Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

tuning fork

(Encyclopedia)tuning fork, steel instrument in the shape of a U with a short handle. When struck it produces an almost pure tone, retaining its pitch over a long period of time; thus it is a valuable aid in tuning ...

Hamamatsu

(Encyclopedia)Hamamatsu hämäˈmätso͞o [key], city, Shizuoka prefecture, S central Honshu, Japan. An important ...

clarinet

(Encyclopedia)clarinet, musical wind instrument of cylindrical bore employing a single reed. The clarinet family comprises all single-reed instruments, including the saxophone. The predecessor of the modern clarine...

tuba

(Encyclopedia)tuba to͞oˈbə [key] [Lat.,=trumpet], valved brass wind musical instrument of wide conical bore. The term tuba is applied rather loosely to any low-pitched brass instrument other than the trombone; s...

toccata

(Encyclopedia)toccata təkäˈtə, tō– [key] [Ital.,=touched], type of musical composition. Early examples were written for various instruments, but the best-known form of toccata originated about the beginning ...

Cincinnati Art Museum

(Encyclopedia)Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1877 by the Women's Art Museum Association, the museum opened in 1886. Its collections contain examples spanning 3,000 years of artistic production....

alto

(Encyclopedia)alto, singing voice the range of which is lower than the soprano by the interval of a fifth. More generally, the term refers to the register in which this voice sings, i.e., the second highest part in...

zither

(Encyclopedia)zither zĭthˈər [key], stringed musical instrument, derived from the psaltery and the dulcimer. It has a flat sound box over which are stretched from 30 to 45 strings; these are plucked with the fin...

Shimizu

(Encyclopedia)Shimizu shĭmēˈzo͞o [key], city (1990 pop. 241,523), Shizuoka prefecture, E central Honshu, Japan, on Suruga Bay. A port and fishing center, it exports tea, oranges, and canned food. Shimizu produc...

Westerly

(Encyclopedia)Westerly, town (1990 pop. 21,605), Washington co., extreme SW R.I., between the Pawcatuck River and Block Island Sound; inc. 1669. Formerly important industries include textile manufacturing (dating f...