LibGuides: Classical Music: Instruments: Video

DVD

Note by note : the making of Steinway L1037 by Ben Niles This documentary follows the creation of a Steinway concert grand, #L1037 -- from forest floor to concert hall. It explores the relationship between musician and instrument, chronicles the manufacturing process, and illustrates what makes each Steinway unique in this age of mass production. From the factory floor in Queens, NY to Steinway Hall in Manhattan, each piano's journey is complex -- spanning 12 months, 12,000 parts, 450 craftsmen, and countless hours of fine-tuned labor. This film is a loving celebration of not just craftsmanship, but of a dying breed of person who is deeply connected to working by hand. In the end, this is an ode to the most unexpected, and perhaps, ironic, of unsung heroes. It reminds us how extraordinary the dialogue can be between an artist and an instrument -- crafted out of human hands but borne of the materials of nature.
Call Number: DVD ML661.7.N7N68 2007
Publication Date: 2007

Streaming Video

Bass Instruments This program discusses the instruments in the bass section of an orchestra—particularly the double bass. We see how the double bass, originally developed as an accompanying instrument, was used more prominently by such musical notables as double bass virtuoso and conductor Serge Kussevitzky—mentor of the late Leonard Bernstein. Music by Haydn and others illustrates the use of other bass instruments, including the tuba, bass cornet, serpent, ophicleide, bass saxophone, and bass horn. (28 minutes)
The Clarinet This program shows how the German-system clarinet’s unique sound and wide range of musical expression assured it a place in chamber music ensembles and in the orchestra itself. Beginning at the 18th-century workshop where it was created, we see how it was constructed, and how it has evolved over time. Its musical history is illustrated through extracts from works by several famous composers, including Beethoven, Brahms, and Mozart. (27 minutes)
Early Musical Instruments: Bowed Instruments In the 11th century, European musicians tried to make their instruments sound like the human voice. Instead of plucking the strings, they began drawing a piece of wood or bone across them to sustain the tone. By Elizabethan times, the viol was the aristocrat of bowed instruments, while the violin was considered fit only for pubs and parties. This program shows how fashions as well as musical instruments changed. (30 minutes)
Early Musical Instruments: Brass Instruments The development of brass instruments from the lowly cowhorn. Although trumpet fanfares and brass bands are relatively recent in the history of music, even the bone or wooden ancestors of the trumpet were associated with royalty, pomp, or war. David Munrow explains how pitch variations are achieved with these brasses. (30 minutes)
Early Musical Instruments: Flutes and Whistles Primitive men developed the first musical instruments when they used tubes of bamboo, bone, or wood to produce whistling sounds. The ancient Greeks later played pan-pipes. This program shows what happened as the same principle was applied to a wide range of instruments. (30 minutes)
Early Musical Instruments: Keyboard and Percussion A close look at such rarities as the dulcimer and the hurdy-gurdy, as well as better-known instruments like the organ, harpsichord, and kettledrums. (30 minutes)
Early Musical Instruments: Plucked Instruments The roots and foreign branches of the guitar-family tree. The program looks at the more important of the many relatives of this instrument. (30 minutes)
Early Musical Instruments: Reed Instruments The development of reeds from those played loudly by the Saracens to frighten the Crusaders’ horses, to the seventeenth-century forerunners of today’s orchestral reed instruments. (30 minutes)
The Flute This program deals with the history and development of the metal instrument we know today as the transverse flute. We learn how the flute was popularized by French flautist Jacques Hotterre, son of its creator, Jean Hotterre, at the court of Louis XIV. We see how continuing improvements to the instrument over time increased its use, until it became a key instrument in modern orchestras. Flute performances from works by Lully, Frederick the Great, Beethoven, and Debussy are interspersed throughout the program, along with concertos for recorders by Vivaldi and Telemann. (28 minutes)
The Guitar The guitar is the national instrument of Spain, so it is appropriate that this program begins with the playing of the traditional vihuela. The story of the instrument’s development over the next 400 years includes its replacement of that universal Renaissance instrument, the lute, in both Spain and Italy. Both guitar solo performances and guitar performances with voice appear throughout the program, including one of the last public performances of famed classical Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia. (28 minutes)
The Harp This program discusses the development of this ethereal instrument in 8th-century Ireland. We see how Irish monks introduced the harp to Europe, and follow its growth from a small, hand-held instrument into the standard 75-pound, 46-string instrument played today. Works by Handel, Mozart, Liszt, and Debussy, as well as music from Ireland and Switzerland, illustrate the harp’s use through time. (28 minutes)
The Oboe The modern version of the oboe and the many forms it has taken during its evolution are the subject of this program. We see the oboe’s ancient Egyptian ancestor—an unrecognizable prototype of the instrument played today. The more familiar-looking oboe, developed in the 17th century, is discussed within the context of its predecessors—the English horn, the heckelphone, and the contra bassoon. Works from Lully to Strauss illustrate the oboe’s versatility in musical composition. (28 minutes)
The Organ Pipe organs are the most majestic of musical instruments, and each one is a unique work of art named after its designer. This program studies the painstaking craftsmanship in wood and metal that goes into pipe organ construction and illustrates the function of the instrument’s many parts. The voicing process, in which the volume and tonal quality of a pipe organ is adjusted to suit the acoustics of its location, is also explained. Generous musical samples, included to illustrate the range and effects of pipe organs, are performed on both historical and modern instruments. (28 minutes)
Percussion Instruments This program presents the wide range of instruments found in the percussion section of an orchestra—timpani, side drum, bass drum, cymbal, tam-tam, tubular bells, and xylophone—in performance. Works by composers from Mozart to Stravinsky illustrate the special effects achieved by using the various instruments. (28 minutes)
The Piano In 1701, Bartolomeo Christofori, a musician employed by the Medicis, invented the first piano by modifying a harpsichord. This program discusses how this popular instrument has changed over the years (except for its hammers), and how its flexibility and expressiveness have inspired composers such as Beethoven, Schumann, Liszt, and Bartók. (28 minutes)
The Piano: King of Instruments No other instrument has been as important to the history of Western music as the piano. Since its invention in Florence three hundred years ago, the piano has become many things to many people—a bridge between the worlds of classical and popular music and the ultimate composer’s companion. This program traces the ancestry of the instrument and the history of those composers who championed its use. From the concert hall to nightclubs and living rooms, the piano has become the instrument of choice throughout the Western world. (51 minutes)
The Saxophone This program traces the saxophone from its early use in French military bands, to orchestrations by 20th-century Impressionist composers, to American jazz bands. It also looks at the fascinating character of its creator, Adolphe Sax, whose genius is evident in a series of other absurd wind instruments that he dreamed up. Film footage of live jazz performances by the Duke Ellington Band and the World Saxophone Quartet illustrates the instrument’s use in that musical genre. (28 minutes)
The Synthesizer This program discusses the history and evolution of electronic music. The synthesizer’s roots are traced from the 1920s to the invention of the "Trautonium"—a prototype of the modern synthesizer. Its acceptance in European music circles is discussed. Performances that include the synthesizer show how the development of the modern Moog synthesizer in the 1970s revolutionized contemporary music both in America and abroad. (30 minutes)
The Trumpet The story of the trumpet begins with the trumpeters’ guilds of the Renaissance. We see how improvements in its construction led to its use in the Baroque period, and how Vivaldi began to use a more refined version in his compositions. Later flexibility made it popular with dance bands and jazz musicians. Combining computer graphics with music, a trumpeter demonstrates how the sound of the instrument developed over time, and how new playing techniques were introduced. (28 minutes)
The Violin This program traces the history of four violins made at the workshop of master craftsman Andrea Amati—an original Amati made in 1566; a violin made by Nicolo Amati, an instructor to Stradivarius; and two 18th-century violins. We visit the Venice workshops of other violin master craftsmen, and see how the craft spread from there to Switzerland, where a workshop established in the 17th century still thrives today. (28 minutes)