Tambourine de Bearn

The string drum or Tambourin de Béarn (in German) is a long rectangular box zither beaten with a mallet. It is paired with a one-handed flute (French: galoubet) with three finger holes, similar to a pipe and tabor.[1] It has also been called tambourin de Gascogne, tambourin à cordes in Catalan, Pyrenean string drum, ttun-ttun in Basque [cunˈcun], salmo in Spanish, and chicotén in Aragonese.[2][1][3] It was known in the middle ages as the choron or chorus.[4]

Tambourine de Bearn
Musician Cécile Nuñez plays Tambourin de Béarn and one-handed flute (flabuta) in Le Passage, Gascony, 2016.
Musician Cécile Nuñez plays Tambourin de Béarn and one-handed flute (flabuta) in Le Passage, Gascony, 2016.
Other namesstring drum, tambourin de Gascogne, tambourin à cordes, Pyrenean string drum, ttun-ttun, toun-toun, psalterio salmo, chicotén
Classification String instrument
Playing range
Drone (music)
Related instruments
Hammered dulcimer, Tabor, Psaltery, Zither, Aeolian harp
Sound sample

In specific usage, this name denotes a form of long psaltery-styled instrument that is tuned to provide drone chords when drummed. It can be found in a similar body shape with three to eight strings. The tuning is often held in root, tonic and dominant, or root and fifth. That with one Psaltery-related instrument is easy to play because the strings are struck with a mallet as a whole.

The name salterio or psalterium for the instrument comes from the Yebra, Spain. Researcher Violet Alford said that it was a mistake to include the stringed drum under the name of psalterium, the latin name of a strummed or plucked instrument.[2]

Curt Sachs described the Tambourine de Bearn as being from South France, a "longitudinal zither with thick gut strings tune to tonic and dominant."[5] The effect was two tones at the same time perceived together as a chorus.[4]

It has 5 or six strings tuned in 5ths.[2]

Method

It is slung on the arm or over the shoulder of a player who uses the same hand to play the pipe, while striking the strings with a linen covered stick held in the other hand. The 6 strings (3 sets) are most often tuned in octaves that match the keynote of the tabor pipe, and can be played pianissimo as well as forte.

Extent and uses

According to Jeremy Montagu, the string drums were in continuous use through the middle ages, seen in iconography.[6]

The instrument is currently widespread in the western Pyrenees, and it bears the hallmark of the territory. Apparently invented in the 15th century, it came into use in the Pyrenees, where it took hold.[7] It is popular in the easternmost Basque province of Soule (Zuberoa), where it provides along with the three hole flute (xirula) the necessary musical background for traditional dance performances and the carnival set of performances called maskarada, which takes place on a yearly basis in different villages of the former viscounty.[8]

After losing ground during the 20th century in western and central Pyrenees, namely Bigorre, Béarn and Soule, the practice of the three hole flute and tambourin came almost to a halt after World War II, except for the Ossau Valley in Béarn.[9] Evidence has been gathered also that with different names (such as salterio) it was played along with the flute early in the 20th century in small areas of High Aragon.[2] From the 1970s on, the instrument has shown renewed vitality.

Construction

It is a very simple form of psaltery or box zither, made of a wooden sounding box, with strings stretched from end to end, lengthwise. Its construction is similar to that of the Aeolian harp or Appalachian dulcimer. The Pyrenean version of the instrument numbers 4 to 10 strings but 3 sets of 2 (6 total) is the common arrangement.

  • Altarpiece of Saint Vincent, detail of boy playing a Tambourine de Bearn, by Master of Javierre
    Altarpiece of Saint Vincent, detail of boy playing a Tambourine de Bearn, by Master of Javierre
  • Basque ttun-ttun.
    Basque ttun-ttun.
  • Toum-toum or Tambourin à cordes, currently used in traditional dances
    Toum-toum or Tambourin à cordes, currently used in traditional dances
  • Intèrpret de chiflo (flauta tradicional de tres forats) i chicotén
    Intèrpret de chiflo (flauta tradicional de tres forats) i chicotén
  • Tambor de Bearn
    Tambor de Bearn
  • Tambor de cordes in a painting by Juan Galbán Jiménez (17th century) in the Convento de la Concepción, Épila , Zaragoza, Aragon
    Tambor de cordes in a painting by Juan Galbán Jiménez (17th century) in the Convento de la Concepción, Épila , Zaragoza, Aragon
  • Roseta de tambor de Bearn built by José Verdi
    Roseta de tambor de Bearn built by José Verdi
  • Tambor de Bearn built by José Verdi, three hole flute and sopranino flute.
    Tambor de Bearn built by José Verdi, three hole flute and sopranino flute.

See also

References
  1. "Musical Instruments". Wood-n-Bone. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 29 January 2008.
  2. Alford, Violet (1935). "Some notes on the Pyrenean Stringed Drum with five musical examples" (PDF). International journal on Basque studies. Eusko News & Media. 26 (3): 567–577. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 November 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2008.
  3. Blades, James; et al. (2001). "Tambourin de Béarn". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5. ‎
  4. A Survey of Musical Instruments. New York: Harper & Row. pp. 200–202, 559. ISBN 0-06-012776-7.
  5. Sachs, Kurt. The History of Musical Instruments. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 312.
  6. Ballester, Jordi (2011). "The Stringed Drum and the 16th Century Music: New Iconographical Sources". Anuario Musical. https://doi.org/10.3989/anuariomusical.2011.66.122 {{cite journal}}: External link in |quote= (help)
  7. "Mixel ETXEKOPAR & François ROSSÉ Une certaine Soule musique". ETHNOTEMPOS. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2008. Article in French
  8. "Instruments de la Música Tradicional Basca". de bat a. Archived from the original on 23 October 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2008. Article in Catalan
  9. "Flutes et Tambourin de Cordes, Flabutas et Tamborin". Son d'Aquí. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2008. Article in French
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