This is an Erasmus+ Project that involves Culture, Music and Dance of the five partner countries. 

Thank you to all participating teachers and students in this multicultural adventure! 

  Erasmus+  Dance Across Musical Bridges

       Escuela Familiar Agraria Torrealedua, Llombai, Spain

       Agrupamento de Escolas de Santo André Barreiro, Portugal

       Nītaures vidusskola Amatas novads, Latvia

       Liceo Statale "P. Giannone"Caserta, Italy

       İznik Şehit Sedat Pelit Anadolu Lisesi İznik, Turkey

          Instruments of the World

        Spanish Instruments--------------page 4

         Portuguese Instruments-----------page 14

         Latvian Instruments---------------page 22

         Italian Instruments----------------page 30 

         Turkish Instruments----------------page 38

        Students compare Spanish, Portguese, Latvian

         Italian and Turkish instruments --- page 46

Spanish Instruments

The Spanish Guitar

Nowadays, there are lots of types of guitars, for example, the electric guitar, the acoustic guitar, the Hawaiian guitar,... but the most famous guitar in Spain is  the classic guitar or Spanish guitar. All of them are from the string family of musical instruments. In fact, the Spanish guitar belongs to the plucked string instrument, it means you pluck the strings to play it. It is also known as the nylon-string guitar because the strings used to be made of guts, but currently they are made of nylon.

The guitar origins are in Asia about 2.500 A.C . Obviously it has changed along the time. The guitar, as we know it today, was developed in the 19th century, from the medieval vihuela guitar. Antonio de Torres was the luthier considered the creator of the Spanish guitar.

The classic guitar is typical in Spain.  You can find the guitar as a typical instrument in all regions of Spain, not only in the Flamenco folk music. It is usually linked to a lot of traditional music and traditional dances. People can learn Spanish guitar in the conservatory  or in any of the many music schools around the country. 

The main parts of the guitar are the turners, the headstock, the neck, the nut, the frets, the sound hole, the bridge, the body and the strings.

The Spanish Guitar

The Spanish Guitar

PARTS OF GUITAR

HEADSTOCK:  It is the bit at the end of the guitar where all of the stings end.

TURNERS: They are used to just the tuning of the instrument.

NECK: The longest wood part where we produce the different notes with the frets.

FRETS: It divides the neck into fixed segments intervals related to a musical framework.

BODY: It is the main and fundamental part of spanish guitars, 

SOUNDHOLE: It is an opening in the upper soundboard of a stringed musical instrument.

BRIDGE:  It Is a device that supports the strings and transmits the vibration of those strings to the sounhole and body.

The Dolçaina

The Dolçaina

We are going to explain some different things about the dolçaina. For example, we know that the origin is on Mesopotamia. It was almost missing but with the Islamic conquest to the Iberian Peninsula it became our traditional instrument since nowadays. The dolçaina is a similar instrument to the oboe, the English horn and the bagpipes.

Unfortunately it only continues being played in the Valencian Comunity. They are musical schools like the Xamosia, in Catadau or other schools like EMTID in Algemesí, and in many towns where you can learn how to play it. 

The parts of the dolçaina are the mould, the tube, the tudel, the double reed, the body and finally the bell. To start to put together the parts of the dolçaina, you put the teflon on the tudel. Then we put the tudel in the tube and we blow to check that it sounds well. And finally, we put the reed on the tudel and it is ready to make a beautiful sound.

It’s a little difficult to find it but we have dolçaina players and the number of players is growing.  Luckily we also have more participation of this instrument in the concerts of bands and orchestras 

If you visit our region you can listen to the dolçaina in most of the town festivities we celebrate, like Falles, and in many other processions and marching music on the streets linked to traditional dances.

The tabal or tabalet is the traditional valencian cylindrical in shape percussion instrument  that always accompanies the dolçaina. The tabal is traditionally used in the Valencian community. Elsewhere, the tabal is replaced by the “caja” (Castilla) or by a larger tabal (Turkey).

The Tabalet

The Tabalet

The tabalet takes its name from the Hispanic Arabic atabal and this word from the classical Arabic ṭabl, so it is intuited that the instrument is of Arabic origin. The word atabal refers to timpani and small drums.

 The instrument has  a string that holds the top ring to the lower ring and serves to tighten the tabal.  The body or soundboard is made of wood, its approximate measurements of the most used tabalets in Valencia are 30 centimeters in diameter and 20 centimeters in height.  The top and lower rings are used for position and tighten the patches to the tabal.

Two membranes or patches are placed on the sides of the helmet. These patches are attached by their edge to rings that are normally made of aluminum. With this we patch the Tabal using two other wooden rings that adjust each of the patches externally around the body of the Tabal.

 The leather tensos are a trapezoidal-shaped clamps and inside them a rope passes. It goes up from the lower ring to the upper ring and the next one, which is the one that goes down from the upper ring to the lower ring.

The bourdons in the tabal are placed externally, skimming the lower head, to provoke with their vibrations a more strident and metallic sound when the drum is struck on its upper membrane.

Fortunately, this traditional instrument has began to be studied at Conservatory levels and has become popular again in our towns. So it is easy to listen to it in every festivities we celebrate.

The Castanets

The Castanets

You can learn to play castanets in many schools of music and performing arts as it is linked to traditional dances and festivities.

There are many types of castanets depending on the material they are made of: wood, plastic, fibre,...

The castanets are percussion instruments and we can classify them according to their shape and how you play them. 

The first type is the hand castanets.There are used for flamenco and folkloric dances. In Spain it is considered a national instrument for the country. The second type is the base castanets, they are placed on a panel or a table that, through a system of springs, keep the castanets in a horizontal position so that they can be percussed with the hand. They are often used in symphony orchestras. And the last type is the Mano castanets is a percussion instrument for beginners, ideal for use at school and in music classes. It produces a lively background rhythm for flamenco dancing.

 Cheer up! It’s easy to learn a basic rhythm and its very funny!

Portuguese Instruments

Cavaquinho

The Portuguese ukulele, also known as cavaquinho, is an instrument of the chordophone family, with small dimensions; It is like a Guitar, but smaller, and only has 4 chords. Its dimensions are different in each instrument, not exceeding 52cm

 The “Adufe” is a Portuguese percussion instrument that evolved from the membranophones introduced into the Iberian Peninsula by the Arabs between the 8th and 12th centuries. Muslim influence doesn’t stop at the instruments but also the rhythms will have migrated from North Africa. 

    Today, it is essentially concentrated in the center-east of Portugal (district of Castelo Branco), where it is performed exclusively by women, accompanying singing mainly on the occasion of festivals and pilgrimages.

Adufe

Adufe

In the past, it was common for people to gather in each other's houses or in the village square and touch “Adufe”. While the women sang, danced and played, the men played the "trick" (a card game).

    The “Adufe” has always been linked to religious events and pilgrimages. Even in Lent when the amusements were "forbidden", accompanying the sad melodies, typical of that court.

     The “Adufe” is a quadrangular instrument, the skins are stretched over the orange stick frame, subsequently sewn manually. The orange stick is a light wood and whose tree is culturally very associated with chastity.

     Seeds, corn grains or small towels are placed inside it, with the aim of enriching the sound. 

    In the four corners, they undulate colored ornamental ribbons. This results in an instrument with two parallel membranes in goat or sheep skin, but only one membrane is perpetuated when the instrument is played.

    The “Adufe” was used in old forms of conviviality, like for example, when they finished harvesting the olive, picking the almond or harvesting wheat, people gathered and played their instruments, like the “adufe”. In addition, in card games, the women sang, danced and played the “adufe”. 

     Behind them heaps were also played by women on the occasions of “wheel games” and “dances in parallel”.

Portuguese Guitar

Portuguese Guitar

The Portuguese Guitar is a Portuguese musical instrument that is known as fado’s guitar too. It belongs to the family of the chordophones. There are several variations of this guitar, changing thru the location. There is the version from Coimbra, Lisbon and Porto. In this text the guitar that will be referred to is the one from Lisbon once it is the one we see more often.

The Portuguese Guitar is a musical instrument that carries a symbolism related to the long way it has done with the typical Portuguese music, fado. Physically this instrument is consists on a piriform harmonic box, which has 6 pairs of strings. Although there are a huge variety of tunings, the one that highlights itself is the B-A-E-B-A-D.

This instrument was originated from another one called European Zither. The changes from the base instrument to the Portuguese one was made thru the last century. The most famous artists to use the Portuguese Guitar are Amália Rodrigues, Carlos do Carmo and Alfredo Marceneiro.

The most popular music that have instrumentals cointaining The Portuguese Guitar are, for example, “Guitarra Triste” and “Casa Portuguesa” from Amália Rodrigues.

Summing up, The Portuguese Guitar is the one of the oldest and most used instruments in Portugal being automatically associated with the Portuguese culture and music, being this played from all over the country from people of every ages.

Viola da Terra

Viola da Terra

Viola da Terra is a stringed musical instrument from the islands of the Azores, closely associated with the saudade genre of Portuguese music. The viola da terra is constructed of wood with a traditional guitar "hourglass" shape for the body, a fretted neck, and headstock supporting the tuners.

A unique feature is the use of a pair heart-shaped sound holes, although the instrument is occasionally made with a single round sound hole.

Latvian Instruments

Wooden Flute

The wooden flute is a musical instrument in the family of the woodwind group. It is one of the oldest and most widespread instruments played in the territory of Latvia. Wooden flute was cut from various trees - pine, aspen, blackberry, alder, willow, etc. Nowadays, wooden flutes are produced with 6 holes and the materials are no longer wood, but metal, plastic. Wooden flute can be played in two octaves.

Whistler

Whistler

A whistler is a hollow figurine made of clay with 1-6 sound holes and a blown gap with a whistle hole. Whistlers can be of different shapes and sometimes they may not have sound holes. If the whistler is in the shape of a duck, it is also simply called a duck.

A whistler is one of the tools that largely characterizes man's need to know nature. The bird or animal-like instrument made of clay was most often chanted by children, and it became not only an entertainment of time, but also a means of getting to know the sounds of living nature and trying to imitate them. The instrument is often named according to its shape, for example, horse, duck, nightingale, etc. Whistlers were used for grazing, sometimes to attract birds and animals. Although you can only get 3 to 7 tones with 2 to 6 sound holes in a whistler the use of different playing techniques allows you to get a fairly diverse palette of sounds.

Latvian bagpipes 

  Latvian bagpipes 

Bagpipes are one of the most common tools in the history of our nation.

It is believed that the instrument has first appeared in Latvia in the 15th century. This bag for the instrument is made of whole sheepskin with wool inwards, but pipes are attached in the holes - a melody pipe, 1 or 2 dowels and one tube through which the player blows air.

The bagpiper was always welcomed as a master of ceremonies. When the bagpipes were blowing, everyone knew what to do - went inside the house, then blew the next piece and everyone could sit at the table or get up and start dancing.

The Baltic psaltery/ Kokle

The Baltic psaltery/ Kokle

 Kole is a Latvian plucked string instrument 

Kokles is the most admired Latvian musical instrument. Kokle is associated with the oldest, most researched traditions of the game, but also innovation and creativity. It is reasonable to believe that percussion has had a ritual character, the symbolism of the instrument has certain moments that connect it with hunting customs and notions of the movement of souls.

Although similar instruments are known throughout the Eastern Baltic - from the Prussian lands to Central Finland and Karelia, this has not prevented kokles from being described as a unique carrier of Latvian identity.

The technique of kokles playing differs from most other plucked string instruments. Kokles are generally played while sitting on a stool, bench or chair without armrests and placing it horizontally on the lap with legs slightly parted. It could be played while laid down on the table as well. Kokles are an instrument of the soul. The best they sound in silence when the only listener is the player himself.

Italian Instruments

The Tammuriello

The tammuriello or Neapolitan tambourine is a small drum used to accompany folk dances.

It has a wooden frame with a diameter that varies between 20 and 30 cm and its height doesn’t exceed 7 cm, it is decorated with colored ribbons and with some tin or metal saucers called cymbals. 

Sometimes, some types of tambourine may also have a membrane made of animal skin (often perch, goat or rabbit) and dance scenes or landscapes are painted on it.

It is possible to play the instrument by shaking the tambourine to make the cymbals rattle, by hitting the hand or fingers on the skin or by tapping the palm of the hand on the edge.

The Castanets

The Castanets

The castanets, typical hand carved wodden Neapolitan instrument at inducted percussion, are formed by a central part and two lateral ones. The flat central part has a round or oval shape, while the top spatula shaped one forms the handle which is used to grip the instrument.

The halfspheres are tied at couples with a tape that is grabbed by the middle finger and they get operated by slamming them ritmically over the palm of the hand, generating a dry sound made to accompany the popular dances like the tarantella. The neapolitan castanets are the poor and popular version of the noble Spanish ones.They were originally used by Gypsies who introduced them in Italy during the Renaissance. People in the past thought that the gestures made by using the castanets were good to expel the evil eye.