July 1, 2021 | Instruments, Resources
The friction drum is a type of musical instrument that can be found throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America in various forms. It first appeared in Europe in the 16th century and supported certain religious and ceremonial activities. Actually, its ancestral...
April 9, 2021 | Instruments, Resources
A carillon is an idiophone percussion instrument played with a keyboard. It consists of at least 23 cast bronze bells suspended in chromatic order and sounded harmoniously together. The word carillon derives from the Old French “carignon” (a variant...
March 29, 2021 | Instruments, Resources
Around 200 B.C., the pipe organ appeared in Greece. Scholars argue that Ctesibius of Alexandria, engineer, invented the instrument. Rather than conceived as a musical instrument, for him, the organ acted as a demonstration of hydraulic principles. Thus, the earliest...
March 19, 2021 | Instruments, Resources
A variety of keyboard instruments existed before the piano. For instance, the hammered dulcimer was the first widely used stringed musical instrument. It holds the credit of being a forerunner of the later piano. It has appeared in the Middle East, Southwest Asia,...
March 3, 2021 | Instruments, Resources
The harpsichord falls into the family of so-called “quilled keyboards” such as virginals, spinets, and similar. The instrument’s earliest references date back to the 15th century. In Italy, harpsichord makers were producing lightweight designs...
