![]() ![]() ![]() A plucked form of the vielle, known as the cittern, also developed at this time, and the lute 's originally Arabic name 'al'ûd' reflects its introduction into Spain by the Moors during the tenth century.īy this point the fundamental techniques for playing stringed instruments were all available in Europe, and the many subsequent developments can be regarded as increasingly sophisticated variations upon the relatively limited possibilities available.ĭuring the middle ages, for instance, there developed the mandola (closely related to the lute), the rebec (a kind of bowed lute, and a forerunner of the violin ) and the psaltery, a variant on the harp or lyre, but with a soundboard attached. The bow itself was an Asian development, and similar instruments to the Medieval European fiddle can still be found today amongst folk musicians in Turkestan and Mongolia. Unlike the harp and lyre, the vielle was not plucked, but bowed: this allowed musical sounds to be sustained, rather than dying quickly away as did those made with plucked strings. The lyre and the harp continued on during the Roman and Medieval periods, but it was during the tenth century that a significant new instrument appeared in Europe - the vielle or fiddle. The Greeks also played other stringed instruments such as the lyra and the kithara. Within the Western tradition, stringed instruments go back as far as Ancient Greece: a marble statuette discovered in the Cyclades and dated to the third millennium BC personifies a harpist. The large and varied family of stringed instruments all utilise the musical sounds that can be obtained by causing a stretched string to vibrate, either by plucking it, striking it or bowing it. ![]()
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