Hurdy-gurdy

Hurdy-gurdy, which also known as Wheel

fiddle is a stinger instrument that produces
sound by a crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing
against the string. The wheel functions much
like a violin bow, and single notes played on the
instrument sound similar to those of a violin.
Melodies are played on a keyboard that presses
tangents (small wedges), typically made of
wood, against one or more of the strings to

change their pitch. Like most other acoustic

stringed instruments, it has a sound board to
make the vibration of the string audible.
Hurdy-gurdy was one of the instruments in
medieval music. Medieval music is western
music written during the middle ages, including
liturgical music and secular music. Most hurdy-
gurdies have multiple drone strings, which give
a constant pitch accompaniment to the melody,
resulting in a sound that similar to bagpipes. The
hurdy-gurdy is often used interchangeably or
along with bagpipes, particularly in occitan,
catalan, sardinan, cajun french, and hungarian
folk music.

The hurdy-gurdy is generally thought to have

originated from fiddles in either Europe or the
Middle east, some time before the eleventh
century. The first recorded reference to fiddles
in Europe was in the 9th century by the Persian
geographer, describing the lira as a typical
instrument within the Byzantine Empire. One of
the earliest forms of the hurdy-gurdy was the
organistrum, a large instrument with a guitar
shaped body and a long neck in which the keys
were set (covering one diatonic octave). The
organistrum had a single melody string and two
drone strings, which ran over a common bridge,
and a relatively small wheel. Due to its size, the
organistrum was played by two people, one of
whom turned the crank while the other pulled
the keys upward. Pulling keys upward is
cumbersome, so only slow tunes could be played
on the organistrum.

There is still no standardized design for the

hurdy-gurdy today. The six-stringed French vielle
roue is the best known and most common sort.
A number of regional forms developed, but
outside France the instrument was considered a
folk instrument and there were no schools of
construction that could have determined a
standard form.
There are two primary body styles for
contemporary instruments : guitar-bodied and
lute-backed. Both forms are found in French-
speaking areas, while guitar-bodied instruments
are the general form elsewhere. The box form of
the simphonia is also commonly found among
players of early music and historical re-
enactors.

Historically, strings were made of gut, which

is still a preferred material today and modern
instruments are mounted with violin (D or A) and
cello (A, G, C) strings. However, metal strings
have become common in the twentieth century,
especially for the heavier drone strings or for
lower melody strings if octave tuning is used.
Nylon is also sometimes used, but is disliked by

many players. Some instruments also have

optional sympathetic strings, generally guitar or
banjo B strings.
The drone strings produce steady sounds at
fixed pitches. The melody string(s) (French
chanterelle(s), Hungarian dallamhr(ok)) are
stopped with tangents attached to keys that
change the vibration length of the string, much
as a guitarist uses his or her fingers on the
fretboard of a guitar. In the earliest hurdy-
gurdies these keys were arranged to provide a
Pythagorean temperament, but in later
instruments the tunings have varied widely, with
equal temperament most common because it
allows easier blending with other instruments.
However, because the tangents can be adjusted
to tune individual notes, it is possible to tune
hurdy-gurdies to almost any temperament as
needed. Most contemporary hurdy-gurdies have
24 keys that cover a range of two chromatic
octaves.

To achieve proper intonation and sound

quality, each string of a hurdy-gurdy must be
wrapped with cotton or similar fibers. The
cotton on melody strings tends to be quite light,
while drone strings have heavier cotton.
Improper cottoning results in a raspy tone,
especially at higher pitches. In addition,
individual strings (in particular the melody
strings) often have to have their height above
the wheel surface adjusted by having small
pieces of paper placed between the strings and
the bridge, a process called shimming.
Shimming and cottoning are connected
processes since either one can affect the
geometry of the instruments strings.