LUSINE MIRZOYAN

BRITISH NATIONAL MUSICAL

INSTRUMENTS

1. BAGPIPES – Though bagpipes are closely associated with Scotland and only Scotland by many outsiders, the instrument ( or, more precisely, family of instruments) is found throughout large swathes of Europe, North Africa and South Asia. Out of the many varieties of Scottish bagpipes, the most common in modern days is the Highlands variety, which was spread through its use by the Highland regiments of the British Army. Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The term is equally correct in the singular or plural, although in the English language, pipers most commonly talk of “pipes”. 2. FIDDLE (VIOLIN) – Any violin may be informally called a fiddle, regardless of the kind of music being played with it, it is considered to be the predecessor of today’s violin. The instrument arrived late in the 17th century, and is first mentioned in 1680 in a document from Newbattle Abbey in Midlothian, Lessones For Ye Violin. Like the violin, it tended to have four strings, but came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Another family of instruments which contributed to the development of the modern fiddle are the viols, which are held between the legs and played vertically, and have fretted fingerboards. 3. GUITAR – The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four, seven, eight, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen and eighteen string guitars also exist. Traditionally guitars have usually been constructed of combinations of various woods and strung with animal gut, or more recently, with either nylon or steel strings. Guitars are made and repaired by luthiers. There are many brands of guitars, but some commonly known brands are PRS, Gibson, Dean, Ibanez, Martin, Jackson,Fender,etc. 4. HARP – The harp is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. It is also considered to be a percussion instrument. All harps have a neck, resonator and strings. Some, known as frame harps, also have a forepillar; those lacking the forepillar are referred to as open harps. Depending on its size, a harp may be played while held in the lap or while stood on the floor. Harp strings can be made of nylon, gut, wire or silk. A person who plays the harp is called a harpist or a harper. Various types of harps are found in Africa, Europe, North, and South America, and a few parts of Asia. In antiquity harps and the closely related lyres were very prominent in nearly all musical cultures, but they lost popularity in the early 19th century with Western music composers, being thought of primarily as a woman’s instrument after Marie Antoinette popularized it as an activity for women. 5.TIN WHISTLE – The tin whistle, also called the tinwhistle, whistle, pennywhistle or Irish whistler, is a simple six-woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the flageolet, recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments. The most common whistles today are made of brass tubing, or nickel plated brass tubing, with a plastic fipple .One of the oldest tin whistles still in existence is the Tusculum whistle, found with pottery dating to the 14th and 15th centuries; it’s currently in the collection of the Museum of Scotland. Today the whistle is a very common instrument in recorded Scottish music. Although few well-known performers choose the tin whistle as their principle instrument, it is quite common for pipers, flute players, and other musicians to play the whistle as well.

1.BAGPIPES 2. FIDDLE 3. GUITAR

4. HARP 5. TIN WHISTLE