Alfred J. Hipkins

“ Wind instruments, although they may be of earlier invention in their rudimentary forms than those with strings, as in the old-world fable of Apollo and Marsyas, are always placed second. But they have an equal interest intrinsically and historically, and like drums and gongs, have an especial connection with the sacred rites of various nations. The Jewish Shophar, a simple ram's horn, a woodcut of which, drawn from an interesting example preserved at the great Synagogue, Aldgate, London, figures at the end of this Introduction, is the oldest wind instrument in present use in the world. ”

“ The principle of the drone-bass, common to the Bagpipe and Hurdy-gurdy (Plate XXX.) , must have been of universal acceptance in Europe before the knowledge of counterpoint became general. The peculiar scale of intervals of the great Highland bagpipe adds much to what is characteristic in the tones of the instrument. Its divergence of intonation may be due to the incompetency of the instrument-maker to determine the true distances for boring the lateral holes. If so, we must be lenient with him, for even now, with our perfection of mechanical appliances, the boring is not above question. ”

“ Music is acutely felt as a means of expression in India unknown in China or among the Indo-Chinese races.
The vexed question of the introduction of the bow to stringed instruments, upon which the most eminent authorities are not yet disposed to agree, is one that needs only to be mentioned here. Whether of Asiatic or European introduction, it would appear at first to have been only one of the ways by which sounds could be drawn from strings, and that it gradually became victorious over the plectrum, with instruments of the viol kind, which thereby gained a great development. ”

“ The Psaltery was a plectrum instrument derived from the Arab Qanūn; it is rarely absent in paintings of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries where musical instruments are represented. The same instrument, increased in the weight of stringing to resist the impact of hammers, is the familiar dulcimer, which, like the hurdy-gurdy and the bagpipe, has seen better days. What was once thought of the dulcimer is shown by the painting that adorns the one drawn in Plate XVII. It seems almost vexatious that we do not know who first adjusted a key-board to a psaltery, and thus constructed a spinet. ”

“ The figuration, the manner of slurring, the arpeggios, and much more in this piece, are extremely characteristic of the instrument. For a performance intended to reproduce, as far as may be possible, the original reading, the piece should be first studied upon a clavichord, not a pianoforte. The gentle influence of the instrument soon makes itself felt, and both player and listener seem to breathe another and a purer atmosphere. But such a performance demands concentration and those quiet surroundings the old composers enjoyed.
I'm never merry when I hear sweet music ”

“ Such drums are beaten in a peculiar way with short curved sticks; and, although when heard close the sound is anything but pleasing, yet, when heard from a distance among the mountains, in company with shrill oboes and deeper drones, the sounds rising and falling with the breeze and echoing from hill to hill, the effect is in character with the wildness of the country, and the hearer often listens, rapt, in spite of himself. ”

“ The movement of the Plain Song, or of any melody with this harmonic structure upon it, was in progressions that no modern musically trained ear could tolerate. Not more than one key of the large church organ could, however, be put down by either hand, as the keys were as broad as the palm, and to press one down required an attack with the player's fist. But the keys of the Portable organ, a processional instrument, were narrow—one hand manipulating the bellows while the player touched the keys with the other. ”

“ The Calabrian Bagpipe or Zampogna is a rudely carved instrument of the eighteenth century. It has four drones attached to one stock, hanging downwards from the end of the bag: two of them are furnished with finger-holes. The reeds are double like those of the oboe and bassoon. The bag is large; it is inflated by the mouth and pressed by the left arm against the chest of the performer. The Zampogna is chiefly used as an accompaniment to a small reed melody pipe called by the same name, and played by another performer. The quality of the tone produced is not unpleasing. ”

“ In the last century attempts were made to tune some part of the scale chromatically, but, as far as I have met with examples, on no ascertainable system. The Chinese substitute sixths, and in the two lowest sevenths, for the octave; by the sevenths the lowest semitone is missed, otherwise the scale continues, as in the European dulcimer, in heptatonic order. The brass wire upon the bridges is an old spinet contrivance. The dulcimer is tuned with a hammer or key like a pianoforte, but, unlike the piano and other key-board instruments, has no damping contrivance. ”

“ The Cetera is the Italian name of the cither, and the one drawn in Plate XIV. is of remarkable, although not unusual, beauty. The cither to which the name of Queen Elizabeth is traditionally attached, belongs to the English family of the Pandore, Orpheoreon, and Penorcon; it is not exactly one of these instruments, but it most nearly resembles the last named. As a fine specimen of English work, in no way ceding to the Italian, this beautiful instrument, commonly known as Queen Elizabeth's Lute (Plate IX.) , cannot be too highly extolled. ”

“ THE Roman Lituus, the antique straight instrument with the curved end, is drawn from a reproduction in bronze of the original, found in the tomb of a warrior discovered in 1827, at Cervetri, the Etruscan Caere, and preserved in the Museum of the Vatican. The lituus took its name from the augur's staff, which it resembled in shape; it belonged to the cavalry of the Roman Empire. It produces the following proper notes or natural harmonics—
the seventh being flatter than the note which occurs in our modern musical scale. ”

“ These primitive oboes must be of very great antiquity. It is probable,-xv- the shepherd's pipe was at first a smaller reed inserted in a larger one, or the larger one was slit for a reed vibrator, as boys cut them now. The lowland Scotch shepherd's pipe is made of horn, the cover for the reed being also horn. The principle of a reservoir of air to furnish a supply for pipes, the primitive conception of the organ, was known to the Romans and the original form of bagpipe was the Tibia Utricularis. In course of time no instrument was more popular throughout Europe than the bagpipe. ”

“ In all these guitar and lute instruments, the roses in the sound-boards show a wealth of invention in design that is truly astonishing. A work of this kind would not be without interest if it were devoted only to these roses, and to those of spinets and-xi- harpsichords. Guitars have flat backs, and lutes shell or pear-shaped resonance bodies, and the former are again divided into the guitar proper with catgut strings, and cithers with wire strings necessitating the employment of a plectrum. ”

“ The instruments drawn are a Ranat Ek of twenty-one wooden bars, in a cradle-like stand beautifully ornamented with ivory; a Khong Yai of eighteen metal kettles, of a kind of bronze or bell metal known as "gongsa," in an ivory stand painted like tortoiseshell, with brass edgings; and the very peculiar Ta'khay, or crocodile, with three strings and twelve bridges, including the nut, to fret them. The last-mentioned instrument is played with a plectrum, and ornamented with a crocodile's head and ivory ornaments. ”

“ THE Sitár is the favourite instrument of Upper India, and was reintroduced and perfected by the poet-musician Amir Khusru of Delhi in the thirteenth century. The name is Persian, and implies "three strings," although the Sitár has now usually five, six, and sometimes seven strings. Sitárs called Taruffe have sympathetic strings of fine wire attached to the side of the neck and passing underneath the frets and bridge, to vibrate in unison with the notes of the same pitch that are played. ”

“ The peculiar triangular shape of the Balaläika is of very primitive character, the curved form in lutes and guitars being an artistic development. In a delightfully realistic Russian bronze shown at the Health Exhibition, South Kensington, 1884, the performer simultaneously holds the neck of the instrument and stops the strings with his left hand, while he touches them, guitar fashion, with his right hand, the instrument being free from any other support whatever. ”

“ While often made in Italy, France and Germany, the Guitar is the national Spanish instrument, and although fashion may for a time permit its use in other countries, it is as an exotic, for the character and traditions of the instrument attach it closely to Spain, where it is the universal accompaniment to song and dance. ”

“ The four drones, proceeding from one stock, are mounted with brass and ivory. The chanter, or melody pipe, has seven finger-holes in front and one behind; also, seven brass keys. As there is only one hole open at a time when the instrument is played, this manner of playing is called close fingering. The chanter and drones are furnished with stops at the ends. The instrument with a blue bag is the ancient Northumbrian bagpipe. It has three drones, mounted with silver and ivory, of different sizes; the longest being tuned an octave and the middle one a fourth lower than the shortest. ”

“ The Koto is tuned according to the five notes in the octave system that prevails in Japan and, with a-xix- difference in the division of the scale, in China, named, by the late Carl Engel, pentatonic. The player kneels upon the ground beside the instrument, and resting or sitting upon his heels, touches the shorter lengths of the strings, as divided by the bridges, with plectra on the thumb and first two fingers, but, at the same time, makes constant use of the longer lengths to press upon or relieve the strings so as to alter the tension and produce intermediate tones. ”

“ In describing musical instruments we can refer to no beginnings; those that may be discerned dimly in the glimmering of the historic dawn present a certain completeness that marks an intellectual advance already accomplished. ”

“ The strings are equally long and thick, and are strained to one tension, the notes being obtained by means of movable bridges, of which there are as many as there are strings. Two strings, the first and third, are tuned alike, at the interval of a fifth above the second or lowest note. The tuning is generally done by ear note by note, the player pitching the instrument to his voice, which is good if a high voice. The classical Japanese music is Chinese, and may have come to Japan with Chinese art, through the Corea. ”

“ The-104- French Harmonium and American Organ, the concertinas and accordion, are well-known examples of the "free-reed" principle, which differs from the Church organ beating-reed inasmuch as the reed or vibrator of metal does not overlap any part of its frame. The Shêng is a gourd with its top cut off and a flat cover cemented upon it. Twenty-one bamboo pipes are inserted round the cover, but four, being intended for convenience in holding the instrument, do not sound. Those intended to sound are provided with small brass reeds. ”

“ With stretched-out fourth finger the player strains the slack hair of the bow, then takes up the instrument, vertically resting it upon the knees, between which the metal string-holder is grasped. Bringing the hair of the bow to the edge of the resonance body, the bow is simply moved horizontally backwards and forwards, the middle part of the bowstring only being employed. The strings are brought into contact with the bow by a rotary movement of the instrument. Sometimes only one E flat string is used, sometimes both. Double notes are very rarely used. ”

“ But they libel an instrument that has only failed from lack of inventors to attain to the development that has raised some of its former competitors to the consideration they are now held in. While the organistrum of the church became the vielle of the Jongleurs, passing into the chifonie and hurdy-gurdy of the common folk in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the dulcimer has been the precursor of the pianoforte. ”

“ When to these considerations we add that devotedness of purpose without which nothing great in art has been accomplished, we have a catalogue of excellences sufficient to account for the greatness of their achievements. ”

“ The dulcimer is a variety of the psaltery or qanūn, and bears the same relation to it that the modern pianoforte does to the older spinet or harpsichord. The psaltery was sounded by the fingers, either with their fleshy ends or by covering them with plectra adjusted like thimbles to produce a sharper sound; the dulcimer is a louder instrument, the sounds being produced by hammers held in the player's hands, and having elastic stems by which the necessary rebound from the strings is facilitated. ”