Musical Workshops Lectures and Historical Characters with a difference
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Trying to get your kids to appreciate classical music?
If you were trying to open a programme on a Mac that had been written for Windows-would you expect it to work? Or would you appreciate a joke that was in a language you didn’t understand?
Of course not. You need a translator.
Try and get hold of
"The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba into Galway"- by the Irish band, De Danaan. Blind test it with the original Queen of Sheba, you'll be amazed at the result!
Other music as 'Translators"
The works of Turlough O'Carolan. This blind harpist, was such a good composer that Beethoven used to arrange his music!
Flook!
You think the flute isn't ‘Cool’? Two amazing Flautists, the best accompanying guitarist
and the best bodhran player in the world. Try 'Happy jigs' on 'Flatfish' (Flatfish 002CD) This track teaches how the silences between the notes are just as important as the notes you play. An incredible exercise in timing! (And no, I don't get commission)! A lot of their tracks are on 'You Tube' try 'Pressed for time
'
King David playing a psaltery. English manuscript
dated 10th Century
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Will Kemp (Shakespeare's fool) danced from London To Norwich a distance of 90 miles at the rate of ten miles a day.
He did this to earn a pension from Queen Elizabeth - and it worked! This is the origin of the phrase "Nine day Wonder"
He supposedly danced all the way to one tune which became known as 'Kemp's Jig'. This jig takes about 1minute 30 seconds to play all the way through.A) How many times was it played?!
B) Do you think he got sick of it ?
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Other Good things on 'You Tube'
Patrick Street (not the live version)
'Music for a found Harmonium'
Recognise it?
Then the original by
'Penguin Cafe Orchestra'
also 'Fly me off the Handel'
(Brilliant Showmanship)
& other tracks by
Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain
You know, I never liked Uke's - until now
Teachers Notes.......
Instruments can be split into a number of different categories.......
Idiophones
Claves. Any objects banged together are known as idiophones. This is the earliest form of instrument known, banging bits of wood or bone together, has been done since before we became fully human.
Bones. Unknown when modern method of playing came about, but has been in use since saxon times. Still found in pubs around England. (see spoons)
Spoons. Modern version of above many players can still be found in public houses around the north (this was some of our favourite research).
Jaw harp. Goes back about 4,000 years . Was connected in Tudor Britain to St Valentines day... Why? No -one knows. Name comes from the french word for 'mouth'
Rainstick. Very popular today, they originated in S.America where they were made from dried cactus.
Percussion Doll. Also known as Dancing doll, Jig Doll & Chanteuse (which is odd because it means ‘singer’) Earliest one found in an Egyptian tomb. Nowadays used for busking -usually acompanied by mouth music.
Sansa or M'Bira. Origins in africa where 3 octave models are not unusual Most african guitar riffs are built on the tunes of the sansa. First one in Britain was given to Henry VIII as Christmas present!
Sistrum. Ancient Eyptian -and used by Romans and Greeks . Was holy to the goddess Maat. (some say Isis).
Cymbals. Various sizes, used worldwide. The ones today are medieval finger cymbals. In Europe always held in seperate hands.
Tibetan singing Bell. Made from an eight metal alloy to symbolise the eight fold path of Buddhism. This can be’ talked to’ Actually the mouth is closing down the sound to cause variation in volume. One of the very few instruments in the world to work on "feedback"
Singing bowl -as above but more well known!
Anything with a 'skin' is called a 'Membranophone' but this category also includes things like Kazoos
Bodhran Irish drum about 1,200 years old . It is said that the Irish gave the Scots - Porridge & Bagpipes -The Scots gave the Irish, Whiskey & the Bodhran. In these times the Irish seem very astute. The shape of the bodhran, called a frame drum, is used as far away as Morocco & Afghanistan.
Timbrel. Early tambourine which was invented by the Egyptians and used by everyone else since!
Tabor An early drum played in one hand while the other played a Tabor pipe (See below)
From Medieval times right through to early 20th Century. At this time most Morris sides used a pipe & tabor.
Aerophones any instrument 'air powered'
Dragon Horn a basically simple trumpet
Didgeridoo- a simple tube of any form can be used in this way
Recorder. Late 14th - 15 th C from 6" long to app 13 Feet! smallest one called Garkleinflotlien. The recorder was used as a toy from about 1750 ‘til Andre Dolmetsch decided to put them into schools and make lots of money. Pity he didn’t use a tin whistle - see below.
Penny whistle, Tin whistle or incorrectly - Flageolet. It never cost a penny- that was the fee of the whistler . 6 Hole pipes like this go back at least 2,000 years . They are simple, logical & inexpensive.
Low whistle. Large version of above invented in the 1970’s Heard on soundtrack of all modern Irish films
Tabor pipe Three hole pipe, usually played at the same time as a Tabor. (See above)
Flute Side blown flutes go back to medieval times.
Fife. Small version of above invented in tudor times by the Swiss army - yes it’s a Swiss army fife! This one was made from a piece of gas pipe - the only limit, is your imagination. Fife was always military use.
Piccolo. Tiniest of the flute family.
Quenna. The oldest type flute known to mankind. End blown with no mouthpiece just a notch in the end. Early types made from bird bones. or even human! Nowadays used in E.Europe, S.America & Japan where it’s known as Shakuhachi (bless you)!
Barsini. Side blown flute with one hole giving up to 14 notes! (Thumbs go over ends of tube) Mainly for backing - not melody. Peru, Bolivia, Africa, Egypt. Rome, Polynesia. All these played this at one time or another.
Chanter. This is really for practise. Bagpipes are really a wind cap woodwind instrument with an air reservoir. The first pipes were Egyptian or Babylonian. In Medieval times the bag was actually the shape of an animal. English pipes are now in revival. Irish & Northmbrian are bellows blown. Love them or hate them, they are some of the most stirring instruments in the world. It is said that Scots pipers march while playing because it’s harder to hit a moving target. Only Joking- honest! The subject and variety of pipes is a subject on its own - if you need any more info, please contact.
Harmonium. Multi reeded keyboard. Early ones are bellows blown . This one has a convenient electric fan inside. Harmonium was used a lot in churches - Collapsible ones were taken on board ship & especially used by missionaries. They caught on in India where they are still used a lot.
Chordophones. Got strings? It's a Chordophone
Plucked psaltery. From Holy Land (& mentioned in the bible 43 times) Said to have been brought back by the first Crusaders - but we have seen an English manuscript showing one, dated 10th C (See picture on left). There are six ways of playing these. And 60 different shapes known. From 13thC it was usually played with hammers or quills. Later fitted with keyboard it became the harpsichord & piano.
Qu’anun. Arabic version of above.
Tambourin Du Bearne. In Europe this sometimes replaced the Tabor. It is a chord drum and is struck with beater to accompany the tabor pipe.
Hammer dulcimer. Invented in Holy Land. Mentioned in bible at least 56 times. It spread both east & west and is known as Cymbalom, Santoor or Yang ching, variously. Always struck with hammers, except in Spain, where they use plectrums.
Appalachian mountain Dulcimer. Not a classical dulcimer. Dulcimer by the way, means ‘sweet sounding’. Probably invented in the 1750’s has from 3 to 6 strings. modern shapes vary.
Bar Dulcimer travellers vrsion of above which is placed on a table or box to provide a sound box, of course, you could always put it through an amp. Well done, the first electric guitar!
Guitar Tuned to a chord the guitar becomes very simple Lots of players are using this nowadays. I have a collection of 26 different tunings! Try listening to Joni Mitchell. Earliest called Vihuela was built in 1500’s . Even Stradivarius had a go at making guitars! I think the guitar is popular because it can play almost any genre - and it's not that hard to play.
Mouth bow First string instrument. Held in teeth or on head to sound. Later resonators added and it became first guitar. Add extra strings & you have a harp. Bow with a second bow and you have a fiddle.
Harp. The first harps were Egyptian, but were missing the upright post at the front. This version is more like the Celtic harp first mentioned in the 10th C.
One String Fiddle (Erhu) A Chinese fiddle made from a broom handle, a bean can, a guitar string and a pencil! and sounds exactly the same.
Cuatro developing from the cittern, the cuatro is a portugese version which has added strings from the original (4) now having 10 strings and sounding a little 'fuller'.
Electric Guitar O.K. There are always going to be people who love these. One thing. Is it the guitar that sounds good or the FX?
Others (may be used today, depending on projects, time - and availability)!
Scots practice pipes. Completely plastic and modern. This sweet, quiet sounding set is everything the war pipes aren’t - ‘Good’! you may say.- anyway see Chanters.
Silent Drum Kit. Made for practise and just like a proper kit the advantage to this is that it's totaly silent!
Symphonie (rarely) Really a mechanical fiddle that was the height of wood technology in its day- and as far as I’m concerned - still is! It was known since the 13thC and went on to become the Hurdy Gurdy. This idiosyncractic little instrument is a band in a box and is as difficult to service as is it to play! (The cotton has to be changed every six hours playing)! So why do I like it so much?
Instruments
How do we know what early instruments sounded like?
Answer is - we don’t. Very few survive from pre 14thC and the rest of it is educated guess work. Taking paintings, manuscripts and even statues into account, with what we know of strings available etc., we can come up with a fair idea. Pre 14thC string size was limited, so instruments changed shape and stayed the same size (60 different shapes for the psaltery ). Later the string size was variable so the violin family came into being.
Songs & tunes
Early songs were usually in latin or french. (the Earlist English were by Godfric of Finchale, who was born shortly after the norman conquest and lived to almost 90)! Tunes tended to last a long time in the medieval top ten -about 150 years. The earliest we have written down were 10thC. Which were saxon in origin. Some were given up to 60 sets of words including hymns. Other were given ‘last’ words & sold at public executions. Most nursery rhymes were political satire (Little Jack Horner hid one of the deeds to Glastonbury abbey from Henry VIII at the dissolution). All Nursery rhymes were considered hilarious when written. Subjects of songs were exactly what they are today. Love, protest, drink, work & play, church songs, and a strong line in the macabre . Ballads could consist of 100 verses, even titles could run to 50 or 60 words! Try this one. The title of the Ballad sheet of
'The Demon Lover'
'Warning for Married Women, being an example of Mrs Jane Reynolds (a West-country woman), born near Plymouth, who, having plighted her troth to a Seaman, was afterwards married to a Carpenter, and at last carried away by a Spirit, the manner how shall be presently recited'.
They just had little else to do - no telly! And that makes a significant difference to the amount of musicians around, don’t forget.
Maths & Science
If you or your children can sing a perfect middle "A" on the piano your vocal chords are moving at exactly 440 times per second.
Top ‘b’ on piano =3951.
c below=2093
c below that 1046.5.
b below=987.77
middle C=523.25.
A=440.
C below=261.63
C below 65.41.
Bottom C on piano =32.70 (lowest note) Note that each octave is exactly twice the number of vibrations of the one below
So A below 'middle a' is 220 . Anything giving off that note is moving that fast (engines, motors, etc.)
Try using this to guesstimate.
Instrument making.
Most difficulty seems to be finding cheap strings and a method of tuning. Have you thought of Fishing Line? cheap & variable in thickness. Affix one end to tack and other to Cup hook or curtain eyelet. Put a screwdriver or similar in to turn it- instant tuning! Use what you have around, tubes can be made into quennas, barsinis, flutes or didgeridoos or just try hitting the end with a table tennis bat. Tomato boxes, upside down drawers, can be easily turned into psalteries, sansas. A trumpet mouthpiece can be fixed to almost anything from a kettle to a hosepipe. Party blowers can give up their reeds to make chanters. If drumskins are a problem, try bathing caps, Wide sellotape in overlaid strips, Architects film, bits of tarpaulin, plastic bags- strong ones! & notice, not an elastic band in sight!
If you need any help or more information -That’s what I’m here for!
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An old musician once said -"If you’re not smiling - you’re doing it wrong"