The early Greeks are often portrayed to play the musical instrument “lyre” with many artefacts showing the ancient Greek people or muses playing the instrument. One of the famous lyres is displayed at the British Museum, which is the Silver Lyre from the great Death Pit in Ur. The musical instrument is considered as a very important piece especially when it comes to rituals and worshipping activities of the ancient Greeks.

History

The very first mentioned of the musical instrument was first seen when archaeologists excavated the Sarcophagus of Hagia Triada where the lyre was carved on the sarcophagus being handled by one of the man. In the Greek mythology, the Greeks attributed the creation of the lyre to Hermes, the god of change and the son of Zeus and Maia. Hermes is also the Roman equivalent for Mercury. Continue reading →

One of the oldest musical instruments, the trumpets are said to have been in existence as far back as the Pharaoh’s Tutankhamen period. Evidence of the musical instrument is also found in China and Scandinavia as well as artifacts gathered in Peru, which said to date as far back as the 300 AD. During the medieval times, trumpets players serves as guides for the army as such the government carefully select the trumpet players and guard them heavily.

Types of Trumpets

There are different types of trumpets use by trumpet players; the most common and smallest trumpet is the piccolo trumpet. The piccolo trumpet is one octave higher than the regular Bb trumpet. What makes the piccolo different is that instead of the regular three valves, the piccolo has four valves. The fourth valve extends the range as well as improved the intonation of the notes. Continue reading →

The harpsichord is a popular musical instrument that looks almost the same as the piano but is much more longer and widely used during the late 18th’s especially in the Renaissance and Baroque period.The harpsichord comes in different sizes and shapes.

History of Harpsichord

 The first known record of the instrument was found to have started in the Middle Ages although the instrument’s popularity only started in 16th century in Italy and changes were made by the Ruckers of Italy to the instrument by adding two keyboards to it. Other families that made the instrument famous include the Blanchett family and Taskin. Musical composers who are associated with the harpsichord was Mozart, Haydn and Bach. Continue reading →

Percussion instruments are popular musical instruments, which uses striking motions to create vibrations and thus the desire sound. Many musicians would use sticks or even their own hands to generate the music that they want to produce. The sound varies depending on what type of percussion instrument one use. Popular percussion instruments would include – drums, tambourines, xylophone, cymbals and triangles.

Types of Percussion Instrument

There are type types of percussion instrument that one use. One would be the pitched percussion. These type of instruments create musical notes that are distinctive are easily recognizable. Example of these instruments would include the glass harmonica, hand bells, glass harp, chime bars, glockenspiel and tympani. The next would be the unpitched percussion or instruments that do not produced a pitch. Example of unpitched musical instrument would include the snare drums, drums, whistles, cymbals, rattles, tom tom, castanets, whip and bass drums. Continue reading →

Woodwind instruments are powerful musical instruments, which produces sound with the air blown in the reed or edge part of the instrument.

The instrument can be made of several materials such as metal, plastic and wood. Piccolo, flute, clarinet, saxophone, bagpipes, bassoon, cor anglais and Oboe are just some examples of woodwind instruments.

How Woodwind Instrument Works

In a woodwind instrument, sound travels down the tube and is release on the other end of the tube. The sound differs depending on which holes are open or close as well as the type of instrument that one use.

In flute, the air is close to the opening or closing so there is no pressure although the air is not free to move around. The instrument gives the lowest tone when all of the key holes are close and changes when the keynotes are opened. Continue reading →

Violins are one of the popular string instruments that are said to have originated from the rebec and Byzantine’s Lira da braccio.  Other string instruments include the viola, the cello, the double bass and the octobass. Unlike other string instruments, the violin is a popular choice as it is much easier to play where the violinist played the violin under their jaw while standing or sitting down.

There are two types of violin currently in the market – the traditional violin and the modern violin. The traditional violin does not require electricity to generate the tune and is often used by beginners. Traditional violin are made of different wood types as well as special glue to make the different tone that also serves as one of its distinctive features.

The modern violin on the other hand, uses electric impulses to deliver tune or sound that are much sharper and distinctive than the ones produce by the traditional violin. The violins are also classified depending on the period where it was made and can often be identified by how the violin looks. Continue reading →

A pianoforte or piano in short is a musical instrument in the form of a keyboard. This instrument is popularly used in ensembles and even rehearsals. Many stringed keyboards were introduced before the piano; in 1706, a harpsichord maker from Padua, Italy named Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori introduced the piano.

His work was formerly named as soft and loud keyboard instrument during the exhibit in Florence, Italy during 1709. Eventually, it was shortened to pianoforte until what we now call it, piano. Continue reading →

Guitars are popular string instruments and are usually composed of two types – electric and acoustic guitar. The guitar also closely resembles that of the sitar, setar and tanbur from India and Central Asia.

The first known use of the guitar is the one that was found in a stone carving made by the Hittites, an ancient Anatolian people that lived in the northern central part of Turkey.  Continue reading →

Classical music is a popular genre that has span hundreds of years and evolve with time. Famous known composer includes Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Gossec and many more. Classical instruments use during the period includes the use of string, woodwind and brass instruments.

Types of Classical Music

Classical music is divided into three periods starting from the early period, to common era and to the modern and contemporary period. Each period is further divided into sub periods which saw the evolution of the western music.

Early Period

The early period is divided into the – medieval, renaissance and baroque period.  The medieval period is composed mostly of songs using voices and  in chants popular of which is the Gregorian chant where the songs are made of voices and theme is mostly of Biblical in nature.  Gregorian chant uses a repertoire called neums.

On the other hand, the renaissance period is composed of the use of instruments and songs are often in tune of melodic tones.  Genres in the renaissance period includes the laude, madrigale spirituale, mass and motet.  Popular instruments used during the time include the percussion ( ex. tambourine), string (ex. viol, harp, lute, harpsichord, lyre)  and brass ( ex:. trumpet, sackbutt, cornett) instruments.

The baroque period on the other hand saw the start of the opera. Famous baroque composers include Schultz, Lully, Pachebel, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Handel and Bach. The baroque movement is made up of an overture, an allemande or the almain, the courante, sarabande and the gigue. The four dance type that emerge from the period includes the gavotte, the bourree, minuet and the rigaudon.

Common Era

The common era saw the end of the baroque period and the start of the classical and romantic era. The classical music saw a lighter mood and shorter melodies. The emergence of the sonata, quartet, symphony, serenade  and concerto marked the classical period. Popular composer during the time include Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Hummel and Clementi. The romantic period on the other hand saw the expansion of the opera as well as the start of concert overture and programme music. Popular composer includes Lizst, Elgar and Paganini.

Modern Era

The modern era saw the reaction of people with the Impressionist movement and the end of the post romantic era. Popular composers include Debussy, Stravinsky and Ravel. The modern era is divided into three periods including the modernism era, contemporary and the 21th century music. Modernism popular composer includes Luigi Nono, Boulez, Babbitt and Maderna.

Every country is different from one another in various ways like tradition, culture, way of living and many more. Even different places within a country vary from one another in one or many ways. And one such differentiating factor is the culture that is best reflected from the music of that particular place. This music called as the Folk Music.

Folk music is the combination of both the genre and the traditional music and best reflects the custom of a particular place. It is one of the melodic, and a wonderful type of old music. This music comes out of the soul of village people through which they describe their tradition, and stories of various people. It is one of the best options for older people in traditional times to entertain themselves and also others. Along with entertainment through this music they also express their identity as well as inner feelings.

There are a number of features offered by this music. Since every place is bound by its cultural heritage and folk music will perfectly elucidate that. This way folk music in not an era or time specific but it’s a culture specific. Various types of folk are the result of the natural geography and the custom of that particular area. This type of music in general transmitted over to various generations through oral tradition that is through word of mouth. But now with the advancement of technology we can preserve our culture for the coming generation.

Today you can also see some variations in this type of music that is the result of cohesion between the various races. Sometimes folk music comes out with the fusion of various cultures which will be because of the people who belongs to different backgrounds. One such example of this music is contemporary folk music. One unique thing about folk music is that it does not belong to a single individual but pertains to the whole society. So no one can claim copyright over this music.

Folk music gives an opportunity to the listeners to enjoy and celebrate various moments in the life. The songs will be available separately for different events like marriage, birth, harvest, death and even related to daily activities. Since folk music is generally based upon the real life situations of these people so the lyrics will be extremely meaningful. In order to add soul to this music there are a number of instruments that are being used Folk Music Instruments