Krylov Boris Petrovich (1891-1977) Accordionist. 1931 g.

The Russian people have always surrounded their lives with songs and music pouring from folk instruments. From an early age, everyone possessed the skills of making simple instruments, and knew how to play it. So from a piece of clay you can make a whistle or an ocarina, and a ratchet from a board.

In ancient times, people were closer to nature and learned from it, so folk instruments were created on the basis of the sounds of nature and were made from natural materials. After all, nowhere is beauty and harmony felt so much as when playing a folk musical instrument, and nothing is so close to a person as the sounds of a familiar instrument from childhood.

For a Russian person in the 21st century, such a native instrument is the accordion, but what about everyone else ... Stop the young man now and ask him to name at least a few folk instruments known to him, this list will be very small, not to mention playing them. But this is a huge layer of Russian culture, which is almost forgotten.

Why have we lost this tradition? Why don't we know our folk instruments and don't hear their beautiful sounds?

It is difficult to answer this question, time passed, something was forgotten, something was forbidden, for example, medieval Christian Russia more than once took up arms against folk musicians. Under the threat of a fine, peasants and urban people were forbidden to keep folk instruments at home, let alone play them.

“So that they (the peasants) do not play demonic games of snuffling and gusli and whistles and domras and do not keep them in their houses ... five rubles per person ”.(From legal acts of the 17th century.)

With the advent of electronic instruments and musical recordings on records and disks, a person has generally forgotten how to play independently, and even more so to make musical instruments.

Perhaps the case is different, and everything can be more than attributed to the mercilessness of time, but the disappearance, and the massive one began long ago and is rapidly progressing. We lose our traditions, originality - we keep pace with the times, we have adapted, we caress the ear with "waves and frequencies" ...

So, the rarest Russian folk musical instruments, or those that very soon may simply disappear. Perhaps very soon, most of them will gather dust on the shelves of museums, as silent rare exhibits, although they were originally created for more festive events ...

1. Gusli

Nikolay Zagorsky David plays the harp in front of Saul. 1873 g.

Gusli is a stringed musical instrument most widespread in Russia. It is the most ancient Russian stringed plucked musical instrument.

Distinguish between pterygoid and helmet gusli. The first, in later samples, have a triangular shape and from 5 to 14 strings, tuned in steps of the diatonic scale, helmet-shaped - 10-30 strings of the same tuning.

The musicians playing the harp are called the harp.

Gusli history

Gusli is a musical instrument, a variety of which is the harp. Also, the ancient Greek cithara (there is a hypothesis that it is she who is the ancestor of the gusli), the Armenian canon and the Iranian santur have similarities with the gusli.

The first reliable mentions of the use of Russian gusli are found in Byzantine sources of the 5th century. The heroes of the epic played the harp: Sadko, Dobrynya Nikitich, Boyan. In the great monument of Old Russian literature, "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" (XI-XII centuries), the image of a guslar-storyteller is poetically sung:

“Boyan, brothers, not 10 falcons for a herd of swans you push, but your own things — your fingers are folded on living strings; they themselves are the prince of glory to the roar ”.

2. Svirel

Henryk Siemiradzki Shepherd playing the flute.

Svirel - Russian double-barreled wind instrument; a kind of double-barreled longitudinal flute. One of the barrels is usually 300-350 mm long, the second - 450-470 mm. In the upper end of the barrel there is a whistle device, in the lower part there are 3 side holes for changing the pitch of sounds.

In ordinary language, a flute is often called wind instruments such as single-barreled or double-barreled flutes.

It is made of wood with a soft core, elderberry, willow, bird cherry.

It is assumed that the flute migrated to Russia from Ancient Greece. In ancient times, the flute was a musical wind instrument consisting of seven reed pipes of different lengths connected to each other. According to ancient Greek mythology, Hermes invented it to amuse himself while grazing cows. This musical instrument is still very much loved by the shepherds of Greece.

3. Balalaika

Some attribute the Tatar origin to the word "balalaika". The Tatars have the word "bala" meaning "child". It may have served as the source of the origin of the words "balakat", "balabonit", etc. containing in itself the concept of unreasonable, as if childish, chatter.

There are very few mentions of the balalaika even in the XVII-XVIII. In some cases, there are indeed hints that in Russia there was an instrument of the same type with the balalaika, but most likely domra is mentioned there, the ancestor of the balalaika.

During the reign of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, there were domrache players at the palace amusement chamber. Under Alexei Mikhailovich, instruments were persecuted. By this time, i.e. the renaming of domra into balalaika probably dates back to the second half of the 17th century.

For the first time, the name "balalaika" is found in written monuments from the time of Peter the Great. In 1715, during the celebration of a comic wedding arranged by the order of the tsar, balalaikas were mentioned among the instruments that appeared in the hands of the costumed participants in the ceremony. Moreover, these instruments were given into the hands of a group of dressed up Kalmyks.

During the XVIII century. The balalaika spread widely among the Great Russian people, becoming so popular that it was recognized as the most ancient instrument, and even attributed to it of Slavic origin.

Russian origin can only be attributed to the triangular shape of the body or body of the balalaika, which replaced the round shape of the domra. The shape of the 18th century balalaika was different from the modern one. The balalaika neck was very long, about 4 times longer than the body. The tool body was narrower. In addition, balalaikas found in old popular prints have only 2 strings. The third string was a rare exception. The strings of the balalaika are metal, which gives the sound a specific shade - the sonority of the timbre.

In the middle of the XX century. a new hypothesis was put forward that the balalaika existed long before it was mentioned in written sources, i.e. existed next to domra. Some researchers believe that domra was a professional instrument of buffoons and, with their disappearance, lost widespread musical practice.

The balalaika is a purely folk instrument and, therefore, more resilient.

At first, the balalaika spread mainly in the northern and eastern provinces of Russia, usually accompanying folk dance songs. But already in the middle of the 19th century, the balalaika was very popular in many places in Russia. It was played not only by village guys, but also by serious court musicians, such as Ivan Khandoshkin, I.F. Yablochkin, N.V. Lavrov. However, by the middle of the 19th century, harmonica was found almost everywhere next to it, which gradually replaced the balalaika.

4. Bayan

The button accordion is one of the most perfect chromatic harmonics that exist today. For the first time the name "button accordion" is found in posters and advertisements since 1891. Until that time, a similar instrument was called a harmonica.

The harmonica originated from an Asian instrument called the sheng. Shen was known in Russia for a very long time, in the X-XIII centuries during the Tatar-Mongol domination. Some researchers argue that the Shen traveled from Asia to Russia, and then to Europe, where it was improved and became a widespread, truly popular throughout Europe musical instrument - the harmonica.

In Russia, a certain impetus in the dissemination of the instrument was the acquisition by Ivan Sizov at the Nizhny Novgorod fair in 1830 of a manual harmonica, after which he decided to open a harmonic workshop. By the forties of the XIX century, the first factory of Timofey Vorontsov appeared in Tula, which produced 10,000 harmonics a year. This contributed to the widest distribution of the instrument, and by the middle of the 19th century. the harmonica becomes a symbol of a new folk musical instrument. She is an obligatory participant in all folk festivals and festivities.

If in Europe the harmonica was made by musical masters, then in Russia, on the contrary, the harmonica was created from folk craftsmen. Therefore, in Russia, like in no other country, there is such a wealth of purely national harmonica constructions, differing not only in form, but also in the variety of the scale. The repertoire, for example, of the Saratov harmonica cannot be performed on the Livenki, the repertoire of the Livenka at the Bologoevka, etc. The name of the harmonica was determined by the place where it was made.

Tula handicraftsmen were the first in Russia to make accordions. Their first TULA accordions had only one row of buttons on the right and left hand (single rows). On the same basis, models of very small concert harmonics - TURTLES - began to develop. Very sonorous and vociferous, they made an impression on the audience, although it was a more eccentric number than music.

The SARATOV accordions that appeared after the Tula accordions were structurally no different from the first ones, but the Saratov masters were able to find an unusual sound timbre by adding bells to the construction. These accordions have become very popular among the people.

Vyatka handicraftsmen have expanded the range of sound of accordions (they added buttons to the left and right hand). The version of the instrument invented by them was named VYATSKAYA accordion.

All of these instruments had a peculiarity - the same button for opening and closing the bellows made different sounds. These accordions had one common name - TALIANKI. The talians could be with the Russian or German system. When playing such harmonicas, it was first of all necessary to master the technique of playing bellows in order to correctly deduce the melody.

The problem was solved by LEBANIAN handicraftsmen. On the accordions of the Liven masters, the sound did not change when the fur was changed. The accordions did not have belts that were thrown over the shoulder. On the right and left sides, short belts wrapped around the hands. The Livonian accordion had incredibly long furs. Such an accordion could literally be wrapped around itself, tk. when the fur was fully stretched, its length reached two meters.

Sergei Voitenko and Dmitry Khramkov, absolute world champions in button accordion. The duo has already managed to conquer a huge number of listeners with their artistry.

The next stage in the development of the accordion was the double-row accordion, the design of which came to Russia from Europe. The two-row harmony could also be called "two-row", because a certain scale was assigned to each row of buttons in the right hand. Such accordions are called RUSSIAN Wreaths.

Currently, all of the above-listed accordions are very rare.

Bayan owes its appearance to the talented Russian master - designer Peter Sterligov. Sterligov's chromatic harmonics (later button accordions), from 1905 to 1915, were so rapidly improved that even today, factory instruments are made according to their latest models.

This instrument was made popular by an outstanding musician - accordionist Yakov Fedorovich Orlansky-Titarenko. The master and virtuoso named the instrument in honor of the legendary Russian musician, storyteller and singer Boyan - "button accordion". It was in 1907. Since then, the button accordion has existed in Russia - the instrument is now so popular that there is no need to talk about how it looks.

Perhaps the only tool that does not claim to be prematurely disappeared and "shelved" within the framework of this article. But it would be wrong not to talk about him either. Let's go further ...

5. Xylophone

The xylophone (from the Greek xylon - wood, wood and phone - sound) is a percussion instrument with a certain pitch, the design of which consists of a set of wooden blocks of various sizes (plates).

Xylophones are available in two-row and four-row.

Play on a four-row xylophone with two curved spoon-shaped sticks with thickening at the ends, which the musician holds in front of him at an angle parallel to the plane of the instrument at a distance of 5-7 cm from the records. The two-row xylophone is played with three and four sticks. The basic principle of playing the xylophone is the exact alternation of the strokes of both hands.

The xylophone has an ancient origin - the simplest instruments of this type have been and are still found in different peoples of Russia, Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America. In Europe, the first mention of the xylophone dates back to the beginning of the 16th century.

Russian folk instruments also include: horn, tambourine, jew's harp, domra, zhaleika, kalyuka, kugikly, spoons, ocarina, flute, rattle and many others.

I would like to believe that the Great Country will be able to revive folk traditions, folk festivals, festivities, national costumes, songs, dances ... to the sounds of real primordially Russian musical instruments.

And I will finish the article on an optimistic note - watch the video to the end - everyone is in a good mood!

The soul of Russia is in my hands,
a piece of Russian antiquity,
When they asked to sell the accordion,
I answered: "It has no price."

The music of the people is priceless,
that he lives in the songs of the Motherland,
Its nature is its melody
like that balm on the heart pours.

Not enough gold and money
to buy my accordion,
And the one whose hearing it hurts,
cannot live without her.

Play, accordion without respite,
and wiping his sweaty forehead,
I will give you to the boy
Or I'll put it on a coffin for a friend!

04.05.2012 | Russian folk instruments

Gusli- stringed musical instrument, the most widespread in Russia. It is the most ancient Russian stringed plucked musical instrument. Distinguish between pterygoid and helmet gusli. The first, in later samples, have a 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 bell-shaped), they play, as a rule, rattling on all the strings and muffling unnecessary sounds with the fingers of the left hand, on the helmet-shaped, or psalter-shaped, strings are plucked with both hands.

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

Researchers of the early XX century. noted the striking similarity of their contemporary Chuvash and Cheremis gusli with images of this instrument in medieval Russian manuscripts (for example, in the Service Book of the XIV century, where the capital letter D represents a person playing the gusli, and in the Makaryevskaya Chetya-Minea 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 gusli were intestinal; their number was not always the same. Psalter-like gusli are believed to have been brought to Russia by the Greeks, and the Chuvash and Cheremis borrowed this instrument from the Russians.

The keyboard-shaped gusli, which were also found at the beginning of the 20th century, mainly among the Russian clergy, were an improved type of psaltery gusli. This instrument consisted of a rectangular resonance 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. One of them had iron pegs on which metal strings were wound; the other bar played the role of a stringer, that is, it served to attach the strings. The keyboard-shaped gusli had a piano tuning, and the strings corresponding to the black keys were placed below those corresponding to the white keys.

For clavier-like gusli, there were notes and a school, compiled at the beginning of the 19th century. Fyodor Kushenov-Dmitrevsky.

In addition to the psalter-like gusli, there were also the kantele instruments 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 almost completely disappeared.

Balalaika- Russian folk three-stringed plucked musical instrument, from 600-700 mm (balalaika prima) to 1.7 meters (balalaika-contrabass) in length, with a slightly curved triangular (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, pitiful) a 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. The strings are metal (In the 18th century, two of them are veined; modern balalaikas have nylon or carbon strings). The fretboard of the modern balalaika has 16-31 metal frets (up to the end of the 19th century - 5-7 overlapping frets).

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

Balalaika contrabass

Before the transformation of the balalaika into a concert instrument at the end of the 19th century by Vasily Andreev, it did not have a permanent, ubiquitous system. Each performer tuned the instrument in accordance with his style of performance, the general mood of the pieces played and local traditions.

The system introduced by Andreev (two strings in unison - the note "mi", one - one fourth 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" tuning - the first string is "G", the second is "E", the third is "C". In this tuning, triads are easier to take, its disadvantage is the difficulty of playing on open strings. In addition to this, there are regional traditions of tuning the instrument The number of rare local settings reaches two dozen.

Balalaika is a fairly common musical instrument that is studied in academic music schools in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

The term of study on the balalaika in a children's music school is 5-7 years (depending on the age of the student), and in a secondary educational institution - 4 years, in a higher educational institution - 4-5 years. Repertoire: arrangements of folk songs, transcriptions of classical works, author's music.

There is no unequivocal point of view on the time of the emergence of the balalaika. It is believed that balalaika has been spreading since the end of the 17th century. Possibly derived from Asian dombra. It was a "long two-stringed instrument, had a body about one and a half spans long (about 27 cm) and one span wide (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 suggested making the deck out of spruce, and making the back of the balalaika from beech, and also shortening it (up to 600-700 mm). The family of balalaikas (piccolo, primo, alto, tenor, bass, contrabass) made by F. Pasebsky became the basis of the Russian folk orchestra. Later, F. Passerbski received a patent in Germany for the invention of the balalaika.

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

Harmony (accordion)

- reed keyboard pneumatic musical instrument. Harmonies are all hand harmonics that do not belong to the button accordion and various and accordions.

The design of the accordion, like most other types of manual harmonics, consists of a right and left half-body, each of them has a keyboard with buttons and (or) keys. The left keyboard is intended for accompaniment - when one button is pressed, a bass or a whole chord sounds (note: the "turtle" accordion does not have a left keyboard); a 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 the accordion, in comparison with the button accordion or accordion, are:

• As a rule, only the sounds of the diatonic scale, or with a certain amount of chromatic sounds, can be produced on the accordion. For example, in an accordion-chrome with 25 keys in the right and left keyboard (25/25) with the key "C", these are the sounds: "G-sharp" of the first octave, E-flat and F-sharp of the second octave. For an accordion with 27 keys in the right keyboard, besides the indicated sounds, C sharp and B flat are also added.
• Reduced range of sounds (number of octaves).
• Smaller dimensions (dimensions).

It is impossible to say for certain where exactly 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 Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann, a native of the city of Friedrichrod. However, there are other data as well. The Germans themselves consider the accordion to be 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 Kirchnik (he invented a new way of extracting sound - with the help of a metal tongue vibrating under the action of a stream of air). It is 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 of the sound changes in depending on the direction of movement of the bellows. The first type includes such accordions as "livenka", "Russian wreath", "chrome" (the most common in our time). To the second type - "talianka", "skullcap", "Tula", "Vyatka". You can divide the accordion according to the type of the right keyboard, depending on the number of rows of buttons. The most common accordion in our time is the two-row "chrome", but there are also three-row instruments and instruments with one row of buttons.

• Single-row accordion: Tula, Livonian, Vyatka, Talyanka (short for "Italian", there are 12/15 buttons on the right keyboard, and three on the left).
• Double-row accordions: Russian wreath (first two-row), lame.
• Automatic accordion.

Wooden spoons used in the Slavic tradition as a musical instrument. The play set consists of 3 to 5 spoons, sometimes of different sizes. The sound is produced by bumping the backs 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, two in the left hand. Usually, for convenience, strikes are made on the arm or knee. Sometimes bells are hung from spoons.

In Belarus, the game traditionally uses only two spoons.

In addition, spoons are widely used in American folk music and minstrel shows. The British art rock group Caravan uses electric spoons (spoons equipped with an electrically amplified sound) in their performances, played by Jeff Richardson.

From the first it was just a hobby, a hobby. Today people passing by Voronezh make a special trip to the city to visit the “Museum of Forgotten Music” created by Sergei 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 the recreation and restoration of musical instruments in order to tell as many people as possible about the wheeled lyre, gusli, horn, kalyuku, zhaleika and other unique masterpieces from the history of Russian music. In an exclusive interview with the Kultura.RF portal, Sergey Plotnikov spoke about the most interesting forgotten musical instruments.

Gusli

Sergey Plotnikov:“I have two favorite instruments - a gusli and a wheeled lyre. Gusli is an instrument that can be played by almost anything. You can sing spiritual verses, add epics, perform dance, lingering tunes, or just play music. Not all modern songs fit the harp, but the songs of Viktor Tsoi sound good.

The folk gusli were of three types: lyre-like, pterygoid, and helmet-shaped. The oldest version is the lyre-like gusli, which fell out of use in the 14th century. They have a small number of strings - 5–6 pieces and not a very wide range of sound. Sadko, Stavr Godinovich, Dobrynya Nikitich - all the epic heroes, in theory, were supposed to play the lyre-like harp. Then the winged gusli appeared, which the people used until the 1980s. Helmet gusli were very popular in films and in films. But they belonged to the folk tradition of the Mari and Chuvashes. In the Russian folk tradition, the wing-shaped gusli were considered, and the helmet-shaped ones were considered an instrument of a noble society, therefore they were not used by the peasants.

Earlier, when they did not yet know how to make wire, intestinal and vein strings were used for 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 a dance, loudness was one of the main advantages of the instrument.

Wheeled lyre

The wheeled lyre is a very specific and interesting musical instrument. It appeared, most likely, in Central Europe in the X-XI centuries. Either in France or in Spain. Initially, two people played the instrument, the keys were located not from below, as now, but from above - one knob twisted, and the second played music.

In Russia, the first information about the wheeled lyre dates back to the 17th century.

The peak of popularity is the 19th century. Lirniks are a kind of philosophers, they performed exclusively spiritual verses and gospel stories, biblical parables, verses about the separation of the soul from the body, about the afterlife. There is a record of the 19th century, where the lyre player is asked: "All sad songs, do you know anything more fun?" He says: "I know, but I won't play, because it's all empty."

Harmonic

At the festival "Living Starina" in Rostov the Great

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

On the territory of Russia there are 50 types of accordions. Outwardly, they are all similar, but they 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 for its own performing tradition. Mostly they were bought to play at weddings. The accordion 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 wedding accompaniment of the accordion player cost 10 rubles. I worked 30 weddings - and paid for the price of the accordion.

Beep

Beeps, as well as gusli and domras, 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. Written sources often contain angry reviews of clergymen about musical instruments that accompanied the actions condemned by the church. The main thing is that all the instruments have survived to this day. An interesting story is by Jacob von Stehlin, a German who lived in St. Petersburg in the 18th century. He writes that the horn is an instrument of the rabble. In the 17th century in St. Petersburg, the horn was popular among sailors and soldiers. Peasants actively used the horn in the 18th century. And also this tool was used by buffoons.

The buffoons, by the way, were very enterprising guys. They went in bands of 60-100 people to a boyar or a rich peasant in the courtyard, gave a show without demand and asked for money. 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 Old Russian domra.

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

Nowadays domrists play the "new-make" instrument.

Balalaika

After the domra went out of use, the balalaika appeared in Russia. We are used to seeing a modern (Andreev's) 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 in the Asian manner.

Over time, the Russians shortened the neck and added a third string. The balalaika in the folk version appeared at the end of the 17th century. Jacob von Stehlin writes that it is rare that you will not meet a peasant in some courtyard who plays his little things for courtyard girls on this anti-artistic musical instrument. The tool was readily available, you could buy it at any store 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 pipe makes a low sound. The holes raise the notes. The structure of the instrument is very simple - a trumpet with five holes, and a great variety of variations can be played, it already depends on the performer's abilities. It was not in vain that the shepherds who played the horn were paid more than those who did not know how to play it. So there was a great material incentive.

Pity

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

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

Some say that the name of the instrument was given because it sounds pitiful. Others add that in the cemeteries they played the gag, so she is pathetic. The central part of the instrument, the barrel with play holes, was called a crook. This musical instrument has many names. 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, it was called a pikuk.

Kalyuka

Kalyuka is a herbal pipe or overtone flute. We all whistled into such tubes in childhood. Kalyuka is made from any hollow herb - 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, blow hard - the sound is high. There are holes at the bottom. Such a simple instrument was taken on a night watch to graze horses. They went to the mowing to the sound of him. To go to the field for a long time, and so that it was not boring, the tubes were cut: they played, mowed, returned home - and threw them away. Seasonal tool. Grass is a popular option, and now plastic is being made. The principle is the same, but easier to play.

Kugikly

The oldest whistling wind instrument, a type of multi-barrel flute. It is unique in its simplicity and performance capabilities. It consists of five stapled tubes, which are made from reeds or cocks, as well as from wood, metal or plastic. In the Russian tradition, each tube on kugikly has its own name: "buzz", "podduden", "middle", "podpyatushka" and "pyatushka". It is believed to be a female musical instrument played by an ensemble of three to four performers. When playing the kugiklah, they emit in a voice sounds similar to the sound of tubules. 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 a bagpipe. Every nation has a kind of bagpipes. The French have musette, the Spaniards have a gaita, the Ukrainians have a goat, and the Belarusians have a duda. The description of the Russian bagpipes has been in the villages since the 19th century, but the Russian bagpipes have not survived to this day.

Jew's harp

Because of television and films, the majority have developed a stereotype that only the peoples of the North play the jew's harp. And there were times when in Russia there was not a single person who did not "dryndel" on the jew's harp.

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

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

We would like to thank the Museum of Forgotten Music for the provided photos and videos..

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For a long time covered with dust, that only students of musical schools and elderly musicians play them, then you are deeply mistaken! Folk instruments are not a dense past, they are popular to this day. They are actively used not only by folk groups, but also by music performers of various styles and genres. From classics to rock and jazz, you can increasingly hear the sound of accordion, balalaika, domra.

A bit of history

Any folk musical instrument is part of the history of an ethnic group. They are able to reveal the specifics of morals and customs, tell a lot about the culture of their people. For example, Russian folk instruments reveal the richness of the Russian soul, its bright creative disposition. Confirmation of this is the melodic nature of Russian music, its polyphony.

The general musical culture of the Slavic peoples included such instruments as: Old Russian gusli, longitudinal flutes, flutes, tambourines, rattles, wooden boxes, rucks, beaters, spoons, snuffs, pipes, clay whistles, pity, bagpipes, squeakers, rattles, buzzers, flutes , howler monks, balalaikas, dombras.

In the photo - folk instruments of the Slavs

Let's not look so far into the past. Still our

and grandfathers played such popular and beloved musical instruments as the accordion and balalaika. Some instruments (gusli and others), after improvement, formed the basis of modern orchestras of folk instruments.

Many professional musical instruments go back to the so-called "folk prototypes". For example, the violin in the distant past was a folk musical instrument. The modern flute originated from the simplest folk flute, and the oboe, well-known to specialists in the history of Slavic culture, was the reckless one.

In modern music, folk instruments are most often used by folk performers. For example, the folk rock group Melnitsa (Celtic harp, mandolin, percussion) or the Russian-American rock group RedElvises, working in the styles of surf, funk, rockabilly folk music (bass balalaika). The legendary rock group Kalinov Most uses the button accordion in their work, the Soviet and Russian rock group Zero - button accordion, balalaika. The list of performers and instruments goes on and on. Let's take a look at the most popular musical instruments used in contemporary art.

Popular folk musical instruments

Balalaika

- this is a musical symbol of the Russian people. It is a Russian folk stringed plucked musical instrument with a triangular, slightly curved wooden body. The length of the instrument varies from 600-700 mm (prima balalaika) to 1.7 meters (sub-contrabass balalaika). The body is glued from separate segments (6-7), the head of the long neck is slightly bent back. The instrument has three strings, and the fretboard of the modern balalaika has 16–31 metal frets.

The sound of the balalaika is clear, but soft. Balalaika dol

Should have three strings and the so-called "balalaika" tuning. No other scales of the balalaika: guitar, minor and others are not used for playing by notes.

How to choose the “right” balalaika?

You need to learn to play a good instrument. Only he can give a strong, beautiful, melodious sound, and the artistic expressiveness of the performance depends on the quality of the sound and on the ability to use it.

A good tool is easy to identify by its appearance: it must be beautiful in shape, assembled from quality materials, well polished.

An ideal balalaika should meet the following requirements:

• The neck of the balalaika should be perfectly straight, without distortions or cracks. Not very thick and comfortable to grip, but also not too thin, since in this case, under the influence of external factors (from string tension, dampness, temperature changes), it can warp over time. The best material for the neck is ebony.
• The frets should be well polished on both the top and the edges of the fretboard and should not interfere with the movement of the fingers of the left hand.
• All frets should be of the same height or lie in the same plane, that is, so that the ruler placed on them with an edge touches all of them without exception. The best fret material is white metal and nickel.

• The string pegs must be mechanical. They hold well in tune and allow very easy and precise tuning of the instrument.
• A deck constructed from good resonant spruce with regular, parallel fine layers should be flat and not concave inward.
• If you have a hinged shell, you should make sure that it is really hinged and does not touch the deck. The carapace is required plywood, made of hard wood (so as not to warp). It protects the delicate deck from bumps and destruction.
• The saddle and sill must be made of hardwood or bone.

• The stand for strings in the correct instrument is made of maple and with its entire lower plane is in close contact with the deck, without gaps.
• The string knobs (near the saddle) are made of very hard wood or bone and sit firmly in their sockets.
• The purity of the tuning and timbre of the instrument depends on the selection of the strings. Strings that are too thin give a weak, rattling sound; too thick make it difficult to play and deprive the instrument of melodiousness or are torn.

Balalaika is not so popular among performers, but there is a virtuoso and a very popular performer - Alexey Arkhipovsky

Today balalaika can be heard not only in professional orchestras. The instrument may not be so popular, but there are real virtuosos among the performers. One of them is Alexey Arkhipovsky. The outstanding musician performed compositions at the opening of the Olympic Games in the Russian House in Vancouver, the Eurovision Song Contest and the First Andrei Tarkovsky Film Festival. The balalaika player is widely known in the Internet space as well. Concert tickets sell out in a matter of days, making him one of the most famous folk music performers today.

Gusli is the oldest stringed plucked musical instrument. In Russia, several varieties of recumbent harps are confused with it. Today, each orchestra of folk instruments includes plucked-table psaltery and keyboard psaltery. The sound of these instruments gives the orchestra an inimitable flavor of ancient harp-chimes.

Currently, interest in the harp has grown significantly. Modern guslists-storytellers have appeared, aiming to recreate the ancient tradition of playing the harp and singing to their accompaniment. Along with plucked gusli, the main method of playing on which is pinching and clanging, keyboard gusli also appeared. The mechanics installed on them, when you press the keys, opens the strings, and makes it possible to select the desired chord. This greatly simplifies playing the harp.

Is an old Russian stringed plucked musical instrument with three and sometimes four strings, usually played with a pick. Domra is the prototype of the Russian balalaika and still exists among Kalmyks, Tatars and Kirghiz.

Domra consists of a neck with pegs at the top and a wooden body with a shield at the bottom. Also, the strings are attached at the bottom and extend to the pegs.

Domra types: piccolo, small, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor, bass and contrabass. In the orchestra of Russian folk instruments, piccolos, small, alto and bass domras became widespread.

The historical fate of domra is almost tragic. This instrument has been forgotten and recreated in our time. Today domra is a young promising instrument with a huge, first of all, musical and expressive potential, having truly Russian roots, which has risen to the heights of the academic genre.

TO How to choose the "right" domra

When choosing a domra for yourself, you should pay attention to the following:

• the sound of the instrument, namely, whether you like the sound or not;
• the timbre of the sound throughout the neck should be even, without extraneous sounds, so that nothing crackles, does not ring, you need to check at every fret;
• we look if the bar did not move to the side, did the bar move to the side;
• you need to listen to the longitude of the sound, if there is a choice, then the best instrument can be determined by the longitude;
• the factor of "flight" of the sound is important (it is advisable to check in a large room), the strength of sound, sonority, it depends on it whether the instrument will be heard in the hall, since in a small room the sensations may be different;
• the instrument must be comfortable for the hands, it is imperative to play, the more the better.

- a stringed plucked musical instrument with a tambourine-shaped body and a long wooden neck with a neck, on which from four to nine vein strings are stretched. A kind of guitar with a resonator (the extended part of the instrument is covered with leather, like a drum). In modern America, the word "banjo" denotes either its tenor version with four strings tuned in fifths, the lowest of which is up to a small octave, or a five-stringed instrument with a different tuning. The banjo is played with a plectrum.

Banjo is a relative of the well-known European mandolin, similar in shape to it. Nobanjo has a more ringing and harsh sound. In some African countries, the banjo is considered a sacred instrument that only high priests or rulers can touch.

The modern banjo comes in a variety of styles, including five- and six-string. The six-string version, tuned like a guitar, has also become quite popular. Almost all types of banjo are played with a characteristic tremolo or arpeggiated right hand, although there are different playing styles.

Today, banjo is commonly associated with country and bluegrass music. Recently, the banjo has been used in a wide variety of musical genres, including pop and Celtic punk. More recently, hardcore musicians have taken an interest in banjo.

Is a miniature four-string ukulele. Translated from Hawaiian "ukulele" - jumping flea. Ukulele is common in various Pacific islands, but is associated primarily with Hawaiian music.

If you are just starting to master this instrument, then it is better to start with a soprano or a concert one. If you have a big hand, then a concert ukulele is for you. She's a little more soprano, with more frets. It is more convenient to take chords on it.

How to choose a ukulele

When choosing an instrument in a music store, pay attention to the following points:

You should just like the tool.

Look carefully for cracks.

Ask your dealer to customize the tool. If the instrument is being tuned for the first time, then you will have to repeat the tuning process several times, since the strings have not yet been stretched and they will fail for several days. Pull slightly on the string before tuning. You need to tune the string from a low tone to a high one.

You should check all frets on all strings so that they are in tune and not "jingle".

The strings should be easy to hit (especially on the first and second frets). The distance between the strings and the neck should not be large.

Inside, nothing should rattle when you play. All strings must be the same in loudness and clarity.

Check if the neck is level.

If the instrument comes with a built-in pickup, ask to plug into a guitar amp and check that everything works. Make sure the cartridge is new.

Be sure to consider several tools before making your choice. Sometimes a cheap tool from some unknown company will surprise you.

Folk instruments today

Currently, other, more modern musical instruments are in vogue, with electronic filling and many functions. But I want to believe that interest in folk instruments will not fade over time. After all, their sound is original and unique.

In the POP-MUSIC stores, various folk instruments are presented: balalaikas, banjos, domras, mandolins, ukuleles and others. Experienced consultants will help you navigate and provide an opportunity to implement ideas.