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| String instrument | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Kopanka, Ghiola, Kasnak, chicpeo[citation needed] |
| Hornbostel-Sachs classification | 321.21-71 (Bowl lyre sounded by a bow) |
The gadulka (Bulgarian: Гъдулка) is a traditional Bulgarian bowed string instrument. Alternate spellings are "gudulka" and "g'dulka". It is a descendant of the Hudok or Gudok. Its name comes from a root meaning "to make noise, hum or buzz". The gadulka is an integral part of Bulgarian traditional instrumental ensembles, commonly played in the context of dance music. The Russian gudok, meanwhile, ceased to exist as a folk instrument for several centuries. All present instruments are replicas, based on several parts of gudoks found in the Novgorod excavations. There have been several attempts to revive the gudok in music. Borodin's opera Prince Igor contains a "Gudok Player's Song", which is an artistic reconstruction of how the gudok may have sounded.
The gadulka commonly has three (occasionally four) main strings with up to ten sympathetic resonating strings underneath, although there is a smaller variant of the instrument in the Dobrudja region with no sympathetic strings at all. Only the main melodic strings are touched by the player's fingers and the strings are never pressed all the way down to touch the neck. The gadulka is held vertically, with the bow held perpendicular in an under-hand hold.
One possible origin of the Gadulka is the lira, the bowed Byzantine instrument of the 9th century AD and ancestor of most European bowed instruments. Similar bowed instruments and lira descendants have continued to be played in the Mediterranean and the Balkans until the present day, for example the Lira Calabrese of Calabria, Italy; the lyra of Crete and the Dodecanese, Greece; and the Armudî kemençe in Istanbul, Turkey.
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The body and neck of the instrument are carved out of one piece of wood, the body forming a bowl or gourd like a lute. The top (soundboard), of straight-grained softwood is also carved, with a shallower arch. The overall construction is quite heavy compared to, say, a violin, though some gadulkas are exquisitely built. (The instrument generally lacks any real decoration or ornamentation, apart from the design of the peghead.) The bridge, placed between the two roughly "D"-shaped soundholes, has one foot placed on the top, while the other foot rests on top of the soundpost which contacts the inside of the back. The vibration of the strings is thus directly transferred to both the top and back of the instrument.
Unlike many other stringed instruments, there is no nut at the top of the strings: the strings are simply stretched between a tuning peg at the top and the tailpiece at the bottom, passing over the bridge (the playing strings) or through holes in the bridge (the sympathetics). The tailpiece is typically made out of bone, and secured to the carved projecting "endpin" by stout steel wire. The endpin also serves to hold the bottom of the instrument to a strap or belt worn by the player.
Gadulka strings are steel, either plain in the smaller gauges or wound with steel or bronze in the larger ones; they are basically guitar strings. The strings are secured to the tailpiece by their ball ends!
While various tunings are (and have been) used, the standard tuning for the gadulka is A-E-A for the three playing strings; the sympathetics (resonating strings) are tuned chromatically to cover all notes besides A and E (depending on the number of sympathetics).
A gudok (also hudok; [Russian: гудок] [Ukrainian: гудок]) is an ancient Eastern Slavic string musical instrument, played with a bow. A gudok usually had three strings, two of them tuned in unison and played as a drone, the third tuned a fifth higher. All three strings were in the same plane at the bridge, so that a bow could make them all sound simultaneously. Sometimes the gudok also had several sympathetic strings (up to eight) under the sounding board. These made the gudok's sound warm and rich.
The player held the gudok on his lap, like a cello or viola da gamba. It was also possible to play the gudok while standing and even while dancing, which made it popular among skomorokhs. Initially in the 12th century (and probably before), the gudok didn't have a real neck for pressing strings. This suggests that it was played by stopping the strings from the side with fingernails (similarly to the Byzantine lyra), rather than pressing strings onto the instrument's neck. Later in the 14th century some modifications of the gudok had a real neck for pressing strings. This modification was not very useful, however, since the shape of this instrument was rather specific. A real fingerboard was an obvious borrowing from the fiddle.
The hudok (Ukrainian: Гудок) is the ancient Ukrainian instrument. It is thought that the tuning of the instrument contained a drone tuned to a fifth similar to that of the Ukrainian lira. In Western Ukraine, particularly in the Carpathian mountains the term Hudok is also used for folk violins and smaller oboes.[citation needed]
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File:Russ instr gudok.gif Impression of the ancient Russian Gudok | |
| String instrument | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Hudok |
| Hornbostel-Sachs classification |
(Bowl lyre sounded by a bow) |
| Related instruments | |
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The gudok or hudok (Russian: гудок, Ukrainian: гудок) is an ancient Eastern Slavic string musical instrument, played with a bow.
A gudok usually had three strings, two of them tuned in unison and played as a drone, the third tuned a fifth higher. All three strings were in the same plane at the bridge, so that a bow could make them all sound simultaneously. Sometimes the gudok also had several sympathetic strings (up to eight) under the sounding board. These made the gudok's sound warm and rich.
The player held the gudok on his lap, like a cello or viola da gamba. It was also possible to play the gudok while standing and even while dancing, which made it popular among skomorokhs. Initially in the 12th century (and probably before), the gudok did not have a neck for pressing strings. This suggests that it was played by stopping the strings from the side with fingernails (similarly to the Byzantine lyra), rather than pressing strings onto the instrument's neck. Later in the 14th century some modifications of the gudok had a real neck for pressing strings.
Russian gudok ceased to exist as a folk instrument for several centuries. All present instruments are replicas, based on several parts of gudoks found in the Novgorod excavations.
There have been several attempts to revive the gudok in music. Borodin's opera Prince Igor contains a "Gudok Player's Song", which is an artistic reconstruction of how the gudok may have sounded.
[[File:|thumb|right|160px|Ukrainian hudok.]] The Ukrainian hudok contained a drone tuned to a fifth similar to that of the Ukrainian lira. In Western Ukraine, particularly in the Carpathian mountains the term hudok is also used for folk violins and smaller oboes.[citation needed]
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