Instruments
Accordions - There are several types of accordions; common features include a mechanical keyboard or set of buttons under each hand, manipulated by the fingers to select pitches. The keyboards are connected by folded bellows which induce air to flow through the reedplates; these move horizontally and are controlled by arm-pressures that in turn regulate the loudness of the sound emitted. An air-button or -bar on the left-hand end, operated by the thumb or palm, is used to fill and empty the bellows without sounding a note. Straps hold the instrument in the hands or on the shoulders. Joe Yansky plays what could be a bandoneon or a concertina; a bandoneon is a double-action square type of accordion that was invented in Germany in the 19 th century and is common in South American tango bands .... Otto Rindlisbacher plays a button accordion that is sometimes called a bayan, or hand orgeli in Swiss, which has three rows of buttons for the right hand and a left manual like that of a keyboard accordion.
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WHi Image ID 25191 |
Bells - Otto Rindlisbacher made a set of Swiss bells hanging on a scaffold, which were played by his wife, daughter, and Helene. Standing nearly six feet tall, this scaffold has thirty-seven bells hanging from it. See photo
at right.
Clarinet - Wi nd instrument sounded by a single beating reed.
Drums - Native American water drums were among the drums found in this collection.
Flutes - "The instrument (used by Ho Chunk and Ottawa performers) was held as the modern clarinet. Chief Blow Snake's flute was wood; John Bear Skin's was made from a gun barrel." - Helene Stratman-Thomas
Hardanger fiddle - Norwegian instrument with carved lion's head scrolls, India ink designs, pearl inlay, and a second set of resonant strings. "Hardanger fiddles were common enough in Wisconsin 's 19 th century Norwegian communities, but seldom survived beyond the first generation. They were too difficult to play, too suited to fading 'halling' and 'springer' dances, too strange to younger ears," James P. Leary
The instrument has four strings; Stratman-Thomas records the tunings for two songs: for "Springar," the tuning was B-flat - E-flat - B-flat - F-sharp; for "The devil on the wine keg" it was C-sharp - A - E - A.
Lumberjack fiddle - Fiddle made from a cigar box.
Psalmodikon - "A Psalmodikon is a one-stringed instrument used originally in Norway for sounding out the single line of the melody of the hymns." Oxford calls it a one-string bowed zither often used for correct singing of the psalms common in Sweden c. 1820-1870s. It has a narrow soundbox with a row of frets down the middle, and may be in every shape from a plain rectangle to an imitation of the violin. - Oxford
Bertha Larson, of the Psalmodikon Quartet, described the instrument in detail in a letter Stratman-Thomas:
The psalmodikon is a one-stringed insturment [sic] about 35 inches long, 4 inches wide and 2 inches high. It is usually placed on a table and is played with a violin bow. On the top of the instrument numbers are arranged according to the 'C' major scale. When keys other than 'C' are used, a piece of board, similar to a foot rule, each with numbers of the major scale designated on each board, are placed on top of the 'C' numbers. The fingers of the left hand are used to play each number and the music is written in numbers - thus - in playing a piece in 'D' they use the foot-rule board marked 'D' and if the note 'A' is to be played, place the fingers on 5 etc.
The Psalmodikon was originally used alone to lead the singing in schools in Norway . However, our group uses four instruments, a different cello string on each, so that we can play four part music.
Rattle - Rhythm instrument made from a gourd. Seeds or small pebbles are used to create the sound.
Reed organ - A keyboard instrument that produces sound through free reeds. Bessie Gordon's reed organ was cut down to fit under the bar in her eight-foot square tavern.
Tamburica - Plucked lute of Yugoslavia with four to six strings. Various kinds, sizes, and tunings of these instruments exist.
Tyrolean Zither - A zither typically found since the nineteenth century in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and the United States . Instrument has no fingerboard, and melody strings are tuned chromatically or partially chromatically within two octaves and plucked with the right hand. Twenty-four or more harmony strings are tuned to five or six different chords and plucked with the left hand.
Viking cello - Helene Stratman-Thomas described it as a "one-stringed instrument which was an adaptation of the lumberjack pitchfork cello. The pitchfork cello is made from a large box fastened on a pitchfork. Mrs. Rindlisbacher calls it a Viking cello because Knute Reindahl of Madison made one called it that. Its origin is the lumbercamp. Cracker box on a pitchfork or broom stick. ... Mrs. R's is made from wood from a chest dated 1722." This is a bowed instrument (Rindlisbacher used a violin bow) and has a range of three octaves, with different tunings used for different pieces. A movable fret was originally piece sawed off of pitch fork handle with a groove in it.
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| WHi Image ID 25204 |
Whistle - Instrument made of eagle bone whistle. See photo at right.
Definitions compiled from the notes of Helene Stratman-Thomas, Wisconsin Patchwork: A Companion to the Radio Programs Based on the Field Recordings of Helene Stratman-Thomas by James P. Leary, the Oxford Companion to Musical Instruments, Grove Music Online, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments from All Eras and Regions of the World by Abrashev, Boshidar, and Vladimir Gadjev, and The World Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments by Wade-Matthews, Max.