String section

“ Twanging the strings by the fingers is the most primitive method, probably suggested by the feeble note given out by the tense string of the hunters' bow, which was the prototype of the harp. In this ancient instrument, popular in all ages and lands, the strings are stretched à vide between two supports of a frame, the lower of which acts as a soundboard from which the strings rise perpendicularly. The scale of all harp-like instruments is produced by means of one string for each note, difference in pitch being obtained by varying the length of the strings. ”

“ When a string is plucked in the middle without being held, it vibrates simply as a whole (Fig. 184) , and gives forth but one note; this is called the fundamental. If the string is made to vibrate in two parts, it gives forth two notes, the fundamental, and a note one octave higher than the fundamental; this is called the first overtone. When the string is made to move as in Figure 183, three distinct motions are called forth, the [290] motion of the entire string, the motion of the portion plucked, and the motion of the remaining unplucked portion of the string. ”

“ The strings do not conform to their primary limit; some wise philosopher increased their number to seven.
The instrument which I possess has seven strings, and I have had it many years, as also had its former possessor; and the nacre studs are arranged, not in the formal relation here depicted, but at distances corresponding to the half of the string, to two thirds, to three fourths, to four fifths, and so on. Any division of the string can, however, be made at the pleasure of the performer, these studs serving only as guides ”

“ A piece of string is to be wound round the groove, a hole being made in the centre of the wood, through which the end of the string has first to be secured. In playing with the toy, the loose end of the string is to be held between the forefinger and thumb, and the grooved piece of wood is to be let fall. ”

“ I should disbelieve it because it is inconsistent with the general nature of a musical instrument, or any instrument. I should disbelieve it long before I had thought of the thousand particular instruments to which it does not apply. I should not primarily need to think of the particular examples, though they are obvious enough. A stringed instrument cannot even be called stringed without two fixed points to hold both ends of the string. ”

“ The vibrations of a string also depend upon its thickness. Preserving the stretching weight, the length, and the material of the string constant, the number of vibrations varies inversely as the thickness of the string. If,127 therefore, of two strings of the same material, equally long and equally stretched, the one has twice the diameter of the other, the thinner string will execute double the number of vibrations of its fellow in the same time. If one string be three times as thick as another, the latter will execute three times the number of vibrations, and so on. ”

“ Many of our readers probably are not aware, that however short and light a string may be, no amount of tension applied horizontally will stretch it into a line perfectly and mathematically straight. Practically the deviation is imperceptible where the power applied is very large in proportion to the weight and length of the string. ”

“ In examining an orchestral score, it will be noted at once that the string parts are always together at the bottom of the page, while the wood-wind material is at the top. Since the strings furnish the most important parts of the harmonic structure for so much of the time, our amateur will at first play only the string parts, with the possible addition of the flute, oboe, and certain other non-transposed voices a little later on. But as he gains facility he will gradually be able to take in all the parts and to include at least a sort of summary of them all in his playing. ”

“ Earliest among stringed instruments are the various forms of Harp or Lyre, in which each string gives a single sound, and is put in motion by being plucked by the finger or struck by a rod or flat strip of wood, ivory, etc., called a plectrum. In the next class are included those instruments that are furnished with a neck or fingerboard, with or without frets. In this class the strings are comparatively few in number, as many sounds may be obtained from [Pg 151] each string by altering its length by the pressure of the fingers on the neck. ”

“ When a key was depressed, a little tongue of wood, one end of which stopped the string, was pressed against the revolving cylinder, and the vibrations produced by friction were transmitted to the string and reinforced as in piano and violin by the soundboard. The adjustment of the parts and the velocity of the cylinder required delicacy and great nicety, for if the little wooden tongues rested too lightly upon the cylinder or the strings, harmonics were produced, and the note jumped to the octave or twelfth. ”

“ In the harmonic method, on the other hand, the motion of the string is regarded as compounded of a series of vibratory motions (normal modes of vibration) , which may be infinite in number, but each of which is perfectly definite in type, and is in fact a particular solution of the problem of the motion of a string with its ends fixed. ”

“ Bring the string up gradually as before, and when the unison is reached you will hear one single, simple, musical tone, as though it were from a single string. Never have more than two strings sounding at once. You might go over the entire key-board now and correct all the unisons if the scale is yet fairly good. See which string is, in your opinion, the nearest to correctness with respect to the scale, and tune the other one, or two, as the case may be, to it. If the scale is badly out of symmetry, you will not get very good results without setting a temperament ”

“ Fold the string or strip of leaf, and cut it in half. Take one of the halves, fold it, and measure from the point upwards as far as it will go. Mark the spot, and measure off the string in breadths of the k’ris at that spot: there must be ten breadths, and at the measuring of the tenth the end of the string must be in the centre of the blade, if it is to be of any use. ”

“ The one at the top marks the points at the distance each line is required to be from others. The string being chalked either black or white,—according as the line has to show upon a light or dark ground,—he holds it to one of the points, and lets fall the weighted end, which, when quite steady, the person who is below strains tight, and raising the string between his finger and thumb in the middle, lets it fall back sharply on the wall. ”

“ The strings are twanged with the fingers or with a piece of wood, horn, metal, or any other suitable substance serving as a plectrum; or are made to vibrate by being beaten with a hammer, as our dulcimer. Stringed instruments provided with a finger-board on which different tones are producible on one string by the performer shortening it more or less,—as on the guitar and violin,—are met with almost exclusively among nations in a somewhat advanced stage of musical progress. Such as are played with a bow are the least common ”

“ About the tenth century a string for a fifth tone was added. The strings were made of silk neatly twisted. The neck of the instrument was provided with frets of string, which were carefully regulated according to the system of seventeen intervals in the compass of an octave before mentioned. Other favourite stringed instruments were the tamboura, a kind of lute with a long neck, and the quanūn, a kind of dulcimer strung with lamb’s gut strings (generally three in unison for each tone) and played upon with two little plectra which the performer had fastened to his fingers. ”

“ Now, if you look at Diagrams 1, 2, and 3, you may be puzzled to declare whether there are in each case two or four new walls; but you cannot call them three, as required in our puzzle. The intersection either affects the question or it does not affect it.
If you tie two pieces of string firmly together, or splice them in a nautical manner, they become "one piece of string." If you simply let them lie across one another or overlap, they remain "two pieces of string." It is all a question of joining and welding. ”

“ On stringed instruments that have fingerboards, like the lute or guitar, the small pieces of wood or other material fixed transversely on the fingerboard at regular intervals are called frets. The object they serve is to mark off the length of string required to produce a given note. Pressure upon a string immediately above a fret makes at the point of contact of string and fret a temporary 'nut,' and the string, set in motion as far as the bridge on the soundboard by plucking with plectrum or finger, or bowing, gives a higher note in proportion to the shortening of the string. ”

“ To ensure equality of tone it is very important that the strings should be correctly guaged with regard to their relative thicknesses. If all the strings are too thick, the instrument will speak with difficulty in delicate passages, demanding a heavier pressure of the bow; if too thin, loss of power will be the result, though with a corresponding gain in sweetness and clearness, and if one string be much out of proportion to the others, the first finger when placed properly on that string and the adjacent one will not yield a perfect fifth, besides the inequality in power. ”

“ The function of the tangent constitutes the main technical innovation; instead of giving a sharp blow and rebounding instantly from the string, like the hammer on the strings of the dulcimer, the tangent remained on the string as long as the key was pressed down, and as it rose cloth dampers stopped the vibration. It is usual to compare the tangent of the clavichord to the hammer of the dulcimer, but the action of the tangent more nearly resembles the pressure of the finger on the string of the violin. ”

“ Take two pieces of string or tape, and round the wrists of two persons tie the string, as shown in Fig. 19. It adds to the amusement of the puzzle if one of the persons is a lady and the other a gentleman. The puzzle is for them to liberate themselves, or for any one else to release them without untying the string. To do this, B makes a loop of his string pass under either of A's manacles, slips it over A's hands, and both will be free. ”

“ We cannot conjecture when it was discovered that more tones than one could be got from a single string by taking advantage of the expedient of a long neck or finger-board, or from a single pipe by boring lateral holes in it, and closing those holes to produce different notes with the fingers. ”

“ One should avoid sliding up and down the strings when the phrasing does not demand the portamento. Do not hurry the movement. Pause between phrases to give added dignity. In playing very high on the string, do not press upon the strings too heavily with the bow, as the length of string is now so short that additional pressure gives a rasping tone. Practice the crescendo. Economize space in long bowing. Do not allow the fingers to leave the strings at such points.
A perfect legato can only be obtained when the fingers and bow are in perfect sympathy. A somewhat dignified trill is necessary. ”

“ Some of the strings are naturally higher than others; the highest is a smaller, finer string than the lowest. When the violinist plays, he shortens the strings by holding them down with his fingers, and the shorter he makes them the higher the note. ”

“ String′-piece, a supporting timber forming the edge of the framework of a floor or staircase, &c.; String′-plate; a metal plate bearing the spring-block of a pianoforte.—adj. String′y, consisting of strings or small threads: fibrous: capable of being drawn into strings.—n. String′y-bark, one of a class of Australian gum-trees with very fibrous bark.—Harp upon one string (see under Harp) ; Have one on a string, to gain complete influence or control over some one: to place a person under great anxiety ”

“ The weight on the shortest string makes three journeys, and the weight on the next longest string makes two journeys, while the other is loitering through one.
This discrepancy, again, is only what the behaviour of the vibrating masses in the previous experiments should have taught the observer to anticipate. Each of the weights in this new arrangement of the strings, has to swing in the portion of a circle, which, if completed, would have a different dimension from the circles in which the other weights swing. ”

“ Having got a sufficient supply of string, the next thing is to make string bags—which is done by making a row of loops for the bottom of the bag, and working round and round, putting the end of the string through each loop to make a fresh row. Usually the end is fastened to a hen’s feather to make it go through easily. ”

“ The various modes of vibration may also be exhibited. If D is removed and the string is bowed in the middle, the fundamental is brought out. If it is touched in the middle with a feather, the edge of a card, or the finger nail, and bowed a quarter of the way along the octave, the first overtone comes out. Each of the first few harmonics may be easily obtained by touching the string at the first node of the harmonic required, and bowing at the first loop, and the presence of the nodes and loops may be verified by putting light paper riders of shape A on the string at the nodes and loops. ”

“ It has been shown that a piano string when struck by a hammer, or a violin string when bowed, or a mandolin string when plucked, vibrates not only as a whole, but also in segments, and as a result gives forth not a simple tone, as we are accustomed to think, but a very complex tone consisting of the fundamental and one or more overtones. ”