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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Fun Facts About Medieval Instruments

By Douglas Etri


Are you bored? I can count a lot of fun things to do this holiday. Trouble is, most of us would simply prefer to lie or sit in front of the television and watch TV shows that have different titles but all looks same. It would actually do us greater good to think about other exciting things that will make our free hours worth enjoying. Why not try to learn some things about medieval instruments?

You might say that these unique medieval instruments are of no way exciting in this day and times. You are right, these "old" stuff seem to be overly out-of-place and rather not special in the time where electronic instruments and voice digital editing seem to be prevalent. If you are following the same line of thought then you are absolutely wrong. You could be surprised to know that even your nursery and elementary music room has medieval instruments in it. Drums for instance, the fiddle and the tambourine. Or the bagpipes, the wind instrument for the poorest people back then.

Learning how to play these old-timer musical instruments would also be more fun if you can learn some little-known tidbits concerning the dark ages. In truth, the emotional charge when you pluck the harp would be deeper knowing that these harps may have the very same ones played in the Roman catholic churches. Having these realizations would guarantee us that the propagation of these instruments would outlive the present generation, giving our future grandchildren the opportunity to also get to play with them.

Interesting fact number one: The oldest documented record share us this information-the world's oldest medieval instrument is none other than the human voice. This would be due to the fact that our forefather did not have the time for merriment, as they were occupied tending to their lands. Hence there was no need for music. Some historians credit the deep baritones of the Christians monks in popularizing hymns and chants spreading all through the lands of Christian Europe, Asia and North Africa. And thus we now have Gregorian chants to live by.

Fun tidbit number two: Who do we owe the romantic ballads and tales of gallantry to? The answer: to the troubadours and the minstrels. The troubadours are well-known to recite Occitan lyric poetry. Their female counterparts are called trobairitz. The minstrels on the other hand are performers on the court or palaces. Their tongues are the bearer of spellbinding tales about dragons, knights and courtly love, which might have happened in real life or just pure imagination.

Interesting fact number three: The oldest church organ is said to be used to as back as the 8th century. Just think about this fact: without these trailblazers that we call medieval instruments, we will not have classical music, then modern music afterwards that we enjoy at the moment. Paying tribute to these "pioneers" need not only require our devote appreciation, but in making sure they will last through time as well. So if you are interested in learning how to play one of these instruments, you can choose to purchase them online or from a novelty shop.




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