Repertoire

According to Berlioz the flute ‘is an instrument well-nigh devoid of expression, but which may be introduced anywhere and everywhere, on account of its facility in executing groups of rapid notes, and in sustaining high sounds useful in the orchestra for adding fullness to the upper harmonies.’ This is a fair description of the way the flute is generally written for in orchestral works, but there are many exceptions. The sounds of the middle and upper registers combine well with any ensemble and add lustre. The lower register lacks penetration but has a soft and seductive quality. ‘These low sounds‘, wrote Berlioz in his Treatise on Instrumentation, `are seldom, or else ill, employed by the majority of composers.’ All the great orchestrators have however always known how to write for the low register. (More…)

dodoAmplifier, Bose, Drums, Folk Music, Headphones, Microphone, Music Box, Music Equipments, Sony, Yamaha31 Aug, 20083 Comments

The bass drum stands vertically, the rim of the shallow wooden shell facing the audience. This was originally known as the Turkish drum. Sometimes it has two heads, sometimes only one, the former model producing somewhat greater clarity. It is beaten with upward — or downward — glancing blows with a soft stick, and sometimes brushed simultaneously on the other side with a switch of sorts. (More…)

dodoBehringer, Denon, Drums, Guitar, Sony, Violin, Yamaha14 Aug, 20085 Comments

The part for the timpani, or kettle drums, is written on a stave above that of the first stringed instrument, be it harp, violins, or that other percussion instrument, the piano. The notes to which the two or three drums are to be tuned are named at the beginning of the score, any alterations being indicated as they occur. Each drum has a compass of a fifth. (More…)

dodoDrums, Percussion Instruments, Piano, Trumpet, Violin9 Aug, 20086 Comments

The organ is the earliest known of all mechanically operated musical instruments and not, as is sometimes stated, one of the earliest musical instruments. The first known organ dates from the 3rd century BC. This was a hydraulos, with a clever system of maintaining wind pressure by incorporating a water cistern in the wind reservoir; when the wind pressure sank, the water level rose to maintain it. (More…)

dodoHome Theater, Music Equipments, Piano, Popular Music3 Aug, 20083 Comments

The harpsichord has a shallower cabinet than that of the piano, and the legs are prettier. If historical accuracy has been observed in its making it will have no foot pedals but instead hand stops placed in the right and the left of the keyboard. Very likely there will be two manuals or keyboards which are stepped. Harpsichordists sit very still as they play. As the strings are plucked by means of tiny quills, no additional volume is to be gained by exerting force or using arm weight. Only a rapid, almost plucking action of the fingers is necessary. No changes of volume are possible, but alterations of timbre are, and these are achieved by a combination of the hand stops. The hand stops engage additional ranks of strings, or alter the point at which they are plucked. The number of ranks of strings and hand stops vary according to the date and make of the instrument. (More…)

dodoPiano31 Jul, 20084 Comments

Today violinists in the orchestra all play the type of instrument evolved during the 18th century, with a Tourte design bow. The more fortunate among them possess original but modified violins of the Cremonese school. These fetch very high prices in the auction rooms today. In the last century £200 to £5oo (then about $800 to $2000) was considered to be an excessive price for a Guarnerius or an Amati for, it was pointed out, the principal violin makers of the late 19th century, Thibouville-Lamy, with extensive premises in London and Paris, manufactured and sold violins for four shillings and sixpence (then about one dollar) and made a profit of 15%. (More…)

dodoGuitar, Piano, String Instruments, Violin20 Jul, 20084 Comments

The part for the first violins, the first and the most important of the bowed string instruments, is written in the score in the treble clef on a stave above the second violins. The strings of the violin are tuned to G D A E and have a compass of 32 octaves. Until fairly recently some orchestras preferred to have their violins strung exclusively with gut, but the thin top string has a tendency to break easily, so it has been replaced by wire, tuned by a small sensitive screw on the tail piece. Today a violin might be strung entirely with metal, each string having a tail piece screw, or some strings may be gut wound with aluminium, silver or copper.

The variety of sounds and effects that can be produced from the violin exceeds that of any other single instrument of the orchestra, but owing to what is called a formant it is always possible to identify the violin as being the source. (More…)

dodoString Instruments, Violin20 Jul, 20085 Comments