A lute ( / lj uː t / or / l uː t / ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
105-555: The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra is an ensemble of ukulele players based in Wellington , New Zealand. Apart from a double bass the band is composed entirely of ukuleles. Their repertoire consists mainly of covers of modern popular music and some ukulele and New Zealand standards . Costumes and comic banter are also part of the WIUO appeal. The increased public profile of one of their members Bret McKenzie — one half of
210-616: A wah-wah effect. Mario Maccaferri invented an automatic chording device for the ukulele, called Chord Master . Close cousins of the ukulele include the Portuguese forerunners, the cavaquinho (also commonly known as machete or braguinha ) and the slightly larger rajão . Other relatives include the Venezuelan cuatro , the Colombian tiple , the timple of the Canary Islands ,
315-426: A binder, often shellac and often have inscribed decoration. The scrolls or other decoration on the ends of lute bridges are integral to the bridge, and are not added afterwards as on some Renaissance guitars (cf Joachim Tielke 's guitars). The frets are made of loops of gut tied around the neck. They fray with use, and must be replaced from time to time. A few additional partial frets of wood are usually glued to
420-456: A collection of pieces that included 14 voice and lute songs, and three solo lute pieces, alongside organ works. He was not the first important German lutenist, because contemporaries credited Conrad Paumann ( c. 1410–1473) with the invention of German lute tablature, though this claim remains unproven, and no lute works by Paumann survive. After Schlick, a string of composers developed German lute music: Hans Judenkünig ( c. 1445/50 – 1526),
525-569: A country that had already known a lute tradition under the Romans, the pandura . During the 8th and 9th centuries, many musicians and artists from across the Islamic world flocked to Iberia. Among them was Abu l-Hasan 'Ali Ibn Nafi' (789–857), a prominent musician, who had trained under Ishaq al-Mawsili (d. 850) in Baghdad and was exiled to Andalusia before 833. He taught and has been credited with adding
630-487: A decorative knot, carved directly out of the wood of the soundboard. The geometry of the lute soundboard is relatively complex, involving a system of barring that places braces perpendicular to the strings at specific lengths along the overall length of the belly, the ends of which are angled to abut the ribs on either side for structural reasons. Robert Lundberg, in his book Historical Lute Construction , suggests ancient builders placed bars according to whole-number ratios of
735-461: A deep rounded body for the instrument. There are braces inside on the soundboard to give it strength. The neck is made of light wood, with a veneer of hardwood (usually ebony) to provide durability for the fretboard beneath the strings. Unlike most modern stringed instruments, the lute's fretboard is mounted flush with the top. The pegbox for lutes before the Baroque era was angled back from
840-407: A distinctly German style came only after 1700 in the works of Silvius Leopold Weiss (1686–1750), one of the greatest lute composers, some of whose works were transcribed for keyboard by none other than Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), who composed a few pieces for the lute himself (though it is unclear whether they were really intended for the lute, rather than another plucked string instrument or
945-532: A documentary about NZ war songs. In 2009, the band recorded their third EP, The Dreaming EP , at Neil Finn's Roundhead Studios . In 2011, the third EP, The Dreaming EP , was recorded in the lounge of one of the band members and was mixed by Lee Prebble . In 2014, the band recorded their first full-length CD, Be Mine Tonight , at an undisclosed location in Wellington. It was mixed by Wellington sound engineer Neil Maddever in his mobile sound studio. This recording
1050-500: A fifth string to his oud and with establishing one of the first schools of music in Córdoba . By the 11th century, Muslim Iberia had become a center for the manufacture of instruments. These goods spread gradually to Provence , influencing French troubadours and trouvères and eventually reaching the rest of Europe. While Europe developed the lute, the oud remained a central part of Arab music, and broader Ottoman music, undergoing
1155-496: A figure-eight body shape similar to that of a small acoustic guitar . They are also often seen in nonstandard shapes, such as cutaway and oval, usually called a "pineapple" ukulele (see image below), invented by the Kamaka Ukulele company, or a boat-paddle shape, and occasionally a square shape, often made out of an old wooden cigar box. These instruments usually have four strings ; some strings may be paired in courses , giving
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#17329094571431260-405: A fruitwood, is attached to the soundboard typically between a fifth and a seventh of the belly length. It does not have a separate saddle but has holes bored into it to which the strings attach directly. The bridge is made so that it tapers in height and length, with the small end holding the trebles and the higher and wider end carrying the basses. Bridges are often colored black with carbon black in
1365-583: A growing number of world-class lutenists: Rolf Lislevand , Hopkinson Smith , Paul O'Dette , Christopher Wilke , Andreas Martin , Robert Barto , Eduardo Egüez , Edin Karamazov , Nigel North , Christopher Wilson , Luca Pianca , Yasunori Imamura , Anthony Bailes , Peter Croton , Xavier Diaz-Latorre , Evangelina Mascardi and Jakob Lindberg . Singer-songwriter Sting has also played lute and archlute, in and out of his collaborations with Edin Karamazov , and Jan Akkerman released two albums of lute music in
1470-454: A means of stretching the strings beyond the body". His definition focused on body and neck characteristics and not on the way the strings were sounded, so the fiddle counted as a "bowed lute". Sachs also distinguished between the "long-necked lute" and the short-necked variety. The short-necked variety contained most of our modern instruments, "lutes, guitars , hurdy-gurdies and the entire family of viols and violins". The long lutes were
1575-618: A range of transformations. Beside the introduction of the lute to Spain ( Andalusia ) by the Moors, another important point of transfer of the lute from Arabian to European culture was Sicily , where it was brought either by Byzantine or later by Muslim musicians. There were singer-lutenists at the court in Palermo after the Norman conquest of the island from the Muslims, and the lute is depicted extensively in
1680-628: A short, almond-shaped lute. Curt Sachs talked about the depictions of Gandharan lutes in art, where they are presented in a mix of "Northwest Indian art" under "strong Greek influences". The short-necked lutes in these Gandhara artworks were "the venerable ancestor of the Islamic , the Sino-Japanese and the European lute families". He described the Gandhara lutes as having a "pear-shaped body tapering towards
1785-638: A variety of lute styles, the short lute entered Europe in the East as well; as early as the sixth century, the Bulgars brought the short-necked variety of the instrument called komuz to the Balkans. Medieval lutes were four- and five- course instruments, plucked with a quill as a plectrum . There were several sizes and, by the end of the Renaissance , seven sizes (up to the great octave bass) are documented. Song accompaniment
1890-461: Is Italian, from a late 15th-century manuscript. The early 16th century saw Petrucci 's publications of lute music by Francesco Spinacino ( fl. 1507) and Joan Ambrosio Dalza ( fl. 1508); together with the so-called Capirola Lutebook , these represent the earliest stage of written lute music in Italy. The leader of the next generation of Italian lutenists, Francesco Canova da Milano (1497–1543),
1995-422: Is a growing number of luthiers who build lutes for general sale, and there is a fairly strong, if small, second-hand market. Because of this fairly limited market, lutes are generally more expensive than mass-produced modern instruments. Factory-made guitars and violins, for example, can be purchased more cheaply than low-end lutes, while at the highest level of modern instruments, guitars and violins tend to command
2100-410: Is almost never finished, but in some cases the luthier may size the top with a very thin coat of shellac or glair to help keep it clean. The belly joins directly to the rib, without a lining glued to the sides, and a cap and counter cap are glued to the inside and outside of the bottom end of the bowl to provide rigidity and increased gluing surface. After joining the top to the sides, a half-binding
2205-481: Is also more susceptible to irregularity and pitch instability owing to changes in humidity. Nylon offers greater tuning stability, but is seen as anachronistic by purists, as its timbre differs from the sound of earlier gut strings. Such concerns are moot when more recent compositions for the lute are performed. Of note are the catlines used as basses on historical instruments. Catlines are several gut strings wound together and soaked in heavy metal solutions to increase
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#17329094571432310-451: Is exemplified by composers such as Ennemond Gaultier (1575–1651), Denis Gaultier (1597/1603–1672), François Dufaut (before 1604 – before 1672) and many others. The last stage of French lute music is exemplified by Robert de Visée ( c. 1655–1732/3), whose suites exploit the instrument's possibilities to the fullest. The history of German written lute music started with Arnolt Schlick ( c. 1460–after 1521), who, in 1513, published
2415-453: Is generally made of wood, though variants have been composed partially or entirely of plastic or other materials. Cheaper ukuleles are generally made from plywood or laminated woods, in some cases with a soundboard of a tonewood such as spruce . More expensive ukuleles are made of solid hardwoods such as mahogany . The traditionally preferred wood for ukuleles is a type of acacia endemic to Hawaii, called koa . Typically, ukuleles have
2520-426: Is less standardized. They are usually tuned re-entrant, but frequently at a higher pitch than C; for example, re-entrant G tuning: D 5 –G 4 –B 4 –E 5 . As is commonly the case with string instruments, other tunings may be preferred by individual players. For example, special string sets are available to tune the baritone ukulele in linear C . Some players tune ukuleles like other four-string instruments such as
2625-447: Is now acknowledged as one of the most famous lute composers in history. The bigger part of his output consists of pieces called fantasias or ricercares, in which he makes extensive use of imitation and sequence, expanding the scope of lute polyphony. In the early 17th century Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger ( c. 1580–1651) and Alessandro Piccinini (1566–1638) revolutionized the instrument's technique and Kapsberger, possibly, influenced
2730-854: Is one of New Zealand's most popular live acts, touring throughout Australia, United Kingdom and the United States. The band has performed sold-out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival , the Melbourne Comedy Festival and the New Zealand International Comedy Festival where they won the Best Local Act award. The band recorded the theme music for the TV comedy Diplomatic Immunity , a documentary series about renowned New Zealand entertainer Sir Howard Morrison and
2835-414: Is tuned an octave higher than might be expected, so this is often called "high G" tuning. This is known as a " reentrant tuning "; it enables uniquely close-harmony chording. The table below shows a pitch's name found over the four strings of a ukulele in standard tuning, from the nut (zero) to the fifteenth fret. More rarely used with the soprano ukulele is C linear tuning, or "low G" tuning, which has
2940-468: Is usually installed around the edge of the soundboard. The half-binding is approximately half the thickness of the soundboard and is usually made of a contrasting color wood. The rebate for the half-binding must be extremely precise to avoid compromising structural integrity. The back or the shell is assembled from thin strips of hardwood (maple, cherry, ebony, rosewood, gran, wood and/or other tonewoods) called ribs , joined (with glue) edge to edge to form
3045-519: Is widely used for the tenor ukulele, more so than for the soprano and concert instruments. The baritone ukulele usually uses linear G tuning: D 3 –G 3 –B 3 –E 4 , the same as the highest four strings of a standard 6-string guitar. Bass ukuleles are tuned similarly to the bass guitar and double bass : E 1 –A 1 –D 2 –G 2 for U-Bass style instruments (sometimes called contrabass), or an octave higher, E 2 –A 2 –D 3 –G 3 , for Ohana type metal-string basses. Sopranino ukulele tuning
3150-412: The Baroque music era, the lute was used as one of the instruments that played the basso continuo accompaniment parts. It is also an accompanying instrument in vocal works. The lute player either improvises ("realizes") a chordal accompaniment based on the figured bass part, or plays a written-out accompaniment (both music notation and tablature ("tab") are used for lute). As a small instrument,
3255-643: The British Museum , the seal depicts on one side what is thought to be a woman playing a stick "lute". Like Sachs, Dumbrill saw length as distinguishing lutes, dividing the Mesopotamian lutes into a long variety and a short. His book does not cover the shorter instruments that became the European lute, beyond showing examples of shorter lutes in the ancient world. He focuses on the longer lutes of Mesopotamia, various types of necked chordophones that developed throughout
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3360-687: The Flight of the Conchords — combined with the use of their songs for a nationwide advertising campaign for New Zealand bookstore chain Whitcoulls in late 2008 resulted in an increase in their national profile. On 15 December 2008 their Little Bit Wonderful EP reached no. 32 in the Official NZ Music Chart. The same recording topped the NZ Indie Music Chart for January 2009. Until November 2008,
3465-524: The Sanskrit rudrī (रुद्री, meaning "string instrument") and transferred to Arabic and European languages by way of a Semitic language . However another theory, according to Semitic language scholars, is that the Arabic ʿoud is derived from Syriac ʿoud-a , meaning "wooden stick" and "burning wood"—cognate to Biblical Hebrew ' ūḏ , referring to a stick used to stir logs in a fire. Henry George Farmer notes
3570-617: The Spanish vihuela , the Mexican requinto jarocho , and the Andean charango traditionally made of an armadillo shell. In Indonesia, a similar Portuguese-inspired instrument is the kroncong . Lute More specifically, the term "lute" commonly refers to an instrument from the family of European lutes which were themselves influenced by Indian short-necked lutes in Gandhara which became
3675-609: The lautenwerk ). Of other European countries, particularly important are England and Spain. English-written lute music began only around 1540; however, the country produced numerous lutenists, of which John Dowland (1563–1626) is perhaps the most famous. His influence spread very far: variations on his themes were written by keyboard composers in Germany decades after his death. Dowland's predecessors and colleagues, such as Anthony Holborne ( c. 1545–1602) and Daniel Bacheler (1572–1619), were less known. Spanish composers wrote mostly for
3780-470: The mandolin , Venezuelan cuatro , or dotara . Ukuleles may also be tuned to open tunings , similar to the Hawaiian slack-key style. Ukulele varieties include hybrid instruments such as the guitalele (also called guitarlele), banjo ukulele (also called banjolele), harp ukulele , lap steel ukulele , and the ukelin . It is very common to find ukuleles mixed with other stringed instruments because of
3885-478: The sitar , tanbur and tar : the dutār had two strings, setār three strings, čārtār four strings, pančtār five strings. Sachs's book is from 1941, and the archaeological evidence available to him placed the early lutes at about 2000 BC. Discoveries since then have pushed the existence of the lute back to c. 3100 BC . Musicologist Richard Dumbrill today uses the word lute more categorically to discuss instruments that existed millennia before
3990-800: The vihuela ; their main genres were polyphonic fantasias and differencias (variations). Luys Milan (c. 1500 – after 1560) and Luys de Narváez ( fl. 1526–1549) were particularly important for their contributions to the development of lute polyphony in Spain. Finally, perhaps the most influential European lute composer was the Hungarian Bálint Bakfark ( c. 1526/30–1576), whose contrapuntal fantasias were much more difficult and tighter than those of his Western European contemporaries. Ottorino Respighi 's famous orchestral suites called Ancient Airs and Dances are drawn from various books and articles on 16th- and 17th-century lute music transcribed by
4095-417: The 16th and 17th centuries: numerous composers published collections of their music, and modern scholars have uncovered a vast number of manuscripts from the era—however, much of the music is still lost. In the second half of the 17th century lutes, vihuelas and similar instruments started losing popularity, and little music was written for the instrument after 1750. The interest in lute music was revived only in
4200-578: The 1970s while he was a guitarist in the Dutch rock band Focus . Lutenist/Composer Jozef van Wissem composed the soundtrack to the Jim Jarmusch film Only Lovers Left Alive . Lutes were in widespread use in Europe at least since the 13th century, and documents mention numerous early performers and composers. However, the earliest surviving lute music dates from the late 15th century. Lute music flourished during
4305-459: The Canadian school system, mostly on concert or tenor ukuleles, and extensive use by James Hill and J. Chalmers Doane . Whether C or D tuning should be the "standard" tuning is a matter of long and ongoing debate. There are historic and popular ukulele methods that have used each. For the concert and tenor ukuleles, both reentrant and linear C tunings are standard; linear tuning in particular
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4410-415: The G in sequence an octave lower: G 3 –C 4 –E 4 –A 4 , which is equivalent to playing the top four strings (DGBE) of a guitar with a capo on the fifth fret. Another common tuning for the soprano ukulele is the higher string-tension D tuning (or simply D tuning), A 4 –D 4 –F ♯ 4 –B 4 , one step higher than the G 4 –C 4 –E 4 –A 4 tuning. Once considered standard, this tuning
4515-574: The Neusidler family (particularly Hans Neusidler ( c. 1508/09 – 1563)) and others. During the second half of the 16th century, German tablature and German repertoire were gradually replaced by Italian and French tablature and international repertoire, respectively, and the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) effectively stopped publications for half a century. German lute music was revived much later by composers such as Esaias Reusner ( fl. 1670), however,
4620-522: The ancient world: Indian ( Gandhara and others), Greek , Egyptian (in the Middle Kingdom ), Iranian ( Elamite and others), Jewish/Israelite , Hittite , Roman , Bulgar , Turkic , Chinese , Armenian / Cilician cultures. He names among the long lutes, the pandura and the tanbur The line of short-necked lutes was further developed to the east of Mesopotamia, in Bactria and Gandhara , into
4725-470: The arts, he incorporated it into performances at royal gatherings. In the Hawaiian language the word ukulele roughly translates as 'jumping flea', perhaps because of the movement of the player's fingers. Legend attributes it to the nickname of Englishman Edward William Purvis , one of King Kalākaua's officers, because of his small size, fidgety manner, and playing expertise. One of the earliest appearances of
4830-400: The awakening of interest in historical music around 1900 and throughout the century. That revival was further boosted by the early music movement in the twentieth century. Important pioneers in lute revival were Julian Bream , Hans Neemann, Walter Gerwig, Suzanne Bloch and Diana Poulton . Lute performances are now not uncommon; there are many professional lutenists, especially in Europe where
4935-508: The back is open. The Tahitian ukulele generally has eight strings made from fishing line , tuned the same as a Hawaiian ukulele in four courses, although the middle two courses are an octave higher than its Hawaiian cousin. Inspired by the Tahitian ukulele, there is the Motu Nui variant, from France , which has just four strings made from fishing line and the hole in the back is designed to produce
5040-548: The band played a weekly early morning gig at the tiny Deluxe Cafe in downtown Wellington, which was also featured in their first music video directed by Tim Capper for their cover of the song " It's a Heartache ". The band made occasional tours of New Zealand and has performed in festivals including Womad New Zealand, Cuba Street Carnival , New Zealand International Comedy Festival , Big Day Out Auckland and arts festivals in Christchurch, Nelson, Tauranga and Taupo. The WIUO
5145-403: The body of the instrument, to allow stopping the highest-pitched courses up to a full octave higher than the open string, though these are considered anachronistic by some (though John Dowland and Thomas Robinson describe the practice of gluing wooden frets onto the soundboard). Given the choice between nylon and gut, many luthiers prefer to use gut, as it conforms more readily to the sharp angle at
5250-631: The ceiling paintings in the Palermo's royal Cappella Palatina , dedicated by the Norman King Roger II of Sicily in 1140. His Hohenstaufen grandson Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (1194–1250) continued integrating Muslims into his court, including Moorish musicians. Frederick II made visits to the Lech valley and Bavaria between 1218 and 1237 with a "Moorish Sicilian retinue". By the 14th century, lutes had spread throughout Italy and, probably because of
5355-415: The complex polyphony of de Rippe. French lute music declined during the second part of the 16th century; however, various changes to the instrument (the increase of diapason strings, new tunings, etc.) prompted an important change in style that led, during the early Baroque, to the celebrated style brisé : broken, arpeggiated textures that influenced Johann Jakob Froberger 's suites. The French Baroque school
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#17329094571435460-455: The concert size, but now the tenor size is more common for six-string taropatch ukuleles. The six-string, four-course version, has two single and two double courses, and is sometimes called a lili'u , though this name also applies to the eight-string version. Eight-string baritone taropatches exist, and 5-string tenors have also been made. Common types of ukuleles include soprano (standard ukulele), concert, tenor, and baritone. Less common are
5565-507: The country upon his father's death and introduced the instrument. Haida and his brother Katsuhiko formed the Moana Glee Club, enjoying rapid success in an environment of growing enthusiasm for Western popular music , particularly Hawaiian and jazz . During World War II , authorities banned most music from the West, but fans and players kept it alive in secret, and it resumed popularity after
5670-572: The cultural influence of the Hohenstaufen kings and emperor, based in Palermo , the lute had also made significant inroads into the German-speaking lands. By 1500, the valley and Füssen had several lute-making families, and in the next two centuries the area hosted "famous names of 16th and 17th century lutemaking". Although the major entry of the short lute was in Western Europe , leading to
5775-409: The demand. The ukulele also made inroads into early country music or old-time music parallel to the then-popular mandolin. It was played by Jimmie Rodgers and Ernest V. Stoneman , as well as by early string bands, including Cowan Powers and his Family Band , Da Costa Woltz's Southern Broadcasters, Walter Smith and Friends, The Blankenship Family, The Hillbillies, and The Hilltop Singers. From
5880-414: The edge of the fingerboard. Strings were historically made of animal gut, usually from the small intestine of sheep (sometimes in combination with metal) and are still made of gut or a synthetic substitute, with metal windings on the lower-pitched strings. Modern manufacturers make both gut and nylon strings, and both are in common use. Gut is more authentic for playing period pieces, though unfortunately it
5985-565: The ensemble with visitors launched a fad for Hawaiian-themed songs among Tin Pan Alley songwriters . The ensemble also introduced both the lap steel guitar and the ukulele into U.S. mainland popular music, where it was taken up by vaudeville performers such as Roy Smeck and Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards . On April 15, 1923, at the Rivoli Theater in New York City, Smeck appeared, playing
6090-778: The fingerboard with the left hand. "The lute is a very fragile instrument and so, although there are many surviving old lutes, very few with their original soundboards are in playable condition," which makes the Rauwolf Lute so notable. Over the course of the Baroque era, the lute was increasingly relegated to the continuo accompaniment, and was eventually superseded in that role by keyboard instruments. The lute almost fell out of use after 1800. Some sorts of lute were still used for some time in Germany, Sweden, and Ukraine. The words lute and oud possibly derive from Arabic al-ʿoud ( العود - literally means "the wood"). It may refer to
6195-549: The first ukulele makers. Two weeks after they disembarked from the SS Ravenscrag in late August 1879, the Hawaiian Gazette reported that "Madeira Islanders recently arrived here, have been delighting the people with nightly street concerts." One of the most important factors in establishing the ukulele in Hawaiian music and culture was the ardent support and promotion of the instrument by King Kalākaua . A patron of
6300-628: The higher prices. Unlike in the past, there are many types of lutes encountered today: 5-course medieval lutes, renaissance lutes of 6 to 10 courses in many pitches for solo and ensemble performance of Renaissance works, the archlute of Baroque works, 11-course lutes in d-minor tuning for 17th-century French, German and Czech music, 13/14-course d-minor tuned German Baroque Lutes for later High Baroque and Classical music, theorbo for basso continuo parts in Baroque ensembles, gallichons/ mandoras , bandoras, orpharions and others. Lutenistic practice has reached considerable heights in recent years, thanks to
6405-407: The highest pitched, so that the chanterelle is the first course , the next pair of strings is the second course , etc. Thus an 8-course Renaissance lute usually has 15 strings, and a 13-course Baroque lute has 24. The courses are tuned in unison for high and intermediate pitches, but for lower pitches one of the two strings is tuned an octave higher (the course where this split starts changed over
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#17329094571436510-408: The history of the lute). The two strings of a course are virtually always stopped and plucked together, as if a single string—but in rare cases, a piece requires that the two strings of a course be stopped or plucked separately. The tuning of a lute is a complicated issue, described in a section of its own below . The lute's design makes it extremely light for its size. The lute enjoyed a revival with
6615-506: The instrument a total of six or eight strings (primarily for greater strumming volume.) The strings themselves were originally made of catgut . Modern ukuleles use strings made from nylon polymers , synthetic gut, or fluorocarbon or wound strings composed of a (typically) nylon core wound with metal or polymers, including aluminium and silver-plated copper . Instruments with six or eight strings in four courses are often called taropatches, or taropatch ukuleles. They were once common in
6720-618: The instrument after playing it on his 1968 hit " Tiptoe Through the Tulips ". After the 1960s, the ukulele declined in popularity until the late 1990s, when interest in the instrument reawakened. During the 1990s, new manufacturers began producing ukuleles and a new generation of musicians took up the instrument. Jim Beloff set out to promote the instrument in the early 1990s and created over two dozen ukulele music books featuring modern music and classic ukulele pieces. All-time best-selling Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwo'ole helped repopularize
6825-666: The instrument vary with size and construction. Ukuleles commonly come in four sizes: soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone. Developed in the 1880s, the ukulele is based on several small, guitar -like instruments of Portuguese origin, the machete , cavaquinho , timple , and rajão , introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants from Madeira , the Azores , and Cape Verde . Three immigrants in particular, Madeiran cabinet makers Manuel Nunes, José do Espírito Santo, and Augusto Dias, are generally credited as
6930-649: The instrument, in particular with his 1993 reggae -rhythmed medley of " Over the Rainbow " and " What a Wonderful World ", used in films, television programs, and commercials. The song reached number 12 on Billboard' s Hot Digital Tracks chart the week of January 31, 2004. The creation of YouTube helped revive the popularity of the ukulele. One of the first videos to go viral was Jake Shimabukuro 's ukulele rendition of George Harrison 's " While My Guitar Gently Weeps ". The video quickly went viral , and as of September 2020, had received over 17 million views. The ukulele
7035-599: The keyboard music of Girolamo Frescobaldi . French written lute music began, as far as we know, with Pierre Attaingnant 's ( c. 1494 – c. 1551) prints, which comprised preludes, dances and intabulations. Particularly important was the Italian composer Albert de Rippe (1500–1551), who worked in France and composed polyphonic fantasias of considerable complexity. His work was published posthumously by his pupil, Guillaume de Morlaye (born c. 1510), who, however, did not pick up
7140-415: The last survived into the late 17th century. The earliest known tablatures are for a six-stringed instrument, though evidence of earlier four- and five-stringed lutes exists. Tablature notation depends on the actual instrument the music is written for. To read it, a musician must know the instrument's tuning, number of strings, etc. Renaissance and Baroque forms of lute music are similar to keyboard music of
7245-427: The late 1940s to the late 1960s, plastics manufacturer Mario Maccaferri turned out about 9 million inexpensive ukuleles. The ukulele remained popular, appearing in many jazz songs throughout the 50s, '60s, and '70s. Much of the instrument's popularity (particularly the baritone size) was cultivated by Arthur Godfrey on The Arthur Godfrey Show on television. Singer-musician Tiny Tim became closely associated with
7350-406: The lute produces a relatively quiet sound. The player of a lute is called a lutenist , lutanist or lutist , and a maker of lutes (or any similar string instrument, or violin family instruments) is referred to as a luthier . Curt Sachs defined lute in the terminology section of The History of Musical Instruments as "composed of a body, and of a neck which serves both as a handle and as
7455-415: The lute. At the end of the lute's evolution the archlute , theorbo and torban had long extensions attached to the main tuning head to provide a greater resonating length for the bass strings, and since human fingers are not long enough to stop strings across a neck wide enough to hold 14 courses, the bass strings were placed outside the fretboard, and were played open , i.e., without pressing them against
7560-431: The more ancient lutes; the " Arabic tanbūr ... faithfully preserved the outer appearance of the ancient lutes of Babylonia and Egypt ". He further categorized long lutes with a "pierced lute" and "long neck lute". The pierced lute had a neck made from a stick that pierced the body (as in the ancient Egyptian long-neck lutes, and the modern African gunbrī ). The long lute had an attached neck, and included
7665-792: The most employment is found, and new compositions for the instrument are being produced by composers. During the early days of the early music movement, many lutes were constructed by available luthiers, whose specialty was often classical guitars. Such lutes were heavily built with construction similar to that of classical guitars, with fan bracing, heavy tops, fixed frets, and lined sides, all of which are anachronistic to historical lutes. As lutherie scholarship increased, makers began constructing instruments based on historical models, which have proven lighter and more responsive instruments. Lutes built at present are invariably replicas or near copies of those surviving historical instruments that are in museums or private collections. Many are custom-built, but there
7770-485: The most recent post was from September 2020. Their MySpace page is no longer available. Ukulele The ukulele ( / ˌ juː k ə ˈ l eɪ l i / ooh-kə- LAY -lee ; from Hawaiian : ʻukulele [ˈʔukuˈlɛlɛ] ), also called a uke , is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii . It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of
7875-402: The neck at almost 90° (see image), presumably to help hold the low-tension strings firmly against the nut which, traditionally, is not glued in place but is held in place by string pressure only. The tuning pegs are simple pegs of hardwood, somewhat tapered, that are held in place by friction in holes drilled through the pegbox. As with other instruments that use friction pegs, the wood for
7980-415: The number of strings and the easy playing ability. There is also an electrically amplified variant of the ukulele. The resonator ukulele produces sound by one or more spun aluminum cones ( resonators ) instead of the wooden soundboard, giving it a distinct and louder tone. The Tahitian ukulele , another variant, is usually carved from a single piece of wood, and does not have a hollow soundbox , although
8085-511: The papal states under the Borgia pope Alexander VI who brought many Catalan musicians to Italy), where it was known as the viola da mano . By the end of the Renaissance, the number of courses had grown to ten, and during the Baroque era the number continued to grow until it reached 14 (and occasionally as many as 19). These instruments, with up to 35 strings, required innovations in the structure of
8190-455: The part of the string that is vibrating , thus producing higher or lower pitches (notes). The European lute and the modern Near-Eastern oud descend from a common ancestor via diverging evolutionary paths. The lute is used in a great variety of instrumental music from the Medieval to the late Baroque eras and was the most important instrument for secular music in the Renaissance . During
8295-503: The pegs is crucial. As the wood suffers dimensional changes through age and loss of humidity, it must retain a reasonably circular cross-section to function properly—as there are no gears or other mechanical aids for tuning the instrument. Often pegs were made from suitable fruitwoods such as European pearwood, or equally dimensionally stable analogues. Matheson, c. 1720, said, "If a lute-player has lived eighty years, he has surely spent sixty years tuning." The bridge, sometimes made of
8400-556: The periods. Intabulations of vocal works were very common, as well as various dances, some of which disappeared during the 17th century, such as the piva and the saltarello . The advent of polyphony brought about fantasias : complex, intricate pieces with much use of imitative counterpoint. The improvisatory element, present to some degree in most lute pieces, is particularly evident in the early ricercares (not imitative as their later namesakes, but completely free), as well as in numerous preludial forms: preludes, tastar de corde ("testing
8505-468: The predecessor of the Islamic , the Sino-Japanese and the European lute families. The term also refers generally to any necked string instrument having the strings running in a plane parallel to the sound table (in the Hornbostel–Sachs system). The strings are attached to pegs or posts at the end of the neck, which have some type of turning mechanism to enable the player to tighten the tension on
8610-488: The quill in favor of plucking the instrument with the fingers. The number of courses grew to six and beyond. The lute was the premier solo instrument of the sixteenth century, but continued to accompany singers as well. About 1500, many Iberian lutenists adopted vihuela de mano , a viol -shaped instrument tuned like the lute; both instruments continued in coexistence. This instrument also found its way to parts of Italy that were under Spanish domination (especially Sicily and
8715-403: The range of each instrument from the lowest standard tuning to the highest fret in the highest standard tuning. Additionally, the contrabass below aligns with the bass in the above table. One of the most common tunings for the standard or soprano ukulele is C tuning: G 4 –C 4 –E 4 –A 4 , which is often remembered by the notes in the "My dog has fleas" jingle (see sidebar). The G string
8820-467: The scale length and belly length. He further suggests the inward bend of the soundboard (the "belly scoop") is a deliberate adaptation by ancient builders to afford the lutenist's right hand more space between the strings and soundboard. Soundboard thickness varies, but generally hovers between 1.5 and 2 mm (0.06–0.08 in). Some luthiers tune the belly as they build, removing mass and adapting bracing to produce desirable sonic results. The lute belly
8925-578: The second half of the 20th century. Improvisation (making up music on the spot) was, apparently, an important aspect of lute performance, so much of the repertoire was probably never written down. Furthermore, it was only around 1500 that lute players began to transition from plectrum to plucking. That change facilitated complex polyphony, which required that they develop notation. In the next hundred years, three schools of tablature notation gradually developed: Italian (also used in Spain), German, and French. Only
9030-580: The short neck, a frontal stringholder, lateral pegs, and either four or five strings". Bactria and Gandhara became part of the Sasanian Empire (224–651). Under the Sasanians, a short almond-shaped lute from Bactria came to be called the barbat or barbud, which was developed into the later Islamic world's oud or ud . When the Moors conquered Andalusia in 711, they brought their ud or quitra along, into
9135-432: The similarity between al-ʿūd and al-ʿawda ("the return" – of bliss). Lutes are made almost entirely of wood. The soundboard is a teardrop-shaped thin flat plate of resonant wood (typically spruce ). In all lutes the soundboard has a single (sometimes triple) decorated sound hole under the strings called the rose . The sound hole is not open, but rather covered with a grille in the form of an intertwining vine or
9240-476: The sopranino (also called piccolo, bambino, or "pocket uke"), bass, and contrabass ukuleles. Other types of ukuleles include banjo ukuleles and electric ukuleles. Of the standard ukuleles, the soprano, often called "standard" in Hawaii, is the second smallest and was the original size. The concert size was developed in the 1920s as an enhanced soprano, slightly larger and louder with a deeper tone. Shortly thereafter,
9345-458: The string mass. Catlines can be quite large in diameter compared to wound nylon strings of the same pitch. They produce a bass that differs somewhat in timbre from nylon basses. The lute's strings are arranged in courses , of two strings each, though the highest-pitched course usually consists of only a single string, called the chanterelle . In later Baroque lutes, two upper courses are single. The courses are numbered sequentially, counting from
9450-400: The string or loosen the tension before playing (which respectively raise or lower the pitch of a string), so that each string is tuned to a specific pitch (or note ). The lute is plucked or strummed with one hand while the other hand "frets" (presses down) the strings on the neck's fingerboard . By pressing the strings on different places of the fingerboard, the player can shorten or lengthen
9555-405: The strings"), etc. During the 17th century keyboard and lute music went hand in hand, and by 1700 lutenists were writing suites of dances quite akin to those of keyboard composers. The lute was also used throughout its history as an ensemble instrument—most frequently in songs for voice and lute, which were particularly popular in Italy (see frottola ) and England. The earliest surviving lute music
9660-412: The tenor was created, having more volume and a deeper bass tone. The baritone (resembling a smaller tenor guitar ) was created in the 1940s, and the contrabass and bass are recent innovations (2010 and 2014, respectively). The following chart shows the range of notes of standard ukulele types. Note that the range varies with the tuning and size of the instruments. The examples shown in the chart reflect
9765-569: The term "lute" was coined. Dumbrill documented more than 3,000 years of iconographic evidence of the lutes in Mesopotamia, in his book The Archaeomusicology of the Ancient Near East . According to Dumbrill, the lute family included instruments in Mesopotamia before 3000 BC. He points to a cylinder seal as evidence; dating from about 3100 BC or earlier and now in the possession of
9870-450: The touring party up to eight members. In June 2017, the group announced they were taking a break while members pursued other projects. By January 2020, the group's website was no longer available, and by August 2021 the domain was being occupied by an Indonesian blog which appears to be about basic education. Their Facebook page remains sporadically active, with occasional posts about other ukulele related events or people. As of March 2022,
9975-623: The ukulele as an inexpensive and practical teaching instrument to foster musical literacy in the classroom. At its peak, 50,000 schoolchildren and adults learned the ukulele through the Doane program. "Ukulele in the Classroom", a revised program created by James Hill and Doane in 2008, is a staple of music education in Canada. The ukulele arrived in Japan in 1929 after Hawaiian-born Yukihiko Haida returned to
10080-713: The ukulele, in Stringed Harmony , a short film made in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process. On August 6, 1926, Smeck appeared playing the ukulele in a short film His Pastimes , made in the Vitaphone sound-on-disc process, shown with the feature film Don Juan starring John Barrymore . The ukulele soon became an icon of the Jazz Age . Like guitar, basic ukulele skills can be learned fairly easily, and this highly portable, relatively inexpensive instrument
10185-647: The ukulele. Harrison, who was a Formby fan, was a great lover of the instrument and often gave them to friends, including Tom Petty , whom he taught to play. The ukulele was popularized for a stateside audience during the Panama–Pacific International Exposition , held from spring to autumn of 1915 in San Francisco . The Hawaiian Pavilion featured a guitar and ukulele ensemble, George E. K. Awai and his Royal Hawaiian Quartet, along with ukulele maker and player Jonah Kumalae . The popularity of
10290-528: The war. In 1959, Haida founded the Nihon Ukulele Association . Japan has since become a second home for Hawaiian musicians and ukulele virtuosos. British singer and comedian George Formby was a ukulele player, though he often played a banjolele , a hybrid instrument consisting of an extended ukulele neck with a banjo resonator body. Demand surged in the new century because of its relative simplicity and portability. Another British ukulele player
10395-562: The wooden plectrum traditionally used for playing the oud, to the thin strips of wood used for the back, or to the wooden soundboard that distinguished it from similar instruments with skin-faced bodies. Many theories have been proposed for the origin of the Arabic name. Music scholar Eckhard Neubauer suggested that oud may be an Arabic borrowing from the Persian word rōd or rūd , which meant string. Another researcher, archaeomusicologist Richard J. Dumbrill , suggests that rud came from
10500-618: The word ukulele in print (in the sense of a stringed instrument) is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art 's Catalogue of the Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments of All Nations published in 1907. The catalog describes two ukuleles from Hawaii—one that is similar in size to a modern soprano ukulele, and one that is similar to a tenor (see § Types and sizes ). In the 1960s, educator J. Chalmers Doane dramatically changed school music programs across Canada , using
10605-465: Was Tony Award -winner Tessie O'Shea , who appeared in numerous movies and stage shows, and was twice on The Ed Sullivan Show , including the night The Beatles debuted in 1964. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain tours globally, and the George Formby Society , established in 1961, continues to hold regular conventions. George Harrison , Paul McCartney , and John Lennon all played
10710-405: Was commonly used during the Hawaiian music boom of the early 20th century, and is often seen in sheet music from this period, as well as in many method books through the 1980s. D tuning is said by some to bring out a sweeter tone in some ukuleles, generally smaller ones. D tuning with a low fourth string, A 3 –D 4 –F ♯ 4 –B 4 , is sometimes called "Canadian tuning" after its use in
10815-492: Was documented in a radio diary for the public radio station Radio New Zealand National by producer and band member Gemma Gracewood. The band's musical leader Age Pryor has producing credits on all of the recordings. In January 2016 the WIUO toured the United States for the third time, but without several original members – Nigel Collins, Sam Auger, Gemma Gracewood, Carmel Russell and Dan Yeabsley. Bass player Hal Strewe and singer/ukelele player Deanne Krieg stepped in to bring
10920-462: Was popular with amateur players throughout the 1920s, as evidenced by the introduction of uke chord tablature into the published sheet music for popular songs of the time (a role that was supplanted by the guitar in the early years of rock and roll ). A number of mainland-based stringed-instrument manufacturers, among them Regal , Harmony , and especially Martin , added ukulele, banjolele, and tiple lines to their production to take advantage of
11025-454: Was probably the lute's primary function in the Middle Ages, but very little music securely attributable to the lute survives from before 1500. Medieval and early-Renaissance song accompaniments were probably mostly improvised, hence the lack of written records. In the last few decades of the fifteenth century, to play Renaissance polyphony on a single instrument, lutenists gradually abandoned
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