The racket was a short double-reed instrument that looked like a kaleidoscope. It had nine parallel bores, all connected at alternate ends to form a continuous tube, with eight of them arranged around a central ninth. In this last a reed was inserted on a staple, much as in a shawm. The fingerholes were at the front and ...
medieval and Renaissance periods, the shawm was particularly popular in outdoor dance bands and was also used for military purposes. Styles & Forms | Renaissance | Classical Instruments | Racket, Dulcian, Curtal | Renaissance | Classical ...
2001–07) Formed from various seminal rock groups of the heaviest ilk, Audioslave – Chris Cornell (vocals), Tom Morello (guitar), Brad Wilk (drums) and Tim Commerford (bass) – make a racket honed through experience gained in the likes of influential acts Rage Against The Machine and Soundgarden. Perhaps too dry to be taken in one sitting, their eponymous debut still ...
Bowie’s mega-success with his artistic low point was followed by what can only be described as a lost decade. A Homeland No. 1 At Last In 1979 Bowie had a non-album UK Top 10 hit with ‘John I’m Only Dancing (Again)’, a song that – the old rascal – bore no relation to his 1972 non-album No. 12 hit ‘John I’m ...
The gamelan is a percussion ensemble played throughout Indonesia, especially in Bali and Java. A gamelan comprises mainly metallophones, xylophones and gongs. It may also include vocals, the rebab (a two-stringed spike fiddle), the keprak (a slit drum), and the kendhang (a set of three or four double headed, barrel-shaped drums). The kendhang sets the tempo and ...
Gongs and tam tams are suspended bronze discs played with a beater. In the West, the two names are often confused as the instruments can look similar and both produce a deep, rich sound. However, the tam tam is untuned, and the gong is tuned. Gongs have been used as melodic instruments throughout Southeast Asia, especially in ...
The lyre has a distinguished history. It was the instrument used by the Greeks to accompany plays and recitations. Greek mythology tells us that the lyre was created by Hermes, the son of Zeus, from a tortoise shell. Singing to the accompaniment of the lyre was thought to promote a sense of justice. Construction The lyre is formed of ...
Timpani are bowl drums or kettledrums, constructed by stretching a skin across a round metal, wooden or pottery bowl. They are beaten with sticks or leather thongs. Timpani originated in Islamic countries in Africa and the Middle East, where they were used to accompany hunting and for ceremonial and military music. Tuning Tuning a large kettledrum or timpani ...
‘A Masked Ball’ In 1857, Verdi was virtually asking for censorship trouble when he chose Gustavuse III, ou Le bal masqué (‘Gustavus III, or The Masked Ball’) for his next work. In 1792 King Gustavusus III of Sweden had been shot dead at a masked ball in Stockholm. Regicide was a taboo subject and the Neapolitan censors immediately ...
(Är-tür’ Ô-ne-gâr’) 1892–1955 Swiss composer Honegger studied in Paris, and was soon bracketed with five French contemporaries as ‘Les Six’, but his idiom was tougher and less Gallic than theirs. He made his name with a powerful, neo-Handelian scenic cantata Le roi David (‘King David’; first performed at an outdoor festival in Switzerland, 1921). He wrote orchestral works ...
(Pi’-otr Il’-yech Chi’-kôf-ska) 1840–93 Russian composer Few composers from the second half of the nineteenth century have achieved as great a popularity as Tchaikovsky. For many listeners, the secret lies in his special gift for broad, arching melodies and his tendency towards agonized self-expression, rooted in a series of crises in his personal life, which fall easy prey ...
(Vocal group, 1972–present) This veteran group provides a vehicle for the talents of brothers Ron and Russell Mael. Anglophile Californians, the Maels came to Britain in 1973 after two failed albums, the first as Halfnelson. Recruiting Adrian Fisher (guitar), Martin Gordon (bass) and Dinky Diamond (drums) they recorded Kimono My House (1974) featuring the memorable hit ‘This Town ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 2001–04) The Libertines – Pete Doherty (vocals, guitar), Carl Barat (vocals, guitar), John Hassall (bass) and Gary Powell (drums) – hailed from the east end of London. Across their short lifespan they made two albums (Up The Bracket, 2002 and The Libertines, 2004) of exceptionally idiosyncratic indie, with The Clash’s Mick Jones at ...
Pierre-Jacques Fougeroux visited London and attended Handel’s operas Tolomeo, Siroe and Admeto during the Royal Academy of Music’s final season in 1727–28. His account of what he saw and heard is invaluable: 'The Opera, which was once negligible, has become a spectacle of some importance in the last three years. They have sent for the best voices [and] ...
Bowie’s eponymous debut album appeared in June 1967. David Bowie was the work of a man who didn’t yet know quite what to do with his talent. However from 1971 to 1973 Bowie would, with the aid of a newly assembled band, produce a trio of albums that for many are both his finest moments and high watermarks in ...
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David Bowie
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