Strings And Things

Rebekah Romberg (0:00)

This is Music Blocks, a podcast about the building blocks that make up your favorite sounds, whatever you love to listen to. A talented musician can breathe new life into an instrument that's been around for thousands of years. A great example, Michiyo Yagi and the kodo. Musicians and composers in Japan have played the kodo for millennia, but when Michiyo Yagi wrote this song called Rouge in the early 2000s, she mixed traditional sounds with new ones, which show off the different musical colors of the kodo. Michiyo Yagi leans over the instrument while she plays. She plucks the strings wildly and rubs a rod across them to create friction. And she brings this traditional instrument into a completely modern place. All around the world, musicians use stringed instruments to make music. And the way musicians play these instruments creates beautiful and distinctive sounds. Today on Music Blocks, say hello to chordophones. Chordophones are instruments that make sound from the vibration of strings. We'll get to know how these instruments can sound when artists and composers use different articulations. That's how a note is played by a musician. And we'll look at the ways chordophone players from all over the world make us sit up and listen. When American film composer Bernard Herrmann set out to score the classic horror film, Psycho, he took advantage of the way a group of violinists and other string musicians drag a bow across the strings to produce the bone-chilling texture he was going for. And the chordophone players here made sounds as shrill as a scream.

And yet, composers have turned to this same instrument family to create light and joyful melodies for hundreds of years. Austrian composer Johann Strauss II often wrote much lighter music for chordophones. In this piece, he instructs the musicians to play the notes pizzicato. That means musicians pluck the strings instead of using a bow. The result is a kind of dance music. Delicate, joyful, playful.

The Luo people of West Kenya have loved the sound of this instrument for thousands of years. It's called a nyatiti. It's got a round body with strings that players pluck. This song by Ayobagada is actually named after the instrument and translates to nyatiti music.

You The instrument is deeply tied to luo culture. Fishing is a big part of luo customs, and the strings Nyatiti players pluck are often made from fishing line. Now, pianos also make sound from vibrating strings. Although you don't usually see the strings. They're hidden behind all of that plastic and wood. When a player hits a key on the piano, the key connects to a hammer, which strikes a string. The vibration of that string creates sound. The different ways a pianist strikes that key can create a range of sounds and moods.

The pianist hits the keys lightly, and the chords are legato. They blend together. This technique creates a sense of intimacy. You lean in to hear every delicate chord.

Then, the player boldly strikes the keys, which accents the chords, as John Legend starts singing louder and with more passion.

Before returning to those gentle keystrokes, to emphasize the tenderness of the song's message.

Fans of Indian classical music will definitely recognize these sounds. This meditative piece spotlights a stringed instrument called a sitar, which is a major part of India's musical tradition. For this piece, the sitar player, Shamim Ahmed, picks up speed over the course of the 10-minute song. And when he changes between notes, he moves his fingers to create a waver in the sound of the notes. His playing creates a lively and joyful piece of music.

No matter where in the world you live, some of your favorite music probably comes from a talented musician who uses different articulations to make strings vibrate beautifully. This episode of Music Blocks is almost over. So take a minute and think about instruments that make sound from the vibration of strings. Which instruments do you want to explore more? If you were a composer, which articulation would you want to use in your composition? When you've thought that through, visit our website for a playlist full of chordophone sounds. That's at musicblockspodcast.org. For Music Blocks and Colorado Public Radio, I'm Rebekah Romberg.