Adventures in Liturgy by Edward Murray, Music Director
Well, Christmas is well and truly over for 2009, but I wanted to take a belated opportunity to comment on the hurdy-gurdy and musette, the unusual instruments we heard in our Christmas Eve service.
The structure and history of the hurdy-gurdy are difficult to describe in only a few words, but this paragraph from a Wikipedia article is a pretty good summary. For much more history and information, click here.
The hurdy gurdy or hurdy-gurdy (also known as a wheel fiddle) is a stringed musical instrument in which the strings are sounded by means of a rosined wheel which the strings of the instrument pass over. This wheel, turned with a crank, functions much like a violin bow, making the instrument essentially a mechanical violin. Melodies are played on a keyboard that presses tangents (small wedges, usually made of wood) against one or more of these strings to change their pitch. Like most other acoustic string instruments, it has a soundboard to make the vibration of the strings audible.
Most hurdy gurdies have multiple “drone strings” which provide a constant pitch accompaniment to the melody, resulting in a sound similar to that of bagpipes. For this reason, the hurdy gurdy is often used interchangeably with or along with bagpipes, particularly in French and contemporary Hungarian folk music.
The musette is a small instrument of the bagpipe family. For a full description and history, click here.
The hurdy-gurdy was played by Curtis Berak. Curtis has had a passion for the hurdy gurdy (vielle a roue) for over 20 years, performing, restoring, and collecting antique hurdy gurdys from the early 18th C., amassing the largest collection in America. He has made a concert tour of Ireland, and played for film soundtracks of “Polar Express”, “The Three Musketeers”, “The Craft”, “The Tie That Binds”, and “Newsies”. Curtis is an internationally recognized professional harpsichord builder, and also restores antique fortepianos.
The musette was played by Bruce Teter. Bruce and Curtis have performed far and wide. Bruce describes one memorable outreach performance for the Orangewood Center for Children in Orange County: We played for a small group of teenage girls. We announced the next piece as a dance from the Renaissance and described people dancing at a country dance. I think the girls had a lot of pent-up energy with no way to “let go,” so they took this opportunity to get up and dance around the classroom. The teacher was a bit shocked by this unruly behavior but didn’t try too hard to control the situation. Perhaps the unusual droning instruments (hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes) that Curtis Berak and I play, facilitate the ability to surrender to the music and let it move you: this was the principle of the Tarantella dance. This shows how music can act as an impetus for emotional expression, especially for disadvantaged children whose heightened emotional state has few, if any, arenas for expression.
Curtis and Bruce playing on Christmas Eve
Musette
Part of Curtis's collection of hurdy-gurdys
Click here for a video of Curtis and Bruce introducing several interesting instruments, including the hurdy-gurdy and musette.
Stay tuned for more…
Posted by immanuelpres 
