Stradivarius

Stradivarius
Author: Jon Whiteley
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre: Musical instruments
ISBN: 9781854442833

Antonio Stradivari is, perhaps, the only maker of violins who ranks alongside Van Gogh and Turner as an artist. A household name to many, he is associated with secret formulae and mystical processes ensuring the world's greatest soloists seek his instrum

Handbook of Materials for String Musical Instruments

Handbook of Materials for String Musical Instruments
Author: Voichita Bucur
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 977
Release: 2016-08-29
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319320807

This book addresses core questions about the role of materials in general and of wood in particular in the construction of string instruments used in the modern symphony orchestra – violins, violas, cellos and basses. Further attention is given to materials for classical guitars, harps, harpsichords and pianos. While some of the approaches discussed are traditional, most of them depend upon new scientific approaches to the study of the structure of materials, such as for example wood cell structure, which is visible only using modern high resolution microscopic techniques. Many examples of modern and classical instruments are examined, together with the relevance of classical techniques for the treatment of wood. Composite materials, especially designed for soundboards could be a good substitute for some traditional wood species. The body and soundboard of the instrument are of major importance for their acoustical properties, but the study also examines traditional and new wood species used for items such as bows, the instrument neck, string pegs, etc. Wood species’ properties for musical instruments and growth origins of woods used by great makers such as Antonio Stradivari are examined and compared with more recently grown woods available to current makers. The role of varnish in the appearance and acoustics of the final instrument is also discussed, since it has often been proposed as a ‘secret ingredient’ used by great makers. Aspects related to strings are commented.As well as discussing these subjects, with many illustrations from classical and contemporary instruments, the book gives attention to conservation and restoration of old instruments and the physical results of these techniques. There is also discussion of the current value of old instruments both for modern performances and as works of art having great monetary value.The book will be of interest and value to researchers, advanced students, music historians, and contemporary string instrument makers. Musicians in general, particularly those playing string instruments, will also find its revelations fascinating. It will also attract the attention of those using wood for a variety of other purposes, for its use in musical instruments uncovers many of its fundamental features. Professor Neville H. FletcherAustralian National University, Canberra

Early English Viols: Instruments, Makers and Music

Early English Viols: Instruments, Makers and Music
Author: Michael Fleming
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 475
Release: 2016-11-18
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1317147154

Winner of the Nicholas Bessaraboff Prize Musical repertory of great importance and quality was performed on viols in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England. This is reported by Thomas Mace (1676) who says that ’Your Best Provision’ for playing such music is a chest of old English viols, and he names five early English viol makers than which ’there are no Better in the World’. Enlightened scholars and performers (both professional and amateur) who aim to understand and play this music require reliable historical information and need suitable viols, but so little is known about the instruments and their makers that we cannot specify appropriate instruments with much precision. Our ignorance cannot be remedied exclusively by the scrutiny or use of surviving antique viols because they are extremely rare, they are not accessible to performers and the information they embody is crucially compromised by degradation and alteration. Drawing on a wide variety of evidence including the surviving instruments, music composed for those instruments, and the documentary evidence surrounding the trade of instrument making, Fleming and Bryan draw significant conclusions about the changing nature and varieties of viol in early modern England.

Egyptian Musical Instruments

Egyptian Musical Instruments
Author: Moustafa Gadalla
Publisher: Moustafa Gadalla
Total Pages: 105
Release: 2017-03-16
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1931446474

This book presents the major Ancient Egyptian musical instruments, their ranges, and playing techniques. This book consists of five chapters: Chapter 1: The Wealth of Instruments will cover the general characteristics of Egyptian instruments as well the major components of the musical orchestra Chapter 2: Stringed Instruments will cover various Ancient Egyptian stringed instruments such as lyres, tri-gonon (zither), Harps including playing techniques: Harps—Playing Techniques; The All-Encompassing Capacities of Ancient; string instruments with neck—such as short-neck Lute; the long-neck Egyptian guitars; and Bowed Instruments [Kamanga, Rababa]. Chapter 3: Wind Instruments will cover The end blown flute; transverse flute; pan flute; single reed pipe (clarinet); double Pipe; double clarinet; double oboe; arghool; others (bagpipe and organ); and horns/trumpets. Chapter 4: Percussion Instruments will cover the membrano-phone instruments such as drums and tambourines; and the non-membrano-phone (idiophone) instruments such as percussion sticks, clappers, sistrums/sistra, cymbals, castanets, bells (chimes), xylophone and glockenspiel and human parts (hands, fingers, thighs, feet, etc.). Chapter 5: The Musical Performance will cover the significance and roles of the fingers and their knuckles in producing and directing musical performances; as well as the varied methods for maintaining the rhythmic timing/tempo—including the use of syllables.

Diagnostic and Imaging on Musical Instruments

Diagnostic and Imaging on Musical Instruments
Author: Emanuele Marconi
Publisher: Nardini Editore
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2017-06-04
Genre: Music
ISBN:

A musical instrument is a witness of the many human visual and aural sensibilities, beliefs and dreams. It is not just a technical object, but one with its own aesthetic properties, an object that makes a variety of characteristic sounds without necessarily the existence of a connection between its visual and sound aesthetic. Preserving an instrument means therefore preserving our culture, our history, our dreams. The conference, open to all museum professionals, was intended to present and critically discuss the latestresearch about diagnostic techniques applied to musical instruments as well as advanced conservation practices, use of materials, collections management, through the presentation of case studies. Its main objective was to be a forum for the exchange of information, seeking to promote the transfer of knowledge regarding the daily activities of preservation and to facilitate the exchange of scientific information and opportunities for collaboration among researchers from different backgrounds. The proceedings contain a selection of the papers presented in 2010 and 2011. Table of contentsForewordEmanuele Marconi, editor 1. TransformationsRobert L. Barclay – Restoration Consultant, Canada 2. DocumentationRobert L. Barclay – Restoration Consultant, Canada 3. On the field – universal measurementPatricia Lopez Bastos – ANIMUSIC – Associação Nacionalde Instrumentos Musicais 4. Investigating and Preventing the Deteriorationof Historic Brass Instruments in EUCHMIPanagiotis Poulopoulos – Deutsches Museum, Munich,Arnold Myers – The University of Edinburgh 5. Surface cleaning of musical instruments –towards a more conscious approachClaudio Canevari – Civica Scuola di Liuteria di Milano 6. Dendrochronology: Tool of Truth or DeceptionStewart Pollens – Violin Advisor LLC, New York 7. Piano’s forgery revealed by dendrochronologyDavid Houbrechts, Pascale Vandervellen – MusicalIntruments Museum, Bruxelles8. Structural, chemical and mechanical imaging appliedto the conservation of musical instrumentsJean-Philippe Echard, Sandie Le Conte, Stéphane Vaiedelich– Musée de la Musique, Paris9. Digital X-Radiography of Musical InstrumentsAna Sofia Silva – Conservator of Musical Instruments,Portugal10. Synchrotron radiation microtomography: a tool fornon-invasive analysis of historical musical instrumentsFranco Zanini – Sincrotrone Trieste11. Synchrotron radiation microtomography of bowedstringed instruments: the 1753 violinby G.B. GuadagniniNicola Sodini – Sincrotrone Trieste12. Stereomicroscope and SEM microanalysis study ofmusical instruments from Correr museum in VeniceStefania Bruni, Giuseppe Maino et alii, Enea Bologna13. X-ray and neutron imaging as complementarynon-destructive methods for investigations of historicalbrasswind instrumentsDavid Mannes, Adrian. von Steiger, Eberhard Lehmann,Rainer Egger – Neutron Imaging and Activation Group,Spallation neutron source SINQ, Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI),Villigen14. Looking over the Instrument Maker’s shoulders.Methods of material analysis of production technologyfor brasswind instrumentsAdrian von Steiger – Bern University of the Arts15. The emulation of non-linearity of musical instrumentsby means of Volterra seriesLamberto Tronchin – Università di Bologna Authors’ Biographies