Music plays a vital role in human society. It provides entertainment and emotional release, and it accompanies activities ranging from dance to religious ceremonies. Music is heard everywhere: in auditoriums, churches, homes, elevators, sports arenas, and on the street.

Recorded music, through our technology, can be heard almost anywhere at anytime. Although we have the technology to listen to whatever kind of music we desire, there is still an exciting sensation for people to watch music performed live. The musicians on stage use their skills with their instruments to produce music that stimulates the mind, excites the heart, and takes the breath away. Through the course of life, humans develop the ability to identify most instruments either by being played or just seen up close. What most people don't know is the history behind the more popular instruments of the world. Some instruments can be traced back --in some form-- to as early as 4000 B.C. This paper will not discuss the history of instruments from the dawn of man, just the late Middle Ages to the Renaissance.

Of all the instruments of the Middle Ages, the most popular had to be what is c

About the 1600s the lute acquired additional bass strings (usually four). These strings were not stopped with the fingers, but were tuned in descending steps (F/E/D/C). Larger lutes with more and longer bass strings were also built; they include the theorbo (see figure two), chitarrone, and arch lute.

Many names have been given to the Renaissance trombone, including sackbut (literally "push-pull"), saqueboute, shakbusshes, seykebuds, sakbuds, shakebuttes, shagbutts, and even shagbolts. The English name sackbut was used from the mid-15th century until the 18th century when the Italian term trombone came into general use.

The harpsichord was developed in Europe in the 14th or 15th century and was widely used from the 16th to the early 19th century when it was superseded by the piano. In the 20th century, the harpsichord has been revived for the performance of music of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. The incisive sound quality of the plucked metal strings adds clarity to melodic lines. The harpsichord is very effective at performing contrapuntal music, or music that consists of two or more melodies played at the same time.

Another instrument, which appears to be a cousin of the lute, is the instrument known as the viol (see figure 3). The viol is a bowed stringed instrument popular from about the 1500s to the 1750s and was also revived in the 20th century. The viol preceded the violin and was actually contemporary with the violin during the 16th century.

Harpsichords of any shape have the same plucking mechanism. For each string a small piece of material, or plectrum, is set in a thin slip of wood, or "jack," which rests internally on the far end of the key. When the front of the key is pressed, the far end rises, and the plectrum plucks the string. The jack is pivoted so that when the key returns to rest position, the plectrum slides by without striking the string. One problem with the harpsichord is that the volume and tone of the sound produced by the plucking mechanism remain constant no matter how forceful the keystroke. This was one reason why the piano replaced the harpsichord. The actual name for the piano is pianoforte or soft loud. The piano gave way to more dynamics and expression in the music.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Fontegara Venice, F/E/D/C Larger, Europe Arabic, Period Music, England Stepping, Middle Ages, Italian Flemish, Ages Renaissance, woodwind family, bass strings, 16th 17th, family instruments, lute recorder, tenor bass, percussion instrument, middle ages, tone color, double courses, 16th 17th centuries, instruments middle ages, 16th 17th 18th, instruments woodwind family, lute recorder viol,
Approximate Word count = 2311
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)