Greek Musical Instruments



NameImageDescription Video
Aulos The aulos (Greek αυλός, plural αυλόι, auloi) or tibia (Latin) was an ancient Greek musical instrument. Different kinds of instruments bore the name, including a single pipe without a reed called the monaulos (μόναυλος, from μόνος "single"),and a single pipe held horizontally, as the modern flute, called the plagiaulos (πλαγίαυλος, from πλᾰγιος "sideways"), but the most common variety must have been a reed instrument. Archeological finds and other evidence indicate that it was usually double-reeded, like an oboe, although simple variants with a single clarinet reed cannot be ruled out.
Bouzouki The bouzouki (plural sometimes transliterated as bouzoukia) is the mainstay of modern Greek music as well as other Balkan folk music, particularly of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a stringed instrument with a pear-shaped body and a very long neck. The bouzouki is a member of the 'long neck lute' family and is similar to a mandolin. The front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound.
Buccina The Buccina (also Bucina, bukanē) is a brass curved-trumpet used in the ancient Greek army.
It was originally designed as a tube measuring some 11 to 12 feet in length, of narrow cylindrical bore, and played by means of a cup-shaped mouthpiece. The tube is bent round upon itself from the mouthpiece to the bell in the shape of a broad C and is strengthened by means of a bar across the curve, which the performer grasps while playing to steady the instrument. The bell curves over his head or shoulder.
Crotalum In classical antiquity, a crotalum was a kind of clapper or castanet used in religious dances by groups in ancient Greece and elsewhere, including the Korybantes.
Greek Baglama The Greek baglama is a half-sized version of the bouzouki. It has a small body, with a bowl, that is either made from staves or carved from solid wood. The neck is fretted, with the fret spacing corresponding to the notes of Western music. It has three pairs of strings, of which the higher two pairs are tuned in unison to D and A, and an octave pair tuned to D. The high pitched sound of the baglama is often very prominent in Pireas style Rembetika.
Kithara The kithara was an ancient Greek musical instrument in the zither family.
The kithara was a professional version of the seven-stringed lyre. It had a deep, wooden sounding box composed of two resonating tables, either flat or slightly arched, connected by ribs or sides of equal width. At the top, its strings were knotted around the transverse tuning bar or to rings threaded over the bar, or wound around pegs. The other end of the strings was secured to a tail-piece after passing over a flat bridge, or the tail-piece and bridge were combined.
Laouto The laouto is a traditional stringed musical instrument from Greece. It began spreading in Rethymnon (the capital of Rethymno Prefecture in the island of Crete) after the 1930s.
The laouto has four double sets of strings, which are tuned in fifths (Cc-Gg-Dd-aa ) starting from the bass. The role of the laouto in Greek traditional music is that of accompaniment, either providing the rhythmical values, or following the melody of the song.
Lyre The lyre is a stringed musical instrument well known for its use in Classical Antiquity and later. The recitations of the Ancient Greeks were accompanied by lyre playing. The lyre of Classical Antiquity was ordinarily played by being strummed with a plectrum, like a guitar or a zither, rather than being plucked, like a harp. The fingers of the free hand silenced the unwanted strings in the chord.
Outi The outi is a post-Baroque instrument similar to a lute. It was originally made from a single piece of wood, without a neck. It had 5 double strings that were played with the fingers. In later days a pick (pena) or a goose feather is used.
The outi is the Greek style of oud: Slightly smaller in size, slightly shorter neck, higher in pitch, brighter timbre.
Phorminx The phorminx (in Ancient Greek φόρμιγξ) was one of the oldest of the Ancient Greek stringed musical instruments, intermediate between the lyre and the kithara. It consisted of two to seven strings, richly decorated arms and a crescent-shaped sound box. It mostly probably originated from Mesopotamia. While it seems to have been common in Homer's day, accompanying the rhapsodes, it was supplanted in historical times by the seven-stringed kithara. Nevertheless, the term phorminx continued to be used as an archaism in poetry.
Psaltery A psaltery is a stringed musical instrument of the harp or the zither family. The psaltery of Ancient Greece (Epigonion) dates from at least 2800 BC, it was a harp-like instrument.
In the Christian era a psaltery consisting of a soundboard with several pre-tuned strings that are usually plucked, came into use. The instrument is usually small enough to be portable; its shape and range vary. It is depicted in a number of artworks from the Medieval Period.
The image shows a psaltery of the 14th century from the book: De Arythmetica, De Musica by M. Servinius Boetius. The image shows how the instrument is typically held: before the chest with the hands under the curves.



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