How many strings has the Russian balalaika?
"an earlier London musical play called The Great Hussar, which opened at the Adelphi Theatre on 19 October 1933, ""Balalaika"" formed the basis for the 1939 MGM movie of the same name starring Nelson Eddy and Ilona Massey. Balalaika (musical) Balalaika is a musical play in three acts with book and lyrics by Eric Maschwitz, music by George Posford and Bernard Grun. It opened in London at the Adelphi Theatre on 22 December 1936, starring Muriel Angelus, Roger Treville, Clifford Mollison and Betty Warren, and ran for 569 performances. A love story between a young nobleman and a ballerina set"
"poem by V. Maikov. In the 19th century, the balalaika evolved into a triangular instrument with a neck that was substantially shorter than that of its Asian counterparts. It was popular as a village instrument for centuries, particularly with the ""skomorokhs"", sort of free-lance musical jesters whose tunes ridiculed the Tsar, the Russian Orthodox Church, and Russian society in general. In the 1880s, Vasily Vasilievich Andreyev, who was then a professional violinist in the music salons of St Petersburg, developed what became the standardized balalaika, with the assistance of violin maker V. Ivanov. The instrument began to be used in"
"(pick), depending on the music being played, and the bass and contrabass (equipped with extension legs that rest on the floor) are played with leather plectra. The rare piccolo instrument is usually played with a pick. The earliest mention of the term ""balalaika"" dates back to a 1688 Russian document. The term ""balabaika"" was used in Ukrainian language document from 18th century. According to one theory, the term was loaned to Russian, where – in literary language – it first appeared in ""Elysei"", a 1771 poem by V. Maykov. Balalaika also appears in Nikolai Gogol's ""Dead Souls"" written between 1837"
"from a leather shoe or boot heel. The bass balalaika and contrabass balalaika rest on the ground, on a wooden or metal pin that is drilled into one of its corners. The exact origins of the balalaika are unknown. However, some theories say that it descended from the domra, an instrument from the East Slavs. There is also similarity to the Kazakh dombra, which has 2 strings, and the Mongolian topshur. Early representations of the balalaika show it with anywhere from two to six strings, which resembles certain Central Asian instruments. Similarly, frets on earlier balalaikas were made of animal"
"Amateur and/or souvenir-style prima balalaikas usually have a total of 16 frets, while in professional orchesta-like ones that number raises to 24. An important part of balalaika technique is the use of the left thumb to fret notes on the lower string, particularly on the prima, where it is used to form chords. Traditionally, the side of the index finger of the right hand is used to sound notes on the prima, while a plectrum is used on the larger sizes. Because of the large size of the contrabass's strings, it is not uncommon to see players using plectra made"
"his concert performances. A few years later, St. Petersburg craftsman Paserbsky further refined the instruments by adding a fully chromatic set of frets and also a number of balalaikas in orchestral sizes with the tunings now found in modern instruments. Andreyev patented the design and arranged numerous traditional Russian folk melodies for the orchestra. He also composed a body of concert pieces for the instrument. The end result of Andreyev's labours was the establishment of an orchestral folk tradition in Tsarist Russia, which later grew into a movement within the Soviet Union. The balalaika orchestra in its full form consists"
"Tumbalalaika Tumbalalaika is a Russian Jewish folk and love song in the Yiddish language. Tum () is the Yiddish word for noise and a balalaika () is a stringed musical instrument of Russian origin. Original lyrics in Yiddish Transliteration Shteyt a bokher, un er trakht (""also"" shteyt un trakht) Trakht un trakht a gantse nakht Vemen tzu nemen un nit farshemen Vemen tzu nemen un nit farshemen Tumbala, Tumbala, Tumbalalaika Tumbala, Tumbala, Tumbalalaika Tumbalalaika, shpil balalaika Tumbalalaika (""also"" Shpil balalaika), freylekh zol zayn Meydl, meydl, kh'vil bay dir fregn, Vos ken vaksn, vaksn on regn? Vos ken brenen un nit"
"of vocal sections of tenor, baritone, and bass. In some of the pieces they perform, these sections are divided into as many as eight different vocal lines. From the early 1950s until at least 1965 a typical full division (which varied from song to song) was as follows: (1) countertenors; (2) first tenors; (3) second tenors; (4) baritones; (5) first bass; (6) second bass; (7) basso profundos. The orchestra, in what became a typical composition for later generations of military ensembles in the Soviet Union, has a mixed composition of Russian traditional instruments and western instruments, including the balalaika, the"
"3rd string-G1, 4 string-D1, 5 string-GM, Gadulka The gadulka () is a traditional Bulgarian bowed string instrument. Alternate spellings are ""gǎdulka"", ""gudulka"" and ""g'dulka"". 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 gadulka commonly has three (occasionally four or five Mincho Minchev) main strings with up to sixteen sympathetic resonating strings underneath introduced by the legendary Mincho Nedyalkov. Only the main melodic strings are touched by the player's fingers and the strings are never pressed"
"Gadulka The gadulka () is a traditional Bulgarian bowed string instrument. Alternate spellings are ""gǎdulka"", ""gudulka"" and ""g'dulka"". 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 gadulka commonly has three (occasionally four or five Mincho Minchev) main strings with up to sixteen sympathetic resonating strings underneath introduced by the legendary Mincho Nedyalkov. Only the main melodic strings are touched by the player's fingers and the strings are never pressed all the way down to touch"
"customized to work in an orchestra setting. In a few years, the orchestra became famous, generating thousands of followers as well as causing an explosion of balalaika compositions. Still many members of the intelligentsia criticized the orchestra and its instruments for being not Russian (as the name implies) but Turkish. More recently, Iurii Boiko pointed out in 1984 that the orchestra's technique of playing a melody in the form of a sustained tremolo on one stringmuch copied and widely thought of as ""Russian"" in style (witness Maurice Jarre's film score for David Lean's ""Doctor Zhivago"")is in fact not a Russian"
"Zhaleika The zhaleika (""Жалейка"" in Russian, also known as ""брёлка"" or bryolka) is the most commonly possessed and used Russian wind instrument, also known as a ""folk clarinet"" or hornpipe. The zhaleika was eventually incorporated into the balalaika band, the Hungarian tarogato, and may have contributed to the development of the chalumeau, a predecessor of the clarinet. The zhaleika consists of a single reed that can be covered by a mouthpiece (or ""wind cap""). The design consists of a wooden barrel with finger holes and a flared bell that can be made of either natural or man-made materials. It can"
"composed by Öse Schuppel, Siegfried Behrend, and Vitaly Gnutov, and performed by the Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra. Wes Anderson and Randall Poster chose the distinctive sound of the balalaika to establish the musical voice of the film and managed to gather two orchestras for a total of 35 balalaika musicians for the recording of the soundtrack including the France-based and the from Moscow. Desplat’s use of the balalaika begins with “Mr. Moustafa” but it returns over and over again. Other instruments in this soundtrack include alphorns, whistles, organ, male choir, bells and cimbalom. The 32 tracks, with orchestral elements,"
"As a result of the ban, instrumental music traditions disappeared and did not have a fertile ground for development in Russia for many years. No musical instruments are used in Orthodox churches (in Russia). In the late 19th century, Vasily Andreyev, a salon violinist, took up the balalaika in his performances for French tourists to Petersburg. The music became popular and soon Andreyev had organized a club of balalaika players. This club grew into an orchestra, which in time grew into a movement. Alexey Arhipovsky is considered the modern-day Russian Paganini of the balalaika, but with a Pat Metheny approach."
"marked by a great restrained solemnity. Russians have distinctive traditions of folk music. Typical ethnic Russian musical instruments are gusli, balalaika, zhaleika, balalaika contrabass, bayan accordion, Gypsy guitar and garmoshka. Folk music had great influence on the Russian classical composers, and in modern times it is a source of inspiration for a number of popular folk bands, most prominent being Golden Ring, Ural's Nation Choir, Lyudmila Zykina. Russian folk songs, as well as patriotic songs of the Soviet era, constitute the bulk of repertoire of the world-renowned Red Army choir and other popular Russian ensembles. Russian folk dance (Russian: Русский"
"such as the Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra emerged. Balalaika virtuosi such as Boris Feoktistov and Pavel Necheporenko became stars both inside and outside the Soviet Union. The movement was so powerful that even the renowned Red Army Choir, which initially used a normal symphonic orchestra, changed its instrumentation, replacing violins, violas, and violoncellos with orchestral balalaikas and domras. Often musicians perform solo on the balalaika. In particular, Alexey Arkhipovsky is well known for his solo performances. In particular, he was invited to play at the opening ceremony of the second semi final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in"
"often used to play the lead melody in Russian balalaika ensembles. The basic domra is tuned as follows: Instruments are made in various sizes including piccolo, prima, alto, tenor, bass, and contrabass. Tamara Volskaya is considered to be one of the leading contemporary performers on the domra. She is a Merited Artist of Russia, a Laureate of the USSR competition, and a Professor at the Mussorgsky Ural State Conservatory in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Other prominent domrists include: Domra The domra () is a long-necked Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian folk string instrument of the lute family with a round body and three"
"in Russian, using Cyrillic script. The Aelita has 3 oscillators, each with 3 fixed waveshapes (""Saw"", ""Pulse"" ans ""Square""), plus a 4th oscillator only active in ""unison"" mode, ring modulation, a low-pass filter with resonance, one LFO and two envelope generators, all arranged in a fixed architecture typical of subtractive synthesis. It has a maximum range of 7.5 octaves. It is monophonic, meaning that it can play only one note at a time (although detuning of each oscillator makes it possible to play fixed intervals or chords instead of notes). It has two special modes: the ""unison"" mode creates an"
"gut and tied to the neck so that they could be moved around by the player at will (as is the case with the modern saz, which allows for the playing distinctive to Turkish and Central Asian music). The first known document mentioning the instrument dates back to 1688. A guard's logbook from the Moscow Kremlin records that two commoners were stopped from playing the Balalika whilst drunk. Further documents from 1700 and 1714 also mention the instrument. In the early 18th century the term appeared in Ukrainian documents, where it sounded like ""Balabaika"". Balalaika appeared in ""Elysei"", a 1771"
"manner of playing at all; rather, it was a technique borrowed by Andreyev from the Neapolitan mandolin orchestra. This new form of folk music gained international popularity after Andreyev's many concert tours in Great Britain between 1900 and 1910. Vasily Andreyev Vasily Vasilievich Andreyev (; 1918) was a Russian musician responsible for the modern development of the balalaika and several other traditional Russian folk music instruments, and is considered the father of the academic folk instrument movement in Eastern Europe. His accomplishments included: Vasily Andreyev was born in Bezhetsk, Tver Governorate, Russia to the family of an honorary citizen of"
"of this instrument was later redesigned in 1896, patented, and introduced into the orchestra of Russian folk instruments. The three-stringed domra uses a tuning in 4ths. Later, a four-stringed version was developed employing a violin tuning by Moscow instrument maker, Liubimov, in 1905. In recent times, scholars have come to the conclusion that the term ""domra"" actually described a percussive instrument popular in Russia, and that the discovered instrument was either a variant of the balalaika or a mandolin. Today, it is the three-stringed domra that is used almost exclusively in Russia. It is played with a plectrum, and is"
"and Lithuania, but now can only be seen in folk music orchestras. In 1900, V. V. Andreyev incorporated a modified zhaleika - called ""bryolka"" - into orchestras. It consisted of a double-reed oboe type with additional finger holes and vents for chromatic scale. Zhaleika The zhaleika (""Жалейка"" in Russian, also known as ""брёлка"" or bryolka) is the most commonly possessed and used Russian wind instrument, also known as a ""folk clarinet"" or hornpipe. The zhaleika was eventually incorporated into the balalaika band, the Hungarian tarogato, and may have contributed to the development of the chalumeau, a predecessor of the clarinet."
"Vasily Andreyev Vasily Vasilievich Andreyev (; 1918) was a Russian musician responsible for the modern development of the balalaika and several other traditional Russian folk music instruments, and is considered the father of the academic folk instrument movement in Eastern Europe. His accomplishments included: Vasily Andreyev was born in Bezhetsk, Tver Governorate, Russia to the family of an honorary citizen of Bezhetsk and merchant of the first guild, Vasily Andeyevich Andreyev and his wife, the noblewoman Sophia Mikhaylovna Andreyeva. When the boy was one year old, his father died. The family moved to Saint Petersburg, where the boy was brought"
"either consist of a single or double pipe. The single pipe is about 10–20 cm long with a reed made out of either cane or goose feather with an end bell made of cow horn or birch bark with 3–7 finger holes. The double pipe consists of two pipes and one bell, and is found mainly in the southern parts of Russia. The zhaleika has diatonic tuning and comes in various keys (G,A,D, sometimes C,E,F). It has a natural or ""normal"" soprano voice, but can perform in alto or piccolo forms. It is tuned by adjusting the reed and can"
"up by his stepfather, Nil Seslavin. At the age of ten, Vasily began playing the balalaika and other folk instruments. Initially, Andreyev was studying to play the violin and working as a musician in the various salons catering to European tourists to the Russian capital. On numerous occasions, he was asked about performing traditional Russian music, and he started collecting examples. He once came upon a peasant playing a balalaika and had the instrument copied. His solo performances were very popular, and a group of players developed around him. He also developed an ensemble playing different sized balalaikas that proved"
"19 instruments were made. These instruments were diatonically tuned with 34 strings, however they did not have sufficient volume and did not allow the player to play in different keys easily. Continual serial manufacture of banduras was set up in 1964. Vasyl Herasymenko developed an acceptable model instrument and also developed a serial process for the mass production of banduras. From 1964-68 some 300 experimental instruments were produced. These instruments became known as the ""Lviviankas"" . The first models had 58 strings which included 17 bass strings. This particular instrument differed from counterparts made at the Chernihiv Musical Instruments Factory"
"the river that runs through Moscow (both the city and the river are named identically in Russian), and Gorky Park is an urban park in Moscow named after the writer Maxim Gorky. The song also contains a reference to the balalaika, which is a Russian stringed instrument somewhat like a guitar. The balalaika is mentioned in the following lines: <poem> Let your balalaika sing What my guitar wants to say</poem> ""Wind of Change"" opens with a clean guitar intro played by Matthias Jabs, which is played alongside Klaus Meine's flat whistle. The song's guitar solo is played by Rudolf Schenker."
"of the Soviet Union, bowlback mandolins were not imported in the numbers they had been. Although possibly that had much to with the turmoil starting in 1917, of the country being reorganized into a communist state, the timing also coincides with the drop in popularity worldwide, as the mandolin's ""Golden Era"" peaked. The instrument had competition as a folk instrument as well, from the domra and balalaika. Vasily Andreyev who founded the first balalaika orchestra in Russia and resurrected the domra was inspired by a performance of Russia's first mandolin orchestra. The bowlback didn't just disappear, as they are common"
"Balalaika (film) Balalaika is a 1939 American musical romance film based on the 1936 London stage musical of the same name. Produced by Lawrence Weingarten and directed by Reinhold Schunzel, it starred Nelson Eddy and Ilona Massey. The film follows the romance of Prince Peter Karagin and Lydia Pavlovna Marakova, a singer and secret revolutionary, in Imperial Russia on the eve of World War I. In 1914 Tsarist Russia, Prince Peter Karagin (Nelson Eddy) is a captain of the Cossack Guards, riding home from manoeuvres to an evening of wine, women and song at St. Petersburg's Cafe Balalaika. The Balalaika's"
"twelve levels of the palace hierarchy. Folklorist Nancy Thym-Hochrein has researched the instrument, and musician Raphael De Cock is a contemporary player. Jadagan The jadagan (çatkhan, or Siberian harp) is a wooden board zither of the Khakass Turkic people of Russian Siberia, usually with 6 or 7 strings stretched across movable bridges and tuned a fourth or fifth apart. The body is hollowed out from underneath like an upturned trough. It has a convex surface and an end bent towards the ground. The strings are plucked and the sound is very smooth. The instrument was considered to be sacrosanct and"
"Byzaanchy The byzaanchy (Tuvan: бызаанчы; Russian: Бизанчи; also transliterated byzanchi or byzanchie) is a four-stringed vertical spike fiddle used in the traditional music of Tuva. It is similar to the Chinese ""sihu"". However, the ""byzaanchy""<nowiki>'</nowiki>s soundbox is generally made of wood whereas the ""sihu"" usually has a metal soundbox. The ""byzaanchy""<nowiki>'</nowiki>s soundbox may be cylindrical or, more rarely, cubical. The instrument's four strings are in courses of two, one of each pair tuned together, to the interval of a fifth. The horsehair bow is divided into two portions of hair. A carved horse's head generally features at the top of"
"Langeleik The langeleik, also called langleik, is a Norwegian stringed folklore musical instrument, a droned zither. The langeleik has only one melody string and up to 8 drone strings. Under the melody string there are seven frets per octave, forming a diatonic major scale. The drone strings are tuned to a triad. The langeleik is tuned to about an A, though on score the C major key is used, as if the instrument were tuned in C. This is for simplification of both writing and reading, by circumventing the use of accidentals. Since the instrument cannot play a chromatic scale"
"instruments are gusli, balalaika, zhaleika, and garmoshka. Folk music had a significant influence on Russian classical composers, and in modern times it is a source of inspiration for a number of popular folk bands, like Melnitsa. Russian folk songs, as well as patriotic Soviet songs, constitute the bulk of the repertoire of the world-renowned Red Army choir and other popular ensembles. Russians have many traditions, including the washing in banya, a hot steam bath somewhat similar to sauna. Old Russian folklore takes its roots in the pagan Slavic religion. Many Russian fairy tales and epic bylinas were adapted for animation"