Originally (and still occasionally) known as the ‘violoncello’, or ‘little violone’, the cello is tuned in fifths like the violin and viola, running bottom to top, C, G, d, a, the same tuning as a viola, but an octave lower. There were early experiments with a smaller five-stringed instrument (with an additional E string ...
main reason for the arpeggione’s continuing fame, however, is a sonata written for Schuster by Schubert in November 1824. This piece is now normally played on either the cello or the viola. Styles & Forms | Early Romantic | Classical Instruments | Piccolo | Late Romantic | Classical ...
In the second half of the seventeenth century, violins were firmly established in the standard large-scale ensemble of royal courts, the Baroque orchestra, and the viola and cello were rapidly replacing the tenor and bass viola da gamba. As the orchestra became increasingly prevalent, a uniform musical style, of a strong bass line and top line ...
concertos and other concert hall works for it – among them an Adagio For Eight Concertinas in E and a Quintet in D for concertina, violin, viola, cello and piano by the Dutch composer Edouard Silas (1827–1909). Concertina Composers Other concertina composers include Giulio Regondi (1827–72), Richard Blagrave (1826–95), George Case, Wheatstone himself, Bernhard Molique (1802–69), ...
struck with beaters. A suspended cymbal can also be scraped lightly with a metal beater or coin, as in Claude Debussy’s (1862–1918) La Mer (1905), or played with a cello or double-bass bow, which allows the higher harmonics in the cymbal to sound and give an effect like that of a musical saw. Adding loose rivets to the circumference ...
The double bass is the only survivor from the viol family to have found a regular place in the orchestra. Like other members of the viol family, it initially carried frets – tiny knotted pieces of gut that measured out the fingerboard. As it was adopted into the violin family, it settled down as a four-stringed instrument, shed ...
by electronic technology – namely amplification and access to a broader palette of synthesized (or sampled) sound. Electric Stringed Instruments Stringed instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello and double bass, can all be effectively amplified through the use of built-in microphones or, more commonly, electronic pickups. Pickups are either magnetic – which translate the ...
musically. The instruments need to form an effective team, combining their individual strengths in the most efficient way possible. For instance the string trio of violin, viola and cello tends to work better than that of three violas, as between them the violin, viola and cello possess a much wider range and a greater variety of tone colours. ...
Fiddles, generically, are bowed lutes. The term ‘fiddle’ denotes a stringed instrument with a neck, bearing strings that are sounded by the use of friction rather than plucking or striking. Playing the Fiddle In almost all fiddles the world over, friction is provided by a bow strung with rosined horsehair. The hair is tensioned by the springiness ...
, he achieved an instrument on which chords and runs were possible. Although in 1791 Mozart composed a quintet (K617) for glass armonica, flute, oboe, viola and cello for the famous blind performer Marianne Kirchgessner (1769–1808), the instrument had fallen out of fashion by the mid-nineteenth century. Styles & Forms | Classical Era | Classical Instruments | Clarinet ...
(1803–69) ever wrote are three pieces for harmonium (1845), and nothing in the chamber-music repertoire exceeds the charm and warmth of Dvořák’s delectable Bagatelles (Op. 47) for two violins, cello and harmonium. Free Reeds The harmonium belongs to the family of ‘free-reed’ instruments that includes not only the accordion and concertina but such ancient instruments as the near-universal jew’s harp ...
is played with a heavy metal mallet or hammer. Musical Saw The musical saw is a fine-bladed saw without teeth (70–90 cm/28–36 in long), played with a double bass or cello bow. The saw handle is held between the knees and the tip of the saw held in the left (or non-bowing) hand. As the right hand bows the saw, ...
domestic use, the later Baroque saw them played, in concert rooms and pleasure gardens, as continuo instruments. Styles & Forms | Early Baroque | Classical Instruments | Cello | Late Baroque | Classical ...
Bass Drum The dominant feature of every military band is its big bass drum. Throughout the history of percussion instruments, this drum has been the mainstay of time-keeping, whether it is used for a marching army or in a late-twentieth century heavy metal band. Early versions of the bass drum (it was certainly known in Asia around 3500 BC) ...
between four and 10 players. Steel-pan music is organized into melody and countermelody, played by tenor, double tenor and double second pans; harmony and chord strums played by cello and guitar pans; and bass parts played on bass pans. Lower pans are played in sets of two or more. Steel bands commonly include a rhythm section, or ‘engine ...
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