Browsing by Subject "lyra"

This study combines two elements related to music in ancient Greece: musicians and musical instruments of Classical Greece. The main research questions answered in this study are: “What were the musicians of Classical Greece?” and “What were the most important musical instruments of Classical Greece?”. The study of the musicians of Classical Greece showed that the words “music” and “musician” are not entirely representative of the ones used in the antique context and therefore a clearer frame – in which we use these two terms for the purposes of a contemporary study – has to be given. There are a lot of limitations in the research of musicians in early and late antiquity due to the fragmentary sources and the absence of sufficient and reliable archaeological evidence. Musicians of Classical Greece were not considered only teachers, dancers, singers or instrument players but also individuals who were involved theoretically with music and were specialists. Before the 4th century BCE there is also a more detailed way in describing someone interfering with music whereas during the 4th century BCE the term mousikos appears. Boys in Athens had access to education and received proper musical training. Girls in Athens were not entitled to education as part of the organized educational system, but they learnt somehow how to dance, sing and play an instrument. Outside Athens the situation differed according to the status of woman in society. There were professional musicians with a high social status and amateur musicians, although we know very little about musical training itself. Eminent professional musicians received a very high salary whereas musicians of lower status received a small pay. It seems like everyone was allowed to play music or interfere with music in general and there were no limitations. The research on the second element, the musical instruments of Classical Greece, showed that they were classified into three categories: the stringed instruments, the wind instruments and the percussion instruments. Stringed instruments included the lyres, the harps and the lutes. The most important lyres were lyra, barbitos, phorminx and kithara. The harp family or psalterion included a variety of names that are difficult to recognize in illustrations and describe with accuracy. These were the epigoneion, the pektis, the simikion, the sambyke, the nabla, the trigonon and the psalterion. It has been argued that the magadis – which is usually referred to as a member of the harp family – was not an instrument at all. The only lute was the pandoura or trichordon. The most important wind instruments were the aulos and the syrinx. Finally the most important percussion instruments were the tympanon, the seistron, the krotalon, the kymbalon and the krembala. Contemporary research has advanced to such a degree that today we have straight access to beautifully handmade replicas of ancient Greek instruments and the opportunity to learn how to play them. Researchers, instrument builders and musicians all around the world have been working together to achieve a level of excellence in instrument replication and playing. Progress is being constantly made thanks to various music oriented projects and enthusiastic researchers and music lovers.