Music Technology & Sports Junction

The RUDRA VEENA is a large plucked string instrument used in Hindustani classical music, one of major types of veena played in Indian classical music.

It has a long tubular body with a length ranging between 54 and 62 inches made of wood or bamboo. Two large-sized, round resonators, made of dried and hollowed gourds, are attached under the tube. Twenty-four brass-fitted raised wooden frets are fixed on the tube with the help of wax. There are 4 main strings and 3 chikari strings.

As Rudra is a name for the Hindu god Shiva, rudra vina literally means "the veena dear to Shiva".

It is an ancient instrument rarely played today. The rudra veena declined in popularity in part due to the introduction of thesurbahar in the early 19th century which allowed sitarists to more easily present the alap sections of slow dhrupad-style ragas. In 20th century, Zia Mohiuddin Dagar modified and redesigned the rudra veena to use bigger gourds, a thicker tube (dandi), thicker steel playing strings (0.45-0.47 mm) and closed javari that. This produced a soft and deep sound when plucked without the use of any plectrum (mizrab). The instrument was further modified as the shruti veena by Lalmani Misra to establish Bharat'sShadja Gram and obtain the 22 shrutis

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The VICHITRA VEENA is a plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music. It is similar to the Carnaticgottuvadhyam (chitra vina). It has no frets and is played with a slide.

The Vichitra Veena is the modern form of ancient Ektantri Veena. It is made of a broad, fretless, horizontal arm or crossbar (dand) around three feet long and six inches wide, with two large resonating gourds (tumba), which are inlaid with ivory and attached underneath at either end. The narrow ends of the instrument are fashioned into peacock heads, the national bird of India.

DOLLU is an Indian membranophone with a big size and heavy weight, with a head made of either sheep or goat skins. It is fit tightly to a frame made of honne or mango tree wood. Dollu Kunitha is popular with the Kuruba Gowdas of 'Beereshwara Sampradaya'. The size and weight of the instrument necessitates that only men carry it and perform.

The DABAKAN is a single-headed Philippine drum, primarily used as a supportive instrument in the kulintang ensemble. Among the five main kulintang instruments, it is the only non-gong element of the Maguindanao ensemble.

The CHENDA is a cylindrical percussion instrument used widely in the state of Kerala, and Tulu Nadu ofKarnataka State in India. In Tulu Nadu it is known as chande.

A Chenda is a cylindrical wooden drum, and has a length of two feet and a diameter of one foot. Both ends are covered (usually with animal's skin) with the "Chenda Vattam". The animal skin is usually of a cow (Heifer), in a traditional Chenda other skins are not used (skin of bull, ox etc. are not used), to have a quality sound the skin from the abdominal part of the cow is taken. The Chenda is suspended from the drummers neck so that it hangs vertically. Though both sides can be used for playing, only one is actually beaten. Using two sticks, the drummer strikes the upper parchment.

This instrument is famous for its loud and rigid sound. A Chenda has two sides, the left side called "Edamthala" (Left Head) and the right side "Valamthala"(Right Head). The "Edamthala" is made of only one/two layer of cow skin and the "Valamthala" will have a five/seven layer skin, so as to have a bass sound. The skin are dried under shadow and fastened on wooden rings (Chenda Vattam), made of the trunk of a locally available palm tree (Eeranpana) or bamboo, using a gum prepared from the seed of a tree called "pananchi maram". The circular frame is kept in a vessel and boiled for a whole long day and then bended in the form of circle and drying it up. The body of the Chenda which is 2 ft 36 inches diameter and 1.5 inches thickness is made of the soft wood of the jackfruit tree (Varikka Plavu). The thickness is again reduced by 0.25 inches, at simultaneous points separated by 4 inches. This is done in order to produce highly resonating sound. Only the wooden rings with the skin (Chenda Vattam) is replaced once the quality of the sound is not up to the mark. For regular Chenda artistes an average of 15 rings are required every year.

The Chenda is mainly played in Hindu temple festivals and as an accompaniment in the religious art forms of Kerala. The chenda is used as an accompaniment for Kathakali, Koodiyattam, Kannyar Kali, Theyyam and among many forms of dances and rituals in Kerala. It is also played in a dance-drama called Yakshagana (Tenku Thittu) which is popular in Tulu Nadu of Karnataka. There is a variant of this instrument used in northern school of Yakshagana called Chande. It is traditionally considered to be an Asura Vadyam((demonic instrument)) which means it cannot go in harmony. Chenda is an unavoidable musical instrument in all form of cultural activities in Kerala.

In Kerala the craft of making Chenda is now associated with some few "Perumkollan" (smith) families at Peruvembu, Nemmara,Lakkidi, Vellarkad and Valappaya villages. Many famous Chenda percussionist in Kerala make there Chendas from Vellarkad village for it is famous for the quality of the instrument.

The boobam is a percussion instrument of the membranophone family consisting of an array of tubes with membranes stretched on one end, the other end open.^[1] The tuning depends partly on the tension on the membrane but mostly on the length of the tube.

The boobams are probably an ancestor of the modern octoban.

The tubes were originally made from lengths of giant bamboo although pipes of wood, plastic, metal, and cardboard also have been used. The membranes were originally goat or calfskin but most are now plastic.

The name BOOBAM was coined in Mill Valley, California in 1954 and was described as "bamboo spelled sideways".

In 1948 Harry Partch, an American composer, developed a system of music that depended on the building of various exotic instruments that could play non-tempered scales. Some of them were based on Greek models and some on more primitive instruments like marimbas. Musician David Buck Wheat and his roommate in Sausalito, California, Bill Loughborough, a musician and electronic engineer, built such instruments for Partch as a marimba which was hit with a large soft mallet over the chamber. This device delivered low-cycled tones that were barely audible. Loughborough had scientific instruments borrowed from the Navy Yard, and using an oscilloscope and audio oscillator he and Wheat were able to work on a new technical level that had not been possible before.

Together they moved onto a Sausalito barge with Jak Simpson who in 1954 founded a business named the "BooBam Bamboo Drum Company". Buckwheat was working on the President Lines as a bass player, sailing to the Orient. In the Philippines he would buy large diameter giant bamboo and bring back sticks on the ship which they used to build the Pacific Island bamboo drums. Jazz groups were fascinated and added the boobams to their percussion sections. In 1956 Chet Baker's Ensemble used them on theToday Show. Their unique sound inspired Nick Reynolds of the Kingston Trio who eagerly included them on their tour with his percussion solo being featured on "O Ken Karanga" on the album College Concert recorded at UCLA in 1962.

The MARIMBA is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The bars are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural bars (similar to a piano) to aid the performer both visually and physically. This instrument is a type ofxylophone, but with broader and lower tonal range and resonators.

The chromatic marimba was developed in southern Mexico (state of Chiapas) from the diatonic marimba, an instrument whose ancestor was a type of balafon that African slaves built in Central America.

Modern uses of the marimba include solo performances, woodwind and brass ensembles, marimbaconcertos, jazz ensembles, marching band (front ensembles), drum and bugle corps, and orchestral compositions. Contemporary composers have utilized the unique sound of the marimba more and more in recent years.

HANDPAN is an expression describing a group of musical instruments resulting from a growing worldwide interest in the Hang, an instrument invented and built by the Swiss company PANArt Hangbau AG.

The MADDALE is a percussion instrument from Karnataka, India. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in aYakshagana ensemble along with Chande. Maddale used in Yakshagana looks similar to mridangam but is markedly different in structure, acustics, playing techniques and the rhythm system (Yakshagana Tala). The traditional variety of maddale is shorter and high pitched. Maddale is available in more than three different variations.

The THAVIL  or TAVIL is a barrel shaped drum from South India. It is used in temple, folk and Carnatic music, often accompanying the nadaswaram. Thethavil and the nadaswaram are essential components of traditional festivals and ceremonies in South India.

In folk music contexts, a pair of wider, slimmer sticks is sometimes used. Thanjavur is famous for thavil, so called Thanjavur Thavil. InKollywood Filmi songs thavils are mostly used, Notable movies: "Thillaanaa Mohanambal", "Paruthiveeran", "Karagattakaran".

OCTOBANS, also known as tube toms, are deep, small diameter, single-head tom-toms. Octobans were originally grouped in melodically-tuned sets of eight, hence the name, in reference to octave and from octo meaning "eight".

Part sets of two or four drums or an individual drum or octo are common additions to a drum kit.

Complete and half sets of octobans are commonly mounted in clusters of four, in a square pattern. Mounts for four drums in a straight line, dual mounts for two drums, and individual mounts are all also reasonably common. In a drum kit, octobans are most commonly placed to the left of a right-handed drummer, above the hi-hats.

The NAGARA is a folk drum with double head that is played on one side with the bare hands. It is used in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and other Caucasus regions. It has different names, according to the territory in which it is played. This membranophone is different from the dhol and nagara of India.

A BASS DRUM is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch.

Bass drums are percussion instruments and vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished.

The bass drum was imported from the Middle East

The MOHAN VEENA is a stringed musical instrument used in Indian classical music. It derives its name from its inventor, the Grammy Award winning Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt who resides in Jaipur India.

The instrument is actually a modified Archtop guitar and consists of 20 strings viz . three melody strings, five drone strings strung to the peghead, and twelve sympathetic strings strung to the tuners mounted on the side of the neck.^[1] A gourd (or the tumba) is screwed into the back of the neck for improved sound quality and vibration. It is held in the lap like a slide guitar. The Mohan Veena is under tremendous tension; the total strings pull to be in excess of 500 pounds.^[2]

Some of the popular performers include its inventor, Grammy Award winner Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Pandit Salil Bhatt ( who went on to inventing the Satvik Veena, a derivative of his father's Mohan Veena) and Pandit Satish Khanwalkar.

The VEENA  is an Indian plucked stringed instrument used mainly in Indian classical music. It derives its distinctive timbre and resonance from sympathetic strings, bridge design, a long hollow neck and a gourd resonatingchamber. The earliest veenaa was an instrument of the harp type whose type survives in the Burmese harp, whereas in the last centuries and nowadays, the word has tended to be applied to instruments of the lute type or even, recently, to certain kinds of guitars developed in India. The more popular, sitar is believed to have been derived from the veena, an ancient Indian instrument, which was modified by a Mughal court musician to conform with the tastes of his Persian patrons and named after a Persian instrument called the setar (meaning "three strings"). It subsequently underwent many changes, and the modern sitar evolved in 18th century India. A person who plays a veena is called a vainika.

The KANJIRA a South Indian frame drum, is an instrument of the tambourine family. It is used primarily in concerts of Carnatic music (South Indian classical music) as a supporting instrument for the mridangam. The kanjira have been used since 1880's, and was added to classical concerts during the 1930s.

Similar to the Western tambourine, it consists of a circular frame made of the wood of the jackfruit tree, between 7 and 9 inches in width and 2 to 4 inches in depth. It is covered on one side with a drumhead made of monitor lizard skin (specifically theBengal monitor, Varanus bengalensis, now an endangered species in India), while the other side is left open. The frame has a single slit which contain three to four small metal discs—often old coins—that jingle when the kanjira is played.

The kanjira is a relatively difficult Indian drum to play, especially in South Indian Carnatic music, for reasons including the complexity of the percussion patterns used in Indian music. It is normally played with the palm and fingers of the right hand, while the left hand supports the drum. The fingertips of the left hand can be used to bend the pitch by applying pressure near the outer rim. It is not tuned to any particular pitch, unlike the mridangam or the ghatam.

Normally, withoutdfg g, it has a very high pitched sound. To get a good bass sound, the performer reduces the tension of the drumhead by sprinkling water on the inside of the instrument. This process may have to be repeated during a concert to maintain a good sound. However, if the instrument is too moist, it will have a dead tone, requiring 5–10 minutes to dry. Tone is also affected by external temperature and moisture conditions. Performers typically carry a couple of kanjiras so that they can keep at least one in perfectly tuned condition at any given time.

The GOBLET DRUM (also chalice drum, darbuka, debuka, Kratom, doumbek, dumbec, or tablah) , is a single head membranophone with a goblet shaped body used mostly in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. The African djembe-wassolou is also a goblet membranophone. This article focuses on the Eastern and North-Africangoblet drum.

The HELICON is a brass musical instrument in the tuba family. Most are B♭ basses, but they also commonly exist in E♭, F, and tenor sizes, as well as other types to a lesser extent.

The sousaphone is a specialized version of the helicon. The original sousaphone produced by the J.W. Pepper Company had an upright bell, hence the nickname "raincatcher". Later versions differ primarily in two ways: a bell shaped to face forwards with a larger flare, and a bell diameter of 22 to 28 inches, and a "goose-neck" leadpipe which offers greater adjustability of mouthpiece position at the expense of tone quality, while both instruments have circular shapes and are designed to be worn on the shoulder.

The instrument is very popular in Central and Eastern Europe and is a common choice for military fanfares. It is used by Ed Neuhauser of the traditional folk band Bellowhead.

Its range is two octaves below that of a cornet.

The HARP is a multi-string instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones (stringed instruments) and has its own sub category (the harps). All harps have a neck, resonator and strings. Some, known as frame harps, also have a pillar; those without the pillar are referred to as open harps. Depending on its size, which varies, a harp may be played while held in the lap or while it stands on a table, or on the floor. Harp strings may be made of nylon, gut, wire or silk. On smaller harps, like the folk harp, the core string material will typically be the same for all strings on a given harp. Larger instruments like the modern concert harp mix string materials to attain their extended ranges. A person who plays the harp is called a harpist or harper. Folk musicians often use the term "harper", whereas classical musicians use "harpist".

Various types of harps are found in Africa, Europe, North and South America and in Asia. In antiquity, harps and the closely related lyres were very prominent in nearly all cultures. The harp also was predominant with medieval bards, troubadors and minnesingers throughout the Spanish Empire. Harps continued to grow in popularity due to improvements in their design and construction through the beginning of the 20th century.