It is amazing how one can live with a viewpoint formed under a wrong premise early in life. This is not a serious post, but I loved the Donovan song Hurdy Gurdy Man when I was a youngster (all 7 years old me) and someone told me that 'a hurdy gurdy man is a jester or clown who plays the fiddle'.
Listen to the tune whilst I correct my misinformed perception therafter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lKCUuyojDI
Hurdy Gurdy Man - Donovan
Well, last week I was walking around the Science and Technology museum in Milan, Italy when I entered the musical instrument lab and came across this weird looking instrument ....
Well this particular instrument is a Hurdy Gurdy. So off to that magnificent resource Wikipedia I went to learn more. The hurdy gurdy is generally believed to have evolved from the fiddle in either Europe or the Middle East in the 11th Century, The actual mechanism is far too complex for me to paraphrase so shall just share directly off the website
The hurdy-gurdy is a stringed instrument that produces sound by a hand crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. 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 and hollow cavity to make the vibration of the strings audible.
Source
Have a close look at the intricate carvings all over the wooden components clearly the craftsman took pride in his creation.
I am happy I discovered this interestin instrument, now next task is to find some hurdy gurdy compositions to listen to. I wonder if Youtube is up to it.
Thanks for reading and I hope to share some of our Italy trip with my followers over the next few days.