7369 old music 2402 - KET

The Old Music
Instruments
Following are brief descriptions of
the instruments featured in Old Music
for New Ears. Some instruments appear
in more than one program. Each
chapter in this guide begins with a list
of the instruments in that program so
that you can refer back to this section
for background information.
Talking about how these instruments
led to the development of today’s
popular instruments helps demonstrate
to children that modes of creative
expression evolve as different groups
of people migrate and mingle, sharing
their traditions and producing new
“hybrids.”
autoharp
A German invention which became
popular among Southern rural people in
the early 20th century, this stringed box
instrument descends from the same
family as the dulcimer. Invented by
C.A. Gutter in 1865, the autoharp was
factory-made by the mid-1880s in New
York, and nearly 3,000 were sold
weekly by door-to-door salesmen and
sales catalogs.
Around 1910 the autoharp came into
popular use at social gatherings, by
traveling preachers, and as therapy by
hospital workers. Ernest Stoneman
made the first recording with the
instrument in 1924 and developed a
style of short strokes and strict rhythm.
In the mid-1900s, Maybelle Carter (of
the famous Carter Family singing
group) further changed the style of
playing by holding the instrument
vertically against her chest and plucking
the strings across the middle.
Program 14
banjo
The banjo is a plucked lute with a
long guitar-like neck and a circular
soundtable of tightly stretched parchment
or skin (now usually plastic). The
development of the five-string banjo
began in the early 19th century as a
largely commercial adaptation of a
West African instrument, the gourd
banjo, which was brought to America
by slaves brought from Africa in the
17th and 18th centuries. This instrument,
a gourd with a skin head and a
long stick with four strings attached,
was played exclusively by African-
Americans until the early 1800s.
Immediately before and after the
Civil War, thousands of escaped and
freed slaves flooded the Appalachians,
drawn by the isolation and lack of
wealthy landowners. After 1879, the
banjo as we know it became increasingly
used in the United States as a
parlor instrument for performing
popular music. In the 1920s, the tenor
banjo became more popular among
urban musicians. The five-string banjo
regained popularity after World War II
when Pete Seeger recorded traditional
rural styles and Earl Scruggs developed
the “bluegrass” style of banjo playing.
The banjo ukulele, a development
on the fringe of the Hawaiian music fad
in the 1920s, is played with ukulele
fingering.
Programs 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 13, 14, 15
bodhran
Also known as a tambourine, this is
the single-headed frame drum of
Ireland. The drum is made by nailing a
membrane, often of goat or deer skin,
to a circular frame. Jingles are sometimes
set into the frame. A criss-cross
system of cord, sticks, or wire stretched
over the open end of the drum serves as
a handle. The bodhran is played either
by hand or with a stick.
Program 9
bones
Two pencil-length, curved bones are
held in one hand so that various waving
motions produce a variety of rhythms.
Bones have an ancient history, reaching
as far back as 3000 B.C. They were
played in China, Egypt, ancient Greece
and Rome, and medieval Europe. In the
United States, bones are associated
primarily with African-American
traditions and the minstrel show.
Programs 9, 16
dulcimer
The Appalachian, lap, or mountain
dulcimer evolved on this continent and
is a truly American instrument. It
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