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Appalachian Dulcimer
The Appalachian dulcimer (many variant names; see below) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of the fingerboard, and its fretting is generally diatonic. Name The Appalachian dulcimer has many variant names. Most often it is simply called a dulcimer (also rendered as "dulcimore", "dulcymore", "delcimer", "delcimore", ''etc.''). When it needs to be distinguished from the unrelated hammered dulcimer, various adjectives are added (drawn from location, playing style, position, shape, etc.), for example: mountain dulcimer; Kentucky dulcimer; plucked dulcimer; fretted dulcimer; lap dulcimer; teardrop dulcimer; box dulcimer; etc. The instrument has also acquired a number of nicknames (some shared by other instruments): "harmonium", "hog fiddle", "music box", "harmony box", and "mountain zither". Origins and history Although the Appalachia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plucked String Instrument
Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such a way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate. Plucking can be done with either a finger or a plectrum. Most plucked string instruments belong to the lute family (such as guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, banjo, balalaika, sitar, pipa, etc.), which generally consist of a resonating body, and a neck; the strings run along the neck and can be stopped at different pitches. The zither family (including the Qanún/kanun, autoharp, kantele, gusli, kannel, kankles, kokles, koto, guqin, gu zheng and many others) does not have a neck, and the strings are stretched across the soundboard. In the harp family (including the lyre), the strings are perpendicular to the soundboard and do not run across it. The harpsichord does not fit any of these categories but is also a plucked string instrument, as its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Langeleik
The ''langeleik'', also called langleik, is a Norwegian stringed folklore musical instrument, a droned zither. Description The langeleik has only one melody string and up to 8 drone strings. Under the melody string there are seven frets per octave, forming a diatonic major scale. The drone strings are tuned to a triad. The langeleik is tuned to about an A, though on score the C major key is used, as if the instrument were tuned in C. This is for simplification of both writing and reading, by circumventing the use of accidentals. Since the instrument can not play a chromatic scale, nor be easily tuned to other pitches, it is very limited in its ability to play along with other instruments and/or more harmonically complex music. The combination of the lone melody string and the multiple drone strings gives the langeleik a distinctively rich sound. History There exists a variety of box zithers in Europe. The German ''scheitholt'' and the Swedish Hummel have been suggested as t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Machine Head
A machine head (also referred to as a tuning machine, tuner, or gear head) is a geared apparatus for tuning stringed musical instruments by adjusting string tension. Machine heads are used on mandolins, guitars, double basses and others, and are usually located on the instrument's headstock. Other names for guitar tuners include pegs, gears, machines, cranks, knobs, tensioners and tighteners. Non-geared tuning devices as used on violins, violas, cellos, lutes, older Flamenco guitars and ukuleles are known as friction pegs, which hold the string to tension by way of friction caused by their tapered shape and by the string pull created by the tight string. Construction and action Traditionally, a single machine head consists of a cylinder or capstan, mounted at the center of a pinion gear, a knob or "button" and a worm gear that links them. The capstan has a hole through the far end from the gear, and the string is made to go through that hole, and is wrapped around the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fingerboard
The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The strings run over the fingerboard, between the nut and bridge. To play the instrument, a musician presses strings down to the fingerboard to change the vibrating length, changing the pitch. This is called '' stopping'' the strings. Depending on the instrument and the style of music, the musician may pluck, strum or bow one or more strings with the hand that is not fretting the notes. On some instruments, notes can be sounded by the fretting hand alone, such as with hammer ons, an electric guitar technique. The word "fingerboard" in other languages sometimes occurs in musical directions. In particular, the direction ''sul tasto'' (Ital., also ''sulla tastiera'', Fr. ''sur la touche'', G. ''am Griffbrett'') for bowed string instruments to play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tone Wood
Tonewood refers to specific wood varieties that possess tonal properties that make them good choices for use in woodwind or acoustic stringed instruments. Varieties of tonewood As a rough generalization it can be said that stiff-but-light softwoods (i.e. from coniferous trees) are favored for the soundboards or soundboard-like surface that transmits the vibrations of the strings to the ambient air. Hardwoods (i.e. from deciduous trees) are favored for the body or framing element of an instrument. Woods used for woodwind instruments include African Blackwood, (''Dalbergia melanoxylon''), also known as Grenadilla, used in modern clarinets and oboes. Bassoons are usually made of Maple, especially Norway Maple (''Acer platanoides)''. Wooden flutes, recorders, and baroque and classical period instruments may be made of various hardwoods, such as Pear (''Pyrus'' species), Boxwood (''Buxus'' species), or Ebony (''Diospyros'' species). Softwoods * Spruces are often used in the sound boards ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folk Instrument
A folk instrument is a musical instrument that developed among common people and usually does not have a known inventor. It can be made from wood, metal or other material. Such an instrument is played in performances of folk music. Overview The instruments can be percussion instruments, or different types of flutes or trumpets, or string instruments that are plucked, hammered or use a form of bow. Some instruments are referred to as folk instruments because they commonly appear in folk music, even though they do not meet the criteria defining a folk instrument; an example is the harmonica. List of folk instruments *accordion *alboka *angklung *appalachian dulcimer *autoharp *bagpipe *balalaika *bandura *banjo * bağlama *binioù kozh *birimbau *bodhrán *bombard *bouzouki & Irish bouzouki * bass *brommtopp * bukkehorn *bullroarer *cajón * catá *cavaquinho *Celtic harp *chajchas *charango * çığırtma * çifteli *cimbalom *claves *concertina *concheras *cuatro *daegeum *da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Fariña
Richard George Fariña (Spanish IPA: ) (March 8, 1937 – April 30, 1966) was an American folksinger, songwriter, poet and novelist. Early years and education Fariña was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States, the son of an Irish mother, Theresa Crozier, and a Cuban father of Galician origin, also named Richard Fariña. He grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn and attended Brooklyn Technical High School. He earned an academic scholarship to Cornell University, starting as an engineering major, but later switching to English. While at Cornell he published short stories for local literary magazines and for national periodicals, including ''Transatlantic Review'' and '' Mademoiselle''. Fariña became good friends with Thomas Pynchon, David Shetzline, and Peter Yarrow while at Cornell. He was suspended for alleged participation in a student demonstration against campus regulations, and although he later resumed his status as a student, he dropped out in 1959, just b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Pickow
George Pickow (February 11, 1922 – December 10, 2010) was an American photographer and filmmaker who chronicled the folk and jazz music scenes in the United States, United Kingdom, and other countries. He was married to the well-known Kentucky folk musician Jean Ritchie. Early life Pickow was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Brooklyn, New York. In the early 1940s, he was introduced to folk music when he heard Cisco Houston and Woody Guthrie jamming every night in a tiny cabin at the left-wing Camp Unity summer camp in upstate New York. Pickow studied painting at Cooper Union and made training films for the Navy in World War II. Work In 1952, Pickow accompanied his wife Jean Ritchie on a Fulbright Scholarship to collect folk songs in Britain and Ireland. When Alan Lomax, then working out of London for the BBC, and his collaborator Peter Kennedy of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, decided to document the unique May Eve and May Day Festivals at Padstow in Cornwall, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Ritchie
Jean Ruth Ritchie (December 8, 1922 – June 1, 2015) was an American folk singer, songwriter, and Appalachian dulcimer player, called by some the "Mother of Folk". In her youth she learned hundreds of folk songs in the traditional way (orally, from her family and community), many of which were Appalachian variants of centuries old British and Irish songs, including dozens of Child Ballads. In adulthood, she shared these songs with wide audiences, as well as writing some of her own songs using traditional foundations. She is ultimately responsible for the revival of the Appalachian dulcimer, the traditional instrument of her community, which she popularized by playing the instrument on her albums and writing tutorial books. She also spent time collecting folk music in the United States and in Britain and Ireland, in order to research the origins of her family songs and help preserve traditional music. She inspired a wide array of musicians, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vogue (magazine)
''Vogue'' is an American monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine that covers many topics, including haute couture fashion, beauty, culture, living, and runway. Based at One World Trade Center One World Trade Center (also known as One World Trade, One WTC, and formerly Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Mer ... in the FiDi, Financial District of Lower Manhattan, ''Vogue'' began in 1892 as a weekly newspaper before becoming a monthly magazine years later. Since its founding, ''Vogue'' has featured numerous actors, musicians, models, athletes, and other prominent celebrities. The largest issue published by ''Vogue'' magazine was the September 2012 edition, containing 900 pages. The British Vogue, British ''Vogue'', launched in 1916, was the first international edition, while the Italian version ''Vogue Italia'' has been called the top fashion magazin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loraine Wyman
(Julie) Loraine Wyman (October 23, 1885 – September 11, 1937) was an American soprano, noted for her concert performances of folk songs, some of which she collected herself from traditional singers in field work. Paul J. Stamler has called Wyman "the first real practitioner of the urban folk revival."Stamler (2012:207–210) Life Early family life Her mother, Julie Moran Wyman (1860–1907) was from Joliet, Illinois, near Chicago. She possessed a mezzo-soprano voice described as a "marvel""Says Mrs. Wyman errs: Husband of well-known contralto wants the children", ''Chicago Tribune'', 29 May 1896 and had a successful career as an opera singer."Walter C. Wyman secures a divorce', 'Chicago Tribune', 26 July 1896 On 2 April 1880 Julie Moran married Walter C. Wyman (1850–1927), a "coal merchant", "society man", and collector and dealer in Native American anthropological artifacts. He lived in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Wyman was quite wealthy; the ''Chicago Tribune' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
