Dictionary of Music - Birding America

UÜbung (Y′boo nk) German. 1 An exercise orétude. 2 The process of practicing a piece of music.Bach wrote a book of keyboard works for organ andharpsichord entitled Clavierübung (“Keyboard Practice”).u.c.CORDA).An abbreviation for una corda (see under’ud (oo — d) Arabic: “wood.” Also, oud. A luteplayed by various peoples of the Near East since theseventh century. It is the ancestor of the Europeanlute, whose name is derived from it as well (seeLUTE). Still used both as a solo instrument and inorchestras, the present-day ’ud, which resembles apear-shaped wooden box, has eight to twelve stringsof gut, some of which are arranged in doublecourses (pairs tuned to the same pitch). Some instrumentsare provided with frets (to indicate stoppingpositions), but others are not.ukulele (yoo — ′′kə lā′lē; oo — ′′koo lā′lā). A kind ofsmall guitar that was developed in Hawaii, probablyfrom a Portuguese guitar called machete,which was brought there by sailors. It is a differentinstrument, however, from the HAWAIIAN GUITAR.Shaped much like the classical guitar but only halfas large, the ukulele has four strings, today usuallyof nylon, and a fingerboard provided with frets (seeFRET). The strings, usually tuned either A D F♯ B orG C E A, are plucked with the fingers or with asmall plectrum. The ukulele is used almost whollyto accompany the singing of popular songs or folksongs. Music for ukulele is often written in a kindof tablature that consists of a drawing of the fingerboard,showing the stopping positions required toproduce the desired chords (see the accompanyingillustration).un, une For French musical terms beginning withun or une, such as un peu, see under the next word(PEU).una, uno For Italian musical terms beginningwith una or uno, such as una corda, see under thenext word (CORDA).union pipesfig. 254 p/u from p. 474See under BAGPIPE.fig. 255 p/ufrom p. 474453