HAGGUM — Bowed Strings. Korea. A cylindrical body of wood with a slender neck of bamboo. It is similar to the erh-h'sien of China, and is played in the same manner. See erh-h'sien.
HAI-LO — Vertical Flute. China. While reckoned among the stone instruments, this is not properly stone, but a sea shell flute of conical bore, with a hole in the apex through which to blow. This is used by soldiers and watchmen for the same purposes as the European bugle.
HALAM or CAMBREH — Plucked Strings. Africa, West Coast. Sometimes an oblong, sometimes a trough-like body of wood, hollowed from a block. The open side is covered with a membrane, in which is found a sound-hole. A cane passes from end to end of the body, and projects, forming a neck. Gut strings pass the length of body and neck and over a bridge situated just above the sound-hole.
HAND HORN — Cup Mouthpiece. Europe. A term applied to a horn in which the notes are stopped by the insertion of the hand into the bell. A noted horn player named Hampel, of the Court of Dresden, conceived the idea of placing cotton in the bell of his horn to soften the harsh tone, this method being used with the oboe. He found, however, that he had lowered the pitch of the horn, and, being ingenious, inserted his hand instead. Thus, a player, by inserting and withdrawing his hand, could bring the pitch within his power. The method continued in use until the introduction of valved horns. See cornet-trompe.
HAN-KOTO — Plucked Strings. Japan. (Half koto.) A tiny instrument used when journeying. See koto.
HANSHO — Sonorous Substances. Japan. A bronze bell used in tea rooms five hundred years ago.
HANTEKI — Sonorous Substances. Japan. A wooden gong carved to represent a fish with a ball in its mouth.
HAO-T'UNG —Cup Mouthpiece. China. A long cylindrical instrument of the trumpet kind, with a sliding tube, which can be drawn out when wanted for use. In arrangement and form it is not unlike a telescope. There are two distinct varieties, the first comprising the instruments made of wood and covered on the outside with copper. These are exclusively used in funeral processions, and emit only one long grave note, which can be heard for a great distance. The other variety is made of copper alone, is of less diameter, and is used for military purposes only.
HAPPU — Vibrating Membranes. A very old Chinese drum with a shell of wood and heads of skin. It was filled with rice powder, which gave it a peculiar tone, and was hung in a frame representing flames. See da-daiko.
HARMONICOR -- Free Reed. Europe. A cylindrical tube of wood furnished with touches which open keys, admitting the air to the free reeds. It possesses a long mouthpiece or a rubber tube, through which the air is sup-plied from the lungs of the performer.
HARMONIFLUTE — Free reed with keyboard. France. The first of these was made in 1852 by Boulon, of Paris. It could be played on the lap, on the knee, or on a stand. In the last mentioned sort, the bellows was worked by a pedal. It was a portable instrument, with vibrating reeds fed by a bellows. It comprised about three octaves, and was played by means of a keyboard. It had two stops, the flute and the vox humana, and was considered pleasing when accompanied by the pianoforte. It could be utilized as a vocal part in a duo, a trio, or a quartet. It was formerly heard at salons and concerts, and in small churches for the accompaniment of religious chants.
HARMONIPHON — Free Reed. Europe. A small instrument with a keyboard and a set of free reeds. It had a rubber tube, to which was attached a nozzle. The wind supply was furnished from the mouth of the performer. It belongs to the Nineteenth Century.
HARMONITROMPE — Free Reed. Europe. This 'resembles in form a member of either the brass or wood families. The resemblance, however, has nothing to do with the character of the instrument, whose form is indeed governed entirely by the caprice of the maker. Across the wide diameter of the instrument is placed a -tube containing free reeds, operated upon by a series of keys, and sometimes giving a chromatic scale of two octaves.
HARMONIUM — Free Reed. Europe. An instrument patented by Alexandre Dubain in Paris, Aug. 9, 1840. It appeared after several efforts had been made to utilize the principle of free reeds evidently suggested by the Chinese cheng. The wind was applied to the metal springs called reeds by the so-called force system -- that is, the wind apparatus forced a current of air upwards through the reeds. A free reed consists of a brass plate vibrator made fast at one end in such a manner, and fitting so exactly that it will bend to the pressure of the wind at the free end, passing either upward or downward without touching the sides of the free end. The keys open valves by which the wind from the bellows is allowed to act on the reeds, and the draw-stops open or close the communication with a whole row of reeds together. The wind is supplied from the reservoir bellows, but as this wind, as in the organ, is produced by constant pressure, the tones are of uniform or equal strength. By drawing the expression stop, the wind communication to the reeds is cut off from the reservoir-bellows, and opened to the feeders or treadles worked by the feet of the per-former. Thus, by using different degrees of force in the pressure of the feet, piano or forte, crescendo or diminuendo, may be obtained. The expression stop is one of the greatest charms of the harmonium and the principal skill required for playing this instrument is exerted in producing the effects made possible by its use. The harmonium is a prototype of the reed organ, being used as a substitute for the pipe organ and also for a parlor instrument.
HARP — Plucked Strings. Europe. The harp as it appears in the orchestra is a thing of grace and beauty. The pillar is straight and symmetrical, and rises from a base in which eight pedals are arranged in a semi-circle. Next to him the performer holds the slanting sound-box, which rises from the base of the pillar, and at the top of the instrument connects with the pillar by a curved neck. The strings pass from the neck to the sound-box, the resonant part of the instrument. They are arranged in the diatonic scale, and are tuned in flats. That the performer may more readily recognize the strings, those in C flat are colored red, and those in F flat, blue.
The pedals, upon being depressed, set in motion a mechanism by which the strings are shortened. The pillar contains rods which connect with levers in the neck. Each lever controls two sets of discs, and two pins project from each disc. When at rest the pins allow the strings to pass between them, but by half-way depressing a pedal, for instance the one influencing the C strings, the rod with which it connects moves, the discs half around, and each C string is caught by one of the pins and shortened enough to sound C natural. By depressing the pedal entirely, the strings will be shortened still more, and will sound C sharp.
This double-action is the invention of Sebastian Erard, who completed his improvements on the harp about 1810, and whose instrument has served as a pattern for succeeding makers. Abrupt changes to distant keys are not practicable, as each change requires the use of a pedal. As there are only seven strings needed for the diatonic scale, but seven of the pedals affect the strings, the eighth governing a damper. The strings are close together, and the hand can stretch a tenth upon the harp with as much ease as it can an octave on the piano. The strings are not plucked sharply, as in many instruments, but the hand touches them with a sweeping motion, producing a stately effect. The voice of the harp possesses great sweetness, and although Bach, Handel, Haydn, Weber, and others, have almost ignored it, many composers have used it in numerous ways. Berlioz, in " Childe Harold," caused the harp and the horn to unite in imitating a bell ; in St. Saëns' " Danse Macabre," the skeletons come forth after the harps have struck the hour of twelve; and Wagner masses six harps and weaves into them a harmony of inexpressible sweetness in " Das Rheingold."
HARPA DOPPIA — See spitzharfe.
HARPANETTA — French name for spitzharfe.
HARP-LUTE, DITAL HARP — Plucked Strings. Europe. The harp-lute was an effort made by Edward Light during the last years of the Eighteenth Century to replace the guitar with an improved instrument. The strings were partly open as in the lute, and after a few years the inventor added thumb-keys, which, upon being depressed, caused metal loops to draw the strings down to a fret, hence adjusting the pitch. The twelve strings were of gut, and were each furnished with a thumb-key. By referring to the harp a resemblance in the mechanism governing the stopping of strings, will be recognized, which with the presence of thumb-keys instead of pedals of a harp explain the name.
HARPSICHORD — Plucked Strings. Europe. The action of the harpsichord, which Dr. Burney has described as "a scratch with a sound at the end of it," was the same as that of the virginal or spinet. However, in many respects the harpsichord was more complicated than these instruments. Instead of having one string to a note, the harpsichord was furnished with two or three and, in a few cases, four. The greater number of strings and the peculiar mechanism brought about individuality in the shape of the case. The bass strings were longer than those of the spinet, and required stringing in a harp-shaped frame rather than the trapezoidal one of the spinet. The name came from this disposition of the strings, the Italian name having been arpicordo.
Notwithstanding its complexities, the harpsichord dates from a time almost as early as does the spinet. The Rucker family, of Antwerp, during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, were the most prominent of harpsichord makers. A double-banked instrument from the hand of Jan Couchet, the grandson of Hans Rucker, the founder of the family, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Harpsichords, as they developed, were fitted with double and triple-banked keyboards. The upper row, or rows, of keys acted upon one string each, and the keys of the lower upon two. A series of strings, shorter by one-half, were fastened beneath the others, and sounded an octave higher, the others being tuned in unison. The expression was governed in a very small degree by the fingers, but the material from which the jacks were made was of greater importance in this respect. Quill was generally used, but those of leather softened the tone. The plectra were fixed in a small movable rail, and when the key lever raised them, the rail shifted in such a manner that the unnecessary plectra would pass between the strings and not cause them to vibrate. The idea of stops had been borrowed from the organ, and one of them shifted the rail. A second set of plectra that plucked the strings at a point near the bridge were often introduced. This was termed the lute stop, and added a tone that was somewhat reedy. A harp effect was obtained with the " buff stop," which consisted of a piece of buff leather brought into contact with the strings, at the moment they were plucked, with a set of plectra. A later addition was the Venetian swell, which, by folding and unfolding, increased and decreased the volume of sound, and made possible a sort of crescendo and diminuendo.
It is hard to describe the harpsichord as a type, for each maker had an individual idea which found expression. Even the Ruckers, who are called the Stradivari of the harpsichord, experimented mechanically and artistically in all of their instruments which have been preserved.
Much attention was paid to the outward appearance of the harpsichords, and the most celebrated painters often decorated them. This extensive decoration has been the cause of the destruction of many instruments in an attempt to acquire the works of art. Burney, in speaking of a Rucker harpsichord which he found in France, says that " it had been painted inside and out with as much delicacy as the finest coach, or even snuff box, I ever saw in Paris."
Although it had very small powers of expression, the greater volume of sound as compared with the other stringed keyboard instruments, gained for the harpsichord a prominent place in the orchestra. It was presided over by Signor Corsi behind the scenes in the production of Peri's " Orpheus and Eurydice" in 1600. Monteverde called for two in his orchestral compositions, and for over a century the leader of the orchestra played upon one, while opposite him at the other extremity of the group was another of the instruments. For nearly two hundred years it appeared in all orchestral scores, but Gluck, the innovator, discarded it.
HATSU — See batsu.
HAUTBOIS — Double-Beating Reed. The French name for oboe, derived from the words meaning "high " and " wooden." Identical with the English hoboy or hautboy, and the German hoboe. See oboe.
HEANG-TEIH — See So-na.
HECKLEPHONE — Double-Beating Reed. Europe. The barytone oboe, which is pitched one octave below the oboe proper, and a fifth higher than the bassoon. Its use is not general, but it found a place in the large orchestra called for by Strauss in Salome, in 1905. See oboe.
HEEM — Vertical Flute. Siam. Several pipes inserted in a hollow box or gourd which serves as a common mouth-piece. Similar to the Chinese cheng. See cheng.
HELICON — Cup Mouthpiece. Europe. A member of the tuba family, used chiefly to furnish the bass in military music. It was of German invention, and was first introduced into America in 1848. The name is of Greek origin, and refers to the pronounced coil in the tube. Its circular shape recommends it for military use, as it renders the larger ones much more portable, since they rest upon the performer's shoulder, even when not being played. The family comprises seven members, the soprano in E flat, the soprano in B flat, the alto in E flat, and the tenor and contrabass in E flat. The lowest natural tone speaks below the bass clef. The family has a compass of two octaves. See tuba.
HELICON — Plucked Strings. Ancient Greece. This name primarily referred to an instrument said to have been invented by Ptolemy, for the calculation of musical intervals. It possessed nine strings stretched across a square sounding-board.
HERRAUOU or LOKANGO VOATAVO — Plucked Strings. Africa. Similar to tzetze and coming from Madagascar. See tzetze.
HITEOGIRI — See hityokiri.
HITSCHI-RIKI Or SHICHIRIKI — Double-Beating Reed. Japan. The sad-toned tube. This in appearance and structure resembles a small flute. It is made of bamboo, lacquered within, and bound with lacquered string. There are seven finger-holes above and two thumb-holes below. It is played with a loose reed mouthpiece. The tones are gruesome in the extreme. The performer makes a wailing slide through a full tone, finishing with an excruciating rise of a semi-tone more or less, cut off short.
HITSU-NO-KOTO — Plucked Strings. Japan. There are many varieties of this, the largest having fifty strings. See koto.
HITYOKIRI or HITEOGIRI — Vertical Flute. Japan. The flute is about a foot in length, and is rare because the bamboo from which it is made must give the desired length with one joint.
HNAI — Double-Beating Reed. Burmah. This primitive instrument has a conical tube, and the double-beating reed is made of the most simple substances, perhaps of palm-leaf. The tube generally terminates in a brass bell, and is fitted with a number of finger-holes.
HOBOE, HOBOY See oboe,
H0KEI — Vibrating Membranes. Japan. An ancient temple drum having a circular shell of wood, with heads of skin. It was suspended in a wooden frame, which consisted of four uprights supporting a peaked roof. These were decorated with representations of the phoenix. A hokei at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is twenty inches in diameter, and is in a frame thirty-five inches high.
HOOKED HARP — Plucked Strings. Europe. So called from the hooks or crotchets, by turning which the strings passing over them are raised to semi-tone. This invention, which dates from about 1700, was the first attempt to apply mechanism for the production of semi-tones on the diatonic harp.
HORAGAI — See rappakai.
HORANAWA — Double-Beating Reed. India. A tube of wood equipped with seven finger-holes and a metal bell, and having a mouthpiece fitted with a double reed.
HORANOKAI See rappakai.
HO-SHO — Transverse Flute. Japan. A transverse flute ornamented with the carved head of the phoenix, and furnished with side holes. The phoenix is found in the decoration of many Japanese instruments. An account of its significance is found with da-daiko.
HSIAO — Vertical Flute. China. A vertical flute consisting of a tube of bamboo measuring one and one-eighth feet in length. There are five holes above, one below, and one at the end through which it is played. It was formerly made of copper, jade or marble because these materials are not affected by changes of temperature. The hsiao is employed in ritual music.
HSING — See po.
HSUAN — Vertical Flute. China. A Chinese ocarina invented some 2700 years before our era. It is a reddish-yellow cone of baked clay or porcelain, ornamented with designs of clouds, dragons and fantastic representations. It is fitted with a hole at the apex through which to blow, and with three finger-holes in front and three behind. It is held firmly in both hands when played. See ocarina.
HUAYRA-PUHURA — Vertical Flute. South America. An instrument of this sort contained in the Metropolitan Museum of Art consists of eight pipes of greenish stone. The second, fourth, sixth and seventh pipes are furnished with lateral finger-holes, which when closed lower the pitch a semi-tone. This is the copy of a huayra-puhura found in a Peruvian tomb.
HUCHET — See cor de chasse.
HU-CH'IN -- Bowed Strings. China. A violin with a hollow cylindrical body, the upper end being covered with skin and the lower left open. This is pierced by a long arm to which are attached four silken strings. The bow passes between the strings in such a manner that close attention is required not to touch the wrong string. The body may be a round tube of bamboo, wood, or copper, but is frequently octagonal in shape, and ornamented with small pieces of ivory. The smallest have only two strings. The instrument is inexpensive, and is a favorite in Pekin.
HU-HU — See erh-hsien.
HUNTING HORN — Cup Mouthpiece. A horn which was the simplest of all wind instruments. It merely consisted of a tube wound about in a circular fashion, and in the days of the prevalence of the hunt was carried by means of an arm thrust through the coil so that the weight rested upon the shoulder. Only a few distinct tones could be procured as increased force in blowing was the only means of regulating them.
HUNTSMAN'S HORN — See hunting horn.
HURDY GURDY — Bowed Strings. Europe. This had a rosined wooden wheel just above the tail-piece instead of a bow. The right hand turned a crank situated in the tail-piece and connected with the wheel. The body was lute or guitar-shaped, and over its face was set what corresponds to the neck of the lute. This oblong box was fitted with keys which regulated the wires, and were depressed with the fingers of the left hand. A tangent wedge was in the rear of the key, and rubbed the strings. The instrument was held in such a position that the keys fell back into their rightful places from their own weight. The strings numbered from four to six. Two only were melody strings, and passed through the key-box. The others were drone strings. From the mechanism, it may be deduced that the music was harsh and crude.
The hurdy-gurdy had a long life for one of its kind, and was at its zenith about the Tenth and Twelfth Centuries. It is rather to be considered among the instruments favored in rural districts. It aided perhaps in the passing of the lute, for the old lutes were many of them altered into hurdy gurdies, or vielles, as they were called by the French. The lute-shaped sounding-box was thought to give the better tone. The passing of the hurdy gurdy occurred during the last century, when they could still be heard upon the street corners. The name is applied erroneously to a street piano of the present day.
A thousand years ago the vielle or hurdy gurdy was known as the organistrum, and sometimes it was built in such huge proportions that two performers were a necessity, one to turn the wheel, the other to touch the keys. As it was used much by beggars, it came to be known as the beggar's lyre. It was sometimes called rota, from the wheel. Donizetti has employed the hurdy gurdy in the accompaniment to two Savoyard songs in " Linda di Chamouni."
HURUK -- Vibrating Membranes. India. A shell shaped like a long dumb-bell, with heads of skin braced with cords.
HWANGTEIH — Cup Mouthpiece. China. A trumpet with a cylindrical tube of wood. It is used by the Chinese in funeral processions.
HYOKIN — See yan-kin.
HYOSHIGI — Sonorous Substances. Japan. Two hard-wood clappers used in theatres, where they are beaten rapidly upon the floor to emphasize confusion. They are also used by night watchmen, and by the conductors of jugglers and athletes to draw attention to their performances.
