Download or read book The Banjo written by Laurent Dubois and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-14 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The banjo has been called by many names over its history, but they all refer to the same sound—strings humming over skin—that has eased souls and electrified crowds for centuries. The Banjo invites us to hear that sound afresh in a biography of one of America’s iconic folk instruments. Attuned to a rich heritage spanning continents and cultures, Laurent Dubois traces the banjo from humble origins, revealing how it became one of the great stars of American musical life. In the seventeenth century, enslaved people in the Caribbean and North America drew on their memories of varied African musical traditions to construct instruments from carved-out gourds covered with animal skin. Providing a much-needed sense of rootedness, solidarity, and consolation, banjo picking became an essential part of black plantation life. White musicians took up the banjo in the nineteenth century, when it became the foundation of the minstrel show and began to be produced industrially on a large scale. Even as this instrument found its way into rural white communities, however, the banjo remained central to African American musical performance. Twentieth-century musicians incorporated the instrument into styles ranging from ragtime and jazz to Dixieland, bluegrass, reggae, and pop. Versatile and enduring, the banjo combines rhythm and melody into a single unmistakable sound that resonates with strength and purpose. From the earliest days of American history, the banjo’s sound has allowed folk musicians to create community and joy even while protesting oppression and injustice.

Download or read book Handbook written by Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) and published by . This book was released on 1907 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Erard written by Robert Adelson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-03-05 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sébastien Erard's (1752-1831) inventions have had an enormous impact on instruments and musical life and are still at the foundation of piano building today. Drawing on an unusually rich set of archives from both the Erard firm and the Erard family, author Robert Adelson shows how the Erard piano played an important and often leading role in the history of the instrument, beginning in the late eighteenth century and continuing into the final decades of the nineteenth. The Erards were the first piano builders in France to prioritise the more sonorous grand piano, sending gifts of their new model to both Haydn and Beethoven. Erard's famous double-escapement action, which improved the instrument's response while at the same time producing a more powerful tone, revolutionised both piano construction and repertoire. Thanks to these inventions, the Erard firm developed close relationships with the greatest pianist composers of the nineteenth century, including Hummel, Liszt, Moscheles and Mendelssohn. The book also presents new evidence concerning Pierre Erard's homosexuality, which helps us to understand his reluctance to found a family to carry on the Erard tradition, a reluctance that would spell the end of the golden era of the firm and lead to its eventual demise. The book closes with the story of Pierre's widow Camille, who directed the firm from 1855 until 1889. Her influential position in the male-dominated world of instrument building was unique for a woman of her time.

Download or read book Makers of the Piano 1820 1860 written by Martha Novak Clinkscale and published by Clarendon Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book continues the overview of early pianos begun in Clinkscale's Makers of the Piano 1700-1820 (OUP, 1993). Although a few of the biographies overlap, the majority of the makers are completely new. Approximately 2,400 makers and manufacturers and about 2,200 pianos are listed. Of this total, about 645 are English, the majority of whom were active in London; more than 200 of the London makers have not been discussed in previous publications.

Download or read book From the Clarinet D Amour to the Contra Bass written by Albert R. Rice and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-03-31 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following his much-acclaimed The Baroque Clarinet and The Clarinet in the Classical Period, Albert R. Rice now turns his signature detailed attention to large clarinets - the clarinet d'amour, the basset horn, the alto clarinet, bass and contra bass clarinets. Each chapter is devoted to a specific instrument, and offers a fascinating insider's look at its defining characteristics, a comprehensive history of its evolution, meticulously-researched information on its makers and aspects of construction, and a thorough discussion of its music. Rice illustrates how the introduction of large clarinets into chamber ensembles, wind bands, and opera orchestras was the result of experiments meant to address specific musical needs. Along the way, he brings to life the musicians, virtuosi, soloists, and orchestral and band musicians, as well as the instruments' makers and the composers from J. C. Bach to Smetana who wrote for them. Based on careful study of primary sources - musical compositions, patents, memoirs and diaries, and unfettered access to historical instruments themselves--Rice's expert presentation is nothing short of exhaustive. From the Clarinet d'Amour to the Contrabass will engage all who love the clarinet and its music.

Download or read book Dictionary of Music and Musicians written by George Grove and published by . This book was released on 1922 with total page 882 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Grove s Dictionary of Music and Musicians written by George Grove and published by . This book was released on 1911 with total page 882 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Hammered Dulcimer written by Paul M. Gifford and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2001-06-13 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last quarter of the twentieth-century saw a renewed interest in the hammered dulcimer in the United States at the grassroots level as well as from elements of the Folk Revival. This book offers the reader a discussion of the medieval origins of the dulcimer and its subsequent spread under many different names to other parts of the world. Drawing on articles the author has written in English as well as articles by specialists in their own languages, Gifford explains the history and evolution of the instrument. Special attention is paid to the North American tradition from the early 18th-century to the 1970s revival. Drawing from local histories, news clippings, photographs, and interviews, the book examines the playing of the dulcimer and its associated social meanings.

Download or read book The Bassoon written by James B. Kopp and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This welcome volume encompasses the entire history of the bassoon, from its origins five centuries ago to its place in twenty-first-century music. James Kopp draws on new archival research and many years' experience playing the instrument to provide an up-to-date and lively portrait of today's bassoon and its intriguing predecessors. He discusses the bassoon's makers, its players, its repertory, its myths, and its audiences, all in unprecedented detail. The bassoon was invented in Italy in response to the need for a bass-register double-reed woodwind suitable for processionals and marching. Composers were quick to exploit its agility and unique timbre. Later, during the reign of Louis XIV, the instrument underwent a major redesign, giving voice to its tenor register. In the early 1800s new scientific precepts propelled a wave of invention and design modifications. In the twentieth century, the multiplicity of competing bassoon designs narrowed to a German (or Heckel) type and a French type, the latter now nearly extinct. The author examines the acoustical consequences of these various redesigns. He also offers new coverage of the bassoon's social history, including its roles in the military and church and its global use during the European Colonial period. Separate historical chapters devoted to contrabassoons and smaller bassoons complete the volume [Publisher description].

Download or read book The Harpsichord and Clavichord written by Igor Kipnis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-04-15 with total page 571 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Harpsichord and Clavichord, An Encyclopedia includes articles on this family of instruments, including famous players, composers, instruments builders, the construction of the instruments, and related terminology. It is the first complete reference on this important family of keyboard instruments. The contributors include major scholars of music and musical instrument history from around the world. It completes the three-volume Encyclopedia of Keyboard Instruments.

Download or read book A Dictionary of Music and Musicians A D 1450 1889 by Eminent Writers English and Foreign written by John Alexander Fuller-Maitland and published by . This book was released on 1900 with total page 784 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Music in the French Royal Academy of Sciences written by Albert Cohen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes a colorful period in French social and cultural history, during which music and science combined to provide the intellectual and aesthetic spirit of the Age of Enlightenment with an enormous vitality. Investigating the place assigned to music in France's preeminent scientific institution, the Paris Academy, the author shows the role played by the scientific movement in the evolution of musical thought prior to the Revolution. Originally published in 1982. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Download or read book A Dictionary of Music and Musicians A D 1450 1889 written by and published by . This book was released on 1890 with total page 770 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Dictionary of Music and Musicians written by George Grove and published by . This book was released on 1879 with total page 784 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Music of the past instruments and imagination written by Michael Latcham and published by Peter Lang. This book was released on 2006 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ce volume présente les délibérations des Deuxièmes Rencontres Internationales harmoniques du printemps 2004. Les conférences ont été données par des experts des instruments à claviers et des cuivres. L'accent a été mis sur une variété de traditions historiques de facture instrumentale et sur l'histoire du renouveau de l'utilisation d'instruments anciens. Les contributions traitent non seulement des paramètres des pratiques instrumentales, mais encore de l'inspiration donnée dans ces domaines par quelques pionniers du renouveau de la musique ancienne. Dans bien des cas, les auteurs se sont penchés plus spécialement sur l'interprétation de la musique de Johann Sebastian Bach. This volume presents the proceedings of the second International Congress organised in Lausanne by the harmoniques Foundation and held in the Spring of 2004. The papers were given by experts on brass and stringed keyboard instruments. The emphasis was on a variety of historical instrument-making traditions and on the history of the revival of the use of early instruments. The contributions not only included detailed discussions regarding the parameters of performance practice and the use of historical instruments but also about the inspiration given by some of the leading revivalists in these fields. In many cases the contributors placed a special focus on the performance of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Download or read book The Clarinet in the Classical Period written by Albert R. Rice and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-01-15 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive study of the clarinet in use through the classical period, 1760 to 1830, a period of intensive musical experimentation. The book provides a detailed review and analysis of construction, design, materials, and makers of clarinets. Rice also explores how clarinet construction and performance practice developed in tandem with the musical styles of the period.

Download or read book A Dictionary of Music and Musicians A D 1450 1889 by Eminent Writers English and Foreign written by Sir George Grove and published by . This book was released on 1900 with total page 840 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: