboard. The neck is usually made of hardwood and is separated by metal nut. Nuts are structurally placed in such a way that the gaps between them (frets) form a chromatic sequence of sounds. By pressing the strings to the frets, the musician limits the length of the frequency of its vibration, allowing you to get a sound of a certain height.
The birthplace of the guitar is Spain, where two of its types were widespread - Mauritanian and Latin. From within centuries. Information about the evolution of the guitar, its properties and role in musical life are becoming much more complete and accurate.
The Moorish guitar has an oval shape, the lower soundboard is convex, the strings are metal, fixed on the base of the body. They play the Moorish guitar with a plectrum, which causes the sharpness of the sound. Unlike the Moorish, the Latin guitar is more complex in shape: the oval lower part has a narrowing in the direction of the fretboard and a flat bottom soundboard. latin guitar in terms of design and sound features, it is very similar to a modern classical guitar: a flattened, slightly elongated body at the “waist”, a resonant hole is located in the middle, a neck with a fingerboard has nut. 
A significant period in the development of the guitar is the 16th century. If before this period the guitar took pride of place next to Viola, Rebecca, harp and lute, now it is ahead of everyone. Very quickly "guitar" fashion is spreading in Western Europe, conquering Flanders, England, Italy, except for Spain. The development of the guitar was influenced by the evolution of the lute. The number of strings of a guitar, like a lute, increases to eleven. The nature and specificity of the instrument is determined by its system. The fifth row attached from the side of the high string gives a system like: G, K, Mi, La, Re, but as a result of the influence of the lute, the fifth row will be added to the bass strings. Therefore, in Europe until the end of the XVIII century. the most common was the five-string guitar. The first five-choir guitar known today belongs to the Museum of the Royal College of Music in London. Made in Lisbon in 1581 by Melchior Dias, it is intermediate between the 16th century guitars from which it inherited the proportions and the 17th century guitars. Diaz's guitar construction: the body (bottom and sides) is carved (hollowed out) from solid rosewood wood; the bottom is convex; the top deck is supported internally by only two springs.
For the manufacture of exquisite, highly artistic, many ornamented classical guitars, the masters used valuable materials: rare (black-ebony, ivory, tortoiseshell. The lower soundboard and sides are decorated with inlay. The upper soundboard remains simple and is made of coniferous wood (spruce). Resonance hole and the edges of the body are decorated with a pattern of wood plates various breeds. important decorative element becomes a resonant hole, decorated with embossed leather, which not only harmonizes with the beauty of the whole body, but also softens the sounds. Plates of ivory, fixed with narrow veins of brown wood, adorn the entire body. Such instruments in Europe are considered a rarity. With the beginning of the 1600s, new design features of the guitar were defined. Their dimensions increase, the body becomes more voluminous, high strings are made of sinew, and low ones are made of copper or silver. Dimensions dimensions did not exist, they were determined by the master. A beautiful example of a guitar has survived to this day (preserved in the museum of the Paris Conservatory), dated 1749, and obviously intended for the royal court. The instrument was made in the "royal guitar" workshop of Claude Boivin, decorated with tortoiseshell plates and inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
In the last years of the XVII century. there are significant innovations that define an important stage in the gradual formation of modern guitar design. The proportions change, the body curve and appearance are accentuated. Master of musical instruments tried to emphasize natural beauty rosewood for expensive instruments, and for instruments of moderate cost, cypress wood and local species (elm, maple, fruit. Nuts become fixed and inserted into the neck, they are made of ivory. In Spain, musical instrument makers emphasize the increased acoustic properties of fan (from noun "fan") placing the springs of the upper deck. It is not known who was the author of this invention, but Jose Benedict de Cadix was one of the first to use this method as new principle designs. The instrument, which came out of his workshop in 1783 and is kept in the Museum of Musical Instruments at the Barcelona Conservatory, has three springs placed in this way. Later, a master with the same surname Cadix, Juan Pages, makes an instrument whose top soundboard is supported by five springs, in another guitar (1797) there are already seven. These improvements, which were put into practice by Spanish masters, are innovations in the development of the guitar.
Second milestone evolution is the tuning of the instrument, which becomes fixed. Thus, it can be assumed that guitars with six single strings are practiced in different parts of Europe. Masters of musical instruments worked in Europe and America. Musical instruments are created in the workshops of Louis Panorama from London, Georg Staufer from Vienna, K. F. Martin from New York, J. G. Schroder from Pittsburgh. To these we must add the brilliant Spanish school, which made itself known in the last decade of the 18th century. In France, one can note the emergence in Mirkouri of a provincial center for the manufacture of musical instruments, which over time became famous for its violins, as well as for the achievements of two Parisian lute masters René Lakota and Etienne Laprevote.
The creative activity of Rene Lakota, who was the master of the famous guitars of that time, took place in Paris. He communicates and collaborates with all the then outstanding virtuosos - performers: Carulli, Carcassi, Shame. At their request, he conducts numerous experiments in the development of guitars. For Fernando Sor, he creates a model with seven strings. In collaboration with Carulli, he produces the decachord, a special instrument with five additional strings located on the outside of the neck. He invented a mechanism for fixing the pegs, raised the neck relative to the body, thanks to which it continues to the resonant hole, on which there are 18 brass nut.
Étienne Laprevote specialized first in the manufacture of violins, but his further activity was directed to the manufacture of guitars. Improving the design and constantly seeking to improve the sound, Laprevot, like Rene Lakota, modifies individual structural elements. The lower deck takes the form of a violin, the resonant hole is made in the form of an oval, and the body is rounded.
In the second half of the nineteenth century. in much of Europe, the guitar was supplanted by the piano. The only exception was Spain. Among the Spanish masters - Antonio de Torres (1817-1892), is still recognized as one of the best guitar makers not only on the Spanish peninsula, but also in Europe, where he is called the "Guitar Stradivarius", and the instruments made by him became famous in all over the world. The guitars he designs from the early 1850s are quite modern. Like all great masters, Torres experiments and seeks to improve the quality and power of the guitar sound. It offers new design parameters of the guitar, in particular: it increases the volume of the body, making it wider and deeper; sets the length of the vibrating string (65 cm); fingerboard continues to the resonant hole; leaves a threshold on the stand; determines the optimal number (seven) of fan springs and a new principle of their placement (according to the scheme of an irregular pentagon with the base of the transverse spring to the resonant hole). These instruments have all the hallmarks of the modern guitar.
At the end of the XVIII century, when the gypsies received the right to settle in the cities of Spain, the art of flamenco emerged from obscurity. A kind of musical performance brings together two or three singers, three or four dancers and two guitarists on a small stage. The performance includes dancing, singing and playing the guitar at the same time. It is known that at present there was no difference between the classical guitar and the flamenco guitar. Both of them have six rows of double strings, and the sound should be both expressive and short and clearly percussive. Therefore, the craftsmen who made such instruments were forced to choose special woods, such as spruce for baking trays and Spanish cypress for the body. The creation of the flamenco guitar model is associated with the name of Antonio de Torres. One of the first guitars made in his workshop (1860) was like a classical guitar with six single strings, but its parameters were somewhat modified.
The structure of the flamenco guitar is characterized by a lightweight design. The deck is only supported by five fan-placed springs. The rosewood neck (rather than ebony, which reduces its mass) is made longer and narrower, the strings are set lower, thus creating a peculiar timbre.
For many centuries, masters of musical instruments have been working within the framework of a tradition that has developed using the achievements of their predecessors. The creation of a modern classical guitar requires a subtle skill and high skill from the master. There are two ways to compose a guitar. In the first case, the shape of the body is first produced, which is the basis for compiling the tool from various parts, in the second case, on the contrary, the assembly process begins with the compilation of internal parts. To compose the body, the master makes sidewalls connecting the upper and lower decks. Both identical sides are made from the same wood as the bottom deck. By heating the sidewalls to the appropriate temperature, the master gives them the necessary shape by bending. IN last turn make a neck, which in its lower part ends with a heel, and to which the body is attached. A head with peg mechanics is attached to the upper part of the neck. The process of drawing up the neck and body is carried out using the Spanish or French methods. In the first method of drawing up, the neck is glued to the top deck. Then the sidewalls are glued to the upper deck, at the same time they are inserted into the grooves of the heel shank. Therefore, the body is closed with the bottom deck. They finish by gluing the neck to the neck, on which the plates and the nut are installed.
The French way of drawing up differs significantly from the Spanish one in that the body is first made up, and then the neck with the neck is installed. Whichever method of composition is chosen, the process of making the instrument ends with varnishing, gluing the base to the soundboard and stringing. By the middle of the XX century. in classical guitars, gut strings were used for high registers, and low strings were made of untwisted silk wrapped around a thin metal wire. Since about 1945, nylon (synthetic) strings have been widely used. However, the use of these strings leads to the loss of the special purity of sound inherent in gut strings.
With the development of the market, especially in countries with cheap labor, factory-made guitars began to be in great demand. Today, the leading place among such manufacturers is occupied by Korea and Japan. Firms Hondo (Korea); Yamaha, Aria, Kohno, Tekimura (Japan) provide their products most world market, displacing such developed European countries as Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary, as well as Ukraine, Russia, etc. However, the instruments self made, masterfully made by individual craftsmen, continue to arrive in tradition from Spain and the United States. In some cases, handicraft production of musical instruments forms the basis of small provincial enterprises, they export their products even to the United States.
Among many famous masters Chernigov craftsman Nikolay Ivanovich Yeshchenko, who made almost a thousand instruments, is considered world-class in Ukraine, and he considers Pyotr Golubok to be his best student, who, together with his son, makes violins using the technology of ancient Italian masters. In the selection of wood, the master prefers maple and spruce - they have a singing soul. Maple boards win with mother-of-pearl waves, shades of a unique combination. Actually, for the manufacture of guitars, or rather the bottom deck, you need exactly wavy maple, for the top deck - light spruce, for other details - ebony and exotic rosewood. Although there were well-known masters in the former Soviet Union, there was no school of their own.
The violin is the only instrument that acts as a good resonator, and at the same time is equated to an artistic picture. Wood is beautiful when there are annual growths (rings), core rays. When everything is varnished - this is a picture. Mikhail Bondarenko believes that he has not yet made his best violin. Now the master's collection includes more than 50 stringed bowed musical instruments.
Obviously, because this instrument has always been and remains in an aura of mystery, and therefore has never been fully known by anyone. Stradivari was born in 1644. He perfected the violin. His violins have 13 overtones. Our masters reach nine. But there is one temporal pattern here: the more years the violin is, the better. That is, the violin itself is getting better and better over time. As more than 300 years ago, Stradivarius had his own secrets of making violins, so today Bondarenko has his own. A secret
Stradivari - at work. To make one violin, the master needs half a year, or even a year, you need to be able to do a lot, know, have willpower. Today Mikhail Bondarenko is an honored master of folk art, has honorary distinctions and awards. At the same time, he is not considered a master, since in the register of the state list of professions, professions violin maker No.
This situation looks somewhat different in neighboring Russia, where in 1996 Professor V.I. Its technical base and a team of scientists made it possible to launch a new specialty "Standardization and certification in the wood chemical complex", as well as to open a major department "Wood and environmental certification.
In Ukraine, the training of highly qualified specialists in the composition of wooden musical instruments can begin today on the basis of the Faculty of Woodworking Technology of the Ukrainian State Forestry Engineering University, specializing in "Technology of production of wooden musical instruments". To do this, the university has the proper material and technical means and the appropriate teaching staff, and has been conducting research on the physical, mechanical and acoustic characteristics of wood for a long time. According to the results of research works, dozens of works have been published, candidate dissertations have been defended, copyright certificates have been obtained.
The Lvov factory of musical instruments "Trembita", which employs well-known masters, can serve as a base for practical training. So, under the leadership of the factory director M.V. Kuzemsky organized serial and individual production of musical instruments: banduras (designed by Professor Gerasimenko) and guitars (designed by Gritsiv, Deinega, Varenyuk, etc.). This allows them to develop their mass production and meet the demand in domestic and foreign markets.
Wood at all times has been and remains the main structural material regarding the specification of physical, resonant, mechanical and technological properties of musical instruments.
When choosing a material, it is important to take into account the ecological environment of tree growth and its influence on the formation of wood properties. For high-quality musical instruments, folk craftsmen choose wood from tree trunks growing in shaded places on the rocky banks of mountain rivers. In such conditions, trees grow slowly, so that their wood is formed evenly. According to a long tradition, craftsmen start harvesting coniferous wood at the end of April, when the new moon appears. In a felled trunk during this period, the wood is white, light (not saturated with moisture), "healthy", pleasant smell, does not darken, does not get wet, does not rot and does not lend itself to a wormhole. Spring wood, according to music masters, has good resonance characteristics and is easy to process. Masters harvest hardwood trunks in late September - early October, again at the time of the new month. The wood of an autumn log house is heavier than spring wood (contains more moisture), does not rot, does not have a wormhole, dries longer, and is easy to process. With hardwoods, masters prefer middle-aged trees - from 20 to 30 years. Their wood is harder, the middle of the tree trunk (dry) than its sapwood, contains less oily substances, "lean". In felled trees, craftsmen cut off that part of the trunk that was returned to the sun, it is of better quality, white, has thicker and softer annual growths, is resistant to changes in temperature and air humidity, and does not deform.
Sycamore maple has good physical properties: hardness - 67 MPa, elastic modulus 9400 MPa, radiation constant - 8.9 m4/kgf. There are known ways to improve the quality of wood resonances by soaking it in an alkaline environment, in water with bacteria, as well as the natural exposure of wood in places of its felling. Exposure and periodic moistening of wood in the places of its felling contributes to the washing out of the growth substance from the sapwood part and thereby ensures the openness of the pores.
Thus, in the process of moisturizing it, the stresses formed during growth are removed and the appearance of stresses from drying out is prevented, which shortens the process. An improvement in the resonant characteristics of wood is observed when it is extracted in ether, alcohol or acetone, followed by drying. In the process of extraction, it loses turpentine and other extractive substances, which leads to a decrease in density. The most efficient wood extraction is the method using organic solvents. The assessment of the suitability of spruce wood resonances is studied on the basis of measurements of physical and acoustic characteristics by various methods. Modern equipment based on a laser interferometer makes it possible to evaluate these characteristics. The effect of ultrasonic vibrations with a frequency of 20 kHz on the passage of liquid through wood has a positive result in increasing its resonant characteristics. In sapwood, this phenomenon is more pronounced than in mature wood and characterizes the degree of penetration of liquids through the wood during the extraction process. Using the evaluation of physical and acoustic characteristics for the production of high-quality classical or concert musical instruments, select material from different parts of the barrel with the desired properties. For a comparative evaluation, high and low quality spruce and maple woods are examined for suitability in the manufacture of musical instruments. Resonance low quality wood was selected from different regions Eastern Alps (Slovakia) at an altitude of 800 to 1900 m above sea level, in the Carpathians from 800 to 1200 m above sea level, as well as on the northern slopes of the mountains, where growth conditions during the year are approximately the same.
Traditionally, spruce wood, which is most suitable for making soundboards, is selected by craftsmen according to the external signs of trees: the bark is of little appearance, has a gray color, etc. With the help of Presler borers, the width of the annual growth is determined.
The best resonance characteristics are wood from trunks over 150 years old with a width of annual increments of 0.5 - 0.8 and 4.5 - 5.0 mm. Natural atmospheric drying of resonant spruce should be at least 18 months. And for resonant wood intended for expensive musical instruments, the atmospheric drying period is much longer, usually 20 years or more.
The influence of wood on the sound of wooden musical instruments
Many of the acoustic systems and wooden musical instruments are made of wood, and for the manufacture of various parts and assemblies of musical instruments, various tree species are used. So, for the manufacture of soundboards for stringed wooden musical instruments, I use conifers: spruce, fir, cedar pine.
Of these, the main breed that is widely used is still spruce, and the best is snow-white spruce, which is grown in the Alps, from which soundboards of expensive high-quality musical instruments are made. Other parts and assemblies of wooden musical instruments (lower decks, sides, necks, etc.) are made of: maple, poplar, black walnut, rosewood, mahogany and ebony. 
Of these, the best is Indian ebony, which has unique acoustic properties. Unlike hardwood with a straight grain structure, mahogany wood has a special difference - it is a uniform tangled fiber structure, which requires additional study. It should be noted that the requirements for resonant wood have always been and will be relevant.
The wood should be straight-grained with a uniform width of annual increments and without such defects as knots, cornea and fiber slope, which adversely affect and drastically reduce the propagation of sound vibrations. Each of the above is characterized by its structure, density, porosity and viscosity, which significantly affect its acoustic properties.
Therefore, when manufacturing wooden musical instruments, it is important to evaluate its acoustic properties, since the sound quality of a wooden musical instrument depends on them. Many wooden musical instrument makers evaluate the acoustic properties of different types of wood subjectively (by ear), in particular, by its response to tapping on it.
However, in the mass production of wooden musical instruments, the objective acoustic characteristics of wood are necessary, which could be determined using measuring instruments and equipment.
Musical is a hardwood and coniferous wood that is used to make musical instruments. Wood differs from each other in a number of ways. It is necessary to distinguish between the concept of a tree, that is, a growing tree, and wood, a material obtained from a tree cut down and peeled of branches and bark. 
The trunk gives the main amount of wood, which is 50-90% of the volume of parts of a growing tree, and only the wood of the trunk is suitable for making parts of musical instruments.
The water and gas permeability of wood in the conditions of manufacturing musical instruments is primarily interesting when staining and especially dyeing, and thermal when bending parts of musical instruments. The unique sound properties of wood have made it an indispensable natural material for the manufacture of musical instruments.
The most interesting sound characteristic of wood is the speed of sound propagation in the material. This speed is different in different directions, but it is highest along the wood fibers. So, for example, sound propagates along the fibers at a speed of 4-5 thousand m/s, which is close to the speed of sound propagation in metals (copper has 3.7 thousand m/s). In other directions, the speed of sound is on average 4 times lower.
Art - project
"Secrets of Musical Instruments"
Target: introduction to musical instruments
Tasks:
1) organize the activities of students to study the history of the emergence of musical instruments, poems about them;
2) listen to musical works performed by students of the branch of the Children's School of Art and participants in the school vocal studio.
Research activities carried out in the field of music and history.
Stage 1. High school students are invited to prepare material on how musical instruments appeared (guitar, lute, viola, violin, piano, domra) and demonstrate it in the form extracurricular activities for students in grades 3-5.
stage. Planning. The students are divided into 4 groups.
Group 1 studies literary material.
Group 2 studies historical information about the emergence of tools.
3 group students of the branch music school together with their teachers learn musical works (a task is given).
Group 4 members of the school vocal studio are learning songs.
Stage 3. Research. It is carried out independently, according to the plan adopted by the group. Each has its own task.
Stage 4. Results. Collaboration to combine the information received into a single scenario, preparing a presentation.
Stage 5
Conducting an extra-curricular event "Secrets of Musical Instruments" as part of the subject week of the aesthetic cycle for middle school students.
Stage 6 Evaluation of the results (the activity of each participant, the quality and volume of the sources used, creativity are taken into account). Conclusions.
Event progress
presenter (against the background of quiet, gentle music): Good afternoon, guys!
Good afternoon, dear guests!Slide #1
We are glad to welcome you to the world of music. Yes, yes, do not be surprised, because now you are in music class. It is here that the Muses live - the patron goddesses of poetry, arts and sciences. They are 9 sisters. And their leader is a half-brother, the solar God Apollo. Get to know them:Slide #2
Eutherpa - the patroness of lyrical song and all musical
art.
Melpomene is the muse of tragedy and theatrical art.
TERPSIKHORA - patroness of dances.
ERATO - muse lyric poetry and wedding songs.
POLYHYMNIA - the patroness of hymns and chants in honor of the gods and
heroes.
Urania is the mistress of the stars and astronomy.
THALIA is the muse of comedy and humor.
Clio is the patroness of history.
CALLIOPE - the muse of the epic - a story about events assumed in the past.
Wouldn't you like to visit the past now and learn the secrets of the musical instruments that are in this class today?
What do you think, what instruments did you come up with first: strings or keyboards? (Strings).
Plucked or bowed? (plucked). And their prototype was the very bow from which primitive people hunted. More Orpheus in Ancient Greece played the lyre.Slide #3 And on this fragment (Ancient Egypt. 3 thousand years BC) a whole musical scene is depicted. The pyramid of Cheops, which became one of the reference points of historical time, had not yet risen, and guitar-like instruments were already sounding, sharing the joys and sorrows of human existence. Our first story about the guitar. It will be told to us by the muse of history Clio and the muse of the epic Calliope.
Such instruments have existed for so long that it is impossible to trace their origin without getting lost in time.
Traveling through the museums of Europe you can find ancient images ancestors of the guitar, dating back to 3-4 millennia BC. The Arab Bedouin nomads who conquered Greece and Persia in the 7th century AD were captivated by the high culture of these civilizations, partly due to the art of music. A year later, they also conquer Spain and bring elements of oriental culture to this country and import a guitar. It was in Spain that the guitar gained particular popularity and became a symbol of the entire musical art of Spain. Elastic rhythms of Spanish dances and sad melodies - everything turned out to be subject to this instrument.
(Spanish dance video)
Gradually the guitar conquers one country after another. Gradually, the design of the instrument itself also changed. In the 16th century, they played music on guitars with 4 double strings (choirs). This turned out to be not enough, so the guitar was temporarily replaced by another stringed musical instrument, the lute (slide number 4) , which had up to ten choirs of strings. It is known that the outstanding artists of the Renaissance - Caravaggio, Paolo Veronese, Tintoretto were good musicians-performers. Learning to play the lute or another instrument was considered "good manners". And Leonardo da Vinci, for example, played a lute of his own design, silver, in the form of a horse's head. However, this instrument soon lost popularity, as it was very "capricious". One journalist in the 18th century, as if not without sarcasm, wrote: “A lute player who lived to be 80 years old probably spent 60 years of them tuning his instrument, and the maintenance of a lute was as expensive as the maintenance of a horse.” Therefore, soon the lute is replaced by its rival - the viola - a kind of hybrid of the lute and the guitar. The shape of the viola was close to the guitar, only large sizes, had 5 choirs and one single string. Viola completely supplanted the guitar, which "went to the people", became a "street" instrument, accompanying folk songs and dancing. There were other hybrids, such as lyre-guitar, harp-lute (Slide #5 ).
And the guitar would have gone, sunk into oblivion... But the pulsating life is fantastic in its intricacies and unexpected plots... The guitar has risen again! And just for her "resuscitation" it was necessary to add the fifth string. And according to legend, this was done not by a musician, but by the poet Vicente Espinola, a friend of the great Cervantes and a teacher of the genius Lope de Vega. In 5-string form, the guitar is regaining popularity. A little later one of the best guitarists Spain, Ruiz de Ribayazo significantly improved the instrument, leaving one row of strings in it, which simplified its tuning and playing technique, and Jacob August Otto, the court lute player and guitarist of the Weimar princess Amelia, was the first to add a sixth to five strings. Since the middle of the 18th century, such an instrument could be found in many European countries. This type of guitar was considered classical.Slide #6
Unfortunately, due to the relatively weak sonority, the guitar was not included in the orchestra, but the 20th century breathed new life into guitar art. After many centuries, the guitar from an accompanying instrument becomes a soloist instrument. In many countries there are virtuoso guitarists performing with solo programs.
Presenter: Later, the bow was invented and our next story about the violin.Calliope: The violin is a string instrument. Bowed instruments have been known for a very long time, but they are still much younger than plucked ones. It can be considered that the motherland bowed instruments was India. And the time of birth is the initial centuries of our era. From India they came to the Persians, Arabs, peoples North Africa, and from there through the Balkan Peninsula in the 8th century - to Europe.
Changed over time, they gave birth new type stringed bowed instrument - FIDEL (Slide number 7). Subsequently, two main branches of European bowed instruments - the viol and the violin (Slide #8 ).
Violas appeared a little earlier. They were built in different sizes and held them during the game in different ways (Slide #9 ): between the knees, like a modern cello, or on the knee. Some types of viols were placed on a bench, and they were played while standing. But there was a viola that was held on the shoulder, and it served as the prototype of the violin.
Representatives of the viol and violin families occupied different "social" positions in former times. Viola was an instrument associated with the life of aristocratic circles. Her predecessors, and then herself, sounded in churches, palaces, castles, rich houses. The very soft, as if muffled sound of the viola was well heard only in a small room. The game on it was combined with the ideas of that time about beauty, with all the refined atmosphere of the salon of the 17th-18th centuries: beautiful furniture, beautiful paintings, magnificent clothes and poetic, sublime mood of people passionate about art.
With the violin, things were different. Instruments of the violin family were distributed primarily among the people. The violin was a favorite instrument of wandering musicians who entertained the people at festivities, fairs, weddings, in taverns and taverns. Many works of painting and graphics by old masters tell about this (Slide No. 10).
Listen to Frida's "Waltz" performed by an ensemble of junior violinists.
A special role in the fate of the violin was played by the new musical genre- OPERA. The violins in the orchestra took the leading place, as they naturally combined with other instruments, with the singing of the vocalists. Along with singing voices, the violin often performs as a soloist and leads important melodic lines. But the viola was not taken to the orchestra, because its sound could not fill a large hall and would have disappeared in the general sound of the orchestra.
Starting from the 16th century, the instrument itself has undergone a number of changes, giving new opportunities and perspectives to the performer: its size, structure, position of the instrument during the game have been more clearly defined; the shape of the bow has changed, as a result of which it has become lighter and more mobile.
Violin art reaches its heyday in Italy: wonderful composers create compositions for violin (Antonio Vivaldi, Nicolo Paganini, Corelli), wonderful craftsmen make amazing, magical-sounding instruments: Amati, Guarneri, Stradivari. They are still considered unsurpassed, and the secret of their sound is still shrouded in legends.
Baklanov's "Romance" is performed by Zhenya Shulyaeva
Presenter: You will probably agree with me that all tools are good in their own way. Each has its own unique timbre (sound coloring), its own attractive features. But, perhaps, none of them can compare with the piano. As a soloist, he is number one. It is indispensable in an ensemble with a voice and with other instruments, as you have already seen today. How did this tool appear and what distinguishes it from others?
The earliest ancestor of the piano is the MONOCHORD. Yes, the same monochord, which, according to legend, was invented by Pythagoras (6th century BC) and used for his musical theoretical and acoustic experiments. It would seem that what is common between a primitive single-string box and a piano - a complex musical instrument with dozens of strings, pedals and keys?
The keyboard has long been used in musical instruments. Although it is difficult to determine exactly when it appeared. There are two versions explaining this. The first is related to the evolution of the organ(Slide number 11) . Primitive organs had a system of bulky levers, pushing which the player extracted sound. It is believed that over time, retractable levers were replaced by push, that is, keys. At first they were large (over 30 cm long and about 10 cm wide), and in order to make a sound, they were hit with a fist with their elbows.
According to the second version, the keyboard first appeared on keyboard-stringed instruments. Historians who have studied the origins have found that the word is close in spelling and sound to what chess was called in the East. Then there was an assumption that the prototype of the keyboard was a chessboard. Well, maybe the black and white keyboard really originates from the alternation of black and white squares on a chessboard.
There were two main types of keyboard-stringed instruments: the clavichord and the harpsichord. (slide number 12) However, by the end of the 17th century, there were dozens of keyboards, differing appearance, variety of forms and names. One French traveler of this time wrote: “Having traveled in the course of recent months through dozens of large and small cities in Europe and showing every interest in musical instruments - ordinary and outlandish, I cannot help but note how colorful and diverse the family of instruments in which sound is extracted by means of key". And, indeed, what kind of tools were not common at that time! (slide number 13) Huge wing-shaped flugels and small, box-sized spinets, table-like virginels, pyramidal claviers, various harmoniums, on which the sound was obtained from air pumped by bellows with the help of two foot pedals(Slide number 14).
The art of the clavichord flourished in Germany, while the harpsichord and its varieties spread throughout European countries. The sound of the harpsichord - clear, crisp, sharp - was much stronger than the sound of the clavichord. However, regardless of the strength of the blow, he remained unchanged. So it turned out that on any bowed string instrument, the performer could easily increase and decrease the volume, but this was not available to the harpsichordist. Of course, this situation could not satisfy musicians and keyboardists, so in different countries of Europe there was relentless search designing a new keyboard instrument that would have a strong, flexible, dynamically changing sound.
The first to solve this problem was the Italian Bartolomeo Cristofori. In 1709, he invented a keyboard instrument, which he called "harpsichord with a soft and loud sound." This was the piano. And soon the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating a piano came to other European countries. Of course, the sound on the first models was somewhat far from modern. Gradually, as new tool improved, composers and performers are becoming more and more interested in it. By the end of the 18th century, the piano completely replaced the harpsichord, becoming, thanks to the work of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and later Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and many other composers, the most popular musical instrument.
The piano in its present form appeared only at the beginning of the 19th century. It was intended for a room where a small-sized instrument is needed and from which the fullness of the sound of a large concert grand piano was not required. Well, the piano - a kind of piano - is truly the "king" of all instruments (Slide No. 15). And so the piano lives next to us today - the most versatile instrument, most often helping us to feel the great joy of communicating with music.(Slide number 16)
Listen to a piece of music in the sound of this instrument.
Mechigan "Minor Scene". Performed by Anna Galkina.
Clio: Since ancient times, it has been said on Russian soil that all the holidays were accompanied by the balalaika and its sister domra. This tradition has been preserved and has come down to our days. Dances, songs, games - everything merged into one colorful picture of a merry festivity.
"Domrachka - sings,
Balalaika - strumming,
accordion - poured -
In the spring meadow, the fun begins.
And strumming, playing these instruments, the Russian people forgot about their hard lot.
The earliest mention of domra in Rus' is found in chronicles in the era Kyiv state(1068) - during the time of princes Olga and Vladimir. (Ancient Rus'). At first, the domra was very imperfect. They made it from a specially grown variety of pumpkin - Goryanka. Inside, the domra was embossed with fine crystal, which is why it sounded loud and clear. The strings were made from animal veins. Domra was a public instrument. The church was worried: “What, isn’t music distracting people from God too much?” These instruments were played by buffoons - itinerant musicians. They roamed the Russian land in a noisy crowd and cheered the people. There were acrobats, singers - harpists, storytellers, tightrope walkers, animal trainers. The buffoons ridiculed the boyars and princes with their sharp word for their hypocrisy, and therefore there was persecution of the buffoons. In 1551, one metropolitan turned to Tsar Ivan 4: "For God's sake, Tsar, send the buffoons to lime so that they are not in your state, otherwise you will not be saved." In 1648, another Tsar Alexei issued a decree on the complete extermination of buffoons. It said: “And where domras, sniffles, psaltery and all sorts of demonic humming vessels appear, they must be broken, burned, and some - in exile.” Five carts loaded to the top with musical instruments were taken to the Moscow River and burned. But from time to time, here and there, these instruments reappeared, because the people needed an instrument and the instrument was revived either in a round shape or triangular, made of five planks with three strings. There was a gradual transformation of domra into a balalaika. So in the 17th century, domra almost completely disappeared from everyday life.
The triangular instrument was called the balaboyka from the word "balabolit" - empty calls. They played such an instrument in the stables, in the doorways of the peasants - the poor. If we look through historical books, it says that the first mention of the balalaika dates back to 1715. Under Peter 1 was whole orchestra instruments that accompanied the procession
Presenter: So our short journey into the history of musical instruments has come to an end. I thank all the artists for giving us the pleasure of listening to live music, and in fact in our life it happens so rarely. I would like to believe that they will please us more than once and become real stars.
(Performance of the song "Constellation of Talents" by a vocal ensemble.)
See you again.
Amati made violins from pear wood and protected them with a varnish of his own making. A few words about varnish. The only thing that sounds best is that the violin is made, not varnished. The elongated soundboard of the violin along the direction of the grain of the wood from which it is made ensures the simultaneous separation of the sound wave from the entire contour of the soundboard. After all, sound waves propagate along the fiber faster than across. Deviations of the shape of the violin from the oval and cuts in the soundboard distort the sound wave, coloring the sound with overtones. An unvarnished violin sounds great, but this does not last long, as the oxygen in the air oxidizes the wood fibers, turning them into dust. In addition, such a violin will draw moisture from the air, like a sponge, which will adversely affect the sound.
What wood are musical instruments made of?
Since ancient times, people have been making primitive wooden musical instruments. Various rattles and drums, pipes and various noise instruments were used for hunting and for ritual purposes - for example, magic spells, with which shamans called up good spirits or drove out evil ones, were often accompanied by various sound effects.
With the development of civilization, a whole science arose - musical acoustics, which studies the features musical sounds how we perceive them, and the mechanisms of the sound of musical instruments. Almost all sound-producing objects can be used as musical instruments, but mankind has worked hard to create a wide variety of special devices for extracting a special sound. Wood has been and remains one of the most important materials for the manufacture of musical instruments. Guitar
and violin, cello and viola, wind instruments - flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, piano decks and many other instruments or their parts are made from various wood species. The secret is that wood has another valuable quality among its useful properties, namely, the ability to resonate, i.e., amplify the vibrations of sound waves. There are breeds that have increased resonant properties, and such breeds include the well-known European spruce, which grows in Central Europe and in European Russia. Other conifers also have good resonant properties: fir, cedar. Spruce and fir wood is used in almost all musical instruments to make soundboards. Harvested resonant wood in winter. Musical masters approach with special attention to the choice of resonant wood. The selected tree should not have flaws, and the annual layers should be of the same width.
Did you know that each breed also has its own voice? The most sonorous and melodious is in the common spruce. That, it turns out, is why Stradivari and Amati made their wonderful violins from it. To do this, the selected tree was cut down and left on the vine for three years. It gradually lost moisture, the wood became denser and lighter. As a result, musical instruments made of such wood received a special sounding power. True, it was necessary to find and choose from a large number of trees exactly the one that would sing better than others. The masters succeeded in this, and the proof of the latter is that for almost three hundred years their violins have been captivating listeners with their “voices”, able to sing, cry, suffer and rejoice.
To this day, violins and other stringed instruments - pianos, grand pianos - continue to be made from spruce wood. No other tree gives such resonance as spruce. This is due to the fact that its wood is characterized by an exceptionally uniform distribution of fibers. In addition, it is soft, light, shiny, easily pricked, durable. This is one of the “Elkin” perfections.
Spruce has other virtues as well. Pay attention to how much snow the spruce holds on its branches. Under a white fur coat, sometimes the greenest beauty is not visible. The narrow crown does not retain snow for too long; if it is in excess, it rolls off the tree. Wide branches-paws are elastic, springy. Snow bends the paw to the ground, but does not break. If there is a lot of snow, the paw is pressed more tightly against the trunk and the snow slides off it. Shaking off the snow, the spruce again proudly lifts its branches up and flaunts itself and the people marvelously. This structure of the crown allowed the spruce to ideally adapt to life in the temperate zone and become one of the most common trees.
The guitar is a unique musical instrument. In the hands of a professional, it is capable of producing such a symphony of sounds that will make the listener cry and laugh, rejoice and experience in time with a virtuoso playing. However, not everything in this case is determined by the human factor. good guitar capable of expressing the entire palette of feelings of a musician, a bad instrument will ruin the most magnificent game. The sound a guitar makes is largely determined by the type of wood it is made from. the process is time-consuming and the tree in the tool plays a decisive role. If it is “dead”, then you can’t help this guitar in any way - whatever one may say, you won’t get a good sound from it. The neck of the instrument is in most cases made of maple, the fretboard is also made of maple (Ash), or rosewood (Rosewood) or ebony (Ebony). With the body (deck), not everything is so simple. The modern industry for the production of guitars uses many types of wood from the well-known alder to the exotic "crow's eye". This is due to the fact that different types of wood have a different sound. The most popular type of wood for the production of guitars is the well-known alder (Alder). Almost the entire line of instruments of famous guitar firms Fender, Jackson and Carvin is made from it. And other firms often do not shy away from using it in production. Guitars made from alder have a well-balanced clean sound with a "juicy" mids. They are equally good at both solo “cuts” and heavy metal riffs. In my opinion, such instruments, being a kind of "golden mean", are intended for guitarists for whom there are no stereotypes in playing and thinking. Spruce (Fir) is used mainly for the production of semi-acoustic electric guitars. Gives a warm, smooth sound. If you are going to play jazz music, then this instrument will be for you. perfect choice. The main disadvantage of guitars made from spruce is their relative high price. The most resonant guitars, ideal for playing solos, are made of maple (Maple) and ash (Ash). These instruments have an accentuated attack, sounding much more "glassy" than any other type of wood. Maple and ash guitars produce a sound with pronounced high frequencies. These woods are perfect for solos and not great for rhythm. Thus, if you dream of playing music a la Joe Satriani, then ash and maple are the ideal material for the guitar. Walnut is quite widely used for high-end acoustic guitars. Most of the exclusive instruments of world famous masters are made from this material. In the production of electric guitars, it is used only for fretboards and for body veneer. From poplar (Poplar) produce guitars of the so-called "student instrument" category. As you know, poplar wood is very soft, which negatively affects the sound quality. Most often, tools of the lowest price category are produced from it. Mahogany (Mahogany) is used in the manufacture of guitars for "heavy" styles. The sound of such instruments is distinguished by a warm and juicy middle, has deep lows and smoothed highs. Mahogany guitars have no equal in terms of low end sound quality (only instruments made from the exotic bubinga tree sound better). The types of wood described above are far from a complete list of materials used in the manufacture of guitars. These are just the most common. There are many exotic breeds such as Paduac, Koa or the same bubinga, which are used for the production of exclusive instruments.
The tree certainly plays important role in how the future instrument will sound. However, let's not forget that this is just a tree. Only in the hands of an experienced master does it take on the form of an instrument capable of becoming a continuation of the body and soul of the musician.
31.12.2015 16:19
Traditionally, musical instruments are made from materials with high quality resonant properties, aged in natural environment for many years to maintain acoustic qualities and a stable structure. The resonance tree is harvested exclusively in the cold season. Spruce and fir are unique in their musical properties.
To create a deck in almost every musical instrument, spruce or fir is taken. Specialists with particular care choose the so-called resonant wood. The tree trunk should not have flaws and be with equally wide growth rings. Wood dries naturally for ten years or more. In the manufacture of musical instruments, the resonant properties of wood species are of exceptional importance. In this case, the trunk of spruce, Caucasian fir and Siberian cedar is more suitable than others, since their radiation power is the greatest. For this reason, these types of wood are included in GOST.
One of the necessary requirements when creating musical instruments is the choice of wood. Most Interest For craftsmen, for many centuries, resonant spruce species have been represented. It was difficult to acquire raw materials of the required quality, so the craftsmen had to independently harvest wood in the manufacture of tools.
Quite a long time ago, the places of spruce growth with the necessary properties became known. The chief violin maker of the Russian trend of the 20th century, E.F. Vitachek, marked in his works the territories where spruce grew. In the Saxon and Bohemian types of spruce a large number of resin, it cannot be used in the manufacture of instruments of the highest class ... Spruce from Italy and Tyrol was considered the best raw material ... Luten makers ordered Tyrolean wood from the city of Füssen, which is between Bavaria and Tyrol, and the Italian species from the port of Fiume on the Adriatic.
In the mountains near Fiume in Italy, forests practically do not grow. Therefore, we can assume that the spruce was not from Italy, but from Croatia or Bosnia. There was also an additional territory from where spruce was brought for craftsmen from Italy - these were the Black Sea port cities - spruce from Russia, the Caucasus and from the Carpathians. As Vitachek wrote, since N. Amati worked, spruce is more often used on the outer decks of instruments, which is heavier, denser and rougher, while maple, on the contrary, has a low density. This is a very good combination: the sound becomes similar to the sound of a human voice. Italian masters have always used just such a combination of maple and unctuous wood.
However, spruce can have such properties only if it grows at the right level relative to the sea surface, that is, in the Alps or in the Caucasus. A variety of the Picea orientalis breed, which grows in the highlands of the Caucasus and Asia Minor at an altitude of one to two and a half kilometers, is similar in its qualities to the best types of spruce in the European highlands. As a rule, it grows next to Nordmann or Caucasian fir (Abies nord-manniana), which also has excellent acoustic characteristics. The famous Russian violin makers of the early 20th century, in most cases, used spruce from the Caucasus to create their instruments.
Types of wood used in the manufacture of musical instruments
When creating low-cost plucked tools, it is possible to use waste from woodworking factories, beams and boards of houses intended for demolition, parts of furniture and waste containers. But these materials need special drying and selection. When creating high-quality tools, it is required to use uncommon types of trees.
Spruce
Instrument decks and other parts are made of resonant spruce. Different subspecies of spruce grow almost everywhere in Russia. Spruce is taken as a resonant one, mainly in the central part of Russia. The firs of the north of Russia are more popular and better in terms of their physical and mechanical qualities. One of the best features is the presence of small growth rings, making the tree elastic and suitable as a resonator.
Resonant trees are selected from the main amount of prepared sawn timber in forestry warehouses. These logs go to sawmills where they are sawn into 16mm boards. In order to acquire more wood, logs are sawn in six steps.
On wood for musical instruments there should be no knots, pockets with resin, sagging and other flaws. This is a strict quality requirement. Spruce wood has a white color and a slight yellow tint, and when in contact with open air become quite yellow over time. Layered planing and scraping of spruce occurs without problems with a clean and glossy cut. Sanding gives the wood surface a velvety finish and a slight matte sheen.
Fir
In addition to spruce, to obtain resonant wood, you can take fir growing in the Caucasus. It does not have many differences from spruce, both externally and when checking physical and mechanical parameters.
Birch
Birch forests make up two thirds total forests of Russia In industrial production, warty birch and downy birch are used. Birch wood is white in color, sometimes has a yellowish or reddish tint, and is easy to process. During tinting, the dye is absorbed evenly, and the tone is even. If birch wood is dried evenly and aged for a sufficient amount of time, then it can be used in the manufacture of parts of musical instruments such as fretboards and staves. In addition, plywood is made from birch, which is used for the production of guitar bodies. Tools are trimmed with clean or painted birch veneer.
Beech
Beech is often used in the manufacture of musical instruments. Parts of the necks, stands and bodies of the harp and other parts of the plucked instruments in the music industry are made of beech wood. Beech grows in the southeastern part of Russia. The color of the beech wood is pinkish with a mottled pattern. The good resonant properties of beech make it suitable for instrument making. Beech wood is processed and polished by hand. When stained, stripes remain on the surface, which are visible when finished with a clear varnish.
Hornbeam
To imitate ebony, dyed hornbeam is used in the manufacture of necks and bodies. Also, hornbeam wood has a solid and durable structure. The hornbeam grows on the Crimean peninsula and in the mountains of the Caucasus. Hornbeam wood is white with a gray tint. The wood is planed well, but it is difficult to polish.
Maple
Maple is just as in demand in the creation of expensive musical instruments as resonant spruce. Maple wood stringed bodies give a good sound. Maple species sycamore and holly are used most widely. These species grow on the Crimean Peninsula, in the foothills of the Caucasus, and in Ukraine. Maple wood bends well, and its wood pulp has a significant density and viscosity. The texture is stripes of dark color on a pink-gray background. When applying varnish on sycamore maple, a beautiful mother-of-pearl surface is obtained. If staining is done correctly, this property of maple is enhanced.
Red tree
This name bears several types of wood with different shades of red. Basically, this is the name of mahogany, which grows in Central America. This type of wood is also used for the production of necks, as it has good mechanical properties. If you cut the trunk across and make a transparent finish, then it will look very beautiful, although it is inconvenient for processing.
Rosewood
These are several breeds that grow in South America. Rosewood wood lends itself well to cutting and polishing, but in this case it is necessary to fill the pores and polish. During processing, a special sweetish smell appears. Rosewood has very hard and strong fibers, purple to chocolate color, it is used in the creation of stringed instruments.
Ebony
A type of ebony tree that grows in South India. The best necks and bodies are made from ebony wood. The highest mechanical qualities of wood provide the tools with the necessary strength and hardness. With a greater weight of the neck when using ebony wood, the center of gravity of the instrument shifts towards the neck, this is very much appreciated by professional performers. The ebony carapace, when properly polished, avoids overtones if the plectrum jumps off the string. Ebony fretboards are abrasion resistant and provide excellent fret grip.
Krylov Boris Petrovich (1891-1977) Harmonist. 1931
The Russian people have always surrounded their lives with songs and music flowing from folk instruments. From an early age, everyone had the skills to make simple instruments, and knew how to play them. So a whistle or an ocarina can be made from a piece of clay, and a ratchet from a plank.
In ancient times, people were closer to nature and learned from it, so folk instruments were created on the basis of the sounds of nature and were made from natural materials. After all, nowhere is beauty and harmony felt so much as when playing a folk musical instrument, and nothing is closer to a person than the sounds of an instrument familiar from childhood.
For a Russian person in the 21st century, an accordion is such a native instrument, but what about all the others ... Stop now young man and ask him to name at least a few folk instruments known to him, this list will be very small, not to mention playing them. But this is a huge layer of Russian culture, which is almost forgotten.
Why have we lost this tradition? Why don't we know our folk instruments and don't hear their beautiful sounds?
It is difficult to answer this question, time passed, something was forgotten, something was forbidden, for example, medieval Christian Rus' more than once took up arms against folk musicians. Peasants and city dwellers, under the threat of a fine, were forbidden to keep folk instruments, especially to play them.
“So that they (peasants) don’t play demonic games in snuffles and harps and horns and domras and don’t keep them in their houses ... And who, forgetting the fear of God and the hour of death, will instruct to play and keep all sorts of games at home - to correct penalties five rubles per person.(From legal acts of the 17th century.)
With the advent of electronic instruments and musical recordings on records and disks, a person generally forgot how to play independently and, moreover, make musical instruments.
Perhaps the case is different, and everything can be more than attributed to the mercilessness of time, but the disappearance, and the mass one, began a long time ago and is rapidly progressing. We are losing our traditions, originality - we keep pace with the times, we have adapted, we caress our ears with “waves and frequencies” ...
So, the rarest Russian folk musical instruments, or those that may simply disappear very soon. Perhaps very soon, most of them will gather dust on the shelves of museums, as silent rare exhibits, although they were originally created for more festive events ...
1. Gusli
Nikolai Zagorsky David plays the harp in front of Saul. 1873 Gusli is a stringed musical instrument, most common in Russia. It is the most ancient Russian string plucked musical instrument.
There are pterygoid and helmet-shaped gusli. The first, in later samples, have a triangular shape and from 5 to 14 strings tuned in steps of the diatonic scale, helmet-shaped - 10-30 strings of the same tuning.
Musicians who play the harp are called harpists.
History of the harp
The gusli is a musical instrument, a variety of which is the harp. Also, the ancient Greek cithara is similar to the harp (there is a hypothesis that it is she who is the ancestor of the harp), the Armenian canon and the Iranian santur.
The first reliable references to the use of Russian gusli are found in Byzantine sources of the 5th century. The heroes of the epic played the harp: Sadko, Dobrynya Nikitich, Boyan. In the great monument of ancient Russian literature, "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" (XI - XII centuries), the image of a guslar-narrator is poetically sung:
“Boyan, brethren, not 10 falcons for a herd of swans more densely, but his own things and fingers on live strings in full; they themselves are the prince of the glory of the rumble.
2. Pipe
Heinrich Semiradsky Shepherd playing the flute. Svirel - Russian double-barreled wind instrument; a kind of double-barreled longitudinal flute. One of the trunks usually has a length of 300-350 mm, the second - 450-470 mm. At the top end of the barrel there is a whistle device, at the bottom there are 3 side holes for changing the pitch of sounds.
In everyday language, a flute is often called wind instruments such as single-barreled or double-barreled flutes.
It is made from a tree with a soft core, elder, willow, bird cherry.
It is assumed that the flute migrated to Russia from Ancient Greece. In ancient times, the flute was a musical wind instrument consisting of seven reed tubes of different lengths connected to each other. According to ancient Greek mythology, Hermes invented it to amuse himself when he was tending cows. This musical instrument is still very much loved by the shepherds of Greece.
3. Balalaika
Some attribute the word "balalaika" Tatar origin. The Tatars have the word "bala" meaning "child". It may have served as the source of the origin of the words "balakat", "balabonit", etc. containing the concept of unreasonable, as if childish chatter.
There are very few references to the balalaika even in the 17th - 18th century. In some cases, there are indeed hints that in Russia there was an instrument of the same type with the balalaika, but most likely it mentions domra, the ancestor of the balalaika.
Under Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, domrachi players were attached to the palace amusing chamber. Under Alexei Mikhailovich, instruments were persecuted. By this time, i.e. the 2nd half of the 17th century probably refers to the renaming of domra into balalaika.
For the first time, the name "balalaika" is found in written monuments from the time of Peter the Great. In 1715, during the celebration of a comic wedding arranged by order of the king, balalaikas were mentioned among the instruments that appeared in the hands of the dressed participants in the ceremony. Moreover, these instruments were given into the hands of a group of Kalmyks dressed up.
During the XVIII century. The balalaika spread widely among the Great Russian people, becoming so popular that it was recognized as the oldest instrument, and even assigned Slavic origin to it.
Russian origin can only be attributed to the triangular outline of the body or body of the balalaika, which replaced the round shape of the domra. The shape of the balalaika of the 18th century differed from the modern one. The neck of the balalaika was very long, about 4 times longer than the body. The tool body was narrower. In addition, balalaikas found on ancient popular prints equipped with only 2 strings. The third string was a rare exception. The strings of the balalaika are metal, which gives the sound a specific shade - the sonority of the timbre.
In the middle of the XX century. a new hypothesis was put forward that the balalaika existed long before it was mentioned in written sources, i.e. existed next to the domra. Some researchers believe that the domra was a professional instrument of buffoons and, with their disappearance, lost a wide musical practice.
The balalaika is a purely folk instrument and, therefore, more resilient.
At first, the balalaika spread mainly in the northern and eastern provinces of Russia, usually accompanying folk dance songs. But already in the middle of the 19th century, the balalaika was very popular in many places in Russia. It was played not only by village boys, but also by serious court musicians, such as Ivan Khandoshkin, I.F. Yablochkin, N.V. Lavrov. However, by the middle of the 19th century, an harmonica was found almost everywhere next to it, which gradually replaced the balalaika.
4. Bayan
Bayan is one of the most perfect chromatic harmonics existing at the present time. For the first time the name "button accordion" is found in posters and advertisements since 1891. Until that time, such an instrument was called a harmonica.
The harmonica originated from an Asian instrument called the shen. Shen was known in Russia for a very long time, in the X-XIII centuries during the period of the Tatar-Mongol rule. Some researchers argue that the shen traveled from Asia to Russia, and then to Europe, where it was improved and became a widespread, truly popular musical instrument throughout Europe - the harmonica.
In Russia, a certain impetus to the spread of the instrument was the purchase by Ivan Sizov at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair in 1830 of a hand harmonica, after which he decided to open a harmonica workshop. By the forties of the 19th century, the first factory of Timofey Vorontsov appeared in Tula, which produced 10,000 harmonicas a year. This contributed to the widest distribution of the instrument, and by the middle of the 19th century. the harmonica becomes a symbol of a new folk musical instrument. She is an obligatory participant in all folk festivals and festivities.
If in Europe the harmonica was made musical masters, then in Russia, on the contrary, the harmonica created masters from craftsmen. Therefore, in Russia, as in no other country, there is such a wealth of purely national harmonica constructions, which differ not only in form, but also in the variety of the scale. The repertoire, for example, of the Saratov harmonica cannot be performed on livenka, the repertoire of livenka on Bologoevka, etc. The name of the harmonica was determined by the place where it was made.
Tula handicraftsmen were the first in Rus' to make harmonicas. Their first TULA harmonicas had only one row of buttons on the right and left hand (single row). On the same basis, models of very small concert harmonicas - TURTLES began to develop. Very sonorous and vociferous they made an impression on the audience, although it was a more eccentric number than the music.
The Saratov harmonicas that appeared after the Tula harmonicas were structurally no different from the first ones, but the Saratov masters were able to find an unusual sounding timbre by adding bells to the design. These harmonicas have gained great popularity among the people.
Vyatka handicraftsmen expanded the sound range of harmonicas (they added buttons to the left and right hands). The version of the instrument invented by them was called the VYATSKAYA accordion.
All of these instruments had a feature - the same button for opening and closing the bellows made different sounds. These accordions had one common name - TALIANKI. Talyanki could be with the Russian or German system. When playing such harmonicas, it was necessary, first of all, to master the technique of playing with bellows in order to correctly deduce the melody.
The problem was solved by LIVENSKIE handicraftsmen. On the accordions of the Liven masters, the sound did not change when the fur was changed. Harmonicas did not have straps that were thrown over the shoulder. On the right and left sides, short straps clasped the hands. The Liven harmonica had incredibly long furs. Such an accordion could literally be wrapped around itself, because. when the fur was fully stretched, its length reached two meters.
Absolute world accordion champions Sergei Voitenko and Dmitry Khramkov. The duo has already managed to conquer a huge number of listeners with their artistry. The next stage in the development of accordions were double-row harmonicas, the design of which came to Russia from Europe. A two-row accordion could also be called a “two-row” accordion, because. behind each row of buttons in right hand fixed a certain sound. Such harmonicas are called RUSSIAN WREATHS.
Currently, all the harmonicas listed above are a rarity.
Bayan owes its appearance to a talented Russian master - designer Peter Sterligov. From 1905 to 1915, Sterligov's chromatic harmonicas (later button accordions) improved so rapidly that even today factory instruments are made according to their latest samples.
This instrument was made popular by an outstanding musician - accordionist Yakov Fedorovich Orlansky-Titarenko. The master and virtuoso named the instrument in honor of the legendary Russian musician, storyteller and singer Boyan - "button accordion". It was in 1907. Since that time, the button accordion has existed in Rus' - the instrument is now so popular that there is no need to talk about how it looks.
Perhaps the only tool that does not pretend to premature disappearance and "decommissioning to the shelf" within the framework of this article. But it would also be wrong not to talk about it. Let's go further...
5. Xylophone
Xylophone (from the Greek xylon - wood, wood and phone - sound) is a percussion instrument with a certain pitch, the design of which consists of a set of wooden bars (plates) of various sizes.
Xylophones come in 2-row and 4-row xylophones.
A four-row xylophone is played with two curved spoon-shaped sticks with a thickening at the ends, which the musician holds in front of him at an angle parallel to the plane of the instrument. at a distance of 5-7 cm from plates. The two-row xylophone is played with three and four sticks. The basic principle of playing the xylophone is the exact alternation of strokes of both hands.
Xylophone has ancient origin- the simplest instruments of this type have been and are still found among different peoples of Russia, Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America. In Europe, the first mention of the xylophone dates back to the beginning of the 16th century.
Russian folk instruments also include: horn, tambourine, jew's harp, domra, zhaleyka, kalyuka, kugikly, spoons, ocarina, flute, ratchet and many others.
I would like to believe that the Great Country will be able to revive folk traditions, festivities, festivities, national costumes, songs, dances ... to the sounds of real native Russian musical instruments.
And I will end the article on an optimistic note - watch the video to the end - good mood everyone!
In my hands is the soul of Russia,
a piece of Russian antiquity,
When they asked to sell the accordion,
I answered: "She has no price."
Priceless music of the people,
that lives in the songs of the Motherland,
Her melody is nature,
how that balm pours on the heart.
Not enough gold and money
to buy my accordion,
And the one whose ear she touches,
can't live without her.
Play, accordion without a break,
and wiping his sweaty forehead,
I will give you boy
I'll put a friend on the coffin!
