Antique gusli. Pagan holidays of ancient Rus'

Gusli- a stringed musical instrument, most common in Russia.

The gusli is a flat resonator box with strings stretched over it. Under different names - kannel, kankles, kok-le, kantele, kusle, kesle - this multi-stringed plucked instrument is known among the peoples of the Baltic and Volga regions.

In Rus', gusli has been known since the 11th century. The shapes differed between wing-shaped psaltery, also called ringed or vernal-shaped, and helmet-shaped. Both were held on their knees when playing, but on the first the strings were plucked with a special thin plate - a plectrum, and on the second - with the fingers of both hands. IN late XVI- early 17th century rectangular gusli were created in Russia. They had a table-shaped body with a lid, and up to 66 strings were stretched inside it. While playing, the strings were plucked with the fingers of both hands, the sounds were loud and did not fade for a long time.

Nowadays three types of gusli are common: ringed, plucked and keyboard. The ringed gusli is the direct descendant of the ancient winged gusli. They are usually trapezoidal in shape. When playing, the performer holds them on his knees, producing sound in several ways: he plucks the strings with the fingers of both hands or only with his right hand, and muffles the strings with his left; uses a plectrum, then the sound becomes especially sonorous. They play this harp and rattle it, like a balalaika. At the beginning of the 20th century. musician-ethnographer, conductor N.I. Privalov and guslier O.U. Smolensky reconstructed this type of gusli: they gave it a triangular shape, increased the number of strings - from 5-9 to 13, and created ensemble gusli - piccolo, primo, viola and bass. Currently, only prima is used predominantly. The Soviet performer D. Lokshin designed chromatic ringed gusli, which greatly expanded the artistic capabilities of the instrument.

Plucked harp- improved rectangular harp. They consist of a metal frame on wooden legs with strings stretched over it. Their scale is chromatic; they can play chords and even various polyphonic pieces. Numerous strings are placed on two levels: on the top there are strings tuned diatonically, on the bottom there are strings that provide the missing chromatic sounds.

Keyboard harp designed by V.V. Andreev’s closest associate, N.P. Fomin. Their structure, appearance and range are similar to plucked psaltery, but all the strings are located in the same plane, and above the strings there is a box with a system of mufflers - dampers. This entire system is controlled using 12 one-octave keys of a piano keyboard located on the edge of the damper box. When you press a key, the damper associated with it rises and opens the strings corresponding to a given sound in all octaves at once. Most often, arpeggiated chords are played on the keyboard gusli. Right hand The performer runs a pick (a thin plate with a pointed end) along the strings, and presses the necessary keys with his left hand. Using the pedal located near the keys, all dampers are raised at once. When the pedal is pressed, the keyboard psaltery can be used as a plucked psaltery.

In the modern Russian folk orchestra this type of gusli is used; in professional groups there is a duet of plucked and keyboard gusli.

History of the gusli

Gusli- a musical instrument, the name of which in Russia refers to several varieties of recumbent harps. Psalted harps have similarities with the Greek psalter and the Hebrew kinnor; these include: Chuvash gusli, Cheremis gusli, clavier-shaped gusli and gusli, which are similar to the Finnish kantele, Latvian kukles and Lithuanian kankles.

The Chuvash and Cheremis gusli have a striking resemblance to images of this instrument preserved in the monuments of our antiquity, for example, in a handwritten service book of the 14th century, where a person playing the gusli is represented in the capital letter D, in the Makaryevskaya Chetye-Minea of 1542, etc.

In all of these images, the performers hold the harp on their knees and pluck the strings with their fingers. The Chuvash and Cheremis play the gusli in exactly the same way. The strings of their harp are intestinal; their number is not always the same. Psalter-shaped harps were brought to Russia by the Greeks; The Chuvash and Cheremis borrowed this instrument from the Russians.

The clavier-shaped gusli, which is still found today, mainly among the Russian clergy, is nothing more than an improved type of psalter-shaped gusli. This instrument consists of a rectangular resonance box with a lid, which rests on a table. Several circular cutouts (voices) are made on the resonance board, and two concave wooden blocks are attached to it.

On one of them, iron pegs are screwed in, on which metal strings are wound; the other beam plays the role of a stringer, that is, it serves to attach the strings. The keyboard-shaped psaltery has a piano tuning, with the strings corresponding to the black keys placed below those corresponding to the white keys.

For clavier-shaped gusli there are notes and a school compiled by Kushenov-Dmitrevsky. In addition to the psaltery-shaped gusli, there are kantele, similar to the Finnish instrument. This type of gusli has almost completely disappeared. It is very likely that it was borrowed by the Russians from the Finns. The ancient Slavic word means cithara, that is, at the beginning of the Middle Ages it expressed the general concept of stringed instruments.

Modern names come from this word: gusle - among the Serbs and Bulgarians, gusle, guzla, gusli - among the Croats, gosle - among the Slovenes, guslic - among the Poles, housle ("violin") among the Czechs and gusli among the Russians. These instruments are quite diverse and many of them are bowed, for example. guzla, which has only one horsehair string.

Russian gusli. History and mythology Bazlov Grigory Nikolaevich

3.1. Gusli through the prism of Russian history. Ancient poetic symbolism of Rus' (mainly in the gusel tradition)

“Russian gusli belongs to the history of culture not only as a fact musical art, folklore traditions of our days, but are included as an independent content element, a “plot motif”, in the system of especially significant phenomena, images, initial ideas, legends relating to the periods of formation of the mythological views of the peoples of the early historical eras. As an image-symbol, the harp correlates with the fundamental concepts of culture. Knowledge of life, as a path of enlightenment, connecting the spheres of the material and spiritual in the human consciousness” 125.

Quoting the words of an outstanding Russian ethnomusicologist, an expert on Russian traditional culture, researcher of the gusel tradition Anatoly Mikhailovich Mekhnetsov, we draw the reader’s attention to the fact that the gusli and the gusel tradition bear the imprint of the most ancient ideas of the Slavs about the world order and symbolically express an archaic view of the world.

It is obvious that in ancient times the guslar was something more than just a musician. Although, of course, the harp and gusli playing were also used in a utilitarian, not sacred, capacity. A number of features preserved in fairy-tale folklore, in epic works, allows us to assert that in terms of the functions performed in ancient Slavic culture, the guslar can be compared with the Celtic bard or the Scandinavian eril 126.

“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign...” paints us with the image of the Prophetic Bayan - an epic singer, a guslar, who not only plays and sings, but goes on a mental flight into the past, jumps with an imaginary squirrel across "mental tree" crosses vast spaces like a gray wolf and soars above the clouds like an eagle historical events. Obviously, this is not a simple musician, but a person who has some esoteric professional knowledge.

In the comparative poetic images used by the author of “The Lay...”, one can see a stable semiotic tradition, those images and symbols with which ancient Russian epic poets thought and with which they conveyed semantic correspondences between the phenomena of the material world and spiritual categories.

“Boyan, brethren, not 10 falcons for a flock of swan forest, but your own in? Shya prasty on living strings in stock; They themselves are the prince, glory to the roar.”

The plot of an attack on swans is typical for the Slavic song tradition, especially for lyrical and wedding songs. In them, the eagle “breaking” the “swan with its cubs, with its young and children” is a symbol of the groom, and the swan is the symbol of the bride. Thus, in the poetic picture of the hunt for swans (during the playing of the gusle), the shade of the description of the mystical marriage of the mind of the guslar, who sent a falcon (fingers) on the “flock of strings”, with the epic swans (strings) is obvious.

Continuing to consider this analogy, we will inevitably notice that a flock of swans forms an orderly formation in flight, which again resembles strings and a musical scale. That when the falcons strike, the swans should cry out, creating melodic harmony like strings.

Academician B.A. Rybakov pointed out the mythological connection of the gusli with the element of water and its ruler - the king of the underwater kingdom.

From Russian mythology we know that the Sea King has daughters who are identified with mermaids, visible to humans in the form of rivers, sea waves or swans. In other words, for the archaic mythological consciousness, rivers and sea waves are the daughters of the water king.

In Russian fairy tales, there is a widespread plot about swan princesses, daughters of the Sea King, who fly to the river to swim in the form of a flock of swans:

“The swans flew to Onega, shed their plumage, turned into girls and began to swim. A guy who happened to be nearby grabbed one of the skins and its owner, a mermaid, became his wife." 127

Among these swan sisters there is the eldest Swan Princess, who was so vividly described by A.S. Pushkin in “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”. According to the spiritual verse about the Dove Book and a number of Belarusian legends, this swan's name is Ostrafil - the mother of all birds 128. Ostrafil "holds the whole world under his wing." “When the Straphilus bird flutters, the whole blue sea will shake. She sinks parlor ships with precious goods" 129.

What kind of element does this swan live in? From the Dove Book we learn: “She drinks and eats from the blue sea and leads children from the blue sea.”

The sea in the gusler symbolic tradition is identified with sound, with music:

“Bezdolny began to approach his state and decided to play a joke: he opened the harp, pulled one string - the sea became blue, pulled another - the ships approached the capital city, pulled the third - cannon fire began from all the ships” 130.

In the above passage, the first sound of the harp is created by the sea. The next sound is identical to ships sailing out to sea, firing all their cannons, that is, they also make a sound.

The sea is obviously the general sound background characteristic of playing the harp. This is how A.M. writes about this phenomenon. Mekhnetsov on page 20 in the book “Russian gusli and gusli playing”:

“Special methods of forming a sound environment (a kind of “sound field”) include a technique on the basis of which the character and quality of the “pedal” (the overall sound of the open strings of the full range of the instrument) is achieved with the simultaneous use of a specific “glissando” stroke. On 7-9 string instruments, the upper and lower strings can also constantly sound as a pedal - a “bourdon”. This technique is used everywhere in the territory of the Russian gusli.”

The fairy-tale ships that appear when the strings of the gusli are struck are most likely the player’s hands. And “shots from ships” are wrist strikes with the right hand on the strings, a method of playing the harp - the so-called “knocking out”. The hands of the guslar glide over the strings like ships over sea waves, and when they collide with the waves, sound appears. I wonder if that one "capital city" under which the ships-hands “stepped”, is also in reality some kind of playing technique, part of an instrument or a fragment of a fairy-tale plot that is not directly related to the practice of gussel playing?

In the epic about Sadko, in the part where the Sea King dances to the harp and because of this dance waves appear that break the “black ships,” the poetic parallelism is even more clear. A real player who strikes the strings loudly and for a long time often breaks his fingers, sometimes even bleeding. To anyone somewhat familiar with stringed instruments, this analogy will seem obvious.

In the epic, the psaltery player cannot stop playing of his own free will, because the Sea King himself is dancing! The length of Sadko's game at the Sea King's feast suggests that this part of the epic may also be about an initiation test for the hero, who needs to demonstrate skill and patience by playing continuously for a long time. To stop the dancing, you have to, on the advice of Nikola Mozhaisky, break the strings and break the pegs.

In the system of describing the gusel game from “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign...” the terminology of the musicians is somewhat different: the “shooting ships” there are the blows of falcons striking swans.

Why is that? Either a falcon or swans? Contradiction... but what about the common Slavic tradition of goslings, what about the antiquity of this culture?

For Slavic mythology Gusel game, in my opinion, there is no contradiction in this. The presence of multivariance in a tradition usually only confirms antiquity. The fact that in one system the strings are called swans, and in another sea waves, is natural, because both of them go back to the same symbolic system - it’s just different images daughters of the water king.

We have already noticed that in the way of describing the gusel game from “The Tale of Igor’s Host...”, where the strings are swans and the fingers are falcons, which can be conditionally attributed to the symbolic tradition of southern Rus' 131, there is wedding symbolism. In the epic about Sadko in the system of description “ship-sea, strings-waves”, which, like the Novgorod one, can be correlated with the northwestern Slavic tradition, in general, the marriage of a guslar with the daughter of the Sea King, the Chernava River, is literally described, not allegorically. In this stable symbol, characteristic of the south and north of Rus', there are echoes of some ancient mysterious Slavic rite, through which the guslar received initiation, entering into a symbolic marriage with the daughter of the water king and becoming his relative - son-in-law. Probably, in the mythopoetic tradition of the ancient Slavs, it was the water king who was the creature who patronized the musical string tradition. And it is no coincidence that his daughters - wave mermaids - were associated with strings in the mythopoetic tradition.

Somewhat distracting from the main topic, by analogy we can assume that the previously performing tradition associated with wind instruments in Slavic mythology was also associated with the king of the winds. Indeed, in popular superstitious beliefs, whistling can cause wind, just as playing the harp creates waves.

The design of the gusli seems to reproduce and model the Slavic legend about the creation of the world.

Briefly it can be paraphrased as follows:

The world looks like an endless sea. Two oak trees grow in the middle of the water. God sends two birds into this world (according to some legends these are pigeons, but more often they are ducks). Sitting on oak trees, the birds consult on how to create the world. After the meeting, they dive to the bottom of the sea and carry sand out of there in their beaks. By scattering this sand to the sides, birds create dry land. Moreover, one “duck” creates a smooth world, and the other makes ravines and mountains on the surface of this world. In this way they create the world.

The most archaic models of gusli did not have a metal bracket on which the strings were placed. The fastening characteristic of antiquity consists of two parallel shaped planks attached to the gusset board with oak pegs. Between these strips there is a wooden rod, a tail holder, onto which the strings are placed.

These planks are called “ducks”; they “sit” on oak pegs, like the mentioned legendary birds. Between the gusel board and the “ducks” towering above it, strings are stretched - the “waves” of the musical sea. By striking the strings, the hands of the guslar symbolically reproduce the creation of the world glorified by Slavic legends.

It is likely that the persecution of guslars and the destruction of gusli, known from medieval sources, was not a struggle against musicality and Russian performing tradition, but was generated by religious motives, a clash of ideas describing the creation of the universe. After some time, the harp again becomes a sacred, even partly religious instrument. This happens when popular consciousness and in parallel with it, Christian theologians begin to perceive the harp as the instrument of the “chief harpist,” sanctified by the authority of the biblical tradition of the psalmist King David. True, a somewhat different instrument is beginning to be called the harp - the psalter, to which spiritual poems and psalms are sung. The Psalter became widespread mainly among the clergy.

However, people also call it the gusli and transfer some of the ancient ideas associated with the gusli to it. Since the psalmist king David is considered by the people to be a guslar, the ancient Slavic harp is, as it were, sanctified by his spiritual authority and ceases to be perceived as a relic of the pagan religion.

At this time, probably, on the one hand, the churching of the Russian gusli takes place. On the other hand, then in folk culture significantly secularized harp appears, deprived of the previous mythopoetic basis; they become primarily an instrument of dance accompaniment and almost in this capacity (with significantly lost and forgotten sacred symbolism) survive to this day. The conclusion, of course, is not indisputable, but it clearly designates a certain historical milestone in the tradition of the existence of the gusli as a mythopoetic and philosophical instrument.

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Guslars occupied a special position in Rus'. These people entertained the prince and the people, and told stories about days gone by, and talked about how the world worked. They could, on occasion, cast a spell with their special, poetic magic. They are also the guardians of ancient laws and regulations. It was believed that if a guslar sang a song before performing any important task (for example, matchmaking or war), then good luck was ensured for this task. Funerals of princes, heroes, etc., were not complete without guslars, and a wedding without a singer is not a wedding at all. The Guslyars were highly respected and considered it an honor to receive them. It is in principle possible to mistreat, and even more so harm or kill guslars, but such acts cover the person who committed them with shame. Magi are a respected and revered profession by all. These are the wisest of the wise. You can become a magician only after many years of training. Magi serve as intermediaries between people and gods, performing rituals, prayers and sacrifices (including human ones). The Magi resolved disputes between people and advised who should be elected prince. They conjured with the help of rituals, spells, and magical potions. They also knew how to treat (especially magical diseases such as the evil eye). Witches and wizards lived mostly in the forest and knew herbs and spells. Attitude towards them ordinary people there was wariness, because it is unknown what powers they have and what they are capable of, what they do - good or bad.

Exiles are people expelled from the tribe/clan for one reason or another. They are not fed, they are not helped, they are not treated, they are not loved. If they survive, it's great luck. You can expel a person with a special ritual in the presence of a sorcerer.

The Slavs did not know slavery as such. The prisoner/captive became “slaves” for a certain period of time, after which they could go to all four directions or remain in the position of free men. In addition, it was possible to ransom - for the same amount that was paid upon purchase or by agreement with the captor.

3. SPECIAL RITES.

3.1 Initiation.

To become a member of the tribe, a child had to undergo initiation. It happened in three stages. The first - directly at birth, when the midwife cut the umbilical cord with the tip of a combat arrow in the case of a boy, or with scissors in the case of a girl, and swaddled the child in a diaper with signs of the birth.

When the boy reached three years of age, he was pulled up - that is, he was put on a horse, girded with a sword and driven around the yard three times. After this, they began to teach him the actual duties of a man. At the age of three, the girl was given a spindle and a spinning wheel for the first time. The action is also sacred, and the first thread spun by her daughter was used by her mother to girdle her on her wedding day to protect her from damage. All nations associated spinning with fate, and from the age of three, girls were taught to spin the fate of themselves and their home.

At the age of twelve - thirteen, upon reaching marriageable age, boys and girls were brought to men's and women's houses, where they received a full set of sacred knowledge they needed in life. After this, the girl jumped into a poneva (a type of skirt worn over a shirt and indicating maturity). After initiation, the young man received the right to carry military weapons and marry.

3.2 Wedding.

The expression “get married around a birch tree” that has survived to this day quite accurately conveys the meaning of the Russian wedding rite. The wedding consisted of the worship of Lada, Rod and Triglav, after which the sorcerer called for a blessing on them, and the newlyweds walked around the sacred tree three times, calling the gods, churs and beregins of the place where they were as witnesses. The wedding was necessarily preceded by a conspiracy or abduction of the bride. The bride was generally obliged to go into a new clan, as if by force, so as not to inadvertently offend the guardian spirits of her clan (“I don’t give it away, they lead by force”). By the way, many hours of sobbing and mournful songs of the bride are associated with this. The newlyweds were forbidden to drink at the feast (it was believed that they would be drunk from love). The newlyweds spent the first night on distant sheaves covered with furs (a wish for wealth and many children).

3.3 Funeral.

The Slavs knew several funeral rites. During the heyday of paganism, the most common and honorable thing was burning, followed by pouring a mound. After this, a funeral feast was held on the mound in memory of the deceased. The second method was used to bury the so-called hostage dead - those who died a suspicious, unclean death, or who did not live according to the truth. The funeral of such dead people consisted of throwing the body far away into a swamp or ravine, after which it was covered with branches on top. This was done in order not to desecrate the earth and water with an unclean corpse.

Burial in the ground, which is familiar to us, became widespread only after the adoption of Christianity.

4. HOLIDAYS.

There are five main holidays in the year - Korochun (beginning of the year, winter solstice on December 24), Komoeditsa, or Maslenitsa (spring equinox on March 24), Kupala (summer solstice on June 24), Perun's Day (July 21) and Kuzminki (harvest festival, Rodo holiday, women in labor, autumn equinox on September 24).

The overwhelming majority of ancient Slavic pagan festivals and prayers were held publicly, were an “event”, a joint spell of nature and were held not in a house or village, but outside the everyday circle of life.

The nature of many pagan festivals was so ubiquitous, connected with all the nature around the village (forests, groves, springs, rivers, swamps, hills and mountains); that it is almost impossible to find the places of ancient round dances, Kupala bonfires, water sacrifices, and various “games between the villages.”

The only exceptions are sacred ceremonies on the hills, on the mountains, “red hills”, which very often during archaeological surveys give interesting material about ancient pagan cults.

Revered idols were placed by the pagan Slavs, as a rule, on the hills. Chronicle information about Perun always notes its position on the hill: Prince Igor, sealing the treaty with Byzantium with an oath, “came to the hills where Perun stood.” Vladimir placed idols on the top of Starokievskaya Mountain above the Dnieper. After the baptism of Rus', the place of pagan temples on such hills was taken by Christian churches:

“Red Hills”, “red hills”, where Maslenitsa burning of effigies of winter was held, the ritual of conjuring spring, the meeting of Lada and Lelya, the rolling of eggs on St. Thomas’ week (which was called “red hill”) were probably near every village. In flat places where there were no noticeable hills, peasants celebrated the first spring thawed patches in the meadows, where the snow began to melt first, and there they held a ceremony to welcome spring.

For “cathedrals” or “events” of a larger scale than the inhabitants of one village, for the population of a shipyard, or even more so a tribe, more marked mountains were required, which from year to year served as a place for large pagan services.

The longevity of such religious centers is interesting: having arisen around the 1st millennium BC. e. (and perhaps even in the Bronze Age), they conveyed their ancient pagan essence until the late Middle Ages of the 15th century AD, and Christian churches and monasteries arose on many of them. Bear holidays with exactly the same name, which preserved the ancient Indo-European form of “komoeditsa”, are also known among the Slavs. In Belarus, Komoeditsa were held on March 24, on the eve of the Orthodox Annunciation. Housewives baked special “comas” from pea flour; Dances were held in clothes with the fur turned upside down in honor of the spring awakening of the bear. The ancient Maslenitsa turned out to be shifted from its calendar date by Christian Lent, which was incompatible with Maslenitsa revelry. And since fasting was subject to the moving Easter calendar, the pagan Maslenitsa, although it survived after the baptism of Russia and has survived to this day (at least in the form of pancakes), its timing is changeable. The initial period of undisturbed Maslenitsa is the spring equinox. An indispensable mask at the Maslenitsa carnival is the “bear”, a man dressed in a bear fur coat or an inverted sheepskin coat.

Gusli that you can buy from us:

Ancient harp

“Guselnaya board”, “goselnaya board” - this is the name used to refer to the instrument and its components in songs and epics: “board”, “pins” (the name of the pegs in the epics, which served to “adjust” the scabs, otherwise tuning), strings. The body of the gusli consisted of several planks, then assembled into a wide and flat box with a resonator cavity inside. In the old days, sycamore (a type of maple with white wood), mountain ash, apple tree, and spruce were used as materials for production. The strings on the harp were tuned using pegs. The body of the ancient harp had five strings.

More recently, during archaeological excavations carried out in Novgorod (1951-1962), musical instruments were discovered among objects made of leather, bone, fabric and wood in the cultural layer of the 11th century. Among the finds were parts of the most ancient harp.

Fragments of a five-string harp with the inscription “SLOVISHA”, discovered by archaeologists in the Trinity excavation site in the 11th century layer of Novgorod.

The main parts of the instrument were also found - the top and tailpiece. The inscription “Slovisha” was carved on one of the parts of the gusli. According to researchers, perhaps this is the name of an ancient guslar and at the same time the master who made the gusli. There were no holes on the top resonator deck yet.

Of particular value from archaeological excavations in Novgorod are authentic harps from the first half of the 12th century. The body of the instrument is made of a wooden block and has a more elegant shape. This is a flat trough with grooves for six pegs. The left side of the instrument has a sculptural design in the form of the head and part of the body of a lizard. On back side- image of a lion and a bird. Ornaments on the gusli testify to the pagan cults of ancient Novgorod. The material for production was birch, rowan, and spruce wood.

The cavity was closed from above with a spruce soundboard, enhancing their sound. At the bottom there was a round roller, the so-called. tailpiece, at the top - wooden instrument tuning pegs. Metal strings (from 4 to 6) installed on the instrument enhanced its sound. This simplest form The gusli made it possible for players to carry the instrument “under their bosom” or “under their arm”.

Musicologists believe that the five-string structure of the gusli corresponds to the five-tone scale of the Russian song. The game was accompanied by the singing of slow songs and dance melodies. The fingers of the player’s left hand were placed between the strings so that while playing they pressed the strings freely and alternately, and with their right hand they rattled the strings, striking simple sequential chords.

Over the course of many centuries, the harp has been improved by changing its shape, increasing the number of strings, and decorating it with carvings and paintings. There are helmet-shaped, triangular, trapezoidal, rectangular (plucked) harps.

Varieties of gusli

Gusli helmet-shaped, or " psalter", had a helmet-shaped glued body made of thin planks, usually spruce. The dimensions of the instrument were length 900 mm, width 475 mm, height PO mm. Number of strings from 11 to 36.

20-25-jet harps were very popular among the people. The scale is diatonic. The instrument had gut strings, so the sound was quiet and soft.

Trapezoidal gusli were designed in the 16th-17th centuries on the basis of ringed and helmet-shaped gusli. They are much larger in size - length 1500 mm, width 500 mm, height 200 mm.

The soundboard is made of spruce and has a round sound hole. On the outside of the deck there are two arched strips. One has metal pins for attaching strings, and the other has metal pegs screwed into it. The number of strings is from 55 to 66. The tuning was initially diatonic. Later chromatic. They are not widely used in folk music-making.

Gusli pterygoid(or voiced) consist of a hollowed out or glued flat wing-shaped body, on the deck of which are stretched from 4 to 9 metal strings. Dimensions - length 600 mm, width 250 mm, shell (side) height 45 mm. Some samples of the 11th-14th centuries had 9 strings, in the 18th century there were already from 5 to 14 strings, and a range from a quart to two octaves. Their scale was diatonic, usually of the major scale, and low sounds formed a fifth bourdon in relation to the main scale.

Over time, musical works of an epic-singing nature are replaced by song folklore, which caused the emergence of new musical instruments. The existence of gusli remains only in the northern regions of Russia - Novgorod, Pskov, Vologda, Arkhangelsk, Kostroma, etc. Over the past two centuries, folklore and ethnographic expeditions have found a large number of both the instruments themselves and gusli tunes, and methods of playing them.

Instrument setup

The research results showed that in all types of instruments the basis is a resonator body with with stretched strings, designed to extract sound of only one pitch. If the ancient harp had 4-5 strings, the harp of a later period had 7-9 strings of different lengths, which were stretched parallel to one another.

For performance folk music This sound range was considered sufficient, since folk performers usually use two or three keys when playing. The gusli had the following formations:

five-string harps were tuned according to the sounds of the third row (A (1), Do (2), E (2), G (2), A (2));
seven-strings had a diatonic scale, in which the bottom string was a bourdon and was tuned to a fifth in relation to the diatonic scale;
sometimes the harp was tuned to a minor scale.

At the beginning of the 20th century, improved harp appeared, the body of which was glued together from thin planks (parts), and the number of strings increased to thirteen.

Sound extraction methods

When playing, the performer holds the harp in a vertical position, with the upper corner of the instrument slightly pressed to the chest. The knees are the main support for the gusli; during playing they are slightly apart.

The fingers of the left hand are on the strings (when playing they muffle the sound of unnecessary strings), the fingers of the right hand hit the open strings. The fingers are always located at the resonator hole. Slightly bent, without tension, touch the strings with the pads of your fingers.

The movement of the hand when striking should be directed to the right corner of the instrument.

They play the harp with a mediator.

This is a small oblong plate with a pointed corner, made of bone, plastic, plastic. Mediator dimensions: length does not exceed 25 mm, width 20 mm, thickness 1 mm, oval shape. They play with a pick from both ends: the pointed edge gives a sharp sound, the oval edge produces a softer sound. For a soft sound, the pick is slightly squeezed, loosening the fingers of the right hand. The left hand, when moving the fingers on the strings to different positions, muffles those strings included in the chord that should not sound.

Game techniques

The sound on the instrument is produced in the following ways:

rattling- alternating blows with a pick on the strings down and up;
arpeggio- sequential extraction of sounds included in the chord, from low to high sounds, the same in the reverse movement;
glissando- quick sliding of the pick along the open strings;
tremolo- rapid alternation of light blows with a pick on the strings, with a certain frequency, alternately down and up;
pizzicato- reproduction of individual sounds or chords by plucking the fingertips of the right or left hand;
extracting chords- produced by downward strokes of the mediator.

The string is struck more sharply and forcefully, with emphasis.

Design and main parts of the tool

The gusli consists of three main parts (parts): body, tailpiece, pegs; metal strings. There are examples of gusli on which, instead of wooden tailpieces and pegs, metal ones are installed - more durable, able to withstand the load when the strings are tensioned.

For the body of the gusli, dried boards of birch, rowan, maple, and spruce are used. The surface of the wood must be flat, the board must be smoothly planed on four sides (two faces and two edges) and sawn to size.

1. Top and bottom deck; 2. Resonator holes; 3. Pegs; 4. String holder; 5. Strings.

The production of the tool is carried out in the following sequence:

the wood (board) must be of high quality, without rot, cracks or falling knots;
On the smaller end side, a recess is made using a straight or semicircular chisel (you can hit it with a wooden hammer or mallet). This operation is then performed from the other end;
an oval depression is hollowed out or selected from the ends to the middle, and then the protruding middle is cut off with the same chisel;
The traces of cuts, grooves, and roughness remaining after processing are carefully cleaned with sandpaper, first with coarse grain, then with fine grain. Ideal sanding of internal containers is achieved with round discs consisting of strips of sandpaper. During operation, the nozzle is inserted into the chuck of an electric drill;
As a result of this processing, an oval or rectangular depression is formed in the workpiece (board), which should have an allowance in the thickness of the walls and bottom of approximately 3 to 5 mm.

Thus, there are four walls on the sides and ends of the board. The end sides should be wider.

Next, pegs are installed on the end or kapok bars in the upper part of the future instrument, and in the lower part - a tailpiece (a metal rod or a tube made of strong steel), capable of withstanding a fairly strong tension on the strings. Before installing the tuning pegs and tailpiece on the body, which has a rectangular cavity and four walls, glue important detail instrument - soundboard.

Deca(from German Decke, lit. - cover) - a necessary part of the body of stringed instruments, which serves to amplify and reflect sound. Made from resonant wood, but glued plywood is also used.

The vibrations of the strings are transmitted by the soundboard through the stand. The top soundboard of the instruments has resonator holes. To prevent the soundboard from deforming when the strings are pulled, it is glued to wooden strips (springs) running inside the body.

The strings are tensioned using pegs. The pegs on the body of the gusli are installed at approximately a depth of 30 mm at a slight angle for a more stable and reliable stop.

Instrument pegs

Peg- a small metal cylinder, in the upper part it has a tetrahedral head with a hole for a string, in the lower part there is a very fine notch or fine thread. Pegs diameter 7 mm, length from 50 to 60 mm. Pegs are installed on the wide side of the instrument. To secure the pegs more firmly in the rectangular cavity, you can insert and then glue a block of stronger wood (beech, maple) into the place where they are installed.

The role of the pin to which the strings are tied is performed by a metal rod (tube). Its ends are inserted into the holes of two so-called. “cheeks” made of wood. Using spikes, they are glued to the body on top of the deck. The tailpiece is attached to the narrow side of the body.

Sometimes a bent steel tube is used, the ends of which are notched to secure it firmly in the body. The diameter of the holes drilled in the bar must be less than the diameter of the tube. The tailpiece is installed in the holes using epoxy glue.

The density of the wood, the size of the holes, and the degreasing of the pegs determine the friction force between the walls of the hole and the peg and, accordingly, the tuning and cleanliness of the instrument. The diameter of the holes should be approximately 1.5 mm smaller than the diameter of the peg. Due to friction, the resistance in the peg socket exceeds the tension force. It should be taken into account that frequent unscrewing of the pegs from the body of the psaltery leads to a weakening of their firm fit.

Strings

The sound of the gusli depends on the quality of the strings. On modern harps, the strings are made of wire made from special grades of steel. The strings vary in length and have a cross-section - from thin 0.30 mm to thicker 0.70 mm. In this example, the strings stretched on the harp do not have a stand, and their sound is gentle and ringing.

Dimensions of the main parts of the tool

The design of the gusli shown in the figure differs in that string pegs are installed on a spring running diagonally across the instrument and attached to the body. The usual manufacturing options are the pegs are on the top of the body and the tailpiece is on the bottom.

We looked at a method for making a ten-string gusli from a whole piece of wood.

Joining workpieces with glue

In the example above, when making a gusli, a blank from a whole board was used. Its dimensions, especially the width, were sufficient for work. But in order to make a larger tool, the width of one board is not enough, so the workpiece is glued into a small shield consisting of two boards. At home, this work is done in a simple press (the so-called vame) as follows:

As shown in the figure, beech plates are fixed: 1) in the lower part of the psaltery for attaching the tailpiece; 2) in the middle diagonally for attaching pegs; 3) in the upper part of the gusli there is a small strip for strong gluing of the soundboard. Diagonal strip 2, into which the pegs are inserted, has this shape. It simultaneously serves as a deck spring, glued to the block.

The compression of the boards is carried out by two wooden wedges driven towards each other. The touching edges of the boards are smeared with PVA, carpentry, or casein glue; when gluing, cardboard is placed under the boards so that they do not stick to the board.

When driving the wedges, the boards being glued together may bend upward. To avoid this, you need to put a weight on top of the planks. Woodworkers differentiate between the right and left sides of boards. The right side is located closer to the core of the trunk, the left - to its bark, therefore correct gluing is when the right and left-hand side. To ensure bonding strength, use the tip of a knife to make scratches on both surfaces to be glued. After drying (12 hours), the workpiece is processed, removing any remaining glue.

In order to secure the pegs more firmly, the holes in the body on the left side are drilled 1.3 mm smaller than the diameter of the pegs themselves.

The outer pegs are located at a distance of 75 mm from the edge of the sides. The distance between the pegs is 25 mm. The pins for fastening the strings are installed at a distance of 15 mm from each other, a. the extreme ones are located at a distance of 45 mm.

The upper and lower decks are secured using springs on the upper and lower sides of the body. Springs increase the resistance of the deck and evenly distribute sound vibrations over it. They are glued to the soundboard and also attached to the body of the instrument.

Varieties of gusli, the body of which is made by chiseling (sampling) wood from a blank:

The body dimensions may vary, for example: 1) length 70 cm, upper part diagonally 20 cm, lower part 12 cm, pegs 9 pcs. 2) length 50 cm, diagonal top 30 cm, bottom 15 cm, pegs 13 pcs; 3) length 45 cm, width 15 cm, pegs 9 pcs; 4) length 60 cm, top 12 cm, bottom 7 cm, pegs 6 pcs. The width also ranges from 35 to 45 cm.

Sample of gusli made from planks using glue method

In order to prevent the sound of the strings from being muffled, metal plates in the shape of a corner are installed at the corners of the two end sides, and two stands made of hard wood (beech) for strings are placed on the soundboard. sharp corner. Number of strings: 10 pieces.

Even in ancient times, a repertoire of gusel playing was formed: these are song, dance and dance tunes, polkas and waltzes.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the musician-ethnographer N. I. Privalov and the guslar O. U. Smolensky improved the gusli: the body triangular shape glued together from wooden parts, the number of strings was increased from 5 to 13, ensemble varieties were created - piccolo, primo, viola and bass. The design of the harp differs only in the size of the body and parts, and the diameter of the strings.

Currently, the prima harp, which has 15 strings and a diatonic tuning, is mainly used.

IN concert activities, there is a meeting with colleagues - Valery Garanin, Lyubov Basurmanova, Maxim Gavrilenko, Vasily Zhdankin and guitarist Ivan Smirnov. Takes an active part in festivals of sacred and traditional music. His cultural mission to Serbia at the beginning of 2005 turned out to be very important for the spiritual unity of the Russian and Serbian peoples, which resulted in the concert “Russians for the Children of Kosovo.”

Guslar singer Andrey Baikalets. Came to Moscow on foot from the ancient city of Irkutsk, from the sacred waters of Lake Baikal. A guslar singer from the outback, from the very heart of the people. His appearance was unexpected a joyful event for many. And his open appearance, and the sonorous sound of the gusli, and the voice itself - all this, harmoniously merging together, awakens living pictures of antiquity. The spiritual songs and epics performed by him are disturbing, warm the soul, and remain in the memory for a long time. The abundance of his repertoire and the maturity of his Christian worldview are amazing. He knows what needs to be done, where to go and what awaits us ahead. His songs sound anxiety, appeal, and at the same time, they contain hope, faith and love for one’s neighbor. His most popular album is "My Heaven to Paradise". You can watch his almost last video lesson.

Gusli is an ancient Russian instrument, which is rightfully considered a folk instrument. If we turn to the Old Church Slavonic language, the name comes from the word “hum”, which is quite logical.

The uniqueness of the gusli is relative, since there are similar systems, for example the zither, which was popular in XVII-XVIII centuries in Germany and Austria. It should be noted that the zither, in turn, falls into the genus of instruments descended from the ancient Greek cithara. We can assume that they have approximately the same vector historical development. The most widespread varieties are of the winged type. Academic gusli is often performed in a 15-string version; now they can be found in some ensembles.

Let us list the instruments that are classified as types of gusli:

lyra (Greece);
harp (Italy);
Zhetygen (Kazakhstan);
canon (Armenia);
santoor (Iran);
kantle (Finland);
kokle (Latvia);
Kankles (Lithuania), etc.

That is, many nations have similar instruments. The performers are called guslars. Some famous artists say that there is no better folk instrument for accompaniment when performing vocal parts. In the Russian clergy at the beginning of the twentieth century, one could find a clavier-shaped harp: a rectangular resonant box with a lid, it lay on the table, the tuning was piano-like, so playing was easier.

Construction and manufacturing

The gusli is a fairly simple musical instrument, which consists of a body and strings attached to it, which are tensioned through a peg system. Material – wood. Most often these are conifers: spruce, pine, cedar, etc. It is believed that only in this case will a characteristic, unique sound occur. The resonating box is assembled in parts, using glue or small nails. You need to think about how and where the hole will be located; without it, surround sound production is impossible. Auxiliary holes are also made. The role of the soundboard here is played by the voice board, which is installed on the front part.

Principle of play and structure

As a rule, you can find tutorials on how to play the ringed harp. They can be played standing or sitting. In the second case, the instrument is placed with its edge (side) on the knees and, for convenience, tilted slightly towards the performer. The easiest way to find songs and sheet music is for 9- or 12-string harps. The academic school also includes orchestras of folk instruments, therefore it has its own performance school and many famous guslar artists (some modern groups mention this instrument in their work, for example Guf Gusli). The original harp is produced and used only in the CIS countries; others are used in the rest of the world similar tools. That is we can confidently call the Russian gusli a phenomenon(foreigners often call them trapezoidal due to their characteristic ethnic shape).

Varieties and types of gusli

Pterygoids

Quite an interesting variety, because the body is made not of spruce, but of maple. Many experts believe that this is where the name comes from. There is another thing - sycamores (sycamore - maple). But all the same, the deck is made of solid spruce (ideal) or planks (worse). They are also called ringed, they have diatonic scale. Related instruments: kantele and kokles. By appearance They are quite easy to distinguish, since the strings on them are stretched fan-shaped and taper towards the “heel”. The body is often beveled, and some strings are tuned as bourdon strings, that is, they can sound continuously when played without spoiling the song. If the guslar touches all the strings at once, then it is called “rattling.” There are many techniques, the most common of which are “pinching” and “jamming”.

Helmet-shaped

It’s not so easy to find such harps - they are quite rare. Previously, it was believed that the origin of this species was Old Russian, but later historians chose a different version - the Volga region. A musician who played such an instrument in the Middle Ages was called a buzzer. The name was given for a reason, and in fact the shape of the helmet takes place; you can count from 11 to 27 strings. The right hand “plucks” the melody, and the left hand plucks the chords. Placed in the same way as other varieties, on your knees. The tool exists and is still used today. Exist original techniques games - when two hands twitch notes with an octave difference, this is how the Mari play.

Lyre-shaped

They were widespread in Rus', starting from the 11th century, and are similar in appearance to a lyre. They have an opening (window) in the upper part. The left hand is placed there, and the right hand will strike the strings in the area of the holder. The instrument rested on the hip, so it was good that you could play on the go. Number of strings: 5. Nowadays lyre-shaped harps can only be found in museums and among collectors; they are used extremely rarely, have historical and cultural value. They are very expensive.

Stationary

Gusli of this type are very different from portable ones, since they are fixed in certain place, to make the game easier. At the same time, the instruments are more serious and thoughtful, they can be

clavier-shaped;
table-shaped;
rectangular.

Stationary models are plucked or keyboard. Located on a table or stand. The musician stands or sits near the installation and plays with both hands. Sometimes the keys are pressed with the left hand, and the strings are plucked with the left. It's about about gusli with combined systems. The main and characteristic technique of playing such instruments is arpeggiato, when the sounds of a chord move from lower to upper.

Look

Video

Listen to the harp Subbotin bard concert Rock on the harp The Lonely Shepherd - James Last Metallika - Nothing Els Matter Tsoi - performed by Sergei Plotnikov Egor Strelnikov Olga Glazova