The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-14
MATTERS OF SOCIAL 4@e
 AND CIVIC INTEREST


 music teacher, and the first music was made by the wind insects, birds and animals, Then game man with his whistle, Noice"and 1iahdclappng
 Musical Instruments
 l. Remarkable as it at first appears considering the number Of musical in struments in the world, there are only three kinds-drums, pipes and stringed instruments. A hollow tree accidental- ly struck by savage gave forth a pleasing sound and then and there be- came the first musical instruments drum. When his initial impression oi awe subsided, it instiled in him joy sadness, or courage. He improved is by stretching a skin over tbe opening He wished a portable drum and pick ed up the skull of an enemy he had slain, cut off the top and stretched a mem brane over the cavity. From these and others were evolved the various kinds of metal drums. such the bell gong, triangle and cymbals, which last were invented by the Arabs.
 The Greeks attributed the discovery of the open@pipe to Pan, the god of the shepherds, who loved the beautiful. Syrinx. .lbup whose rough wooing' dis pleased the nyrhph finally, he pursued her to the reedy bank of the stream where in desperation she called upor
 the gods for help. In answer, they | transformed her into reed The baf. i, fled Pan ruefully listened to the subtle music of the swaying mass of broken stalks He quickly grasped the sug- gestion, pulled a reed and placing it to his lips, told of his love in dulcet tones as he had never wooed with words
 Herodotus writes that Athene; the goddess of knowledge, invented the flute but threw it away on catching sight of her reflection in a pool because of the facial distortions it's playing caused. In it's stead she took the Tyre which Hermes the winged messenger of the gods, had invented, and had given to Apollo, the god of music Apollo play ed on it constantly and delighted both gods and men with it's marvellous strains never heard before. His Tyre, representeds in figure 2, was found on an ancient Greek Sarcophagus On the other hand, Apollo Is given the honor of the discovery of the first stringed instrument While enjoying the hunt he perceived accidentally the twanging 2, of his sisters bowstring, and the deadly weapon of the hunt was trans formed into the foundation of the yio- lin and of the piano. This was most probably the real origin of all stringed instruments though the Egyptians ascribe the knowledge of the principle of the first plucked strings to Troth, their Mercury who, in passing along the bank of the Nile, struck with his foot the skeleton of a tortoise The dried muscles, and tendons had been drawn taut by the wind and the sun, and the movement caused them to vi brate producing pleasing sound. He secured the skeleton and it became the | first Tyre.
 Stringed instruments are either plueked, struck or bowed Phckine ts the most simple method of causing the sound vibrations. This may be dona 1 either with Vtne ringers, as in the harn
 or with the plectrum, as in the man, l dplin. The barbarian who first rubbed l his bowstring with a piece of rough | bark In order 10 produce sound vibra-
 tons was the parent of the violin. Pythagoras, a mathematician of the sixth century before the Christian era discovered much about the vibrations of strings by means of his monochord. an instrument still used by experimenfers It consists of a long narrow box over which is stretched single string either between two pegs or by means of a peg at one end and a weight a the other, Thus middle is known to have 25G Vibrations aisecond, while sharp has 2I1.22. The e next Higher has exactly twice as many as middle or 512 vibra- tions, while the, c below middle has only half its number of vibrations or FPS a second.
 The Bow
 Trrhe evoutionFof the bow from the rougf piece of'bark referred to is most interest ing. A stick with a serrated edge was found to be more durable and was uset universally until comparatively moderr | times, and is still found in use in rura France with an instrument called tht bumbass.
 | fThe time and place of the introduction l of horsehair cannot authentically b, | stated. The Hindus claim that King Ray. anon of Ceylon, 5000 years ago. invented the Ravanastron by discarding the
 notehed stick and substituting in it's stead a stick having horsehair stretched from end to end.
 ihe oo" UT the present raNen3Strou IS l formed of piece of bamboo. pierced by
 aS hole near one end; a mesh of hair Is I passed through and secured with a knot | the otlfef Aepd @of which is also knotted
 and fastened in 'a cleft in the opposite ex- l tremity of the stick. The strain of tho
 hair gives the bamboo natural outward curve. -4f 4.e
 As years. passed Ythe curve gradually grew less, until the bow stick during the
 l2th century became nearly straight. Later
 it acquired the inward curve. which still
 eNists,l'T lis ( urVe renders possible de-
 cided tension of the hair At intervals at teInpts were made to improve the method