Our Instruments

Violin/Fiddle

What's the difference between a fiddle and a violin? I'm asked that a lot! Well, mainly it's the music played on the instrument, and the technique and bowing patterns. There are some who set up a violin as a "fiddle' by using a slightly flatter bridge, enabling them to play two strings at once more easily, but for the most part, you can use any violin to play traditional music.

Verlene's violin is a baroque model by Sebastian Klotz, and has a higher arch than a modern fiddle, producing a sweet, rich tone. She most often uses a wood bow by Giuseppe Vitale, although in extreme weather, she will use a carbon fiber bow by Coda (pictured here.)

In larger venues, she uses a wireless pickup system by KNA that allows her to move away from the stage when inspired!

Swedish Nyckelharpa

Nyckel is the Swedish word for "key," and harpa is a word used for any stringed instrument before violins were used in Sweden. Like the hurdy-gurdy, the instrument has keys, but instead of being played with a wheel and a crank, the nyckelharpa is played with a bow like a violin or fiddle. So, a nyckelharpa is a "keyed fiddle."

The nyckelharpa has several keys that are pushed in individually, moving a wooden dowel called a "tangent" to shorten the length of the string, producing a higher pitch. Each key on the modern nyckelharpa increases the pitch by one half step, making it a fully chromatic instrument. There are four bowed strings, with keys on the highest three.

From the highest to the lowest pitch, the strings are tuned to A (440), middle C, G, and the octave below middle C. This low C is used as a drone or the bottom note in a chord. In addition to the four bowed strings, there are 12 chromatic strings that are set lower in the bridge so that the bow can't reach them. These are "resonant" strings that vibrate sympathetically with each pitch.

The nyckelharpa dates back to the 14th century, with a stone carving of one on the gates of Källunge church on Gotland, which is an island off the coast of Sweden. The earlier nyckelharpa was not fully chromatic and had fewer strings. The modern nyckelharpa was developed by August Bohlin in the early 1900s with improvements made by Eric Sahlström.

Verlene's nyckelharpa was made in Sweden by luthier, Martin Westermark.

Mandolin

A mandolin is like a fretted violin that you pluck and strum instead of bow. The strings are tuned in fifths, the same as a violin, and they are doubled, so you have two Es, two As, two Ds, and two Gs.

A characteristic sound is the tremolo which is a rapid back and forth strumming pattern on individual strings or on multiple strings.

Verlene's mandolin is a Gibson hybrid from 1939. It was likely made during a transition between models. It has a hole in the middle like a guitar rather than the F holes like those on a violin.

Acoustic-Electric Guitar

An acoustic-electric guitar has a built in pickup for amplification. It is otherwise the same as an acoustic guitar. Verlene's guitar is a Taylor 514CE acoustic electric guitar with a cutaway. She uses standard guitar tuning, (EADGBE) and loves playing finger style guitar as well as groovy rhythmic strumming.

Celtic Harp

The Celtic Harp has levers that change the pitch of each string by one half step. This is in contrast with the Orchestral Harp, a.k.a. Pedal Harp, which uses pedals to change the pitch of each string up or down one half step. Celtic harps come in all sizes, from a small harp that can be held in the lap to a large harp (still smaller than the pedal harp) that sits on the floor. The smaller the harp, the smaller the range of notes. The lowest note on most floor harps is the C two octaves below middle C. The range is usually around 5 octaves.

Verlene's harp has 34 strings, and is two notes shy of 5 octaves. It is the original Celtic model by Triplett Harps with a Dusty Strings pick-up system installed. The Celtic model has been redesigned, so new ones are called the Celtic II. The wood is walnut for the body with a spruce soundboard.

Irish Tenor Banjo

The tenor banjo has 4 strings, unlike the bluegrass banjo which has 5 strings. There are several ways to tune a tenor banjo, with the most common being tuned like a viola, which is the standard tuning for traditional jazz. Guitarists will sometimes tune the four strings like the top four strings of a guitar.

The Irish tenor banjo is tuned an octave below the violin, with the strings from high to low: E (just above middle C) A D G

Verlene's Irish tenor banjo is a Gold Tone by Deering.

Concertina

A concertina is a small button accordion that has a hexagon shape. For the Anglo concertina, each button plays two different notes, one on the "push" and one on the "pull." 20 key concertinas have two rows of 5 buttons on each side, whereas 30 key concertinas have three rows of 5 buttons per side.

The notes are arranged so that the notes Do Mi So (the 1, 3, and 5 in the major scale, which are also the three notes of the tonic or "one" chord) are played when pushing but the other notes in the scale are played when pulling. For music theory geeks, that's the dominant 9 chord!

The middle row plays the notes in a C chord on the push and a G9 on the pull. The inside row plays a G chord on the push and a D9 on the pull. The outside row is interesting -- it has a few duplicate notes from the other two rows, but are on the pull instead of push, or push instead of pull. The other buttons are assigned to the other accidentals so that playing in keys with more sharps or with Bb is possible.

Verlene's concertina is a Morse & Co. Céilí Anglo 30 key concertina.

Barbary's Instruments

	Celtic Harp The Celtic Harp has levers that change the pitch of each string by one half step. This is in contrast with the Orchestral Harp, a.k.a. Pedal Harp, which uses pedals to change the pitch of each string up or down one half step. Celtic harps come in all sizes, from a small harp that can be held in the lap to a large harp (still smaller than the pedal harp) that sits on the floor. The smaller the harp, the smaller the range of notes. The lowest note on most floor harps is the C two octaves below middle C. The range is usually around 5 octaves. Barbary's harp is a Dusty Strings FHS36 with a full 5 octaves from the second C below middle C. The body, neck, and pillar is made from an exotic and now endangered wood called wenge. The sound board is spruce.

Cello The cello (violoncello) is a large, four-stringed wooden instrument from the violin family, known for its warm, rich, human-voice-like sound, played upright while seated, supported by an endpin, and producing notes by bowing or plucking its strings (C, G, D, A). It's a versatile solo and ensemble instrument in classical music, but also appears in jazz, folk, and pop, featuring a distinctive curved body, F-holes, and a bridge.
	Piano and Melodica Barbary plays piano where there is a piano available at the venue. The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usually covers three octaves. The melodica was first used as a serious musical instrument in the 1960s by composers such as Steve Reich in his piece titled Melodica (1966). Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal developed a technique consisting of singing while playing the melodica, resulting in a wide tonal and harmonic palette.

Ukulele The ukulele is of Portuguese origin, but became popular in Hawaii in the 1880s. Today, there are ukulele gatherings with sometimes over a hundred ukulele players in a room playing together. The traditional tuning of the ukulele has the melody people know as "my dog has fleas," which starts with a G above middle C, then down to middle C, up to E and up to A. Some people tune the G string down an octave. This tuning is the same a the highest four strings of a guitar but up a fourth in pitch.

	Banjolele The Banjolele is also known as the banjo ukulele. It is tuned like a ukulele, and has a banjo type body instead of the wood body of a ukulele. It has a tone more similar to a banjo, and is louder than a ukulele. The earliest banjoleles were built in 1917, and they became popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

Bowed Psaltery The bowed psaltery is a modern instrument with ancient roots. Plucked psalteries date back to the 11th century, and the bowed psaltery emerged in the 1940s. The strings are arranged so that the "white keys" which are the natural notes, are on the right hand side and the "black keys" which are the sharps and flats, are on the left side, so it is fully chromatic. The bow plays between the pins to access each note individually, so it is primarily a melody instrument. The range of a bowed psaltery is usually 2 and a half to 3 octaves, with the lowest pitch at middle C.

	Button Accordion A button accordion differs from the piano accordion in that it has only buttons instead of piano keys. Although the left hand side of the piano accordion uses buttons for the bass, the button accordion has buttons on both sides for both melody and bass. Each button has free reeds made of tempered steel. When a button is pressed, a valve is opened to allow air to pass through the reeds to make a sound. The air is pumped through the reeds by pushing or pulling the bellows, and a different note is sounded on the push than on the pull. When Barbary's grandfather, Haakon Hove, passed away, she was gifted one of his three button accordions. The the instrument defies all her previous musical training, it is a vital link to her Norwegian roots, and she set about learning to play it while in the Scandinavian trio, Nykken, (with Verlene). It is making a revival in Celtic Moon, as the button accordion is a traditional Celtic instrument as well!

Mountain Dulcimer The mountain dulcimer is a fretted, lap-held folk zither from the Appalachian region, characterized by its hourglass or teardrop wooden body, 3-4 strings, and a diatonic fret board, played by strumming or plucking to create gentle melodies and harmonies, distinct from its hammered cousin. It's known for its simple, accessible nature and unique sound, often using a noter stick for melody notes against strummed drone strings.