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cittern

(Encyclopedia)cittern sĭtˈərn [key], stringed musical instrument of the guitar family having an oval body, a flat back, and a fretted neck. Its strings, made of wire and varying in number, were plucked. It was f...

Segovia, Andrés

(Encyclopedia)Segovia, Andrés ändrāsˈ sāgōˈvyä [key], 1893–1987, Spanish guitarist. Segovia studied at the Granada Musical Institute. He is famous for his transcriptions of early contrapuntal music, which...

Barrère, Georges

(Encyclopedia)Barrère, Georges zhôrzh bärĕrˈ [key], 1876–1944, French-American flutist and conductor, grad. Paris Conservatory, 1895. In Paris he was solo flutist (1897–1905) of the Colonne Concerts and th...

harp

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Harp harp, stringed musical instrument of ancient origin, the strings of which are plucked with the fingers. Harps were found in paintings from the 13th cent. b.c. at Thebes. In different form...

harpsichord

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Harpsichord harpsichord, stringed musical instrument played from a keyboard. Its strings, two or more to a note, are plucked by quills or jacks. The harpsichord originated in the 14th cent. an...

guitar

(Encyclopedia)guitar, musical instrument related to the lute, modern guitars normally having six strings that are plucked with the fingers or strummed with a pick. Earlier versions had pairs of strings like the lut...

trombone

(Encyclopedia)trombone [Ital.,=large trumpet], brass wind musical instrument of cylindrical bore, twice bent on itself, having a sliding section that lengthens or shortens it and thus regulates the pitch. The desce...

bagpipe

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Scottish bagpipe bagpipe, musical instrument whose ancient origin was probably in Mesopotamia from which it was carried east and west by Celtic migrations. It was used in ancient Greece and Ro...

mandolin

(Encyclopedia)mandolin mănˌdəlĭnˈ, mănˈdəlĭnˌ [key], musical instrument of the lute family, with a half-pear-shaped body, a fretted neck, and a variable number of strings, plucked with the fingers or with...

xylophone

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Xylophone xylophone zīˈləfōn [key] [Gr.,=wood sound], musical instrument having graduated wooden slabs that are struck by the player with small, hard mallets. The slabs are usually arrange...