According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the mid 18th century origin of the term hurdy-gurdy is onomatopoeic in origin, after the repetitive warble in pitch that characterizes instruments with solid wooden wheels that have warped due to changes in humidity or after the sound of the buzzing-bridge .
What does hurdy-gurdy means?
1 : a stringed instrument in which sound is produced by the friction of a rosined wheel turned by a crank against the strings and the pitches are varied by keys. 2 : any of various mechanical musical instruments (such as the barrel organ)
When was a hurdy-gurdy invented?
The hurdy-gurdy made its first appearance in the 10th century , at the same time as the regular vielle, but as a large and unwieldy, two-person instrument. In the 13th century, it was reduced in size and seems thereafter to have become increasingly popular.
Is a hurdy-gurdy Celtic?
Is it Celtic? Not really . Hurdy-gurdies have travelled all over Europe. ... People often feel it sounds Celtic because they associate the drone (a single note playing continuously underneath the melody) with bagpipes, which are most commonly found nowadays in Celtic music.
Is the hurdy gurdy German?
This instrument is crafted in the style of the “German” or “Farmer’s” hurdy-gurdy . ... For that reason many 18 th century French instruments – which where used for playing a very different, much more virtuoso repertoire than the folk music instruments – have a body that is either all mahogany or at least a mahogany cover.”
Is the hurdy-gurdy hard to play?
The hurdy-gurdy, like many other instruments is very easy to play some good sounding music on, but also provides years’ worth of learning if you want to delve deeply into it. It is easier than fretted instruments to get started on because you don’t have to learn to press down the strings.
What country is the hurdy-gurdy from?
The hurdy gurdy, known in France as the vielle a roue or vielle for short, is an ancient instrument which is undergoing a modern renaissance in Europe and America.
What is a Hurley girly man?
The hurdy-gurdy is an instrument from the sixteenth century. The Hurdy Gurdy Man is a chronicler . The Hurdy Gurdy Man is like a bard. The Hurdy Gurdy Man is any singer-songwriter in any age, whether they were Ireland of whether they were in the streets of New York during the 60s.
Why are hurdy Gurdys so expensive?
Why are hurdy gurdies so expensive? A hurdy gurdy is a complex machine , requiring heroic skill sets in both woodworking and metal working. ... Keep in mind that there are over 200 parts in a Hurdy gurdy (including over 90 moving parts). This means a building curve that is much more complex than other instruments.
How expensive is a hurdy-gurdy?
Buying a new hurdy gurdy requires patience. The best makers are usually backordered, which means you’ll have to wait a bit before receiving your new instrument. Plus, they’re not cheap. For a good hurdy gurdy, even a basic one, you should expect to pay at least $1,000 .
Did Vikings play hurdy-gurdy?
Popular Viking and Celtic musical instruments include various drums, violins, cellos, flutes, lyres, hurdy gurdy’s, fiddles , many of which now are used to create modern Bluegrass and Folk music in North America.
Is a violin a fiddle?
Western classical players sometimes use “fiddle” as an affectionate term for the violin , that intimate companion and workmate. But in the United States, most often “fiddle” means the violin as used in Irish-Scottish-French traditional music and all the descendant American styles: Appalachian, bluegrass, Cajun, etc.
How heavy is a hurdy-gurdy?
The size of an acoustic hurdy-gurdy goes around 7 x 17 x 10 In (17 x 43 x 25 Cm) and has a weight of around 5.2 Lbs (2 Kgs) which’s the size and weight of a violin.
What material is the hurdy gurdy made of?
The hurdy-gurdy generally consists of three basic structural elements: a set of melody and drone (or bourdon) strings, a resin-coated wooden wheel, usually made of pear wood , which when rotated by a crank acts as a violin bow, and a keyboard with tangents (small wedges, usually made of wood and arranged in two or three ...
Is a Zanfona the same as a hurdy gurdy?
There are several names for the hurdy gurdy in Spanish, but the most common one is ‘zanfona’ , derived from another old name in Latin: ‘symphonia’. Differently from France, in Spain the fate of this medieval instrument was... to be forgotten. ... Even Ukraine had a guild very similar to that of the blind musicians in Spain.
What does a Sackbut look like?
Unlike the earlier slide trumpet from which it evolved, the sackbut possesses a U-shaped slide , with two parallel sliding tubes, which allows for playing scales in a lower range. ... In modern English, an older trombone or its replica is called a sackbut.
