Early History of the Pipe Organ
The “king of instruments” has a long history, one which can arguably be traced to the concept of a collection of “fixed-pitched pipes blown by a single player
(such as the panpipes)” (Randel 583). The first examples of pipe organs with the basic features of today can be traced to the third century B.C.E. in the
Greco-Roman arena; it is said to have been invented by Ktesibios of Alexander and contained “a mechanism to supply air under pressure, a wind-chest to store and distribute it, keys and valves to admit wind to the pipes, and one or more graded sets of fixed-pitch pipes.” (Randel 583) These early organs used water as a means to supply air-pressure, hence the use of the terms hydraulic and hydraulis. Hydraulic organs were in use for several hundred years before the concept of bellows, similar in concept and style to those of a blacksmith, came into use with the organ. Numerous bellows were used to supply air to the wind-chest, often being pumped in pairs by men. The disadvantages of this method of air supply include the lack of consistent pressure, which leads to inconsistent pitch and tuning; also, many people were required to operate the bellows since there were upwards of twenty-four bellows per organ (Hopkins & Rimbault 35).
Also, with organs of this size, the bellows took up large amounts of space, thus forcing the organ to be located in a fixed place, such as a church.
Up until the eleventh century (approximately), pitch and range of organs were extremely limited, mainly in part to the lack of a any style of keyboard. Keys of a sort were introduced around this time, though not in the manner we are accustomed to. “The earliest keyboards were sets of levers played by the hands rather than the fingers.” (Randel 428) They looked similar to large rectangles “ an ell long and three inches wide” (Hopkins & Rimbault 33) and were played by pushing on them with a hand, although some were large enough that one might need to step on them. While allowing no real technical dexterity, they were sufficient to play plain-song and chant melodies, particularly with the use of more than one player. As time progressed, the keys became smaller and more numerous until they began to resemble the modern keyboard (except for range) in appearance ca. 1400.
While these large early organs were used in limited fashion in churches, many of the organs of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were known as portatives or regals. Portatives were small enough to be carried and played by a single
be called or celebrated as the age of the “common man.” True, a few advances were made
at the end of the 19th century. In addition of that there was only an
one simple reason for why it was introduced. It was not a new idea as
that prevailed at the time the style was introduced. There was usually a time lag before the
There have been many contributions from a very long time ago that still influence life today. Specifically the three River Valley Civilizations, Egypt, China and Mesopotamia. Starting in around 3500 B.C. the first of the River Valley Civilizations was formed in southwestern Asia, and soon grew into these three major contributions to society today.
As a child I always loved to listen to bands being played. Watching all the instruments playing a part was interesting for me. But, the instrument that caught my attention the most was the clarinet. Now as I got older in fifth grade the students and I were sent to try out what instruments would best fit each one in the class. I was lucky enough that the instrument that best fit me was the clarinet. I played the clarinet all through high school and never really knew anything about the instrument, I just knew that I played to make sound out of it. As I found out more information about the clarinet I will explain the history, the parts of the clarinet, tone range and sound, and the types of ensembles a clarinet are in.
back to the time of the first people to live in the valley of Alpheas River.
He compares the use of this phrase and the structure of each section to the stone tablets written in cuneiform script. Many of these tablets have been discovered and they date to the third millenium BC.
...e people began to settle in villages the beginning of social class and government were formed to maintain order and a sense of security as a community. Other technological advances were made as well including the making of bronze to form stronger weapons and permanent homes.
Dr. Susan Tomkiewicz works at Columbus State University as an Associate Professor at the Schwob School of music and as the Director of the Honors College on the RiverPark campus. Dr. Tomkiewicz devotes 50% of her time teaching students to play the Oboe and the other 50% of her time directing the Honors College. Her work at the Honors College is different from her work of teaching students how to play a musical instrument. At Columbus State, she teaches a class of 10 students to learn how to play the Oboe and works with each of them individually in a studio class for an hour. In fact, the Oboe is a woodwind musical instrument that contains a double-reed mouthpiece. Dr. Tomkiewicz researched on how to teach students to play the Oboe before getting
Bie, Oscar. A History of the Pianoforte and Pianoforte Players. trans. by E. E. Kellett
The idea of the phonograph came from the man who invented the light bulb. Thomas Alva Edison is one of the greatest inventors of all time decided to create this invention. In 1877, Edison was working on a machine that would decipher telegraphic messages to paper tape. He used a diaphragm with an embossing point. This would be held onto a moving paraffin paper. Thus when spoken into it, the vibrations made indentations on it.
Everyone knows that Music is played an important role in human lives. Music Instruments are also created for people to play and compose songs for them. The Instrument that I want to mention in this paragraph is one of the traditional keyboard Instruments. That is Pipe Organ. This Organ earns a Great reputation as the King of Instruments. The console includes stops, the pedals and there are one to seven manuals or keyboards for a Pipe Organ. This Organ creates sounds by pumping the air through the hundreds of tubes which is controlled by the keyboard. Pipe Organ is inspired by the water Organ in the third century B.C which is invented by the Greek engineer in Egypt. His name is Ktesibios or Tesibius, he is also known as a
Although instruments are not necessary for music, what would it be like if they didn’t exist? What would western music be without the likes of the piano, violin, horn, or organ? The evolution of instruments has helped shape what we know as western music. Without each step in this process being taken things could have come very differently. This paper serves as a type of time-line that relates how this progression of instruments had an impact on historical western music.
The contributions of the civilizations of Mesopotamia in the Fertile Crescent, classical China, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire laid the foundations for living in the modern world. Breakthroughs in a multitude of fields, including art, architecture, math, science, philosophy, law, government and others are crucial to the way people live all over the world. Although these ancient civilizations may seem primitive today, they shaped the progress of the world for many centuries.