2/28/2023 0 Comments Spanish stringed instruments![]() ![]() Although guitars were found throughout Europe, they became synonymous with Spain. While older instruments had as many as 10 or 12 strings arranged in pairs, modern concert guitars have six single strings. The classical guitar is characterized by the curvaceous shape of its body and its flat back, though instruments also exist with backs that curve gently outward. This was the home of the Amati family, whose instruments set the international standard for beauty of sound, and of Antonio Stradivari, whose name is still synonymous with the finest violins. The greatest violins were from Italy, and no city was more renowned for its instruments than Cremona. Like the viols, violins are almost always played with a bow. Compared to viols these instruments are louder and more forceful, with strings that are heavier and tenser, a neck that is more substantial, and a body of thicker wood. The violin family-the violin, viola, violoncello (or cello), and double bass-appeared in Europe in the early 16th century and by the mid–16th century was found in paintings of the period. The viol family was eventually supplanted by a more expressive family of instruments, the violins. Western instruments categorized as lutes include the lute and the viol family of the European Renaissance as well as the guitar, mandolin, banjo, and the violin family. When played, a lute’s strings may be plucked with the fingers or a plectrum, or it may be bowed. In order to produce different notes on the instrument, the musician presses the strings at points along the neck, thus shortening the strings. ![]() Strings are stretched along the neck and pass over all or part of the sound chamber. Basic to all lutes are an enclosed sound chamber, or resonator, and a neck. The many instruments classified as lutes are widely distributed throughout the world. In some cases, however, these names also refer to individual instruments, such as the Renaissance instrument known as the lute.) Lutes (The names used to describe these four types refer to categories in which instruments with similar characteristics are grouped. ![]() These four types are categorized by the way in which the strings are positioned in relation to the body of the instrument: (1) lutes, in which the strings are stretched over a neck and a resonator (sound chamber) (2) zithers, in which the strings run the length of the instrument body (3) lyres, in which the strings run over a resonator to a yoke consisting of two arms and a crosspiece and (4) harps, in which all the strings lie in the same plane but run at an angle to the resonator. Within the generally accepted classification system of musical instruments, there are four basic types of stringed instruments. Wire strings can now be single, double, or even triple-spun in layers of copper or mixed metals. Cast-steel wire used in pianos gave the instruments more strength and volume. Steel wire, which had been introduced as early as the 16th century, then became the favored material. Wire strings originally were spun of brass, a practice that lasted into the 19th century. Some gut strings, especially larger ones that produce a lower pitch, are covered with a spun surface of aluminum, silver, copper, or a mixture of metals. Strings made of gut-the term is a shortened form of catgut-are in fact fabricated from the intestines of goats and sheep, with lamb being the animal of choice because of its strength and pliancy. Violin strings of gut, wound with metal, are still in use. In general, modern instruments of all cultures use strings of wire, plastic, or combinations of both materials. ![]() Since that time gut, wire, and plastic have been used, with only wire strings found in such instruments as the piano. This discovery also led to the invention of keyboard instruments with strings-such as the virginal, clavichord, harpsichord, and piano (or pianoforte). Wire was not used until the 14th century, when the craft of wire drawing was invented. Asian instruments were generally strung with silk. Gut strings were used in antiquity by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. In Western countries the favored material for strings has been gut, wire, or plastic. ![]()
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