Introduction to the Bodhrán and Bouzouki Instruments
January 31st, 2010 | Acoustic Musical Instruments, Instrument History
There are musical instruments that you hear a lot about, and then there are many that do not find their way into the limelight much at all. The Bodhrán and Bouzouki instruments are examples of unique musical instruments that are still being played but that do not get a lot of attention in our region. Here is an introduction to both of these unique worldly musical instruments.
The Bodhrán
The Bodhrán is a type of percussion instrument, though its origins are uncertain. The Bodhrán is said to potentially be from either Asia or Africa, but what is known is that it eventually made its way to Ireland a few hundreds of years ago. The Bodhrán was utilized in order to keep time during war marches as well as during a number of different celebrations as well as local festivals in Ireland. The Bodhrán was introduced in the 1960s to audiences outside of Ireland by Sean O Riada, who used the instrument in musical arrangements for the Chieftans as well as Ceoltóirí Chualann.
In older Bodhrán instruments, green wood was used and it was bent into a rim shape that was then reinforced using crossbars. Then the shape was covered using sheepskin, greyhound skin or goatskin. Modern Bodhrán instruments are made somewhat differently however. And because the modern style of construction does not require cross bar reinforcement, many newer types of Bodhrán simply do not include them. Additionally, modern style Bodhrán instruments often possess tuning screws that make it possible for the tension of the skin to be increased by pressing a ring down into it and then altering the pitch that it is capable of producing.
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The Bouzouki
The bouzouki instrument is actually a Greek instrument, and it is a long-necked lute that has a wooden body shaped similarly to a pear. The bouzouki has between three and four strings, and it has machine screw style tuning pegs.
The bouzouki instrument possesses metal strings that are arranged in pairs. Players pluck the strings using a plectrum. The fingerboard on the bouzouki has metal frets that are fixed and arranged in order to intonate tones present in the tunes that are based on Arabian influenced melodies as well as Turkish modes. Some of the newer bouzouki instruments has tunes that use the European major scale and minor scale that are quite similar to the Western scales.
The bouzouki has also recently been introduced to the Celtic music style, and it has been gaining significantly in popularity as of late, largely as a result of the fact that it has a similarity in tone to other popular instruments including but not limited to the citern as well as the octave mandolin.
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Photo Credits: WordRidden
Originally posted 2009-10-02 03:58:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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