![]() From a modern perspective this seemingly benevolent act should have gained the tsar more support. The first was rapid industrial growth, meaning that more people were working at dangerous factories for a low wage than ever before, and the second was the emancipation of the serfs. During the 1890s (that is to say, the years leading up to the Russian Revolution), Russia experienced two important developments. Throughout the 1800s, the balalaika remained common, and attitudes toward it paralleled the increasing revolutionary spirit in Russia. Folk music spread over the entirety of Russia (Shepherd), and the balalaika itself became so popular with the lower and middle classes during this period that it seemed every household owned at least one (Rogosin). Serf orchestras were formed and new demand for music teachers arose all over Russia. ![]() However, the church was unsuccessful in its endeavors, and folk music thrived during the 1700s (Findeizen). It is unsurprising then that the first written documentation of a balalaika is an arrest record from the year 1688. Because of this, the church tried to exterminate Russian folk music and its radical underpinnings during the 1600s. Before the 1500s, jesters or roving minstrels, called skomorokhs, played the balalaika as a form of rebellion, accompanying their tunes with lyrics which ridiculed politics and the Russian Orthodox Church (Wikipedia). The triangular body of the instrument is usually made from hard wood and can be plain or highly decorative with darker wood inlays, hand painting, and/or an ornately carved sound hole in the center.Īlthough its roots are often disputed, the balalaika does resemble many East Asian stringed instruments, like the dombra and tanbur. It is tuned to a perfect fourth (E-E-A) and played using either an index finger or a pick (Wikipedia, 2009). Developed in its modern form during the 19th century by musical prodigy Vassilij Vassilevich Andreev, the contemporary balalaika comes in five sizes, the contrabass, bass, sekunda, prima, and piccolo, and customarily has either three strings or six arranged into two groups. The balalaika, as its name would suggest, is a Russian folk instrument. It bounces off the tongue like lyrics, concluding with a resounding last syllable (a triumphant -ka) like a song’s final resolution. It is a word with rhythm, dynamics, tone.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |