
What kind of instrument is a lute?
A lute (/ljuːt/) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (either fretted or unfretted) and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. More specifically, the term "lute" can refer to an instrument from the family of European lutes.
What are the musical instruments of Mindanao?
Muslim Mindanao Instruments. It is the only stringed instrument among the Maguindanao people, and one of several among other groups such as the Maranao and Manobo. It is four to six feet long with nine frets made of hardened beeswax. The instrument is carved out of solid soft wood such as that from the jackfruit tree.
What is the history of the European lute?
The history of the European lute is rooted in a mythology and symbolism that stems back to ancient Greece. The Greek lyre held an esteemed position among the instruments at the time, which later inspired the musicians, philosophers, and theorists of the Renaissance and Baroque eras.
What is the history of the lute in Pakistan?
Lute in Pakistan, Gandhara, probably Butkara in Swat, Kushan Period (1st century-320) Gandhara Lute, Pakistan, Swat Valley, Gandhara region, 4th-5th century

What is lute in instrument?
lute, in music, any plucked or bowed chordophone whose strings are parallel to its belly, or soundboard, and run along a distinct neck or pole. In this sense, instruments such as the Indian sitar are classified as lutes.
What are lute instruments examples?
The lute family includes not only short-necked plucked lutes such as the lute, oud, pipa, guitar, citole, gittern, mandore, rubab, and gambus and long-necked plucked lutes such as banjo, tanbura, bağlama, bouzouki, veena, theorbo, archlute, pandura, sitar, tanbur, setar, but also bowed instruments such as the yaylı ...
What is the kudyapi instrument?
The kutiyapi, or kudyapi, is a Philippine two-stringed, fretted boat-lute. It is four to six feet long with nine frets made of hardened beeswax. The instrument is carved out of solid soft wood such as that from the jackfruit tree.
What part of the Mindanao culture is the boat lute?
On the island of Mindanao, aside from the Islamic Maguindanaon and Maranao, boat lutes can be especially found among the peoples ofthe Manobo language family (Bukidnon, Talaandig, Higaonon, Matigsalug, Tigwa and Ata Manobo, Tagakaulo, Agusan Manobo, Bagobo, Dibabawon, Mangguangan, Tasaday and Blit Manobo) as well as ...
What classification of instrument is lute?
String instrumentPlucked string instrumentLute/Instrument family
Is guitar a lute?
The most obvious difference between the lute and the guitar is the pear-shaped body of the lute, which is produced by gluing ribs of wood together and then gluing the soundboard on top.
Is kudyapi a solo instrument?
Among the Maguindanaoan, the 2-string kudyapi is played as solo instrument by musicians associated with the entourage of Datu or Sultan. The kudyapi is a respected instrument among the Maranao.
Why is kudyapi also called a boat lute?
These lutes are made from wood and have a slender body shaped like a boat and a long neck usually carved to resemble an animal or a mythical creature. The instrument is referred to by many names with kutyapi and kudlong as the most common.
What is the instrument of kulintang?
bronze gongsThe main melodic instrument, called the kulintang, consists of eight knobbed bronze gongs that are graduated in pitch. It sits on a wooden stand called an antangan. Each gong is supported by thin cords attached to the antangan, to allow the sound to resonate.
What is the origin of kudyapi?
This instrument was made in Palawan, a group of islands forming the western part of the Visayan Archipeligo of the Philippines, in Southeast Asia. It is thought to have been about 50 years old at the time of donation so was possibly made between 1940-1950.
What is classification of kudyapi?
Classification. Chordophone, two stringed boat lute. Description. Two stringed lute made of wood, one string for the melody, one for the drone. Eight frets originally held in place placed on the neck of the lute by a sticky rubbery substance, propolis, produced by honey bees to repair damages and openings in the hive.
How is the lute played?
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 the part of the string that is vibrating, thus producing higher or lower pitches (notes).
Is a mandolin a lute?
mandolin, also spelled mandoline, small stringed musical instrument in the lute family. It evolved in the 18th century in Italy and Germany from the 16th-century mandora.
What is a lute player called?
You might also see a lute player at a Renaissance Faire. The wooden body of a lute is very round, while the front is flat with strings extending up the long neck to frets, like a ukulele or a guitar. Lute players are called luthiers, and they play mainly by plucking the strings, rather than strumming them.
What's the difference between a lute and a lyre?
Lyres have a fretted neck, while lutes do not: on lyres and lutes with necks, you will find frets (small metal strips along the instrument). The lyre is also more closely related to harp than to lute. Lyres don't have a plectrum, so they are played with the fingers while lutes use a pick made from quill or leather.
What kind of instrument is a lyre?
stringed musical instrumentlyre, stringed musical instrument having a yoke, or two arms and a crossbar, projecting out from and level with the body. The strings run from a tailpiece on the bottom or front of the instrument to the crossbar.
What is lute music?
Lute music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods falls generally into one of five broad categories: free-form pieces, either written down or improvised, dance pieces, transcriptions of vocal pieces, song accompaniments, and ensemble music.
What is a lute?
The lute is a stringed musical instrument plucked with the fingers or a plectrum (pick). Widely recognizable for its round shape and softness of tone, it originally evolved from the Middle Eastern oud, was brought to Europe through Spain in the 8th and 9th centuries, and was later heard throughout Europe from about the twelfth century CE until well into the eighteenth century. After a period of disuse lasting more than a hundred years, interest in it slowly revived during the twentieth century, and is extending well into the twenty-first. Visit our YouTube page to hear the lute in action!
How do you connect a lute to a soundboard?
The bridge of a lute is glued to the soundboard . There are small holes or slots drilled through it at carefully spaced intervals to allow the strings to be tied to it.
How are lute strings tuned?
The strings are tied through the bridge and stretched along a neck, across a fingerboard which is fitted with a number of tied frets, over a nut and into one or more pegboxes, where they are tuned by adjusting the tension. The strings are stopped or fretted with one hand while plucked with the other. On most lutes, the strings are in pairs, except for the highest-pitched string, known as the chanterelle, or the top two strings on later (Baroque) instruments, although on a theorbo or chitarrone all the strings may be single. Each single string or pair of strings is called a course. The pair of strings within a course may be tuned to the same pitch (unison), but the pairs in the lower-pitched courses are often tuned an octave apart. The upper courses are normally tuned with the interval of a fourth or third between them, but on instruments with more than six courses, those courses below the first six may be tuned stepwise.
Why are lute intabulations called intabulations?
They are frequently called intabulations because the vocal parts were written in a unique notation for the lute called tablature, which can be played conveniently by a single player. The vocal lines might be transcribed literally, but more commonly they were ornamented and altered to take into account the capabilities and limitations of the lute. As the style of vocal writing changed to a more homophonic model, intabulations vanished from the repertory of lutenists.
How many strings are in a medieval lute?
During the 500-year period of its historical popularity, the European lute underwent a considerable evolution. No instruments have survived that were built in Europe during the Middle Ages, but a certain amount of information can be obtained from paintings, sculpture, and written descriptions from that time. It is likely that most lutes during that period were relatively small and were plucked with a quill or plectrum. A typical medieval lute has 4 courses —single strings or a pairs of strings, usually tuned in unison or octaves, plucked as one single string. Attempts at reconstructing medieval lutes necessarily involve a significant amount of speculation, as do performances of music of that period.
Why are there two pegboxes on a lute?
This came about due to the inherent deficiency in the tone quality of relatively short gut strings that were tuned to these low pitches. The modification was initiated in Italy, where a large lute made with this long neck extension was given the name chitarrone , or tiorba, the latter of which was adapted to the English term “theorbo.” A related instrument, the archlute, has a shorter neck extension while retaining the double stringing and the tuning scheme of the Renaissance lute.
Who made the lute?
By 1600 the great Bolognese and Venetian schools of lute makers had arisen, including Laux and Sigismond Maler, Hans Frei, Nikolaus Schonfeld, and the Tieffenbruckers. By the fine workmanship and tonal proportions of their instruments, they contributed much to the popularity of the lute and paved the way for its extensive and noble literature of solo music (fantasias, dance movements, chanson arrangements), song accompaniments, and consort music by such composers as Luis Milán and John Dowland.
What is the shape of a European lute?
Like the ʿūd, the European lute has a deep, pear-shaped body, a neck with a bent-back pegbox, and strings hitched to a tension, or guitar-type, bridge glued to the instrument’s belly. European lutes have a large, circular sound hole cut into the belly and ornamented with a perforated rose carved from the belly’s wood. Britannica Quiz.
How many strings are in a lute?
The earliest European lutes followed the Arab instruments in having four strings plucked with a quill plectrum. By the mid-14th century the strings had become pairs, or courses. During the 15th century the plectrum was abandoned in favour of playing with the fingers, movable gut frets were added to the fingerboard, and the instrument acquired a fifth course. By the 16th century the classic form of the lute was established, with its six courses of strings (the top course a single string) tuned to G–c–f–a–d′–g′, beginning with the second G below middle C. Playing technique was systematized, and the music was written in tablature (a system of notation in which a staff of horizontal lines represented the courses of the lute), and letters or figures placed on the lines denoted the fret to be stopped and the strings to be plucked by the right hand.
What is a bowed lute?
In Europe, lute refers to a plucked stringed musical instrument popular in the 16th and 17th centuries.
What instruments were modified in the 1600s?
Such modified instruments were called archlutes and included the chitarrone and the theorbo.
What is the most widely distributed type of stringed instrument in the world?
Probably the most widely distributed type of stringed instrument in the world is the lute (the word is used here to designate the family and not solely the lute of Renaissance Europe). The characteristic structure consists of an enclosed sound chamber, or resonator, with…
Where did the plucked lute come from?
The first surviving evidence of the existence of the plucked lute comes from Mesopotamia and Egypt. One of the earliest Babylonian delineations ( c. 2500 bce) shows a shepherd with a long-necked, small-bodied lute; this instrument, which was likely skin-bellied, had a rounded back that…
How many frets does a Maguindanao have?
It is four to six feet long with nine frets made of hardened beeswax. The instrument is carved out of solid soft wood such as that from the jackfruit tree. 5.
What is the name of the drum used in the Hajj?
Kulintang music also accompanies ceremonies marking significant life events, such as weddings and returnees from the Hajj. 2. DABAKAN ~ is a single-headed Philippine drum, primarily used as a supportive instrument in the kulintang ensemble.
What is the name of the music composed of gongs?
1. KULINTANG ~ is a modern term for an ancient instrumental form of music composed on a row of small, horizontally-laid gongs that function melodically, accompanied by larger, suspended gongs and drums. Kulintang music generally could be found as the social entertainment at a host of different occasions.
What is a Kubing harp?
KUBING ~ is a type of Philippine jew harp from bamboo found among the Maguindanaon and other Muslim and non-Muslim tribes in the Philippines and Indonesia.The kubing is traditionally considered an intimate instrument, usually used as communication between family or a loved one in close quarters.
What is the lute instrument?
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, the lute produces a relatively quiet sound.
What is the sound of a lute?
As a small instrument, 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 .
How many strings are in a lute?
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.
How many different lute sizes were there?
There were several sizes, and by the end of the Renaissance, seven different sizes (up to the great octave bass) are documented. Song accompaniment was probably the lute's primary function in the Middle Ages, but very little music securely attributable to the lute survives from the era before 1500.
What instruments were used in the Renaissance?
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 the Baroque music era, the lute was used as one of the instruments which played the basso continuo accompaniment parts.
How does the lute work?
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 the part of the string that is vibrating, thus producing higher or lower pitches (notes).
When was the lute painted?
Orazio Gentileschi 's young lutenist, painted c. 1626, plays a 10-course lute, typical of the time from around 1600 through the 1630s. Lutes were in widespread use in Europe at least since the 13th century, and documents mention numerous early performers and composers.

Composers and Repertory
Anatomy of The Lute
- The lute is perhaps most notable for its deeply rounded, ovoid body fabricated out of thin strips of wood glued together edgewise. The body is closed by a wooden soundboard or table to which the bridge is glued. The strings are tied through the bridge and stretched along a neck, across a fingerboard which is fitted with a number of tied frets, over...
Related Instruments
- In the field of organology, the systematic study of musical instruments, the term “lute” is broader and more generic and includes, for example, the Chinese p’i-p’a and Japanese biwa, the Arabic ’oud, and gourd-based instruments of sub-Saharan Africa. The activities of the Lute Society of Americafocus primarily on the historical European lute and its music, but there is also considera…
Bibliography
- Smith, Douglas Alton, A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance.The Lute Society of America, Inc. (2002) ISBN: 0-9714071-0-X
- Lundberg, Robert, Historical Lute Construction.Guild of American Luthiers, Tacoma WA (2002)
- Spring, Matthew, The Lute in Britain.Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York (2001) ISBN: 0-19-816620-6
- Smith, Douglas Alton, A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance.The Lute Society of America, Inc. (2002) ISBN: 0-9714071-0-X
- Lundberg, Robert, Historical Lute Construction.Guild of American Luthiers, Tacoma WA (2002)
- Spring, Matthew, The Lute in Britain.Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York (2001) ISBN: 0-19-816620-6
- Luths et Luthistes en Occident.Cité de la Musique, Paris (1999) ISBN: 2-906460-98-2