{{article:6628}}{{article:6668}}   End-blown flute with internal duct (421.221.12). It is the most popular instrument among the Basques. These people consider it a symbol of their race, though there are other typical instruments in the region. It is present almost in all feasts and found anywhere in the world where there are representatives of Euzkadi (Basque country). By extension, the player of txistulari is a person of great importance in the social life of the Basques. The body, splindle-shaped externally, is… 

{{article:6627}}{{article:6667}}   End-blown natural trumpet without mouthpiece (423.121.21). The only Hebrew cult instrument still used at present. According to the rabbinic tradition, the shofar symbolizes the ram sacrified by the patriarch Abraham instead of this son Isaac. The left horn of this ram was the one heard on Mt. Sinai (Exodus XIX: 13, 16, 19); this is the first time the shofar is mentioned in the Old Testament. The right horn will announce the day of the Last Juddgement (Isaiah… 

{{article:6626}}{{article:6666}} Friction drum with tied stick (231.2-91). Probably, this kind of membranophone was mentioned for the first time in Italy in the Gabinetto Armonico (1716-23), by the Jesuit Filippo Bonanni who called it strumento nelle Vendemmie. Even though more than a hundred and fifty years have passed, the information given by Bonanni is still of use. In some areas of the south of the peninsula where the instrument is encountered at present, the friction drum remains associated with agricultural ceremonies.… 

{{article:6625}}{{article:6665}} Necked bowl lute (321.321-71). It derives from the lura, piriform fiddle played in the Bizantine empire from where it spreads out to Europe during the Middle Ages. In former times lyras were made in different sizes, with one or two sympathetic strings and a bow with bells (yeracocudhuna) so as to emphasize the melody rhythm. Nowadays, the medium size has prevailed and the construction shows influence of that of the violin: pegbox with scroll and lateral pegs, fingerboard and… 

{{article:6624}}{{article:6664}}   Side-blown flute without duct (421.121.12-71). Between 1846 and 1847 the instrument-maker and player from Munich  Theobald Boehm (1794-1881) introduced a new flute design which, with slight variations, is the one used at present. Once again, the specimen has the cylindrical boring, but with metallic body, which had been abandoned in favour of the conical one for a hundred and fifty years. The fingerholes position and diameter are determined according to acoustic principles, without considering the difficulty or easiness… 

{{article:6623}}{{article:6663}}   Board zither with resonator box (314.122-8). It derives from the monochord, chordophone originally used by medieval theoreticians for the mathematical study of intervals. A set of depressing keys added to the instrument raises, when being pressed, the metallics tangents fixed to the key inner section and strikes the strings. This simple mechanism allows to transmit movement from the player’s hand to the string directly. This, in turn, permits to attain subtle touch differences, hence, a subtlety expressivity. Nevertheless… 

{{article:6622}}{{article:6662}}   Frame harp with pedal action (322.222-5). Towards the end of the Renaissance, the improved make of harps gave rise to chromatic varieties that suited the style of the repertoire to be interpreted. The instrument had, then, two o three series of strings running in parallel or crossed planes. While one or two of them produced the diatonic scale, the rest yielded the chromatic sounds. Nevertheless the complex make and performance of double and triple harps determined, since the… 

{{article:6621}}{{article:6661}}   Necked bowl lute (321.321 .-6). From ancient times, it is found with different names and shapes in India. According to tradition, during the Mogol reign, the poet and singer Amir Khusru (1254-1324) inverted the string order, placing the highest one on the left of the player and introduced the movable frets to ease the use of different raga (s). He also gave its final name to this kind of lute (Persian se = three and tar = string).… 

{{article:6620}}{{article:6660}}   Necked box lute (321.322-5-6). This kind of steel-string guitar was created by the Dopyera (or Dopera) brothers. Its distinctive feature is a metallic resonator, single or complex, with an internal tone chamber, placed inside the instrument body. Although the aim was to amplify the sound, a significant change in the timbre was also achieved. The idea was based on the design of certain banjos which had similar resonators at the back of their soundboxes. The Dopyera’s first design,… 

{{article:6619}}{{article:6659}}   Among the various experiments carried out in the 19th. c. to record sound vibrations, the creation of the phonoautographe by Eduard León Scott was considered one of the most important. This machine, which was a direct precursor of the phonograph, was invented in 1857. it consisted of a stylus attached to a membrane which transmitted the sounds received by a conical metal horn and registered them in a paper covered with lampblack placed on a revolving cylinder. In…