Hurdy-gurdy
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1st July 2008
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Jaroslav Netuil
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Hurdy-gurdy is ...
A hurdy-gurdy is primarily a cordophone, therefore it is a musical instrument which sounds by vibration of one or more strings. Of course the principle of vibration doesnīt have any analogy. Strings are clanged by the wheel which is coated by leather (or painted by rosin) instead of bow. And itīs initiated by handle. A wheelīs function is similar to the violinīs bow.
The tone heights of melodic strings which are hidden within the corpus can be attained due to the keyboard mechanics. Besides that the musical instrument has some supporting strings which sound the same tone, one of them used to be equipped with a vibrating bridge which supplies the hurdy-gurdy with a characteristic jarring sound.
A hurdy-gurdy under the reading glass
A hurdy-gurdy went through a long development during one thousand living, sometimes half-life. The form, number of strings, fingerboard, tuning even the number of players were changing. Another musical instruments went through the analogical develeopment but big changes of time werenīt so expressive there.
Number of players
A hurdy-gurdy is usually intended for one instrumentalist. Nevertheless, for example in the period of Renaissance monumental hurdy-gurdies were made as well and they were intended for two players. Exactly that one you can see in the Galician holy shrine Santiago de Compostelo. Unfortunately I have never found a functional hurdy-gurdy for two players so I am not able to report on musical specification. However we can suppose more monumental and deeper tone.A friction wheel
It is an integral component of the instrument. From extant sources it was wooden and leather coated. Practically I met the wooden wheel without leather. The wheel was smeard with rosin (likewise the fiddlestick is smeard) and strings were wraped around with cotton wool to get sufficient fiction. If you want to learn how wrap strings with cotton wool properly, itīs such an alchemy. Nowadays, friction wheels are also made from another materials, for example silone or pertinax.Strings
Modern musical instruments which I have ever met, had metal strings originally intended for violins or altos. In spite of that I prefer catgut strings which are partly more authentic but above all they are musicaly much more better. Unfortunately the manufacture of catgut strings is operated just by several manufacturers so their price is expressively higher.A fingerboard
Digitals are worked out in a very witty and plain way. They are located from below of the instrument and thatīs why that the key returns back to the initial location due to gravity after releasing of the press. Of course itīs limiting to the certain extent regarding to the game technics. The oldest instruments had digitals directly in their bodies, the fingerboard was located outside of the resonant part much more later and it had a very positive impact on quality of tone. Some folk variants of hurdy-gurdies miss a fingerboard entirely. Itīs compensated for a fingerboard without fret. Those instruments verge on loop ones which are equipped with a friction wheel due to a lazy player.The form of the corpus
The most primitive instruments used to have the form of box. The box with a handle and keys. Fortunately the form of instrument was changing during the Gothic period and especially in Renaissance. I chose the Renaissance form of instrument for my own one. The instrument is controlled very well and its form is very aesthetic. A hurdy-gurdyīs appearance expressively changes during the Baroque period, the auriform corpus copies the lute by its form. As well as by the lute, the staff fights with the instrument which tends to "swim".Tuning
Keys have so-called flags within the finger-board and they are used for fine tuning of intonation. It takes several hours to set flags but in spite of that I canīt remember the instrument which would intonate so perfectly. Intonation can be improved in limited measure by power of pressing the key. So it takes months to spirit a new instrument. The most usual tuning is C major or D major. So for G major it means to tune melodic strings unison D and skirt strings G, D, A. Those tunings are called French.Tone
When you listen to a hurdy-gurdy play, it sounds like pipes. For the first sight itīs incomprehensible because pipes belong to wind instruments so itīs totally different. An ostinate bass is the magic which connects both instruments. So itīs supporting tone which sounds during all the composition.
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