The first Russian folk musical instruments arose a long time ago, even in time immemorial. You can learn about what our ancestors played from paintings, handwritten brochures and popular prints.

A number of tools were found during excavations, and now no one can have any doubts that they were indeed common in Rus'. Our ancestors could not live without music. Many of them were able to independently produce the simplest tools, which were then inherited. In the evenings people gathered and played, resting from the day's work.

Let's take a closer look at musical instruments. At least general idea every inhabitant of our country should have about them.

Gusli

This is an instrument with strings. He first appeared in Rus'.

Gusli is the oldest of all that have come down to us. They are helmet-shaped and pterygoid. The latter were made in the shape of a triangle, their minimum number of strings is 5, and the maximum is 14. On the wing-shaped (voiced) harp is such that a person touches all the strings with his right hand at once. And the left at this time neutralizes unnecessary sounds. As for the helmet-shaped ones (they are also called psalter-shaped ones), a person plays them with both hands at once. These folk instruments are quite difficult to master, but they are worth it.

Clavier-shaped harp

Let's consider them. They were common not only in antiquity, but also in the twentieth century, they were often played by representatives of the clergy.

These harps were similar to psalter-shaped ones, but much better. The basis of this instrument was a rectangular box equipped with a lid. On one side, several golosniks (special oval holes) were cut out, then a pair of wooden chips were attached to it. Metal pegs were screwed into one of them, strings of the same material were wound on them. Another sliver served as a keeper. No special explanation is required here, the name speaks for itself. Strings were fixed on it. This instrument was inherent in the piano system. Interestingly, the strings, similar to the dark keys, were located below the corresponding white ones. To play the clavier-like harp, one had to know the notes. Otherwise, there would be no normal melody. Folk instruments, the pictures of which you see in front of you, enchant everyone who hears them.

Kantele relative

It is impossible not to mention the harp, which in appearance resembled a kantele - an instrument originally from Finland. Most likely, the Russians were inspired to create them by the traditions of this country. Unfortunately, in the twentieth century, such harps were completely forgotten.

Now you know the most famous ancient folk stringed instruments.

Balalaika

Many folk musicians still play it today. Balalaika is plucked instrument equipped with three strings.

Its dimensions vary greatly: there are models whose size reaches 600 mm, but there are also species 1.7 meters long. In the first case we are talking about the so-called prima, and in the second - about the balalaika-double bass. This instrument has a slightly curved wooden body, but in the XVIII— 19th century x were also oval. If you ask any foreigner what he associates with Russia, then he will certainly come up with a balalaika. The accordion and the pity are also symbols of our country, but less popular.

Sound Features

The sound of the balalaika is loud, but gentle. The most common playing techniques are single and double pizzicato. Not last place rattling, fractions, vibrato, tremolo also occupy. Folk instruments, including the balalaika, sound quite soft, although loud. The melodies are very soulful and often sad.

Double bass balalaika

Previously, this instrument did not have a well-established, widely used tuning.

Each musician tuned it according to their preferences, the mood of the tunes played, and local customs. However, in the 19th century, this situation radically changed, after which the balalaika became an indispensable attribute of many concerts. Folk instruments, the photos of which you see, are still used by many musicians in their performances today.

Academic and popular system

The system, created by Andreev, has gained immense popularity among performers traveling around the country. It became known as academic. In addition to it, there is also the so-called popular system. In this case, it is easier to take triads, and the difficulty lies in the fact that it is rather difficult to use open strings. In addition to all of the above, there are local ways to tune the balalaika. There are twenty of them.

We can say that the balalaika is a fairly popular folk instrument. Many learn to play it in music schools in our country, as well as in Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus. Folk instruments today attract a lot of young people, and this is good news.

ancient balalaika

There is no single answer to the question of when the balalaika appeared - there are many versions. It gained popularity in the 17th century. It is possible that her ancestor is Kazakh dombra. The ancient balalaika was a rather long instrument, the body length of which was approximately 27 cm. And its width reached 18 cm. The instrument was also notable for its very oblong neck.

Tool modification

The balalaikas played today are outwardly different from the ancient ones. The musician V. Andreev, together with S. Nalimov, F. Paserbsky, and V. Ivanov, modified the instrument. These people decided that the soundboard should be made from spruce and the back from beech. In addition, Andreev suggested making the tool a little shorter, up to 700 mm. wonderful person F. Paserbsky invented a whole group of balalaikas: prima, tenor, double bass, piccolo, alto, bass. Today it is impossible to imagine a traditional Russian orchestra without them. Some time later, this man, who made many Russian folk instruments, received a patent for them.

The balalaika can be used not only in orchestras, it is also often played solo.

Harmonic

This is a reed instrument belonging to the pneumatic keyboard family.

The accordion should not be confused with the accordion and button accordion.

This tool consists of two half-cases, on which there are panels with keys and buttons. Left-hand side necessary for accompaniment: if you hold down one key, you will hear a bass or a whole chord, and the right one is for playing. In the middle there is a fur compartment for pumping oxygen to the accordion sound bars.

How does this instrument differ from an accordion or button accordion:

On a standard harmonica, a musician usually extracts exclusively diatonic sounds, in some cases chromatic sounds are also added;

Fewer octaves;

Compactness.

Who invented this tool?

There is no exact information about where the first accordion was made. According to one version, it was created in Germany, in the 19th century. F.K. Bushman is considered its inventor. But there are other versions. There is an opinion in Germany that the accordion was created in Russia, and according to the scientist Mirek, the first such instrument was made in the northern capital in 1783, it was created by Frantisek Kirsnik, an organ master originally from the Czech Republic. This man came up with an original way to get sound - by means of an iron tongue, which comes into motion from exposure to oxygen. Since the end of the 19th century, the accordion has been considered Tatar folk instrument. There are other, no less interesting versions.

Classification of accordions

These folk instruments, common in Russia, are divided into two types according to the method of producing sound. The first category includes accordions, in which, during the movement of the bellows, all keys, when pressed, make sounds of the same pitch. These tools are quite popular. And the second category includes accordions, in which the pitch of the sound depends on the direction in which the bellows are moving. The first type includes the Khromka (the most popular today), the Russian Wreath, and the Livenka instruments. And "Talyanka", "Tula", "Skull" and "Vyatka" belong to the second category. It is possible to classify accordions by the type of the right keyboard, and more specifically, by the number of keys. To date, the "hromka" has become widely known, which has two rows of buttons, but there are tools with three, and some even have only one row. Now you understand that there are many accordions and they are all different.

Instruments with one row of buttons: "Tulskaya", "Vyatka", "Livenskaya", "Talyanka". The last name is derived from "Italian", there are 12/15 keys on the right, and 3 on the left.
Tools with two rows of buttons: "Khromka", "Russian wreath".
The harmonica is automatic.

spoons

Our ancestors played on them too. The minimum number of spoons per musician is three, the maximum is five.

These Russian folk instruments can be different size. When the spoons hit each other with a convex part, a characteristic sound is obtained. Its height may vary depending on the method of obtaining it.

Game technique

The musician, as a rule, plays on three spoons: he holds one in right hand, and the remaining two are located between the phalanges of the left. It's easy to imagine. Most performers strike on the leg or arm. This is explained by the fact that it is so much more convenient. The blows are made with one spoon on two, clamped in the left hand. In some cases, scoops are supplemented with small bells.

Belarusian musicians prefer to play with just two spoons.

It should be noted that scoops are widespread among folk performers from the USA and Britain. Jeff Richardson, a member of the English art-rock band Caravan, plays electric spoons during concerts.

Ukrainian folk instruments

A few words should be said about them.

In ancient times, cymbals, bagpipes, torbans, violins, psaltery and other wind, percussion and string instruments were common in Ukraine. In most cases, they were made from various improvised materials (animal bones, leather, wood).

The most popular was the kobza-bandura, without which it is impossible to imagine the Ukrainian epic.

The harp also gained wide popularity. This is with strings, there could be a lot of them, up to thirty or forty. In addition to Ukrainians and Russians, they were played by Czechs, Belarusians and many other nationalities. This suggests that the harp is really magnificent, and today they should not be forgotten.

Be sure to listen to the folk instruments whose names you now know. Beautiful melodies will definitely not leave you indifferent.

At first it was just a hobby, a hobby. Today, people passing by Voronezh make a special stop in the city to visit the “Museum forgotten music”, created by Sergey Plotnikov. Once he was a member of an ensemble that performed ethnographic songs using outdated folk musical instruments - now he plays only for the soul, and devotes all his time to recreating and restoring musical instruments in order to tell how more people about the hurdy-gurdy, the harp, the beep, the kalyuka, the pity and other unique masterpieces from the history of Russian music. IN exclusive interview Sergey Plotnikov told the Kultura.RF portal about the most interesting forgotten musical instruments.

Gusli

Sergey Plotnikov:“I have two favorite instruments - the psaltery and the hurdy-gurdy. Gusli is an instrument that can be played by almost everyone. You can sing spiritual poems, compose epics, perform dance, lingering tunes, or just play music. Not all modern songs fit the harp, but the songs of Viktor Tsoi sound good.

Folk gusli were of three types: lyre-shaped, pterygoid and helmet-shaped. The most ancient version is the lyre-shaped harp, which fell into disuse in the 14th century. They have a small number of strings - 5-6 pieces and not a very large sound range. Sadko, Stavr Godinovich, Dobrynya Nikitich - all epic heroes, in theory, were supposed to play the lyre-shaped harp. Then came the winged harp, which the people used until the 1980s. Helmet-shaped harp was very popular in paintings and movies. But they belonged to folk tradition Mari and Chuvash. The Russians in the folk tradition have wing-shaped harps, and the helmet-shaped ones were considered an instrument of a noble society, therefore they were not used by the peasants.

Previously, when they still did not know how to produce wire, intestinal and sinew strings were used for the gusli, or twisted horsehair served as a string. Then the strings became metal, they sound much louder. By the way, in the Middle Ages, when playing dances, loudness was one of the main advantages of the instrument.

hurdy gurdy

The hurdy gurdy is a very specific and interesting musical instrument. It most likely appeared in Central Europe in the 10th-11th centuries. Either France or Spain. Initially, two people played the instrument, the keys were not located below, as they are now, but on top - one handle was twisted, and the second played music.

In Russia, the first information about the hurdy-gurdy dates back to the 17th century.

The peak of popularity is the 19th century. Lirniks - a kind of philosophers, performed exclusively spiritual verses and gospel stories, biblical parables, poems about the separation of the soul from the body, about afterlife. A record of the 19th century has been preserved, where the lyre player is asked: “The songs are all sad, do you know anything more cheerful?” He says: “I know, but I won’t play, because it’s all empty.”

Harmonic

At the festival " Living antiquity» in Rostov Veliky

This original folk musical instrument appeared in the middle of the 19th century.

On the territory of Russia - 50 types of accordions. Outwardly, they are all similar, but have a different structure and different sound. Each province tried to come up with its own version of the accordion or remake an existing instrument to fit its own performing tradition. Mostly they were bought to play at weddings. The harmonica was the most expensive instrument. There was even such a concept as “the price of an accordion”. In Yelets they asked: “How much does an accordion cost?” The seller answered: "30 weddings." The harmonist's wedding accompaniment cost 10 rubles. 30 weddings worked - and repaid the price of the accordion.

Horn

The horns, as well as the psaltery and domra, were often called "demonic vessels" by churchmen in written medieval sources. There is a mention of the German traveler Adam Olearius, who writes that in Moscow during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, five carts of musical instruments were collected, taken to Bolotnaya Square and burned. IN written sources quite often there are angry reviews of the clergy about the musical instruments that accompanied the actions condemned by the church. The main thing is that all the instruments have survived to our time. The story of Jacob von Stehlin, a German who lived in St. Petersburg in the 18th century, is interesting. He writes that the whistle is an instrument of the mob. In the 17th century in St. Petersburg, the whistle was popular among sailors and soldiers. Peasants actively used the horn in the 18th century. And this tool was used by buffoons.

Buffoons, by the way, were very enterprising guys. They came in gangs of 60-100 people to the boyar or to a rich peasant in the yard, gave a performance without asking and asked for money for it. Whether someone ordered their concert - they did not care, the performance was given.

Domra

All musical instruments have survived to this day, only one has not been physically preserved - the ancient Russian domra.

Domra was widely used by buffoons in Rus' in the 16th–17th centuries as a solo and ensemble (“bass” domra) instrument, but starting from the 15th century, after a number of church and state decrees were issued (one of them was issued in 1648, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, “On correction of morals and the destruction of superstitions”), buffoonery was persecuted, and domras were destroyed and forgotten.

Now domrists play the "remake" instrument.

Balalaika

After the domra fell out of use, the balalaika appeared in Rus'. We are used to seeing the modern (Andreev) balalaika and cannot imagine that it was once completely different. The ancestor of our balalaika is most likely the Kalmyk dombra, a two-string balalaika with a very long neck, where one of the strings is playing. She sounded more Asian.

Over time, the Russian fingerboard was shortened and a third string was added. Balalaika in the folk version appeared at the end of the 17th century. Jakob von Stehlin writes that you rarely meet a peasant in some courtyard who plays his little things to the courtyard girls on this anti-artistic musical instrument. The tool was readily available, you could buy it in any shop or make it yourself.

Horn

The Vladimir horn is a very complex musical instrument, from which the sound is extracted with the lips. A long trumpet makes a low sound. Holes raise notes. The structure of the instrument is very simple - a pipe with five holes, and a great many variations can be played, it already depends on the abilities of the performer. No wonder the shepherds who played the horn were paid more than those who did not know how to play it. So there was a big financial incentive.

zhaleika

"Museum of Forgotten Music" at the "Times and Epochs" festival in 2014

Remember, Valentina Tolkunova sang: "Somewhere a pitiful woman is crying ..."? And this tool is also in the cartoon "Prince Vladimir". But in general, only those who are engaged in folklore have heard about zhaleyka.

Some say that the name of the instrument was given because it sounds pathetic. Others add that in the cemeteries they played pity, so she is pity. A crook was called the central part of the instrument, a barrel with playing holes. There are many names for this musical instrument. In the Kursk and Tver regions, the instrument was called a horn (a horn was made at the end to amplify the sound), in the Voronezh and Belgorod regions - a peeper.

Kalyuka

Kalyuka is a herbal fife or overtone flute. We all whistled into such tubes in childhood. Kalyuka is made from any hollow grass - angelica, kokorysh. A thin stream of air, falling on a sharp edge, is cut - and a whistle is obtained. We blow weakly - the sound is low, we blow strongly - the sound is high. There are holes on the bottom. Such a simple tool was taken on night duty to graze horses. Under his sounds we went to mowing. It took a long time to get to the field, and so that it would not be boring, they cut the tubes: they played, mowed, returned home - and threw them away. seasonal tool. From grass - a popular option, and now plastic ones are being made. The principle is the same, but it is easier to play.

Kugikly

The most ancient whistling wind instrument, a kind of multi-barreled flute. It is unique in its simplicity and performance capabilities. It consists of five fastened tubes, which are made of reeds or kokory, as well as wood, metal or plastic. In the Russian tradition, each tube on the kugiks has its own name: "buzz", "podguden", "middle", "podpyatushka" and "pyatushka". It is believed that this is a female musical instrument, which is played by an ensemble of three or four performers. When playing the cugicles, they make sounds similar to the sound of tubes. The instrument was especially popular in the Bryansk, Kursk and Kaluga regions.

Bagpipes

Everyone is sure that this is a traditional Scottish instrument. And in Scotland and Ireland it is called "bagpipe". Every nation has a kind of bagpipe. The French have a musette, the Spaniards have a gaita, the Ukrainians have a goat, and the Belarusians have a duda. There is a description of the Russian bagpipe in the villages since the 19th century, but the Russian bagpipe has not reached our days.

Vargan

Because of television and movies, most people have a stereotype that only the peoples of the North play the jew's harp. And there were times when in Rus' there was not a single person who would not “dryndel” on a jew's harp.

Even in boyar houses, girls were taught to play the jew's harp. This is our Russian instrument, but we mistakenly attributed it to the Eskimos.

I am often asked: “Do you share the secrets of mastery? Suddenly there will be a competitor. I say: the more competitors appear, the more orders there will be. The more tools are made, the more people who want to have them appear. There is a department of ethnomusicology in Russia, but there is no department of folk instrumentation yet. There are very few enthusiasts like me.”

For the provided photo and video materials, we thank the Museum of Forgotten Music.

May 04, 2012 | Russian folk instruments

Gusli- a stringed musical instrument, the most common in Russia. It is the most ancient Russian string plucked musical instrument. There are pterygoid and helmet-shaped gusli. The first, in later samples, have triangular shape and from 5 to 14 strings tuned in steps of the diatonic scale, helmet-shaped - 10-30 strings of the same tuning. On the wing-shaped harp (they are also called voiced), they play, as a rule, rattling along all the strings and drowning out unnecessary sounds with the fingers of the left hand, on the helmet-shaped, or psalter-shaped, the strings are plucked with both hands.

Gusli in the form described above is, in essence, a purely Russian phenomenon. There are many musical instruments with similar names. Slavic peoples: gusle - among the Serbs and Bulgarians, gusle, guzla, gusli - among the Croats, gosle - among the Slovenes, guslic - among the Poles, housle ("violin") y Czechs. However, these instruments are quite diverse, and many of them are bowed (for example, guzla, which has only one horsehair string).

Researchers at the beginning of the 20th century noted the striking similarity of the contemporary Chuvash and Cheremis gusli with images of this instrument in medieval Russian manuscripts (for example, in the 14th-century Missal, where a person playing the harp is represented in the capital letter D, and in Makarievskaya Chetye-Mineya of 1542). In these images, the performers hold the harp on their knees and hook the strings with their fingers. In exactly the same way, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Chuvash and Cheremis played the harp. The strings of their harp were intestinal; their number was not always the same. The psalter-like harp is believed to have been brought to Russia by the Greeks, and the Chuvash and Cheremis borrowed this instrument from the Russians.

The clavier-shaped harp, which was also found at the beginning of the 20th century, mainly among the Russian clergy, was an improved type of psalter-shaped harp. This instrument consisted of a rectangular resonant box with a lid, which rested on a table. Several round cutouts (voices) were made on the resonance board, and two concave wooden bars were attached to it. Iron pegs were screwed on one of them, on which they wound metal strings; the other beam played the role of a keeper, that is, it served to attach the strings. The clavier-shaped harp had a piano system, and the strings corresponding to the black keys were placed below those corresponding to the white keys.

For clavier-shaped harp, there were notes and a school composed in early XIX V. Fyodor Kushenov-Dmitrevsky.

In addition to the psalter-shaped gusli, there were kantele similar to the Finnish instrument. Probably, this type of gusli was borrowed by the Russians from the Finns. By the beginning of the 20th century, it had almost completely disappeared.

Balalaika- Russian folk three-stringed plucked musical instrument, from 600-700 mm (prima balalaika) to 1.7 meters (double bass balalaika) in length, with a triangular slightly curved (also oval in the 18th-19th centuries) wooden case. The balalaika is one of the instruments that have become (along with the accordion and, to a lesser extent, the pitiful one) the musical symbol of the Russian people.

The body is glued from separate (6-7) segments, the head of the long neck is slightly bent back. Metal strings (In the 18th century, two of them were veined; modern balalaikas have nylon or carbon strings). On the neck of a modern balalaika there are 16-31 metal frets (until the end of the 19th century - 5-7 forced frets).

The sound is loud but soft. The most common techniques for extracting sound: rattling, pizzicato, double pizzicato, single pizzicato, vibrato, tremolo, fractions, guitar tricks.

Double bass balalaika

Before the transformation of the balalaika into a concert instrument in late XIX century by Vasily Andreev, it did not have a permanent, ubiquitous system. Each performer tuned the instrument according to his style of performance, general mood pieces played and local traditions.

The system introduced by Andreev (two strings in unison - the note "mi", one - a quart higher - the note "la" (both "mi" and "la" of the first octave) became widespread among concert balalaika players and began to be called "academic". There is also a "folk" system - the first string is "sol", the second is "mi", the third is "do". In this system, triads are easier to take, the disadvantage of it is the difficulty of playing on open strings. In addition to the above, there are also regional traditions of tuning the instrument The number of rare local settings reaches two dozen.

Balalaika is a fairly common musical instrument, which is studied in academic musical educational institutions in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

The term of training on the balalaika in the nursery music school is 5 - 7 years (depending on the age of the student), and on average educational institution- 4 years, in a higher educational institution 4-5 years. Repertoire: arrangements folk songs, transcriptions classical works, original music.

There is no single point of view on the time of the appearance of the balalaika. It is believed that the balalaika has been spreading since the end of the 17th century. Perhaps it comes from the Asian dombra. It was a “long two-stringed instrument, had a body about one and a half spans in length (about 27 cm) and one span in width (about 18 cm) and a neck (neck) at least four times longer” (M. Gutry, “ Dissertation on Russian Antiquities).

The balalaika acquired its modern look thanks to the musician-educator Vasily Andreev and the masters V. Ivanov, F. Paserbsky, S. Nalimov and others. Andreev proposed to make a soundboard from spruce, and to make the back of the balalaika from beech, and also shorten it (up to 600-700 mm). The family of balalaikas made by F. Paserbsky (piccolo, prima, alto, tenor, bass, double bass) became the basis of the Russian folk orchestra. Later, F. Paserbsky received a patent in Germany for the invention of the balalaika.

The balalaika is used as a solo concert, ensemble and orchestral instrument.

Harmonica (accordion)

- reed keyboard-pneumatic musical instrument. Harmonics are all hand harmonicas that are not related to the button accordion and various accordions.

The design of the accordion, like most other types of manual harmonicas, consists of a right and left semi-body, each of them has a keyboard with buttons and (or) keys. The left keyboard is for accompaniment - pressing one button sounds a bass or a whole chord (note: the turtle accordion does not have a left keyboard); melody is played on the right. Between the half-shells there is a fur chamber for the possibility of pumping air to the sound bars of the instrument.

Distinctive features of accordions, in comparison with the button accordion or accordion, are:

As a rule, only the sounds of the diatonic scale can be extracted on the accordion, or with a certain number of chromatic sounds. For example, in a chroma accordion with 25 keys in the right and left keyboard (25/25) with the key “Do”, these are the sounds: “G-sharp” of the first octave, E-flat and F-sharp of the second octave. The accordion with 27 keys in the right keyboard, in addition to the indicated sounds, has C-sharp and C-flat added.
Reduced range of sounds (number of octaves).
Smaller sizes (dimensions).

It is impossible to say for sure exactly where the hand accordion was first invented. It is widely believed that the accordion was invented in Germany at the beginning of the 19th century by a native of the city of Friedrichrod, Christian Buschmann (German: Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann). However, there are other data. The Germans themselves consider the accordion a Russian invention, and according to the research of academician Mirek, the first accordion appeared in St. Petersburg in 1783 through the efforts of the Czech organ master Frantisek Kirsnik (he invented new way extracting sound - using a metal tongue oscillating under the action of a stream of air). It has been considered a folk instrument of the Tatars since the second half of the 19th century. There are other views on this problem.

Russian accordions are divided into two types according to the type of sound extraction: firstly, accordions, in which, when the bellows are stretched and compressed, each button, when pressed, gives a sound of the same pitch, and, secondly, accordions, in which the pitch changes in depending on the direction of movement of the furs. The first type includes such accordions as "livenka", "Russian wreath", "khromka" (the most common in our time). To the second type - "talyanka", "turtle", "Tula", "Vyatka". It is possible to divide harmonies according to the type of the right keyboard, depending on the number of rows of buttons. The most common harmonica these days is the two-row limp, but there are also three-row instruments and instruments with one row of buttons.

Single-row accordions: Tula, Livenskaya, Vyatka, Talyanka (short for “Italian”, there are 12/15 buttons on the right keyboard, and three on the left).
Two-row accordions: Russian wreath (first two-row), chrome.
Automatic accordion.

wooden spoons used in Slavic tradition like a musical instrument. The game set is from 3 to 5 spoons, sometimes of different sizes. The sound is produced by hitting the back sides of the scoops against each other. The timbre of the sound depends on the method of sound production.

Usually one performer uses three spoons, two of which are placed between the fingers of the left hand, and the third is taken in the right. The blows are made with the third spoon for two in the left hand. Usually, for convenience, strikes are made on the arm or knee. Sometimes bells are hung from spoons.

In Belarus, only two spoons are traditionally used when playing.

In addition, spoons are widely used in American folk music and minstrel shows. The British art rock band Caravan uses electric spoons (spoons equipped with an electrical sound amplification device) played by Geoff Richardson in their performances.

Music is ancient species art, going hand in hand with the history of mankind. Speech became the first musical instrument. Along with the development of people, everything around was improved. The first devices capable of producing melodies appeared. Today, ancient man-made musical instruments have become significant cultural heritage. The cost of individual copies is many times higher than the price of modern products.

One of the first devices that have come down to our days and specially created for extracting sounds is rooted in history. Ancient Greece and Egypt. After archaeological expeditions and research, scientists identified percussion instruments as the oldest of the types of instruments among different ethnic groups. At the heart of this kind is the percussion of a certain rhythm. One of the founders of stringed instruments was the bow. When pulled, the string made a characteristic melodic sound.

Today, six varieties of musical instruments are distinguished, depending on the method of sound production:

strings - harp, piano;
wind - saxophone, flute;
reed - accordion, harmonica;
membrane - different kinds drums;
plate - xylophone;
rod - triangle, celesta.

According to another classification, musical instruments are distinguished based on the method of excitation of sounds:

Whistling - flute.
Reeds - oboe, clarinet.
Mouthpieces - viola, trumpet, horn.
Plucked - balalaika, harp.

Drums

Drums were one of the first instruments invented by mankind. IN Ancient Rus' an unusual bundle of firewood became an unusual representative of the group. The instrument appeared in ancient times and gradually changed. In the latter version, it became the prototype of the xylophone. The instrument was tuned as follows: to lower the tonality, the length or thickness was increased, and to increase the tonality, these parameters were reduced.

Another instrument known since ancient times was the tambourine. He was required attribute priests and magicians. Its base is a wooden circle upholstered with a leather membrane. Bells and bells are added to some models. Sounds are received with the help of special sticks, or wax, - one of the types of whip, ending with a rounding. Military or military tambourines and alarms were distinguished by large sizes. Up to four horses were required to transport each. The sounds from the instruments of the Russian troops were so loud that the opponents fled before the battle began.

Keyboards

The organ became the oldest keyboard instrument which is still popular today. He was well known already in the Middle Ages. hallmark an ancient instrument big size keys that could only be pressed with a fist. Playing the instrument was an essential attribute of most church services.

In the houses one could hear the sounds of the clavichord. It was not as bulky as an organ and easily fit in the living room. With his help, musical evenings and play music at home. One of the famous owners of the clavichord was Johann Sebastian Bach.

Strings

One of the Russian folk ancient stringed instruments is the beep, or smyk. The history of its appearance is rooted in the deep past, exact date or the year of creation is not set. It was played along with a tambourine or a harp. External features beep:

wooden body;
the shape of the hollowed body is oval or pear-shaped;
short neck;
straight or curved head;
number of strings - three;
length no more than one meter, maximum size - 80 centimeters;
arched bow.

The main source for creating the melody is the first string of the closure, the rest do not change the key. A distinctive feature of the beep, like all stringed instruments of the past, was the incessant buzz of the lower strings. When playing, it must be fixed in a vertical position.

One of the most famous stringed instruments was the harp. Initially, any sound of strings was called a buzz. They could have different shape and name depending on the locality. It is customary to play the harp, fixing them in a horizontal position. The number of strings each musician chose independently. It used to be possible to hear the melodious sound of the instrument in any courtyard, poor and rich people revered it equally.

Brass

The whistle has become one of the most famous ancient wind instruments. Its history goes far into the past of the Russian land. The traditional folk invention was made different in shape, from simple geometric to unusual in the form of animals. Most often, burnt clay was used as the basis. Principle of operation: air currents are created in the clay chamber, as a result of vibrations, a whistling sound is produced. most popular form was a whistle bird. According to the beliefs of the ancient Slavs, she possessed magic power and allowed to contact pagan gods- Perun and Stribog.

Among the popular musical instruments that have survived to this day is the flute, or string. In Rus', it was personified with a symbol of love. The oldest copy was found on the territory of the Smolensk region. Today, products are made not only from wood, but also from metal. The classic model is equipped with six holes.

Kugikly became a well-known instrument of the times of the ancient Slavs. They belong to the category of multi-barreled flutes. Hollow trunks of reeds are put in the basis. There are also specimens made from other plants: elderberry, umbrella grasses, bamboo. Kugikly and today are not out of circulation. Modern masters used for their manufacture of polymeric materials and metal. The minimum number of tubes forming an instrument is three. With the same diameter and different lengths. Initially, the instrument was used to play the fairer sex.

Many ancient instruments have found their embodiment - in modern ones. Some, like an organ, have changed significantly in appearance (no one hits it with their fists). Others (for example, the harp) remained virtually unchanged.