3. From Dark Ages to Oddly Shaped Pearl

- 3. From Dark Ages to Oddly Shaped Pearl
- HISTORY
- MUSIC THEORY
  - "Solfeggio"
  - Voices & Instruments
- DANCING
- SCALE-UP ACTIVITIES

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# Voices & Instruments

## Instruments in the Middle Age

The troubadours and minstrels used different instruments to accompany their songs. The most important were:

String

- Vielle or fidel: it was the name given to the instruments rubbed by a bow. There were different types and sizes, and people could lean them on the shoulder or on the leg. They were the predecessors of the family of violas and violins. The instruments depicted in the following illustrations are vielles or fidels. The ones on the right are plucked string instruments and we will see them right away.

- Lute: it is pear-shaped and it has many strings. It is easily recognized because the peg box is bent. Lute will become one of the main instruments in the Renaissance in Europe.

- Psaltery: it was a flat box with strings struck with a pick and it was placed on the chest or the legs. It is made up of some tightened strings over a sound box. They were played with picks. They could be squared, triangular or in T-shape.

- Harp: its use comes from the old days, it will change its shape through the Middle Age.

- Hurdy-gurdy

- Organistrum

- Rebec.

Wind

- Bucina: long trumpet to announce the arrival of a prince.

- Shawn: they had six or seven holes and the came from Arabia. They were the oboes of that time.

- Bagpipe or hunting horn: decorated with carved heads of people and animals.

- Portative organ: it was a small organ played with both hands, one in the bellows to introduce some air and the other in the board.

Percussion

- Carillon: a set of bells.

- Cymbals

- Shard (ceramic or wood)

- Square tambourine (there are also circular ones)

## The organistrum

What’s an organistrum? Draw it.

### Feedback

Look for information about this instrument in the Middle Age.

How do we know about its existence?

Where is it in Santiago de Compostela Cathedral?

## Renaissance instruments

In this period instrumental music began to gain more importance. At the beginning people used to write scores that could be for any instrument but they end up making them more specialized. Some of the most common instruments were already used in the Middle Age. Let’s try to remember them and learn the new ones:

String

- Lute

- Vihuela: it is the predecessor of the Spanish guitar, but smaller. It was used to accompany songs and dance.

- Virginal: keyboard instrument that used to be placed on a table and it was easy to transport. It was played by noble ladies and they had beautiful paintings to decorate them. The spinet was similar but with triangular shape.

- Psaltery

- Viola family: the most important ones are viola da gamba and viola da braccio. The first used to be placed between the legs and the second on the arm or the leg. They are the predecessors of the violin family.

Wind

- Recorder family: made of wood and in different sizes (from high-pitched to low).

- Shawn and hunting horn

- Crumhorn: like a flute with a curved ending.

- Sackbuts (current trombone) and trumpets.

Percussion

-Kettledrum

- Drum

- Cymbals

## Baroque period instruments

Many of the instruments in the Renaissance were still used in the Baroque period like the viola da gamba, lute, harp, vihuela, organ, virginal and kettledrums, among others.

But there appeared new ones that will be very important from that moment.

- Violin family: violin, viola, cello and double bass.

- Wind instruments like the flute, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, French horn, trombone
- Keyboard instruments like the spinet or the harpsichord.

With these instruments the first orchestras appeared. They always had a spinet that was used as accompaniment and from which all the songs were directed because the figure of the orchestra conductor hadn’t appeared yet.

## True-False Question

What have we learnt about the instruments?

### Question 1

1. The vihuela is an instrument with Spanish origin.

True False

#### Feedback

True

It’s the predecessor of the Spanish guitar.

### Question 2

2. The violin family appeared in the Renaissance.

True False

#### Feedback

False

In the Renaissance there only was the viola family. It’s in the Baroque period when the violin family appeared.

### Question 3

3. The shawn is the predecessor of the oboe.

True False

#### Feedback

True

They are typical instruments in the Middle Age and they come from Arabia.

### Question 4

4. The bucina was used in monasteries

True False

#### Feedback

False

The bucina was used in monasteries to announce the arrival of a prince, never in religious places.

### Question 5

5. The viola da braccio used to be played placing it between the legs.

True False

#### Feedback

False

The viola da gamba used to be placed between the legs, the braccio one on the chest or over the arm like the present violins.

### Question 6

6. The recorder was at its peak in the Renaissance.

True False

#### Feedback

True

It had a family that went from high-pitched to low depending on its size.

### Question 7

7. This instrumen, is called psaltery.

True False

#### Feedback

False

It’s a crumhorn, a wind instrument in the Renaissance.

### Question 8

8. In the first orchestras the conductor was the harpsichordist.

True False

#### Feedback

True

Then they started to place themselves standing and facing the audiences and later facing the orchestra.

### Question 9

9. This instrument, is called rabel.

True False

#### Feedback

False

It’s a hurdy-gurdy, a Middle Age instrument that used to be played over the legs.

### Question 10

10. The sackbut is the predecessor of the trombone.

True False

#### Feedback

True

These instruments started to be used in the Renaissance.

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