TABBALAT Or TABL-SHAMEE — Vibrating Membranes. Arabia. This hand drum has a shallow shell of wood and is carried about the neck. A pair of them are called tabbalat arrakeb.
TABBALAT ARRAKEB — See tabbalat.
TABLA — Vibrating Membranes. India. These instruments are small drums, either tenor or bass. A cylindrical shell of wood or metal has heads of skin braced on the sides with strips of the same passing over wooden cylinders placed midway between the heads to secure the regulation of the tension. The custom is for the drums to be tied in a cloth about the performer's waist.
TAB'L BEL'EDEE — Vibrating Membranes. Turkey. The shell is cylindrical and the heads of skin are held in place by hoops braced upon the sides with cords.
TABL-SHAMEE — See tabbalat.
TABOR — Vibrating Membranes. Europe. A shallow drum much used in the Sixteenth Century, with the pipe at rustic dances. It was hung on the left arm and beaten with the right hand of the performer while the left fingered the pipe. It figured in the morris dances from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries. It is called the tambourin à cordes when used in association with the galoubet.
TAIAU — See thio.
TAKACHIHOKIN — Plucked Strings. Japan. The outlines of the body are in the form of a bird. Thirteen strings are fastened at one end on the inside and pass through eye-
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lets to the upper surface where they are carried over two bridges to metal tuning pegs at the opposite side.
TA'KHAY — Plucked Strings. Siam. The body is designed to resemble the back of a crocodile. The strings seldom number more than three and are fastened at one end of the body. They extend over a number of frets to a high bridge over which they pass, and are then carried to the interior where they are wound about pegs.
TAMBOURA — See tanbour.
TAMBOUR DE PROVENCE — Vibrating Membranes. Europe. A French drum. It has a long barrel of wood with heads of skin braced with cords. It is usually attached to the left arm and beaten with a stick held in the right hand while a little pipe is played with the left hand in the manner of the English pipe and tabor. It is found in use at rural dances.
TAMBOURIN A CORDES — See tabor.
TAMBOURIN A CORDES — Struck Strings. France. Literally a small drum with strings. It is used with the galoubet or chirula in accompanying rustic dances. It has an oblong sounding-board with a few gut strings stretched over two bridges and played with a small stick held in the right hand while the left manages the galoubet. It is a rude form of dulcimer. It is also called tambourin du beam.
TAMBOURIN DU BEARN - See tambourin à cordes.
TAMBOURINE—Sonorous Substances. A hoop of wood or metal covered on one end by skin which is tightened or loosened by means of nuts in the sides. Loose plates of metal are fastened by a wire through their centers to the sides of the hoop and clash when the instrument is shaken or struck with the fingers. The tambourine is used in dances and is of Oriental origin.
TAMBURA — Plucked Strings. India. A bulbous body with a long straight neck, sometimes made entirely of wood, sometimes with the body of a gourd. The belly is usually slightly convex. It has four strings. The instrument often has a length of four feet, and in the body a width of one foot.
TAMBURELLO — Vertical Flute. Europe. Italian name for tabor. See tabor.
TAM-TAM — Vibrating Membranes. India. A small kettle drum used by beggars. See kettle drum.
TANBOUR — Plucked Strings. Europe. This member of the lute family is found in Asiatic Russia, Turkey and Persia, always preserving its distinctive pear-shape. It is of the present day.
TANBOUR or TAMBOURA — Plucked Strings. Persia and Turkey. Has a pear-shaped body and a slender neck. The strings are plucked with a plectrum. The size varies. Among four specimens in the Metropolitan Museum of Art the smallest is ten inches in 'length and the body has a diameter of two inches while the largest is thirty-three inches in length and the body seven and one-half inches in diameter.
TANBOUR BOUZOURK — Plucked Strings. Turkey. A very large instrument of the lute family. The body is pear-shaped and the strings are plucked with a plectrum.
TANBOUR KEBYR — Plucked Strings. Turkey. This large instrument, four feet in length, has a globular body and an extremely long and narrow neck. The body is about twelve inches in diameter.
TANBOURICA — Plucked Strings. Europe. A Bulgarian instrument having a small triangular body and a sounding-board pear-shaped in outline. The neck is long and thin. It is similar to the Egyptian norfe and the tanbour of the Mohammedan countries.
TANBOURITZA — Plucked Strings. Roumania. Roumanian instrument of the lute family about two feet in length, and having four strings. See lute.
TANG-TZE — See lo.
T'AO-KEN — Vibrating Membranes. China. A handle passes through a small barrel from which two balls are suspended by cords. When the drum is whirled by means of the handle the balls strike the skin heads. One small size is used by itinerant millinery merchants for the purpose of making known their whereabouts. This variety generally is provided with a small gong on the upper side to add to the din. TAOOSEE -See sitar.
TAPAKA — Vibrating Membranes. Africa. A circular tambourine from the North Coast. See tambourine.
TAR — Vibrating Membranes. Africa. A circular tambourine from Morocco and Algiers. See tambourine.
TAR DE MESSAMAH — Vibrating Membranes. Africa. A circular tambourine found in Algiers. See tambourine.
TAUS — See tayuc.
TAYUC, MAYURI, TAUS, ESRAR or MOHUR — Plucked or Bowed Strings. India. This variously named instrument is a form of the sitar with movable frets. It is carved to represent a peacock, the head and body of the bird forming the lower part of the instrument while the tail is represented in the long neck. It is painted in the colors of the gorgeous feathers. A specimen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art possesses twenty wire strings passing over twenty-two movable frets. It is nearly four feet in length. The tayuc is at times played with a bow. See sitar.
T'E-CH'ING — Sonorous Substances. China. For this a stone is cut in the shape of a carpenter's square, the side which is struck with the performer's hammer being longer than the other. It is suspended in a frame by means of a cord passing through a hole bored in the apex. In other days it was cut in fantastic shape to represent a monstrous animal or fish, or a dragon or the like. The dimensions of a specimen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art are eight inches by nine inches.
TEETER MELODEON — See rocking melodeon.
TEIKIN — Bowed Strings. Japan. A Chinese fiddle about three feet in length and having a narrow body. A long slender neck passes through the body and projects on the lower side. Two strings are carried from this projection to the pegs in the other end of the neck.
TEKKIN — Sonorous Substances. Japan. An oblong wooden box supporting on its surface two rows of metal bars, which are struck with a wooden beater. It somewhat resembles the glockenspiel. See glockenspiel.
TELHARMONIUM - America. The telharmonium is the invention of Dr. Thaddeus Cahill, whose laboratory has been located at Holyoke, Mass., for a number of years. The first instrument was completed in 1900 and the ensuing time has been spent in making improvements. This new system of utilizing electricity has been treated of in the majority of recent periodicals. It has been discussed musically and scientifically and every writer and reader in the end possesses a belief that the telharmonium is one of the most wonderful inventions of the age.
Sound travels through the air in waves. The strings of the violin are rubbed into vibrations which, unless corresponding vibrations were created in the air, would not produce the effect upon the ear drum which is termed sound. In demonstrating this the experiment has been made of creating string vibrations within a space from which the air had been excluded and the ear remained insensible to the vibrations.
Electricity travels in the same manner of waves as does sound, but in the ether and not in the air. Dr. Cahill recognized a possibility and employed electrical vibrations in producing sound vibrations. He built dynamos giving forth alternating or vibrating currents, which are sent over wires to a refined receiver similar to one used in an ordinary telephone. This receives them from the ether and repeats them in the air in the form of sound vibrations. The receiver is not held to the ear, but is furnished with a funnel into which the vibrations are sent with such force that a music hall, ball room, or restaurant may be filled with beautiful music.
The underlying principle of the telharmonium is the underlying principle of tone production. Each tone that is produced by any instrument is made up of a fundamental or ground tone which in every case is made up of the same number of vibrations if given the same pitch. In other words the foundation of a like tone of the flute, the horn, the oboe, or the pianoforte is the same. The individuality which distinguishes the voices of different instruments is due to harmonics or partials, vibrations which accompany the fundamental. They are much faster and less distinct, but their number governs the quality of the tone of an instrument. With the ordinary instrument the player can-not fully regulate the number of harmonics and consequently many tones are imperfect. Dr. Cahill had conceived an instrument or instruments which might be capable of producing tones in which the fundamental would be accompanied by a correct number of harmonics and his experiments have resulted in one great instrument which can do perfectly what scores of lesser instruments heretofore have done imperfectly.
The telharmonium is furnished with a keyboard similar in appearance to that of the organ or the pianoforte. Each key is connected with a dynamo by a wire. Upon the depression of a key the dynamo gives off the electrical vibrations or alternating currents of which it is capable and a fundamental tone is produced, but is unaccompanied by harmonics. It is merely a tone without individuality. The harmonics are furnished by draw stops which are situated on the keyboard. The stop for the first harmonic produces 870 vibrations and that for the second 1305. One hand of the performer is employed with keys and the other hand draws out the stops. The vibrations are produced by rolls which are circumscribed by teeth, the number of vibrations being limited by the number of times each tooth passes around the roll. Sometimes the rolls are geared to revolve 1440 times per second, but the number of vibrations is more usually increased by adding more teeth. However, the instrument is perfectly dumb unless connected with the receiver which translates the electrical waves into sound waves.
Sixteen stops have already been in use, but eight more are needed for the tones of the stringed instruments. Dr. Cahill remains at his laboratory in Holyoke working upon improvements and time will eventually bring his highest ambitions to a realization. The commercial side of the venture is in the hands of business men and all efforts tend toward making the telharmonium the instrument of the people. Through it music of the highest order, played with a perfection not attained by many orchestras, and entirely lacking the mechanical effect of phonographs and mechanical players, will be offered to the public at what are termed popular prices.
For a complete orchestra twelve or fifteen keyboards will be needed. They will be grouped about a director in a public hall in which will be receivers so that the musicians may have a realization of the effects they are producing and their music will be carried to hundreds of homes and public places over wires similar to those used for telephones.
In Telharmonic Hall, New York City, the first central station after the instrument had come into commercial use, the keyboards were situated in an auditorium in which were also several funnels connected with telephone receivers. The wires from the keyboard led to the basement where the electricity was generated. Here were 145 dynamos, and the usual machinery of an electrical power station created pandemonium. Reserve power was boxed up in 400 telephones. During the early part of 1907 additions costing $60,000 were made, two new keyboards having been added. The cost of the original instrument was over $200,000.
TELYN—Plucked Strings. Welsh name for harp. See harp.
TENOR DRUM — Sonorous Substances. The tenor drum is used in military music. It is constructed like the side drum, but is not provided with snares. See side drum.
TENOROON — Double-beating Reed. Europe. The former name for tenor oboe. See oboe.
TERZINA — Plucked Strings. Europe. Italian cither played as a guitar and tuned a third higher, hence its name. See either and guitar.
T'GUTHA -- Bowed Strings. Africa. An instrument of the Hottentots similar to the kemangeh. See kemangeh.
THAN-HWIN -- Sonorous Substances. Burmah. Metal cymbals. See cymbals.
THAN-KHANJANI — Vibrating Membranes. India. A tambourine made of skin or vellum stretched over a hoop in whose sides are slits where pieces of metal are strung and in playing are clashed together. The pitch is regulated by pouring water over the vellum which renders it taut. See tambourine.
THARI — Plucked Strings. Asiatic Russia. The body is shaped something like a figure eight and has a skin belly. It is furnished with a slender neck fitted with a peg box. The strings are few in number, but are not limited. They are plucked with a plectrum.
THEORBO -- Plucked Strings. Europe. A large lute with an elongated neck in which was a second set of pegs to give greater length to the bass strings. The theorbo was used to accompany the voice and also in the orchestra. In the orchestra it made its last appearance in 1732 in Handel's oratorio, Esther.
THRO or TAIAU — Bowed Strings. Burmah. This member of the viol tribe has a body whose outlines are somewhat similar to the violin. It is furnished with three strings of silk or fiber and is played with a horsehair bow. At times the finish is far from crude.
THONE — Vibrating Membranes. Siam. A hand drum having a narrow neck which expands into a globular head of skin which is fastened to the body by a network of wire.
TIBIE IMPARES —See aulos.
T'I-CH'IN — See erh-h'sien.
TIMBALI -- See marimba.
TI-TZU — Transverse Flute. China. This is the flute ordinarily encountered in China. It is made of bamboo bound with a waxed silken cord and sometimes ornamented with tassels. There are eight holes, one to blow through, one covered with a thin reedy membrane, and six to be played upon by the fingers. It is played transversely. It is indispensable to every Chinese orchestra and is used in theatrical performances, and funeral and. marriage processions.
To — Sonorous Substances. China. An ordinary bell with either a metal or a wooden tongue and having a handle at the apex. Four different kinds of tongued bells were formerly in use in the Chinese army. Their ringing was to convey to the soldiers the injunction to stand still and be silent in the ranks, and they came thus to be associated with respect and veneration. When music was performed to illustrate the valor of warriors and the merit of faithful ministers and the like the to was used to symbolize obedience. At present the to is used only by priests to mark the rhythm of their prayers.
TOLO TOLO — Struck Strings. Africa. The name given by the Basuto tribe, Zululand, to an instrument whose body is a tube of bamboo into each end of which a flexible stick is inserted. A single string passes between the two and is tapped with a stick while the instrument is held to the mouth of the performer.
TONKARI — Plucked Strings. Japan, A slender body of wood with a flat surface and short neck containing five pegs. At its head the neck broadens into a flat disc. This is one of the instruments of the Ainos, the primitive people of Japan.
TOOMERIE NAGASSARAN — Double-beating Reed. India. An instrument sometimes made of metal and wood, some-times entirely of metal, and having a mouthpiece fitted with a double-beating reed. The number of finger-holes differs.
TOOTOORE — Cup Mouthpiece. India. A curved metal trumpet incapable of many notes.
TORBANE — Plucked Strings. Europe. A Russian form of the theorbo, still in use. See theorbo.
T'OUNGSYE — Vertical Flute. Korea. A bamboo tube fitted with finger-holes.
TRAPEZOID Or Box FIDDLE — Bowed Strings. Europe. An instrument of small importance by Savart. The inventor reasoned that the arches and curves of an ordinary violin are the only places where vibrations cease in the surface of the sound-box, and that the F2 holes are so shaped as to counteract their resistance to vibration. Therefore he eliminated all these points and used straight sound-holes. Although favored by the French Academy, this instrument cannot be called a success.
TRAVELER'S VIOLIN — See folding violin.
TRIANGLE — Sonorous Substances. Europe. A steel rod bent into the form of a triangle with one angle open. It is struck with a second steel rod. The triangle is numbered among the orchestral instruments. A tremolo effect is gained by rapidly striking two of its sides alternately. Although the triangle is used to best advantage in dance music, it is recognized in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Schumann's First Symphony, and Haydn's Military Symphony, while Auber writes for it in Le Cheval de Bronze.
TROMBA MARINA, TRUMSCHEIT, SCHEITHOLT, CHORUS — Bowed Strings. Europe. This instrument is considered as one of the first in Europe with which a bow was used. The body was oblong and possessed a number of sides, from three to seven. The lower part broadened into a flat base upon which the instrument was rested while being played. At the top the body was narrow to accommodate the hand of the performer while holding the instrument in position. It was fully six feet in length and sometimes more. The one melody string was of heavy violoncello wire. In later specimens there were other interchangeable strings which served in accompanying. One foot of the bridge was loose and as it vibrated with the string, produced a reedy sound which constituted the chief charm. A heavy horsehair bow well rosined was used.
Here is afforded another of the many discussions as to the etymology of the names of musical instruments. Some authorities contend that because of its reedy tone, it was used in giving signals on vessels, hence marina from mare, the sea ; and others, that the name has been given because of the instrument's use by the nuns in their devotions to the Virgin, marina in this case being derived from Maria.
Its use in convents continued to the present time and this instrument with its rough, unpleasant voice was even heard in concerts as is testified by the following advertisement which appeared in the London Gazette, Feb. 4, 1674, "A rare concert of four trumpets marine never before heard in England."
TROMBONE — Cup Mouthpiece. Europe. The name signifies the bass of the trumpet family. It has enjoyed a long life and earlier is found under the name sackbut. The tenor trombone is the one most used in the orchestra and has an entire length of nine feet. It possesses a long cylindrical tube of brass, which becomes conical only in forming the bell and is bent upon itself twice, making three parallel lengths. The central one of the three sections is doubled so that the outer tube can slide over the inner and increase the length. The slide is provided with a handle operated with the right hand and when in the bass instrument the arm's length is not sufficient to produce some of the required intervals, the handle is jointed. The trombone has seven positions. The first is with the slide closed, each succeeding position lowering the pitch a semitone. It is a non-transposing instrument. A family of slide trombones consists of the contrabass in B B, bass in G, tenor in B flat, alto in F and soprano in B flat. The bass is also found in F, the tenor in C and the alto in E flat. The voice is solemn and rapid passages are not successful. Trills occur only on the higher tones. The former style of playing was quiet and smooth, but gradually the mannerisms of band players have crept into the orchestra, until the present tone would doubtless be a blatant blare to Beethoven, Mozart or Schubert. Mozart used the trombone in sounding the Trump of Doom in his Requiem; Beethoven gave the instruments much to do in the Finale of his Ninth Symphony ; Schubert used them in many of his symphonies and masses, and Mendelssohn honored it with his strongest phrases, the first and last sentences of the Hymn of Praise.
Lately a valve trombone has been introduced finding favor in military bands, as it is much easier to master and can execute more rapid passages. However, with the exit of the slide goes the individuality of the trombone, for the delicate gradations of tone are only possible with this appliance.
TRUBA—Sonorous Substances. Siberia. A metal jew's harp. See jew's harp.
TRUMPET — Cup Mouthpiece. Europe. The trumpet possesses the greatest sonority of any of the portable instruments owing to the shallow mouthpiece. The tube is of brass, mixed metal, or silver, the last two being preferred. It is eight feet in length in the C trumpet, being only half the length of that of the horn and consequently the pitch is an octave higher. The bore is narrow, being about three-eighths of an inch in diameter and is cylindrical until fifteen inches from the end when it becomes conical and forms the bell. The tube is bent to form two lengths in the simple or field trumpet. In the orchestral trumpet it is bent to form three lengths, the first and third lying close together, the second separated from them about two inches. The orchestral form was for a time provided with a slide, the invention of Thomas Harper, an English player of the Nineteenth Century. Later one valve was added and used in conjunction with the slide, but the present form is entirely valved. With the valves the most difficult passages are practicable, notably a passage in Handel's Dettinger Te Deum, which was originally arranged for two sets of trumpets, one of large bore similar to those of today and the other of smaller bore to take the higher and more florid passages.
The open notes are the more successful on the trumpet although it is provided with a mute, but the tones formed by its use are devoid of the natural keenness and clearness, and Wagner in his Meistersinger von Nürnberg recognizes their strong similarity to the tone of toy instruments and accompanies the entrance of the toymakers' guild with muted notes.
The trumpet does not transpose. Its music is written in the key of C. Crooks bring the instrument into different keys, some transposing upwards; namely, those in D, E flat, E and F; and those in B, B flat, A, A flat and G,
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transposing downwards. The one in B flat is used most frequently. Others not mentioned are rarely used. The brilliant quality is augmented in the higher pitched varieties.
Wagner again uses the trumpets in fanfares in Tannhäuser and Lohengrin. In the bass solo, " The trumpet shall sound," in Handel's Messiah, they accompany the voice, and this effect is often used. Verdi's imagination puts the trumpet into the hand of Gabriel when he introduces the last trump in the Manzoni Requiem. Mozart favored the instrument but little, although it appears occasionally in his scores.
TRUMSCHEIT — See tromba marina.
TSENG — Plucked Strings. China. The body is of wood and has a convex upper surface. The strings number fourteen and are fastened to pegs placed diagonally across the body. They pass over a similar number of movable bridges and are fastened in the interior. The performer uses his finger tips. The instrument is usually played at imperial festivals and on joyous occasions.
TSU-KU — Vibrating Membranes. China. A large drum used in important ceremonies. It is attached to an upright post when played.
TSUMA-KOTO — Plucked Strings. Japan. A koto of thirteen strings with a sounding-board in the form of a trapezoid. See koto.
TSURI-DAIKO — Vibrating Membranes. Japan. A hanging drum. The shallow, slightly convexed cylinder is hung in a circular frame on a stand sufficiently high that the drummer sitting in front of it may easily strike the center of the face. The sticks have leather covered knobs and when not in use are placed in rings at the side of the frame. The right stick is called the male stick and the left the female. The tone of this drum is full and mellow and when used in the orchestra, marks the larger divisions of time similar to our bars.
TSURI KANE — Sonorous Substances. Japan. A hanging gong of metal about half a foot in diameter, and struck with a wooden beater.
TUBA — Cup Mouthpiece. Europe. This non-transposing instrument belongs to the Sax family and is the only member which has been introduced into the orchestra, the others being considered too coarse in tone for use in other than military bands. Wagner has done much for the tuba, his most striking effect being the music of the tubas alone immediately preceding the entrance of Hunding in the first act of Die Walküre. The naturally coarse and powerful tones effectively typify the rude huntsman, and forecast the sorrow to come. The instrument is of brass and is furnished with valves, numbering from three to five. The mouthpiece is similar to that of the trombone, but it is large and the player can change the position of his lips within it and thus overcome many discrepancies in tone by the degree of power with which he blows. It was the invention of Wieprecht, a Berlin bandmaster, in 1835.
The tubas are in three sizes, the smallest being better known as the euphonium, the second in E flat, as the bombardon, the largest is the contrabass tuba in B' flat, an octave lower than the euphonium. The entire compass of the set is about four octaves. However, the best notes can be obtained between F and the lowest D of the piano. The second size is used most frequently in the orchestra and has an especially full and rich lower register. As the deepest bass of the brass instruments it has completely supplanted the ophicleide to which it is greatly superior in its powers of blending with the other brasses. The tone is of a quality intermediate between the horn and the trombone. See euphonium and bombardon.
TUMBURU -- Plucked Strings. India. The curved body is of gourd or wood and has a straight neck. This instrument is furnished with four strings.
TUMBURU-VINA — Plucked Strings. India. A circular body about a foot in diameter and furnished with a neck which extends some three feet beyond the length of the instrument. Four strings pass from the base of the body to the end of the neck.
TUNGKEO — See la-pa.
TY — Vertical Flute. China. A flute made of wood and having a beaked mouthpiece and six finger-holes.
TZETZE, ZEZE, SEZE — Plucked Strings. Africa. A bow shaft usually with one string, and a resonator of gourd or shell. The shaft is also provided with three crude frets which are carved into it. An instrument of this kind from Mombassa on the East Coast has a string of fiber passing over a bridge of bent porcupine quill. It is found in different forms among the various tribes. In some instances more than one string is used and the additional one or ones do not go over the frets, but act as drones, and the resonator is frequently in several sections.
