A dulcimer is a stringed folk instrument which basically comes in two different varieties: the hammered dulcimer – which has strings stretched over a sounding board with a trapezoidal shape, generally ...

The tambourine is probably one of the easiest and most fun musical instruments to play anywhere in the world. If you have any rhythm at all, and sometimes even if you don’t, you, too, can play a ...

When we think of an orchestra, we immediately think of a large number of violinists sitting in front of the stage, in an almost privileged place near the conductor, just like the cellos and violas.

Extraordinary as it may sound, there have been bagpipes in a vast array of forms for around 3,000 years. The instruments are known to have been used not only in Europe but in Asia too. These ...

Reggae music has had a profound influence on many aspects of Western culture from fashion to popular music. Across the United Kingdom, the USA and Africa, Reggae secured a strong foothold in the ...

How many siblings did Beethoven have? Ludwig van Beethoven was the second of seven children born to his parents, Johnann van Beethoven and Maria Magdalena Keverich, the daughter of a chef. Sadly, only ...

It’s maybe an odd thought to consider that once there were no orchestras. That fabulous collection of a hundred or more hard-working musicians ready to perform a symphony or concerto, not existing.

In a recent article, I gave a broad account of the evolution of the violin with a particular focus on the work of the Cremona luthiers. At the head of this revolutionary group of innovators was the ...

When the world of the moving picture arrived in the early part of the 20th century, it was a revolution. What is often referred to as the silent years from around 1910 to 1927 marked a turning point ...

The genre called house music is something that encapsulates a wide range of subgenres that naturally evolved from the original concept. For some the notion that house stems back as far as the 1980s ...

To be completely clear from the outset of this article, the term ‘folk music’ covers an immensely broad and diverse selection of music from across the world. Quite frequently this term is used to ...

This article is dedicated to one of the unsung heroes of the French Baroque period of musical history. In his day, Rameau (1683-1764) was one of the most influential, well-respected, and important ...