Musical Instruments In Ancient Rome
| More is known about music and musical instruments of ancient Greece than about ancient Rome. We know that there were about 40 deciphered examples of Greek musical notations. Unfortunately very little of music and musical instruments in ancient Rome has survived. |
Sponsored Links :
|
There are many reasons for this but one of the main reasons could be that the early Christian church was horrified at the thought of having music for theaters, festivals and pagan rituals. Once Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, music and musical instruments were suppressed.
Although the Romans in ancient Rome were not particularly creative when it came to music, Roman music was mostly monophonic. They had just single melodies with no harmony and these were based on an elaborate system of scales. However, it is believed that a wide variety of musical instruments were played in ancient Rome and some of the instruments are still present even today. Some of them are as follows:
Musical Instruments in Ancient Rome:
- The tuba in ancient Rome was not like the modern tuba. Instead it was long, straight and made from bronze. It has a detachable conical mouthpiece like the French horn in modern times. Archeological digs have uncovered tubs that are 1.3 meters long which has a cylindrical bore from mouthpiece to point where the bell flares out abruptly. The tuba had no valves and the instrument was capable of just producing a single overtone. In ancient Rome, the tuba was essential in the military for giving bugle calls.
- The cornu was a semi-circular shaped instrument with or without a handle across its diameter. This instrument has a conical bore along with a conical mouthpiece.
- The aulos was a musical instrument in ancient Rome that consisted of two double-reed pipes and it was played with a mouth band so that two unjoined pipes were held steady between the player’s mouth.
- The lyre was borrowed from the ancient Greeks and was precursor to the harp. It had a frame of wood of tortoise shell and a number of strings stretched from the crossbar to the body. The lyre was held in one hand and the strings were plucked using the other.
- The lute played by the ancient Romans was the true ancestor of the guitar. It had three strings to pluck but was not very popular but the ancient Romans played it because it was easier than a lyre.
More Articles:
| 
