 |
|
|
|
| Welcome to our gallery of world musical instruments. Below you will find a number of instruments that have been part of Randy Raine-Reusch's collection. There are instruments that are in other collections as well. Almost all of these instruments have been in active use. We appreciate any and all comments, corrections and feedback that you may want to send us. We are reformatiing these pages, so excuse the changes. Please click on the blue links to see the pages. | ||||
|
Spike Fiddles and Bowed Rebabs Spike fiddles are found throughout Africa and Asia, characterized by a thin body or spike and a small resonator close to the tail, and played upright in the lap. Traditionally made with rattan strings they now usually have metal strings. Bowed rebabs, common throughout Europe and Asia, have much larger bodies with either hide or wood tops. They are characterized by cutaways for the bow much like on the violin. Flutes There are three main categories of mouth flutes: oblique, transverse and endblown. Oblique flutes are common throughout west Asia, eastern Europe and north Africa. They are often a single hollow pipe with finger holes. They are played by placing the top end of the pipe to the lips are an oblique angle and blowing softly with a thin stream of air. Turkish versions have mouthpieces, yet follow the same principle. Transverse flutes are presently found throughout the world due to the orchestral 'silver' flute. Versions made from bamboo, or wood are common to many cultures. Three subsections of endblown flutes are fipple or duct flutes; panflutes; and 'free-air' flutes. Duct flutes are found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas and are characterized by a fipple that directs are to a sharp edge as in a recorder. Pan flutes are a either an open or closed ended hollow pipe that is blown into from an open end, like blowing into a pop bottle. Endblown 'free-air' flutes are common throughout Asia, parts of Africa and South America, the best-known example is the Japanese shakuhachi. Although now very rare and thought an oddity, nose flutes were a very important part of many cultures throughout the Pacific region and parts of Asia. Instruments included so far on this site are:
Lutes
and Plucked Rebabs
Percussion
|
Free
Reeds Free reeds are wind instruments with fibre or metal reeds usually placed flush with the sound pipe. Most free reed mouth organs can produce the same pitch with inhalation or exhalation, while the single pipe free reeds usually only sound with either inhalation or exhalation. Free reed instruments are found throughout East and Southeast Asia, tracing their origins to China. Chinese historical documents date the existence of free reed mouth organs in 1500 BC, with mythological sources dating them much earlier. These early instruments were made with gourd resonators, bamboo pipes and fibre reeds, like the modern day naw. However there are two metal wind chambers from the 4th century BC, which demonstrate an early use of other materials for wind chambers. These ancient wind chambers also show that the pipes were placed in two rows identical to the present day mbuat, and early sheng (called he or yu) also had pipes arranged in two rows. The circular arrangement of pipes found on the modern sheng and sho seem to have come later. Single free reed pipes have remained primarily a folk instrument until recently, and as a result there exists little documentation discussing their history or origins. However, there are numerous instruments found in China and the northern regions of Southeast Asia. Free reed instruments were virtually unknown in the West until Pierre Amiot introduced a sheng to European instrument makers in the 17th Century, which resulted in the invention of the harmonica, accordion, concertina and reed organ. The following free reed instruments are found on this site:
Harps, Lyres, and Musical Bows
Reeds
Ocarinas or Vessel Flutes
|
Horns Horns are found around the world used for in a variety of situations from sacred ceremonies, to military and celebratory music. They often were used as signals or for communication at a distance due to their volume. Most horns were originally made from either animal horns (hence the name), hollowed out plants or trees, or seashells. The following horns are found on this site:
Jaw Harps or Jews Harps
Zithers, Psalteries, Dulcimers |
||
I
have separated reeds and free reeds as they have quite different
origins.
Reeds are divided into single reeds, e.g. the clarinet family, and
double
reeds e.g. the oboe family. Single reeds seem to trace their origins to
the Egyptian midjweh, and double reeds to the Middle Eastern or North
African
shenai family. Some double reeds are in fact multiple reeds having many
layers like the Indian shenai. Double reeds are found with two body
styles:
conical, e.g. the oboe or shenai, and tubular, e.g. Chinese guanzi or
Armenian
duduk. The following reeds are found on this site: 
Jaw
harps or jew’s harp are found in many cultures around the world, and
were
a popular 'personal' instrument, in that they could be carried in a
pocket
easily and played whenever the player has an inkling for music. Most
jaw
harps are very quiet instruments played alone or in duets, however some
European metal jaw harps are made very loud to be played in ensembles
with
other instruments. Although many sources claim that the term Jews harp
has no racial connotations, in certain regions it did carry racial
connotations,
so this site will use the term jaw harp. Included are mostly bamboo or
palm leaf instruments not found elsewhere on the web, and some very
rare
instruments collected throughout Asia. There are two main categories to
these jaw harps, those that are activated by plucking the tongue or
lamella,
and those that are tension harps activated by pulling a string. In many
cases both of these types can be found in the same region, or within
close
proximity to each other. The following jaw harps are found on this site: