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Remarkable Instuments (played by remarkable musicians!)
A few instuments you may know...and a few you may not.
Theorbo
Introducing the Baroque Theorbo. A member of the lute family, The theorbo is a string instrument with a extremely long neck and double pegboards. It was largely used during the Baroque era, roughly between 1600-1750.
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Jonas Nordberg plays the theorbo.
Lute 101 with Nigel North.
Baryton
The Baryton was a common sight for close to 200 years. In recent years, Matt Baker and has brought about renewed interest in the Baryton through the Valencia Baryton Project.
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Laura Vaughan explains the Lirone.
Cellist and Eastman School of Music graduate, Guy Johnston with pianist Tom Poster perform for a London radio station.
Baroque Trumpet
Introducing the Baroque Trumpet with Alison Balsom. Modern trumpets with "valves" began appearing around 1818. Prior to that, trumpeters had to use other means to "fill in the scale". Despite the advantages valves provided, it wasn't until the nearly end of the 19th century that they became widely used.
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Rochester native, Chuck Mangione performing "Feels So Good" on his flugelhorn back in 1989.
Clarinet
Clarinetist, Antony Pay demonstrating the type of clarinet that would have been played when Mozart was composing.
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The modern clarinet played by soloist Arngunnur Árnadóttir, with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
Introducing Beethoven's Contrabassoon.
Octobass
A very, very large and rare instrument which resembles an oversized double bass. The instrument is so large it requires the musician to stand on a raised platform and operate levers in order to depress any of its 3 strings.
Theremin
Celia Sheen plays the Midsomer Murders theme song on her Theremin. The "Theremin" gets its name from its creator, Leon Theremin who introduced his instument to the world in 1919.
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Leon Theremin playing his own instrument.
Kamāncheh
Kayhan Kalhor plays the Kamāncheh. The kamancheh is an Iranian bowed string instrument used largely in Persian, Azerbaijani and Kurdish music.
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India's stringed instrument...the sitar.
Ocarina
An ancient wind musical instrument, the ocarina is typically a clay vessel with between 4 and 12 holes that are used for fingering and a more distant hole used for blowing air into the vessel.
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"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" performed by The Danish National Symphony Orchestra.
Cimbasso
The Cimbasso is a modern instrument of the trombone family with a deep pitch in a range close to the tuba.
Presenting The Prince Regent's Band (featurng a Contralto Saxhorn, Tenor Saxhorn, Baritone Saxhorn and the Contrabass Saxhorn). The Saxhorn in its multiple forms was the creation of Adolphe Sax who is best remembered as the designer of the saxophone.
Bagpipes
Bagpipes 101.
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The massed pipes & drums march through Ballater in Royal Deeside, Scotland, to start the 2018 Ballater Highland Games.
Glass harmonica
Designed by none other than Benjamin Franklin, the glass armonica (as Franklin called it), is a series of spinning glass vessels arranged by size that is played by applying wet fingers to the surface of the glass. Mozart and Beethoven both created works that incorporated the glass harmonica.
Bandoneon
Despite being developed in Germany for churches that couldn't afford organs, the bandoneon became popular in Argentina and Uruguay and is now an essential ingredient of most tango music.
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Mairéad Hurley playing the concertina.
A little Cajun accordian.
Accordian Boogie with Weird Al.
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