MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS - online book

The History And Development Of Musical Instruments From The Earliest Times.

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	MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.                      67 If (and this seems not to be improbable) the Peruvians con­sidered those tones which are produced by closing the lateral holes as additional intervals only, a variety of scales or kinds of modes may have been con­trived by the admission of one or other of these tones among the essential ones. If we may conjecture from some remarks of Gar-cilasso de la Vega, and other historians, the Peruvians appear to have used different orders of intervals for different kinds of tunes, in a way similar to what we find to be the case with certain Asiatic nations. We are told for instance " Each poem, or song, had its appropriate tune, and they could not put two different songs to one tune; and this was why the enamoured gallant, making music at night on his flute, with the tune which belonged to it, told the lady and all the world the joy or sorrow of his soul, the favour or ill-will which he possessed ; so that it might be said that he spoke by the flute." Thus also the Hindus have certain tunes for certain seasons and fixed occasions, and like­wise a number of different modes or scales used for particular kinds of songs. Trumpets are often mentioned by writers who have recorded the manners and customs of the Indians at the time of the discovery of America. There are, however, scarcely any illustrations to be relied on of these instruments transmitted to us. The Conch was frequently used as a trumpet for conveying signals in war. The engraving represents a kind of trumpet made of wood, and nearly seven feet in length, which Gumilla found among the r 2

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