Summary

More on music! (Shoutout to episode 40/music part 1, which came out a while ago now.) We talk about dulcimers and gitterns, viols and tabors, Jew’s harps and gamelans, and Jesse’s favorite–the bagpipe. Also tuning, temperament, aaaand a little Monty Python.

Annotations

1/ The Early Instrument Database at Case Western Reserve University, Ross Duffin.

2/ Dulcimer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulcimer

AKA “A damsel with a dulcimer in a vision once I saw”: I think the lyre just feels more like a post-Raphielite instrument.

Ditzy Dulcimer.

Dulcimer, lyre, and lute, the Ferrara Ensemble directed by Crawford Young playing an excerpt from “Fortuna Desperata.” (See website for full citation.)

3/ Gittern

Gittern with harp, Ferrara Ensemble playing an excerpt from “Chanconeta Tedescha” (see website for full citation).

Workshop medieval gittern https://youtu.be/eA4CtdXnWWs

4/ Viola de gamba

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viol

A quick google suggests that $10k might be on the cheap side for a contrabassoon. Possibly because most of the ones that are made are professional quality.

5/ Jew’s Harp / Jaw Harp / Mouth Harp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jew%27s_harp

Doctor Who Theme Song. Fun fact: Although it sounds like a theremin, the Doctor Who theme song was actually produced by recording a single plucked string and then cutting the tape up, putting it back together in weird ways, playing it faster or slower, etc.–a technique known as musique concrète. Considering that it was done in 1963, this was considered pretty innovative. (Also, belated happy Doctor Who day to everyone–it’s November 23, right around the time I am editing this.)

6/ Tabor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabor_(instrument)

Brave Sir Robin clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZwuTo7zKM8 (sorry about the lack of pixels, apparently every Monty Python clip was uploaded to the internet around 2006). (Contains a timbril.)

7/ Gamelan

Em makes reference to the unification of Indonesia. The short version of the story here is that much like China, India, and French Indochina, Indonesia was once a bunch of independent kingdoms/sultanates/what-have-yous. Like India and French Indochina, it was forced to think of itself as one place rather than a large island archipelago (actually, the largest, with over 17,000 islands!) by colonial interests, in this case the Dutch and the Dutch East India Company (see also episode 11, note 30 for passing mention of them). Some of these, uh, sedimented countries stayed together after the colonials pulled out (e.g., Indonesia), some fell apart (e.g., French Indochina), and some stayed mostly together but with a few notable pieces leaving the main (e.g., India).

8/ Xylophone

The xylophone is also mentioned in nearly every alphabet book for children because English has so few words that start with X (or at least such words that have been deemed appropriate for children).

Technically, I (Em) played the broken vibraphone in the marching band–when a vibraphone is broken or unplugged, it turns into a xylophone, I think.

Balafon

9/ The organ! This is Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565: https://youtu.be/Nnuq9PXbywA

Link to Nancy Kito: https://twitter.com/EnsLeonarda/status/1241870110874308608?s=20

Video of someone hitting “transpose” at the wrong moment: https://www.classicfm.com/composers/handel/messiah-organ-fail/

10/ Jesse’s favorite: The Medieval Bagpipe

Hurryken Productions

More bagpipes!

Here are some images of medieval bagpipes (and sound from a modern recreation) from the Case Western site: https://caslabs.case.edu/medren/medieval-instruments/bagpipe-medieval/

[Bagpipes are double reed instruments, like the bassoon and the oboe (also the heckelphone and the sarrusophone). Of these, obviously the bassoon is the best. As a former bassoonist, I wish I could say this was the first time that I’ve had a conversation where I cast scorn and/or aspersions on the bagpipe, but it is not.–Em]

11/ Horns

Carnyx: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnyx
Carnyx, performed by Abraham Cupeiro.

Cow horn

The SNL skit! Jesse teaches this in class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrpQVSVa2QI

12/ Oud and lute song from the Cantigas de Santa Maria (written in medieval Galician-Portuguese language during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile (1221–84) and often attributed to him). Here are images from a manuscript of the Cantigas (and scroll down to hear the duet from the episode): https://thedutchluthier.wordpress.com/2016/07/08/cantigas-de-santa-maria/

Oud and lute, performed by Sequentia.

For more on Alfonso X, who wrote a song about a ferret he owned as a pet and really loved, see episode 29, note 22.

13/ Sequentia is an awesome group and has done a lot of work on Hildegard’s music: https://www.sequentia.org/projects/hildegard.html

We’ve discussed Hildegard in episodes 5, 6, 7, 8, 16, 26, 29, 30, and 32. She’s important. (Wow, I need to index her better.–Em)

14/ Medieval Dances (performed by Ensemble Chominciamento di Gioia http://www.futurestyle.org/classic/archives-classic/c/chominciamento-di-gioia.htm )

15/ Tuning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_tuning

16/ Temperament https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_temperament

17/ Quarter tone scale from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_tone

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_tone_system

18/ Ross Duffin How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (and Why You Should Care)
https://www.amazon.com/Equal-Temperament-Ruined-Harmony-Should/dp/0393334201

19/ Hurrian Hymn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurrian_songs
https://youtu.be/Tx6v0t5I5SM (performed by Michael Levy)

20/ Bach Prelude in three temperaments: https://youtu.be/kRui9apjWAY (performed by John Moraitis on the spinet)

Spinet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinet

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Summary

You may have heard someone say that music is in their bones, but is it really? Answer: Yes! (If you are a Neanderthal, anyway.) In fact, the earliest instrument we have found, dating from 50-60,000 years ago, is a flute made from the bone of a cave bear. In this episode, we’ll discuss instruments from the last ice age through to the 12th century CE, including the lute, the lyre, the dutar, the sitar, and the hurdy-gurdy!

Annotations

(Note: the title is a reference to something written on the sleeve of David Bowie’s seminal album Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Don’t actually play this at maximum volume.)

1/ For what it’s worth, here is a video of a cat playing a theremin. And what the heck, here is a cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on the theremin. [WUT. –Jesse]

2/ Bone Flute full recording. Check it out–the video includes a demonstration of how the bone in question was restored.

3/ The Double Flute (Aulos) full recording. The guy playing the flutes (Barnaby Brown) gives an interesting history of the instrument in the full version.

“You know those guitars that are, like, double guitars?”

Aulos! Here’s the Wikipedia page with some nice pictures: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aulos and here’s an image of a tiny statue/figurine at Delphi (with straps arounds his cheeks for support): https://www.worldhistory.org/uploads/images/1021.jpg?v=1615882502
https://www.worldhistory.org/image/1021/bronze-aulos-player-figurine/

4/ Here’s the Homeric Hymn to Hermes that describes him inventing the lyre. It’s in the second and third paragraphs–it’s the first thing he does after being born.

Lyre of Ur, built and played by Luc Vanlaere. Check it out, the lyre is quite a beautiful object. The harpist is a Belgian, living in Bruges, who has his own “free entry” theater in which he gives free (donation-supported) shows three times a day, five days a week. Here he is written up on VisitBruges.be (he doesn’t seem to have a website).

If you are interested in modern Western composers who use halftones (formally: semitones), check out Igor Stravinsky or Arnold Schoenberg. Also, this wikipedia page has an explanation of temperament and Pythagorian tuning, among other things, and might be helpful if we have confused you.

5/ Sirens were like angry bird-women. They sang to Odysseus.

See also episode 29, note 14 for images of sirens as funeral monuments, holding tortoise shell lyres. Here are the images again:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Funerary_statue_of_a_Siren_at_the_National_Archaeological_Museum_of_Athens_on_7_May_2018.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Funerary_statue_of_a_Siren._4th_cent._B.C.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statue_of_Siren.jpg
(The Siren in the final image also holds a “plectrum,” used to pluck the lyre.)

6/ Michael Levy plays the lyre. He is playing an original composition called “Mount Olympus.” You can check out his full album of lyre music here.

Michael Levy plays the first written melody.

“Der Holle Rache” is the Queen of the Night’s famous aria. Here’s an excellent version.

7/ The ektara, played by Mrighanavi.