List of European medieval musical instruments
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This is a list of medieval musical instruments used in European music during the Medieval period. It covers the period from before 1150 to 1400 A.D. There may be some overlap with Renaissance musical instruments; Renaissance music begins in the 15th century. The list mainly covers Western Europe. It may branch into Eastern Europe but won't focus on that region.
Percussion
[edit]| Names and variations | Description | Ethnic connections, regions | Pictures | Pictures |
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| Adufe[1] | A frame drum brought to Iberia by Muslims and played mainly by women.[3] Used in the charamba in Portugal, a circle dance for couples.[3]
The adufe is a square or rectangular frame drum usually made of pine, over which is mounted a goat's skin. The size of the frame usually ranges from 12 to 22 inches on each side, and 1 to 2 inches thick. The skin is stitched on the sides, with the stitches covered by a coloured ribbon. In the interior small seeds, stones or bells are placed to make pleasing sounds. Illustrated examples are decorated, possibly with henna.[4] |
Iberia Portugal Spain |
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| Bells
handbells |
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| Bumbulum (legendary) | ||||
| Clappers
cliquettes |
Clappers from the Carolingian Empire appear to have been disks or possibly chimes attached to sticks. Other versions were blocks of wood held in the palms. The palm-held blocks could make clicking and rattle noises like castanets. Other similar instruments worldwide include the Thai/Cambodian krap sepha, Indian/Nepali khartal, Uzbek/Tajik qairaq, or North African krakebs. |   |
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| Cymbals |  |
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| *Frame drum | ||||
| Jew's harp[5] | .jpg) |
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| Nakers |  |
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| Tabor
Pipe and tabor |
Early drums in Europe were "side drums", slung at the players side or worn over their shoulder.[6] These were tabors, double sided with snares of rope (possibly only on one side.[6] The drums were either beaten with two sticks, or played as a pipe and tabor combination.[6] Drum and fife association found in Basle in 1332.Larger drums come on the scene by the 1500s.[6]
A three-hole pipe or reed pipe paired with a snare drum, the musician playing both at once. A variation of this is the Tambourine de Bearn, in which a dulcimer or string drum replaces the snare drum. |
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| Tof | Tof was the Hebrew instrument which Miriam played, "most commonly translated" into English as timbrel[8] Near eastern origin, used by Gauls, Greeks, Romans (tympanum), Egyptians, Assyrians.[9] Jingles were probably originally separate from this instrument.[9] Also related to Daff.[9] |  |
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| Triangle |  |
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String instruments
[edit]| Names and variations | Description | Ethnic connections, regions |
Pictures | |
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| Citole[10][11] |  | |||
| Clavichord | Clavichords were in existence in the "early years of the 15th century."[12] Word clavichord found in text from 1404.[12] Earliest known image dates to 1425, in an altarpiece carving in Minden, Germany.[12] |  | ||
| Crwth
Rote Stråkharpa |
British Isles, from where it traveled through the Shetland Islands and Norway to Sweden, ending up in Estonia and Finland. |    |
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| Dulcimer | A box zither; see psaltery.
"Little is known of the dulcimer before the mid-15th century."[13] Earliest known depiction is on ivory carving for book cover, 12th century A.D.[13][14] |
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| Fiddle see also |  |
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| Gittern[11] |  | |||
| Guitarra latina | One writer has summed up the guitarra latina, which is not well defined, saying "For musicians in Alfonso’s time it may have meant only 'a plucked stringed instrument: not the Muslim one.'"[15] |  |
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| Guitarra morisca[16] |
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Medieval harp (Medieval form of the modern harp)
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Not counting the ancient Greek harps, earliest depictions of harps in Europe include examples in Scotland (the Nigg Stone, late 8th century) and Ireland (early images in stone carvings appear to show oblong, c-shaped and triangular harps or lyres.[17]). Other early works can be seen from France, such as the ivory cover to the Dagulf Psalter in France and the 9th century illustrations in the Utrecht Psalter. Harps were strung throughout Europe with gut strings. Exceptions include Ireland (where strings were of metal) and Wales (where portable harps used horsehair strings through the 17th century A.D.).[18] For comparison of harps from across the ancient and medieval world, look at angular harps, arched harps, and konghou. |
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| Lute[19] |  |
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| Lyra | Fiddle, related to rebec |  |
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| Lyre |   |
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| Monochord | The monochord was a theoretical instrument illustrated in religious miniatures. A single string zither, which could produce different notes by pressure and plucking. | .jpg) |
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| Organistrum (large form of medieval hurdy-gurdy) |   |
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| Psaltery |   |
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| Rabel | Fiddle, probably variation of rebec. Survives today in Basque speaking areas; historically had leather soundboard; modern instruments may have wooden soundboard. The instrument traveled to the Spanish colonies in America, where it can be found today in Panama. | ,_folio_21V.jpg)    |
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| Rebab
Rabé morisco |
Rebab is a word for various kinds of fiddle in the Muslim world. Spelling is loose, because Arabic does not write down vowels sounds. Rabab, rebab, rubab, ribab have all been used, and some of them are used for plucked instruments in Asia as well. |   |
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| Rebec[21] |   |
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| Rotte |  |
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| Vielle
Vièle |
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| Vihuela
Viola |
In the Iberian Peninsula, small lutes are pictured, which have been considered as possible cytharas and citoles. In Portugal, the tradition remained into the modern era, the instruments called violas. They were vihuelas in Spain. Vihuela eventually became a large guitar-like instrument of the Renaissance. Violas remained small. The name viola has been reused for a variety of instruments including viola da gamba, viola (a modern fiddle). |   |
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| Vihuela de arco
Viola de arco Vihuela de arco pequeña (small bowed vihuela) |
The vihuela de arco may be a variant of the vielle. Spain had a variety of fiddles (which predate the violin) in the cathedral artwork and manuscript miniatures. |  |
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| Zither | ||||
Wind instruments
[edit]| Names and variations | Description | Ethnic connections, regions | Pictures | Pictures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albogón[24] | Double-reed instrument or type of shawm, possibly adapted from Muslim al-buq horn.[25] |  | ||
| Alboka | Spanish hornpipe. The musician blowns into a horn cup, which channels his breath through one or more single reeds. Each reed is connected to pipe with fingerholes.
Traditional instruments of shepherds. |
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| Bagpipes[26] |  |
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| Bladder pipe |  |
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| Bombard | Bagpipe of Brittany | |||
| Buisine
Anafil |
Europeans used horns for trumpets until adapting the Muslim nafir. It was renamed the anafil in Spain and the buisine in France. Europeans developed the instrument further into the herald trumpet or clarion near the end of the medieval period. |  |
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| Clarion | Clarion today implies high, angelic, pealing notes. That sound was developed, however, as Europeans began to learn to shape and bend sheet-metal tubes. Earlier Europeans showed angels playing horns. Cornett would also come to hit clarion notes. |  |
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| Cornett
Fingerhole trumpets |
In the 1500s-1600s, cornetts were carved wooden fingerhole trumpets, played from the corner of the mouth. In the medieval period, wooden fingerhole trumpets (and fingerhole cowhorns) are indicated in art such as the Winchcombe Psalter. |  |
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| Crumhorn | Probably a Renaissance instrument, the sound mechanism is a bundle of reeds beneath the wooden cap. The musician blew through the cap. |  |
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| Flageolet | ||||
| Flute |  | |||
| Gemshorn | A recorder made from horn.[27] Common to use ox horn after 1375 A.D.[27] Originally made from chamois horn.[27] In later music, the instrument made of ox horn fills the gap between the flageolet and the recorder.[27] | German
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| Horn
Bockhorn or Bukkehorn Hunting horn Battle horn War horn |
Trumpets made from cattle horns (or from other materials and shaped like cattle horns) and other animal horns such as goats (bukkehorn) or sheep (shofar). Carved ivory horns of this style were called oliphants. Words in English: cowhorn, bullhorn, oxhorn, steerhorn. Among peaceful uses of these horns was for farmers to call to their cattle herds to bring them in.[28] Could be drilled with as many as three or four fingerholes.[28] Bockhorns have been found with fingerholes as far back as the Iron Age.[28] | Norway/Sweden |     |
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| Olifant | Hunting or war horns carved from ivory | _Ivory_with_silver_mounts_Carved_about_1000-1100_CE_in_southern_Italy_Possbily_Amalfi_(1350430173).jpg) | ||
| Medieval trumpet
Iberian trumpet |
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| Organ | Organs invented in antiquity, but not common in Europe.[30] Under reigns of Pepin the short and Charlemagne, the organ was re-introduced to Europe, starting in about 757 A.D.[30]
Theophilus's organ in the 11th century A.D., used bellows activated by body weight.[31] That was refined to make all air from three bellows enter into a common channel.[31] Smaller organs are illustrated that could almost be called portable or portative organs. |
 _L%27Ou%C3%AFe_(La_Dame_%C3%A0_la_licorne)_-_Mus%C3%A9e_de_Cluny_Paris_cropped_for_musicians.jpg) |
,_c._1260,_el_rey_David_tocando_el_%C3%B3rgano,_F._97v,_Add_MS_62925,_British_Library,_detalle.jpg)  | |
| Portative Organ |  |
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| Recorder
duct flute |
Recorders are fairly rare in medieval art, the pipe (for pipe and tabor) being more common. Possibly began main start in European music in Northern Italy in the 14th century, and was established at the beginning of the 16th century.[32] It is difficult to tell from art if a recorder is presented (with a thumb hole) or a "some kind of folk pipe (without the thumb hole)."[32]
In comparison, reed pipes had a very limited range of notes (having only 3-4 holes and being played with one hand). Recorders and pipes with the holes requiring two hands to play had a broader range of notes. Another detail difficult to see is the mechanism of sound; recorders are flutes in which the sound is produced by a fipple.[32] Reed pipes such as aulos used reed bundles like a shawm to produce notes, or single reeds like the zummara.[32] Three and four hole pipes have been excavated in Novgorod, dating to the 11th and 15th centuries A.D. The timeline is not clear for the development into flutes with more holes. It isn't certain whether pipes with 3-4 holes were played alone, with a timbrel or tabor, or in pairs. Double flutes in Eastern Europe date back to the 12th-13th centuries.[33] Used in Russia, Belarus, western Ukraine, Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia.[33] |
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| Reed pipes | Europeans made pipes out of reeds, splitting a reed to make a single reed. A single 3-hole reed pipe could be used for the pipe and tabor. The Launeddas was a more elaborate reed pipe, with multiple pipes; each might have its own reed or one reed might sound multiple pipes. These are more common in medieval art than the recorder (which has more holes and requires both hands to play).
Reed pipe traditions around the world include Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. |
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| Sackbut[34] | Renaissance instrument, ancestor of the trombone. Medieval variant was clarion | |||
| Shawm[35]
oboe |
Double-reed instruments. The reed bundle is inserted through a disk (used for breath control, for uninterrupted sound, playing while the musician breathes.)
In France, musettes were small oboes until the 16th century, when they became bagpipes.[36] The musette was a small keyless double-reed chalumeau, with a visibly conical bore and a pear-shaped bell. |
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| Willow flute
Telenka (Ukrainian Тилинка) telincă (Romanian) |
These instruments are commonly called willow whistles because they use the bark of a willow tree (the tube created when the center is pulled from inside the bark) to make a whistle. The Russian kalyuka also makes a tube for a whistle, often out of thistle. The two instruments are played the same way, by varying the force of the air blown into the mouthpiece, with the end of the tube being covered by the finger or left open. | Norway
Sweden Finland Lithuania Russia Ukraine |
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| Shepherd's horn[37]
Pastusheskiy rog (Пастушеский рог) |
Horns constructed of strips of birchbark or alder bark rolled into tubes, or into cups to fit onto the end of flutes or reedpipes. Also fingerhole horn carved of wood. A mouthpiece is inserted; they may have reed tongues (making them reed horns, shawms or obes) a trumpet mouthpiece, or a tip to make them into flutes. Holes may be cut into the bark tube as well.[38][39][37] Instruments may also be built with a mouthpiece resembling a cup or funnel, in which the player uses his lips to create the sound.[40] | Sweden, Russia, Karelia, Belarus, Ukraine, former Yugoslavia |    |
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| Clay trumpet | Horns of clay |  | ||
| Tabor Pipe | A two or three-hole pipe of wood or reed, played with the tabor; the combination is called pipe and tabor. Three-hole flutes have two front finger holes and one back thumb hole. |  |
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| Wooden trumpet
Bemastocc |
A yew-wood trumpet was found in the Erne River.[41] It was attributed to the "early Christian Period...8th-10th century."[41] Has resemblance to the trumpets in the Vespasian Psalter.[42]
Trumpet was carved in two halves and bound together with strips of bronze, with a bronze mouthpiece.[41][42] |
Bemastocc (Old-English bem trumpet + stocc wood) |    |
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Groups of musicians
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King David playing a rotte (psaltery), with other musicians on fiddle, bell, bagpipe and horn, from the Musicians from the Psalter of Polirone. -
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References
[edit]- ^ Gutwirth, Eleazar (1998). "Music, Identity and the Inquisition in Fifteenth-Century Spain". Early Music History. 17: 161–181. doi:10.1017/S0261127900001637. ISSN 0261-1279. JSTOR 853882.
- ^ Mauricio Molina (2006). Frame Drums in the Medieval Iberian Peninsula. pp. 101–. ISBN 978-0-542-85095-0. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
- ^ a b Schechter, John M. (1984). "Adulfe". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 1. p. 25.
- ^ Sienna, Noam (4 December 2018). "March to Your Own Drummer: The History of Hennaed Drums (Part One)".
- ^ The Jew's harp : a comprehensive anthology. Leonard Fox. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press. 1988. ISBN 0-8387-5116-4. OCLC 16356799.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ a b c d Blades, James (1984). "Drum, 3: Side". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 1. pp. 607–609.
- ^ "TIMBREL - JewishEncyclopedia.com". Jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
- ^ Sadie, Stanley, ed. (1984). "Timbrel". The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 3. p. 585.
- ^ a b c Sadie, Stanley, ed. (1984). "Tambourine". The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 3. p. 511.
- ^ "Citole". British Museum.
- ^ a b Baker, Paul. "The Gittern and Citole". Retrieved 4 December 2016.
- ^ a b c Ripin, Edwin M. (1984). "Clavichord". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 1. pp. 415–417.
- ^ a b Kettlewell, David (1984). "Dulcimer". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 1. p. 627.
- ^ "A marvel in gold and ivory: Queen Melisende's Psalter". 26 May 2022.
[Caption for photograph of the book cover. The dulcimer is in bottom right corner of book-cover carving] The Melisende Psalter, Upper cover with scenes from the life of David: Egerton MS 1139/1
- ^ Bouterse, Curt. "Medieval Instruments V: Fiddles – Curt Bouterse".
- ^ Galpin, Francis William (1911). Old English Instruments of Music. Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company. pp. 21–22.
- ^ Chadwick, Simon. "Early medieval depictions of harpers on stone, manuscript and metal".
- ^ Sally Harper. "Chapter 4 - Secular Music before 1650". In Trevor Herbert; Martin V. Clarke; Helen Barlow (eds.). A History of Welsh Music. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781009036511.
A self-accompanying poet like Dafydd ap Gwilym would have used a small, portable harp, perhaps a form of the telyn raun (or rawn)...This horsehair-strung instrument remained prevalent in the Welsh bardic context until at least the seventeenth century...Other types of harp were nevertheless known in Wales, including the metal-strung harp used by the Irish...Gut strings were the norm elsewhere in Europe and England, but apparently despised in Wales, at least by some...
- ^ "A Panoply of Instruments for Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque Music". Music Educators Journal. 65 (9): 38–69. 1979. doi:10.2307/3395616. ISSN 0027-4321. JSTOR 3395616.
- ^ Brown, Howard Mayer (1984). "Symphonia". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 3. p. 483.
- ^ Spohnheimer. "The Rebec". Music.iastate.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-05-04. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
- ^ "Título uniforme [In Apocalipsin] Title Beati in Apocalipsin libri duodecim". bdh.bne.es. BIBLIOTECA DIGITAL HISPÁNICA. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
- ^ "Título uniforme [In Apocalipsin] Title Beati in Apocalipsin libri duodecim". bdh.bne.es. Biblioteca Digital Hispánica. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
- ^ a b Centre Int. de la Música Medieval. "ALBOGÓN. Ms. b.I.2. fol. 268v. RBME. Cantiga de Santa María 388". youtube.com.
[note: video of a modern recreation of the Albogón
- ^ a b Bouterse, Curt. "Medieval Instruments VI: Winds".
Another unusual instrument depicted in the Cantigas is the albogón. This was derived from the Arabic al-buq, originally a generic word for horns and trumpets, but latterly restricted to horns. Supposedly, in the 10th century, during the reign of the Spanish Umayyad caliph, al-Hakam II, a horn was fitted with a double reed and fingerholes...Cantiga 300 shows a huge one being played, accompanied by an hourglass-shaped drum.
- ^ Jones, G. Fenwick (1949). "Wittenwiler's "Becki" and the Medieval Bagpipe". The Journal of English and Germanic Philology. 48 (2): 209–228. ISSN 0363-6941. JSTOR 27713052.
- ^ a b c d FitzPatrick, Horace (1984). "Gemshorn". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 2. p. 33.
- ^ a b c d e f Kjellström, Birgit (1984). "Bockhorn". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 1. p. 242.
- ^ Bouterse, Curt. "Medieval Instruments VI: Winds".
- ^ a b von Katzenelnbogen, Johann (23 April 2017). "The Utrecht Psalter and its Furnishings - Part IV".
According to The Organ; An Encyclopedia, the organ was "re-introduced" into Western Europe from Byzantium in the time of Pepin the Short, (in 757 AD) and Charlemagne. While these two incidents are recorded and thus textual evidence for actual events, the fact that they are illustrated in the Utrecht Psalter and the Stuttgart Psalter testify to them being fairly commonplace at the beginning of the 9th century.
- ^ a b Sadie, Stanley, ed. (1984). "Organ: Construction, 2: Medieval Chest and 3: Medieval bellows". The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 2. pp. 839–840.
- ^ a b c d Hunt, Edgar (1984). "Recorder: History". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 3. pp. 205–208.
- ^ a b "Flute". Музыкальная энциклопедия. Том 4. — М (Musical Encyclopedia. Volume 4. - M.): Советская энциклопедия (Soviet Encyclopedia). 1978. pp. 884–976.
- ^ Spohnheimer. "The Sacbut". Music.iastate.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-05-04. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
- ^ Spohnheimer. "The Renaissance Shawm". Music.iastate.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-05-25. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
- ^ Letourmy, Georgina (2000). Le 11e arrondissement. Itinéraires d'histoire et d'architecture, Action Artistique Ville Paris, coll. " Paris en 80 quartiers ". ISBN 9782402071420.
- ^ a b c d e Antykova N.I. "Исторические аспекты развития народных инструментов в Оренбургской области" [Historical aspects of the development of folk instruments in the Orenburg region]. Greyish.ru (in Russian).
...settlers from the Tver region brought a horn (a shepherd's instrument)...belongs to reed aerophones, the sound in which occurs from the vibration of...an oscillating reed. The material for the horn is exclusively alder. The pipe is made from an alder shoot, about a finger thick (12-14 mm).
[source cited at end of article:] The Fifth Lazarev Readings: "Faces of Traditional Culture": Proc. of the International Scientific Conf. Chelyabinsk, February 25–26, 2011: in 2 parts / Chelyabinsk State Academy of Culture and Arts; ed. by prof. N. G. Apukhtin. – Chelyabinsk, 2011. – Part II. – 350 p.] - ^ Финченко А. Е. (Finchenko A. E.) (1982). "Восточнославянские народные музыкальные инструменты в собрании МАЭ" [East Slavic Folk Musical Instruments in the MAE Collection Archive] (PDF). Памятники культуры народов Европы и европейской части СССР (Cultural Monuments of the Peoples of Europe and the European Part of the USSR) (in Russian). 38. Ленинград (Leningrad): Наука (Nauka): 86, 89. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2021.
{{cite journal}}: External link in|journal= - ^ "Рог пастушеский. Русские. Россия, Архангельская область (Архангельская губ.). Конец XIX - начало XX вв" [Shepherd's horn. Russians. Russia, Arkhangelsk region (Arkhangelsk province). Late 19th - early 20th centuries.] (in Russian).
[museum exhibit information for birchbark trumpet:] Museum room MAE No. 1877-5
Name, title Shepherd's horn
Ethnicity Russians
Place of creation Russia, Arkhangelsk region (Arkhangelsk province)
Geographic localization of the place of creation East Europe
Time of creation Late 19th - early 20th centuries
Collector - private individual Zhuravsky Andrey Vladimirovich
Material birch bark, wood, fabric
Size Overall length - 17.5; circumference length at the bell - 32.0; bell diameter - 10.0; mouthpiece diameter - 9.0; circumference length at the mouthpiece - 3.5 - ^ "Пастушеский рожок" [Shepherd's Horn]. spacenation.info (in Russian). Archived from [spacenation.info/pastusheskii.html the original] on 16 March 2016.
[Talking about the lip-activated trumpet:] instead of a squeaker or whistle, this instrument has a mouthpiece that resembles a cup or funnel, and the sound is produced by contact with the lips, folded in a special way. The instruments differ in the length of the barrel and the number of holes (from three to six). The sound resembles a human voice.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) - ^ a b c Waterman, D. M. (1969). "An Early Medieval Horn from the River Erne". Ulster Jouirnial of Archaeology. 32.
- ^ a b Purse, John (2002). "Reconstructing the River Erne Horn". Ulster Journal of Archaeology. 61.
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