Making a musical instrument has been a sacrament for many years. Types of wood for making musical instruments

04.02.2019

Art - project

"Secrets 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 are carried out in the field of music and history.

Stage 1. High school students are invited to prepare material on how musical instruments (guitar, lute, viola, violin, piano, domra) appeared and demonstrate it as an extracurricular activity 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.

Group 3 students of the branch of the 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 step-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 supposed 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 they hunted primitive people. 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 museums in Europe, you can find the oldest images of the ancestors of the guitar, dating back to 3-4 millennia BC. Arab Bedouin nomads who conquered Greece and Persia in the 7th century AD were subjugated high culture these civilizations are partly due to the art of music. A year later, they also conquer Spain and bring elements of Eastern culture and bring the 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.

(video clip Spanish dance)

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 performing musicians. Learning to play the lute or another instrument was considered " good tone". 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, 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 new musical genre, OPERA, which was born at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, played a special role in the fate of the violin. The violins in the orchestra took leading place, as they naturally combined with other instruments, with the singing of vocalists. Along with singing voices the violin often solos, leading 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 in appearance, variety of forms and names. One French traveler of this time wrote: “Having traveled in continuation 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 the sound is extracted by means of the 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 In Europe, there was a relentless search for the design of 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 musical composition 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 Russia is found in chronicles in the era Kyiv state(1068) - during the time of princes Olga and Vladimir. (Ancient Russia). 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.

31.12.2015 16:19


Traditionally, musical instruments are made from materials with resonant properties. High Quality, aged in the 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 species, a large amount of resin was ate, 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 Italian view 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 like the sound 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 is white with a slight yellow tint, and when exposed to open air becomes 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 of the total forests in Russia. 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 such parts of musical instruments 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.

The 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.

23.09.2013

The history of the emergence of Russians folk instruments goes into the distant past. frescoes Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, iconographic materials, miniatures of handwritten books, popular prints testify to the diversity of the musical instruments of our ancestors. The ancient musical instruments discovered by archaeologists are true material evidence of their existence in Russia. In the recent past, the daily life of the Russian people was unthinkable without musical instruments. Almost all of our ancestors owned the secrets of making simple sound instruments and passed them down from generation to generation. Familiarity with the secrets of craftsmanship was instilled from childhood, in games, in work that was feasible for children's hands. Watching the work of the elders, teenagers received the first skills in creating the simplest musical instruments. Time passed. The spiritual ties of generations were gradually broken, their continuity was interrupted. With the disappearance of the folk musical instruments that once ubiquitous in Russia, the mass familiarization with the national musical culture.

Nowadays, unfortunately, there are not so many craftsmen left who have preserved the traditions of creating the simplest musical instruments. In addition, they create their masterpieces only for individual orders. The manufacture of tools on an industrial basis is associated with considerable financial costs hence their high cost. Not everyone can afford to buy a musical instrument today. That is why there was a desire to collect materials in one article that will help everyone to make this or that instrument with their own hands. Around us are a large number of familiar materials of plant and animal origin, which we sometimes do not pay attention to. Any material will sound if skillful hands touch it:

From a nondescript piece of clay, you can make a whistle or an ocarina;

Birch bark, taken from a birch trunk, will turn into a large horn with a beep;

A plastic tube will acquire sound if a whistle device and holes are made in it;

Many different percussion instruments can be made from wooden blocks and plates.

Based on publications about Russian folk instruments and experience different people in their preparation, recommendations were made that may be useful in the process of working on them.

* * *

For many peoples, the origin of musical instruments is associated with the gods and lords of thunderstorms, blizzards and winds. The ancient Greeks attributed the invention of the lyre to Hermes: he made an instrument by stretching the strings on a tortoise shell. His son, a forest demon and the patron of shepherds, Pan was certainly depicted with a flute consisting of several stems of reeds (Pan's flute).

In German fairy tales, the sound of a horn is often mentioned, in Finnish - a five-stringed kantele harp. In Russian fairy tales, warriors appear to the sounds of a horn and pipe, against which no force can withstand; miraculous gusli-samoguds themselves play, sing songs themselves, make them dance without rest. in Ukrainian and Belarusian fairy tales even animals danced to the sounds of bagpipes (dudu).

The historian, folklorist A.N. Afanasiev, author of the work "Poetic views of the Slavs on nature", wrote that various musical tones, born when the wind blows in the air, identify "expressions for wind and music": from the verb "to blow" came - duda , pipe, blow; Persian. dudu - the sound of a flute; German blasen - blow, winnow, trumpet, play a wind instrument; beep and harp - from buzz; buzz - the word used by the Little Russians to denote the blowing wind; compare: nozzle, sipovka from snotty, sniffle (hiss), hoarse, whistle - from whistle.

Wind music sounds are created by blowing air into the instrument. The breath of the wind was perceived by our ancestors as coming from the open mouths of the gods. The fantasy of the ancient Slavs brought together the howling of the storm and the whistling of the winds with singing and music. So there were legends about singing, dancing, playing musical instruments. Mythical representations, combined with music, made them a sacred and necessary accessory of pagan rites and holidays.

No matter how imperfect the first musical instruments were, nevertheless, they required the ability of musicians to make and play them.

For centuries, the improvement of folk instruments and the selection of the best samples did not stop. Musical instruments took on new forms. There were constructive solutions for their manufacture, methods for extracting sounds, playing techniques. The Slavic peoples were the creators and keepers of musical values.

The ancient Slavs honored their ancestors and glorified the Gods. The glorification of the Gods was performed in front of the sacred goddesses in temples or under open sky. Ceremonies in honor of Perun (god of thunder and lightning), Stribog (god of the winds), Svyatovid (god of the Sun), Lada (goddess of love), etc. were accompanied by singing, dancing, playing musical instruments and ended with a common feast. The Slavs revered not only invisible deities, but also their habitats: forests, mountains, rivers and lakes.

According to researchers, song and instrumental art of those years developed in close relationship. It is possible that ritual chanting contributed to the birth of instruments with the establishment of their musical structure, since temple songs-prayers were performed with musical accompaniment.

The Byzantine historian Theophylact Simokatta, the Arab traveler Al-Masudi, the Arab geographer Omar ibn Dast confirm the existence of musical instruments among the ancient Slavs. The last one in his "Book precious treasures"writes:" They have all sorts of lutes, psaltery and pipes ..."

In Essays on the History of Music in Russia from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century, the Russian musicologist N. F. Findeisen notes: splendor, they would not be able to make their own musical instruments, completely regardless of whether there were similar instruments in neighboring regions.

There are few references to the ancient Russian musical culture.

Musical art of Kievan Rus

According to researchers, the following musical instruments were known in Kievan Rus:

Wooden pipes and horns (horns for military and hunting);

Bells, clay whistles (ceremonial);

Pan flute, consisting of several reed tubes of different lengths fastened together (wind ritual);

Gusli (string);

Nozzle and flute (wind instruments yards long);

In preparing the article, materials were used:


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Nicolo Amati (Italian Nicolo Amati) (December 3, 1596 - April 12, 1684) - one of the most famous masters of the Amati family. Creator of many stringed instruments, including cellos. The teacher of such illustrious masters of creationstring instruments like Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri.

Biography

Nicolò Amati was born on December 3, 1596 in Cremona. His father was Girolamo (Jeronimus) Amati, the son of Andrea Amati, the founder of the violin school. He, like his entire family, lived and worked in Cremona. Nicolo is the most famous representative families.

Amati brought the type of violin developed by his predecessors to perfection. In some large-format violins (364-365 mm) of the so-called Grand Amati, he enhanced the sound while maintaining the softness and tenderness of the timbre. With the elegance of form, his instruments make a more monumental impression than the work of his predecessors. The varnish is golden yellow with a slight brown tint, sometimes red. The cellos of Nicolo Amati are also excellent. Very few violins and cellos, created by the most famous of the masters of the Amati family - Nicolo, have survived - just over 20.

Also one of his students was his son Girolamo Amati II (1649-1740). But he did not justify the hopes of his father, and under him the famous school was closed.

STRADIVARI, Stradivarius Antonio (c. 1644-1737) - Italian violin maker, student of the famous N. Amati. From a young ageyears until the last days of his life, Stradivari worked in his workshop, driven by the desire to bring the violin to supreme perfection. More than 1,000 instruments have been preserved, made by the great master and distinguished by the elegance of form and unsurpassed sound qualities. Stradivari's successors were masters C. Bergonzi (1683-1747) and J. Guarneri (1698-1744). The famous violin maker I. A. Batov was called the “Russian Stradivarius”.

Ivan Andreevich Batov(1767 - 1841, St. Petersburg) - the first famous Russian master of musical instruments.
He was a serf of Count N. I. Sheremetev. He studied in Moscow with the master Vladimirov. He made musical instruments on the count's estate near Moscow for his orchestra. From 1803 he lived in St. Petersburg. Sheremetev wished that Batov also learned a new craft for those times - piano making. Batov learned this from Master Gauk. Sheremetev allowed him to take orders only from musicians. According to legend, Batov made the violinist and balalaika player Prince Potemkin from an old coffin board a balalaika, for which Count A. G. Orlov offered a thousand rubles. Batov repeatedly repaired instruments for the musicians of the royal court. In 1822 he received from D. N. Sheremetev a free, according to the stories, for the cello of his work. I. A. Batov achieved special skill in the manufacture of stringed instruments - guitars, violins, cellos. He considered the manufacture of double basses to be a thankless task, he made them only in Vladimirov's workshop.

During his life, Batov created 41 violins, 3 violas, 6 cellos and 10 guitars. Restored many old violins Italian work. Batov paid special attention to the quality of wood for tools. He did not spare money to purchase it and often bought old doors and gates for the material.

Krasnoshchekov I. Ya.
Ivan Yakovlevich (30 I (10 II) 1798, Znamenka village of Zaraisky near Ryazan province - 19 (31) VII 1875, Moscow) - Russian. instr. master.He studied from 1810 with M. Dubrovin in Moscow, where in 1824 he opened his own. workshop. Produced premium. 7-string guitars as well as violins. The instruments of his work were played by almost all prominent Russian. guitarists. He was friendly with M. T. Vysotsky, he used his advice. Instruments K., distinguished by a soft silvery timbre sound and fine arts. decoration, highly valued. In 1872, the guitar of his work was awarded a gold medal at the Moscow. Polytechnic exhibition.

Semyon Ivanovich Nalimov(1857-1916) - an outstanding Vilgort master of stringed Russian folk instruments, who created wonderful samples of balalaikas, domras and gusli of various sizes and systems and gained fame as "Komi Stradivari".

In 1886, S. I. Nalimov made his first domra, a musical instrument that had long been out of use.Nalimov gave this instrument a new life. S. I. Nalimov made over 250 instruments. The tools made by the master were highly valued by specialists and were awarded a bronze medal at world exhibition in Paris in 1900 and a gold medal at the exhibition " Music world Petersburg in 1907. Outstanding Master for the manufacture of stringed Russian folk instruments, who created wonderful samples of balalaikas, domras and gusli of various sizes and systems. He worked with the Great Russian Orchestra of V. V. Andreev, in a workshop specially equipped for him in the estate of V. V. Andreev (the village of Maryino, Bezhetsky district, Tver province).

"The technique of making balalaikas and domra Semyon Ivanovich Nalimova was out of reach - that in connection with the selection of the bestmaterial makes each instrument released from his hands - the ideal of perfection, ”wrote Nikolai Privalov in the article“ Balalaika Stradivarius ”. In addition to excellent musical and acoustic data, Nalimov's instruments are distinguished by their rare elegance in shape and the beauty of their external finish. In addition to the label pasted inside the case indicating the name of the master, date and serial number, all Nalimov's instruments have a special mark in the form of a coat of arms inlaid with colored wood in the upper right corner of the head. “The Great Russian orchestra would never have been brought to the present degree of instrumental perfection if Andreev had not been lucky enough to meet and recruit S. I. Nalimov for himself.” The joint work of Andreev with Nalimov and other masters and musicians led to the fact that Russian folk musical instruments gained worldwide fame.

http://slovari.yandex.ru

ARHUZEN Robert Ivanovich(born October 4, 1844, St. Petersburg, - died January 20, 1920, Moscow), is a famous Russian guitar master. The son of the famous instrumental master I.F. Arhuzen, younger brother F.I. Arhuzen. Received home education. From the age of fourteen he studied the art of making musical instruments from his father. He worked first in St. Petersburg, and since 1875 - in Moscow. He was one of the best Russian guitar masters. The instruments of his work, distinguished by the strength and variety of sound, the beauty of the timbre, the elegance of the finish, were highly valued and awarded at the All-Russian Industrial Exhibitions in 1871, 1872 and 1882. He began his activity with the manufacture of inexpensive guitars - 25 rubles apiece, and at the insistence of V.A. Rusanova began to design them of very high quality, in connection with which the price also rose - up to 200 rubles. Designing one guitar took up to a month of work. The best guitar R.I. Arhuzen is considered to be a large guitar, presented to him in the summer of 1908 by V.A. Rusanov. Among the best tertz guitars is an eleven-string instrument made in 1908, made by order of V.P. Mashkevich. Of the family of guitar makers, Arkhuzenov enjoyed the greatest fame.

ARKHUZEN Ivan (Johann) Fedorovich (born 1795, Copenhagen, Denmark, - d. February 21, 1870, St. Petersburg, Russia), is a famous instrumental master. Father of guitar makers R.I. and F.I.Arkhuzenov. From the age of three until the end of his life he lived in St. Petersburg. In his youth, he worked at the Brel tool factory. In 1818 he opened his own workshop for the manufacture of harps, guitars and pianos, where he made good, but expensive instruments (guitars for 40 rubles apiece and more). In 1856, one of the guitars of I.F. Arhuzen was awarded the second prize (500 francs) for the best instrument on international competition guitarists in Brussels organized by N.P. Makarov (the guitar of the Austrian master I. Scherzer received the first prize).

ARKHUZEN Fedor Ivanovich - guitar master, son and student of I.F. Arhuzen, elder brother of R.I. Arhuzen. After the death of his father, he worked with his brother in St. Petersburg, and after the latter left for Moscow in 1875, he continued to work independently. Instruments F.I. Arhuzen are distinguished by solid construction and clean work. The master imitated the Scherzer model, but made guitars with a very large scale - 66.0 - 66.5 cm with a body length of 46.5 - 48.0 cm, and also went his own way, making various experiments. This is evidenced by the guitar of his work in 1890 with four soundboards (upper, two lower and one inside the body)

http://guitar-nsk.ru/

Guitar masters. Austria

* Scherzer, Johann Gottfried (Scherzer, Johann Gottfried). – Vienna.

Renowned guitar maker. He apparently came from Vogtland. In addition to guitars, he designed mandolins and violins. A very cultured craftsman who introduced many innovations (metal rod inside the body, second bottom soundboard, hidden ivory mechanics, etc.). Designed guitars in three sizes: quart, tertz and large. All the time he strove to enhance the tone of the instrument and in this regard increased the size of its body. Scherzer introduced the Ferrari ten-string guitar into Austria, designed the Petzval harp guitar, kept in the collection of the Vienna Friends of Music Society, and, commissioned by M.D. Sokolovsky, a seventeen-string guitar. He independently set up several experiments on acoustics and contributed a lot to physicists and scientists, willingly going towards the implementation of their ideas. He lived first at 65 Gundstromstrasse and then at 99 Margaretenstrasse.

F. Buek in his book "Die Gitarre und ihre Meiser" says the following about Scherzer:

“Johann Gottfried Scherzer /1834-1870/ seems to have been a student of Johann Georg Staufer. He had his workshop at Gundsturmstrasse, No. 65, and later at Margaretenstrasse, No. 99. His guitars were noted for their large format, clean workmanship and strong tone. He was the first to introduce additional basses on a six-string guitar, and also used mechanics instead of wooden tuning pegs. The Russian virtuoso guitarist Makarov, who found and ordered many guitars from him in Vienna, called him the best guitar maker in Germany and preferred his instruments over all the instruments of that time. Therefore, Scherzer's guitars in large numbers went to Russia, and they were used mainly by professional guitarists and virtuosos. The Russian virtuoso guitarist Sokolovsky owned a Scherzer guitar, as did his followers Solovyov and Lebedev. In Brussels, at the Makarov competition, Scherzer received the First Prize for a guitar with three additional basses. The virtuoso guitarist Sokolovsky ordered Scherzer a guitar with fifteen basses. When this instrument passed the Russian border, the customs did not know what to call it, since guitars of this shape and volume were not known. Due to the fact that this instrument could not be attributed to an ordinary guitar, they gave it the name "harp guitar" and considered it a transition from a harp to a guitar. A peculiar pear-shaped guitar with a very wide body and a scale length of 59 cm also belongs to Mr. Kern from the Munich Guitar Quartet. This great sounding and cleanly made instrument is one of the solo guitars that originated in Vienna, were made for small hands and later rebuilt by instrument maker Lux and others. These guitars, which are always pear-shaped, have the same pitch as a prim guitar. Scherzer's guitars, like concert ones, fell into disuse. contemporary artists, as the bass character makes them unsuitable for solo playing, and the neck does not meet modern requirements. As an accompaniment instrument, these guitars are of great service, as Sepp Summer testifies."

This note requires some adjustments, namely:

1.) If 1834 is indicated as the date of Scherzer's birth, then this is a mistake, since it cannot be that he worked as an apprentice under the age of 16 with Staufer, who died in 1850. Makarov, who found Scherzer in 1852. does not call him a young man.

2.) The introduction of additional basses on a six-string guitar is attributed to the Italian master and guitarist Giambattista Ferrari, who worked in Modena in 1853-1889, although already L.Legnani in 1808 performed in concerts on the guitar with two additional basses (6 + 2) . Ferrari is considered the inventor of the ten-string guitar.

3.) Even before Scherzer, Staufer and Panarmo used mechanical splitters.

4.) The guitar of M.D. Sokolovsky had twelve, not fifteen additional basses.

5.) Buek's opinion of Scherzer's guitars is bewildering. Most of The best instruments of this master went to Russia and it may be impossible to judge their quality by the guitars preserved in Austria and Germany. But to declare that Scherzer's guitars are unsuitable for solo performance in concerts "due to their bass character" and "narrowness of the neck" is unreasonable, since by selecting basses of the appropriate thickness, you can achieve the same sound of core and bass strings, and the neck can be expanded or changed to a wider one. After all, he allowed the modernization of the fretboard of his tertz guitar by F. Schenk!

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 miscellaneous noise instruments used for hunting and 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 of musical sounds, as 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. Music Masters are approached with particular 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 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 others stringed instruments- grand pianos, 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 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. A good guitar is capable of expressing the entire palette of feelings of a musician, a bad instrument will ruin the most magnificent playing. 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. by the most popular view 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 such a tool will be for you perfect choice. The main disadvantage of guitars made from spruce is their relative high price. Most sonorous guitars, ideal for playing solo parts, 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.

Wood, of course, plays an important role in how the future instrument will sound. However, let's not forget that this is just a tree. Only in the hands experienced craftsman it takes the form of an instrument capable of becoming an extension of the body and soul of the musician.



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