Large-wheeled instruments (wheel diameters between 14 and 17cm, or about 5.5–6.6inches) are traditionally found in Western Europe. These instruments generally have a narrow keybox with drone strings that run outside the keybox. They also generally have more strings, and doubling or tripling of the melody string is common. Some modern instruments have as many as fifteen strings played by the wheel, although the most common number is six.

Hurdy Gurdy by Christopher Wilson review — the comic cure for

He has worked as a research psychologist and was lecturer at Goldsmiths' College, University of London. The pitches on the organistrum were set according to Pythagorean temperament and the instrument was primarily used in monastic and church settings to accompany choral music. Abbot Odo of Cluny (died 942) is supposed to have written a short description of the construction of the organistrum entitled Quomodo organistrum construatur (How the Organistrum Is Made), [5] [6] known through a much later copy, but its authenticity is very doubtful. Another 10th-century treatise thought to have mentioned an instrument like a hurdy-gurdy is an Arabic musical compendium written by Al Zirikli. [2] One of the earliest visual depictions of the organistrum is from the twelfth-century Pórtico da Gloria (Portal of Glory) on the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain: it has a carving of two musicians playing an organistrum. [7] :47 [8] :3 Hurdy-gurdy player in Saint-Jean-des-Ollières, Puy-de-Dôme (France) Zanfona (Spain). Typically guitar-shaped body, with three melody strings, and two drone strings. Some older examples had a diatonic keyboard, and most modern models have a chromatic keyboard. Zanfonas are usually tuned to the key of C major, with the melody strings tuned in unison to G above the middle C on the piano. The drones are: the bordonciño in G (one octave below the melody strings) and the bordón in C (two octaves below middle C). Sometimes, two of the melody strings are in unison, and the remaining string is tuned an octave lower, in unison with the bordonciño (this string was sometimes known as the human voice, because it sounds as if someone is humming the melody an octave lower). It's a measure of any book if you are sad to reach the end. I was. Highly recommended to ageing hippies everywhere. I bought this book because it was billed in the press as being one of the funniest historical fiction books of recent times. It isn't.The reason we still care about Donovan is, of course, those deathless songs; he was a phenomenal melodicist with a clear, compelling voice. But even there, he focuses on the uninteresting parts, typing out the lyrics to even insipid ditties such as “There Is a Mountain” as though they were and remain deeply, soulfully meaningful to us. How did the lovely “Wear Your Love Like Heaven” happen? He doesn’t tell us. Tirant: a small peg set in the instrument's tailpiece that is used to control the sensitivity of the buzzing bridge Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth

Hurdy Gurdy by Christopher Wilson — prophecy and pestilence

But I was extremely disappointed in this book; as a long time fan of Donovan, I got no perspective into his journey into the creative process nor a new understanding of his relationship to music, writing or the people around him. Much of the book seems to be a listing of names ('we were at ... with- followed by a list of famous persons' names) with no substance as to why the friends were together. I had the feeling that someone was talking about a party with the admonition 'you had to be there to understand.'In the eighteenth century, the term hurdy-gurdy was also applied to a small, portable barrel organ or street organ (a cranked box instrument with a number of organ pipes, a bellows and a barrel with pins that rotated and programmed the tunes) that was frequently played by poor buskers, street musicians specifically called organ grinders. Such organs require only the turning of the crank to play; the music is coded by pinned barrels, perforated paper rolls, and, more recently, by electronic modules. [14] The French call these organs Orgue de Barbarie ("Barbary organ"), while the Germans and Dutch say Drehorgel and draaiorgel ("turned organ"), instead of Drehleier ("turning lyre"). In Czech, the organ is called Flašinet. Regional types of hurdy-gurdies since the Renaissance can also be classified based on wheel size and the presence or absence (and type) of a buzzing bridge. The following description of various types uses this framework: [15] [16] :23–40 Small wheel [ edit ]

Hurdy Gurdy by Christopher Wilson | Waterstones

He's quite disappointed that, so far, opportunity has passed him by -- and with the plague bearing down on them, it doesn't look like he'll have much of a chance in what looks like it won't be much of a future .....

Classical composers

Condition: Sehr gut. 34 S. Gepflegter, sauberer Zustand. 37113404/2 Altersfreigabe FSK ab 0 Jahre Gebundene Ausgabe, Maße: 21.59 cm x 0.64 cm x 27.94 cm. Oxford English Dictionaries online entry for hurdy-gurdy". oxforddictionaries.com. Archived from the original on August 10, 2012 . Retrieved 26 January 2016. Although Diggory suffers a great deal of what can be considered tragedy along the way, his account almost always remains upbeat; certainly, he is able to leave tragedy and some of the outrageous things he is confronted with behind him quite well. Hurdy Gurdy is a touching coming-of-age tale, joyful and extremely funny. It cleverly dissects medieval beliefs, while suggesting that perhaps we aren’t as wise in the modern day as we think we are. Wilson has good fun with this, presenting what passed for leading scientific knowledge at the time -- much of it, unsurprisingly, hair-raising when considered from a modern perspective, but plausible enough at the time.