A dulcimer is a stringed folk instrument which basically comes in two different varieties: the hammered dulcimer – which has strings stretched over a sounding board with a trapezoidal shape, generally ...

The tambourine is probably one of the easiest and most fun musical instruments to play anywhere in the world. If you have any rhythm at all, and sometimes even if you don’t, you, too, can play a ...

When the world of the moving picture arrived in the early part of the 20th century, it was a revolution. What is often referred to as the silent years from around 1910 to 1927 marked a turning point ...

French composer Claude Debussy did not align himself with the movement that became known as Impressionism. Understandably, Debussy resisted this classification as with it could come restrictions, ...

Reggae music has had a profound influence on many aspects of Western culture from fashion to popular music. Across the United Kingdom, the USA and Africa, Reggae secured a strong foothold in the ...

When we think of an orchestra, we immediately think of a large number of violinists sitting in front of the stage, in an almost privileged place near the conductor, just like the cellos and violas.

Extraordinary as it may sound, there have been bagpipes in a vast array of forms for around 3,000 years. The instruments are known to have been used not only in Europe but in Asia too. These ...

The two words in the title of this article are no exception and, in my experience, have been at the center of many an animated discussion regarding just how they should be played as well as when they ...

The likes of Beethoven and Mozart may be hailed as the greatest pianists of the modern age. However, today, there are plenty of Asian pianists that are stepping up to take the helm of the global ...

Before plunging headlong into the details of this title, let’s just take a moment to appreciate what is meant when the word counterpoint is used in music. Sometimes confused with polyphony, which ...

As a musical genre, Funk has its roots firmly embedded in jazz. Funk incorporates many elements of jazz alongside soul and earlier African-American styles of music. Following on from the immense ...

The genre called house music is something that encapsulates a wide range of subgenres that naturally evolved from the original concept. For some the notion that house stems back as far as the 1980s ...