Balalaika origin. Balalaika: history, video, interesting facts, listen

The name “balalaika”, or, as it was also called, “balabaika”, comes from the consonant Russian words balakat, balabonit, balabolit, balagurit, which means to chat, empty ring. These concepts convey the essence of the balalaika - a playful, light, “strumming” instrument, not very serious.

According to one version, the balalaika was invented by peasants. Gradually it spread among buffoons traveling around the country. Buffoons performed at fairs, entertained people, and earned their living. Such fun, in the opinion of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, interfered with work, and he issued a decree in which he ordered all instruments (domras, balalaikas, horns, harps, etc.) to be collected and burned. But time passed, the king died, and the balalaika began to sound again throughout the country.

Balalaika is a plucked string instrument. This is a type of lute, one of the main musical instruments of the 16th–17th centuries. The ancient balalaika did not always have a triangular shape. It could be oval or semicircular, and had two and sometimes four strings. The modern balalaika was created in 1880 by masters Paserbsky and Nalimov, commissioned by the founder of the first folk instrument orchestra and a remarkable balalaika player, Andreev. The instruments made by Nalimov remain the best sounding to this day.

The group of balalaikas in the orchestra of musical instruments has five varieties: prima, second, viola, bass and double bass. They differ in size and sound timbre. The leader of the group is the prima, who most often performs solo. They play it by clanking - making single strikes on the strings with the index finger, tremolo - by quickly alternating strikes on the strings down and up, and pizzicato - by plucking the strings. The largest of the balalaikas, the double bass, has a height of 1.7 m.

The balalaika is a common musical instrument that is studied in academic music schools.

Three strings, and what a sound!

With shimmer, alive.

I recognize him the moment -

The most Russian instrument.

(Balalaika)

What's the easiest way to get sound without using your voice? That's right - hit something with something at hand.

The history of percussion instruments goes back centuries. Primitive man beat out rhythm using stones, animal bones, wooden blocks and clay jugs. In Ancient Egypt, they knocked (played with one hand) on special wooden boards at festivals in honor of the goddess of music, Hathor. Funeral rites and prayers against disasters were accompanied by blows on the sistrum, a rattle-type instrument in the form of a frame with metal rods. In Ancient Greece, the crotalon or rattle was common; it was used to accompany dances at various festivals dedicated to the god of wine.

End of introductory fragment.

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The balalaika is a common musical instrument that is studied in academic music schools.

PUZZLES

And only three strings

She needs it for music.

The game makes everyone happy!

Oh, it's ringing, it's ringing,

Who is she? Guess it...

This is our... (balalaika).

Three strings, and what a sound!

With shimmer, alive.

I recognize him the moment -

The most Russian instrument.

Balalaika- the most famous and widespread Russian folk instrument, which is classified as a plucked instrument; has 3 strings (in rare cases 4, for bass variations), and different tuning methods are used. The body is triangular or round, less often of another shape. It is made from solid wood or from individual fragments.

The balalaika is considered a symbol of Russian folk art and is now present even in foreign music stores. In music schools, colleges, and conservatories there is a balalaika class; the instrument is used in folk ensembles. It is possible to install pickups, so you can turn the instrument into an electronic one, which is very popular.

Origin story

There are several versions of the origin of the balalaika. We can definitely say that the instrument was first mentioned at the end of the 17th century. The most popular hypothesis is the origin of dombra, which came to European countries from Asia; had only two strings and is still used in small oriental ensembles of national music. At the end of the 19th century, a number of famous musicians and designers decided to rework the balalaika and improve it. The first proposal (made by V. Andreev) was to use composite wood species in the manufacture, that is, to make the front soundboard from spruce, and the back of the body from beech; he also suggested making a shortened version, which was supposed to look more compact and practical.

Later F. Paserbsky began designing a whole family of balalaikas with different ranges and specific sounds; as a result, all these models were included in the Russian orchestra and became its basis. The designer received a patent for the invention in Germany and began producing balalaikas, which began to be called folk or St. Andrew's. According to other sources, the balalaika in various forms and modifications has been found since the times of “buffoonery,” when mummers entered the huts and staged small performances for the amusement of the audience. It is interesting that in Ukraine and Belarus the balalaika is also considered a folk instrument and is widespread to varying degrees.

Types of balalaikas

Full family of balalaikas member of the orchestra of Russian folk instruments, while the prima performs the solo function, and the other varieties perform the accompanying function, the second and viola play with harmonies, and the bass “works out” the basses. Balalaika bass and double bass sound an octave lower than what is written in the notes. You can see these balalaikas in various combinations - with each other, as well as with other instruments, for example, duets such as button accordion-balalaika, piano-balalaika, etc. are popular.

Let's list all the varieties of balalaikas:

Prima
Second
Double bass

Design

The length of a modern balalaika (prima) ranges from 55-75 cm, but there are also models with low action, which can be up to 2 meters in size. Moreover, their design is similar: a body with a neck attached to it. The back of the body is composite, consisting of segments, and the front, the soundboard, is flat, made of coniferous wood and serves as a resonator; a hole is made in it where the sound enters. A neck is attached to the body, which has 16 or more frets - these are padded strips of steel or other strong material (for example, bone), pegs are placed in the upper part of the neck to tension the strings, and a worm gear is used - as for many stringed instruments.

The headstock is bent back, this specificity came to us from ancient times. The strings can be metal, or they can be made of plastic, nylon, gut, etc. In each case, the sound of the instrument changes significantly. Some researchers report that the shape of the balalaika used to be round, that is, in general the instrument resembled a domra, but now such varieties are extremely rare. The height of the strings is adjusted by a special stand, which can be moved if necessary.

Sound

Balalaikas have an excellent and unique sound: sonorous, but at the same time soft (if we talk about prima). Bass balalaikas use techniques similar to double bass, bass guitar and other low instruments (plucking, slap, etc.), and high balalaikas use the following:

rattling;
tremolo;
pizzicato;
double pizzicato;
vibrato;
fractions, etc.

The uniqueness of the balalaika lies in the fact that it is an ideal accompanying instrument, but at the same time convenient for soloing: The top strings are plucked with the left thumb and the remaining fingers of the left hand play the melody, solo. That is why balalaika ensembles are so in demand and popular.

The following construction options are possible:

academic (la-mi-mi);
folk (sol-mi-do);
quart (re-la-mi).

Video

Listen to balalaika

Mikhail Rozhkov

Evgeniy Blinov

Alexey Arkhipovsky

Balalaika Double bass

Ossetian balalaika

Chechen balalaika

Balalaika Lezginka

Every country and every nation has its own folk musical instruments. In Russia it is the accordion and the balalaika. Today there are five types of balalaikas: prima, second, alto, bass and balalaika-double bass. The last of the above is the largest of its kind and has a very important role in the orchestra - playing the bass line.

What is a balalaika

Balalaika is a Russian folk triangular three-string instrument

Traditionally, the balalaika is played by striking all three strings simultaneously with the fingers. However, after it transformed from a folk instrument into a concert instrument at the end of the nineteenth century, a wide variety of playing styles appeared on it.

The sizes of balalaikas range from sixty centimeters to more than one and a half meters. The number of frets differs between different types of instruments of this type. So the smallest balalaika - prima has from nineteen to twenty-four frets (depending on the specific model). This is due to the fact that it is the only balalaika that is a solo instrument. But the largest balalaika usually has sixteen to seventeen frets.

As a rule, they are placed on a balalaika, although in some cases nylon ones are also used. In the old days, only one string of this entire instrument was metal, while the other two were made from animal veins.

The development of this instrument is associated with the name of the famous Russian musician and composer who drew attention to folk musical instruments, modified them and created the first orchestra from them. In addition, he himself wrote the musical program for his orchestra. It was also Andreev who made serious adjustments to the appearance of the instrument. So, with his light hand, balalaikas began to be made from a combination of several tree species - most often spruce and beech.

Features of the balalaika-double bass

Of the entire “family” of balalaikas, the double bass is not only the largest, but also the most powerful musical instrument in its sound. Also, the large balalaika has the lowest tone. In fact, in an orchestra it plays the role of a bass (not to be confused with a balalaika-bass).

As a rule, the musical instrument large balalaika reaches 1.6-1.7 m in length. There are sixteen, often seventeen frets on its fretboard. In all other respects, the double bass balalaika is no different in appearance from other instruments of its group.

It is believed that the large balalaika was created by analogy with the domra-double bass, which is why these instruments even have almost the same musical structure.

How to play this bulky musical instrument

Most types of balalaikas are held in the hands while playing them. But it will not be possible to hold such a colossus as a balalaika-double bass. Therefore, in order to be able to play it, the corner of the instrument is placed on a special iron pin. This device not only serves as a support, but also helps to lengthen the sound and add volume to it.

This instrument is most often played with a plector (a gigantic, compared to ordinary, leather pick - 0.6x0.6 cm).

However, in some cases, in order to extract softer sounds from the instrument, they can play with the thumb.

Compared to the balalaika bass, this one is much more difficult to play. Not only because of the size, but also because of the very thick strings. After all, in order to get the desired sound, you need to press them well on the frets while playing.

Sound features

The three strings of the balalaika-double bass (in the open position) have a different tuning from the others - E major, A major and D major. Among musical instruments, only the domra double bass has a similar tuning; it allows you to expand the sound range of the instrument - from the note E of the counter octave to the G of the small octave. In other words, the full range of a large balalaika is two octaves and three semitones.

An interesting fact for the convenience of reading notes: in the score for balalaika-double bass, they are written an octave higher than they sound in reality.

Principles of playing this musical instrument

The gigantic size of the balalaika allows the performer to play it either standing or sitting. When performing solo, the performer usually plays standing, but in the orchestra he always sits.

Another important detail is that when playing a large balalaika, the performer should not have clothing or body in contact with the musical instrument. This is important because in this case the sound of the instrument resonates better and is cleaner and louder.

Today, seeing a person carrying an instrument called a balalaika-double bass in his hands, it is difficult not to smile. Indeed, despite the “respectable” age, many are not yet accustomed to this musical instrument. Meanwhile, all over the world they are already beginning to show remarkable interest in this Russian folk instrument, because of its unusual deep sound, with which you can convey the sound of rain, a sea storm and much more.

The history of the origin of the balalaika goes back centuries. Gradually, the balalaika spread among peasants and buffoons traveling throughout our vast country. Buffoons performed at fairs, entertained people, earned money for food and a bottle of vodka, and did not even suspect what miracle instrument they were playing.

Zabolotsky P.E.. Boy with a balalaika. 1835.

The fun could not last long, and finally, the Tsar and Grand Duke of All Rus' Alexei Mikhailovich issued a decree in which he ordered all instruments (domras, balalaikas, horns, harp, etc.) to be collected and burned, and those people who would not obey and give away balalaikas, flog them and send them into exile in Little Russia. But time passed, the king died and the repressions gradually ceased. The balalaika sounded again throughout the country, but again not for long. The time of popularity was again replaced by almost complete oblivion until the middle of the 19th century.

Lashin Andrey Kirillovich
Boy with balalaika

So the balalaika was lost, but not completely. Some peasants still played music on three strings. And one day, while traveling around his estate, the young nobleman Vasily Vasilyevich Andreev heard a balalaika from his servant Antipas. Andreev was struck by the peculiarity of the sound of this instrument, but he considered himself an expert in Russian folk instruments. And Vasily Vasilyevich decided to make the most popular instrument out of the balalaika.

Vasily Vasilievich Andreev

To begin with, I slowly learned to play myself, then I noticed that the instrument was fraught with enormous potential, and decided to improve the balalaika. Andreev went to St. Petersburg to see violin maker Ivanov for advice and asked him to think about how to improve the sound of the instrument. Ivanov objected and said that he would not do a balalaika, categorically.

Virtuoso. Nikolai Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky

Andreev thought for a moment, then took out an old balalaika, which he bought at a fair for thirty kopecks, and masterfully performed one of the folk songs, of which there are a huge number in Russia. Ivanov could not resist such an onslaught and agreed. The work was long and hard, but still a new balalaika was made. But Vasily Andreev was planning something more than creating an improved balalaika. Having taken it from the people, he wanted to return it to the people and spread it. Now all soldiers serving in the service were given a balalaika, and when leaving the army, the military took the instrument with them.

.Talent and admirer 1910s

Thus, the balalaika again spread throughout Russia and became one of the most popular instruments. Moreover, Andreev planned to create a family of balalaikas of different sizes, modeled on a string quartet. To do this, he gathered the masters: Paserbsky and Nalimov, and they, working together, made balalaikas: piccolo, treble, prima, second, viola, bass, double bass. From these instruments the basis of the Great Russian Orchestra was created, which subsequently traveled to countless countries around the world, glorifying the balalaika and Russian culture. It got to the point that in other countries (England, USA, Germany) orchestras of Russian folk instruments were created based on the Great Russian model.

Bogdanov-Belsky Nikolai Petrovich. Holiday on the porch 1931

Andreev first played in the orchestra himself, then conducted it. At the same time, he gave solo concerts, the so-called balalaika evenings. All this contributed to an extraordinary surge in the popularity of the balalaika in Russia and even beyond its borders. Moreover, Vasily Vasilyevich trained a huge number of students who also tried to support the popularization of the balalaika (Troyanovsky and others). During this period, composers finally paid attention to the balalaika. For the first time the balalaika was performed with an orchestra.

Matetskaya E. Still life with balalaika

Today the instrument is going through hard times. There are few professional performers. Even in the village they forgot about the balalaika. In general, folk music is interesting to a very narrow circle of people who attend concerts or play some folk instruments.

Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann Polsk balalajkaspiller.

Now the most famous balalaika players are Boldyrev V.B., Zazhigin Valery Evgenievich, Gorbachev Andrey Aleksandrovich, Kuznetsov V.A., Senchurov M.I., Bykov Evgeniy, Zakharov D.A., Bezotosny Igor, Konov Vladimir Nikolaevich, Mikhail Fedotovich Rozhkov. All these people try to maintain the popularity of our great instrument and are engaged in teaching and concert activities.

Fedoskino casket Miniature.

In the history of the balalaika there have been ups and downs, but it continues to live and it is not for nothing that all foreigners consider it the personification of Russian culture.

BALALAIKA

Balalaika is a Russian folk three-stringed plucked musical instrument, from 600-700 mm (prima balalaika) to 1.7 meters (double bass balalaika) in length, with a triangular, slightly curved (in the 18th-19th centuries also oval) wooden body. The balalaika is one of the instruments that has become (along with the accordion and, to a lesser extent, the pity) a musical symbol of the Russian people.

The body is glued together from separate (6-7) segments, the head of the long neck is slightly bent back. The strings are metal (In the 18th century, two of them were vein strings; modern balalaikas have nylon or carbon). On the neck of a modern balalaika there are 16-31 metal frets (until the end of the 19th century - 5-7 fixed frets).

The sound is clear but soft. The most common techniques for producing sound: rattling, pizzicato, double pizzicato, single pizzicato, vibrato, tremolo, rolls, guitar techniques.

Before the transformation of the balalaika into a concert instrument at the end of the 19th century by Vasily Andreev, it did not have a constant, widespread system. Each performer tuned the instrument in accordance with his manner of performance, the general mood of the pieces being played, and local traditions.

A small concert with a balalaika. 1937 (Children. Playing the balalaika) Oil on canvas 110x135
Bogdanov-Belsky Nikolai Petrovich

The system introduced by Andreev (two strings in unison - the note "E", one - a quart higher - the note "A" (both "E" and "A" of the first octave) became widespread among concert balalaika players and began to be called "academic". There is also a "folk" tuning - the first string is "G", the second is "E", the third is "C". In this tuning, triads are easier to take, but its disadvantage is the difficulty of playing on open strings. In addition to the above, there are also regional traditions of tuning the instrument The number of rare local settings reaches two dozen

Balalaika player. 1930. Bogdanov-Belsky Nikolai Petrovich

Varieties

Double bass-balalaika

In the modern orchestra of Russian folk instruments, five varieties of balalaikas are used: prima, second, viola, bass and double bass. Of these, only the prima is a solo, virtuoso instrument, while the rest are assigned purely orchestral functions: the second and viola implement chord accompaniment, and the bass and double bass perform the bass function.

Young minstrel. Bogdanov-Belsky Nikolai Petrovich

Prevalence

The balalaika is a fairly common musical instrument that is studied in academic music schools in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

The duration of balalaika training in a children's music school is 5-7 years (depending on the age of the student), and in a secondary educational institution - 4 years, in a higher educational institution 4-5 years. Repertoire: arrangements of folk songs, transcriptions of classical works, original music.

Boy with a balalaika 1930 oil on canvas 90.5x70.5
Bogdanov-Belsky Nikolai Petrovich

Story
There is no unambiguous point of view on the origin of the balalaika. It is believed that the balalaika has become widespread since the end of the 17th century. Possibly comes from Asian dombra. It was “a long two-stringed instrument, had a body about one and a half spans in length (about 27 cm) and one span in width (about 18 cm) and a neck (neck) at least four times longer” (M. Guthrie, “ Dissertation on Russian antiquities").

The balalaika acquired its modern appearance thanks to the musician-educator V. Andreev and masters V. Ivanov, F. Paserbsky, S. Nalimov and others. Andreev suggested making the soundboard from spruce, and making the back of the balalaika from beech, and also shortening it (to 600-700 mm). The family of balalaikas made by F. Paserbsky (piccolo, primu, alto, tenor, bass, double bass) became the basis of the Russian folk orchestra. Later, F. Paserbsky received a patent in Germany for the invention of the balalaika.

The balalaika is used as a solo concert, ensemble and orchestral instrument.

Bogdanov-Belsky Nikolai Petrovich. Village friends.

Etymology
The shape of the balalaika's body was initially round.

The very name of the instrument is curious, typically folk, the sound of syllable combinations conveying the nature of playing it. The root of the words “balalaika”, or, as it was also called, “balabaika”, has long attracted the attention of researchers due to its kinship with such Russian words as balakat, balabonit, balabolit, balagurit, which means “to talk about something insignificant, chatter, razzle-dazzle, empty ringing, scribbling' (go back to the common Slavic *bolbol of the same meaning, compare the similar onomatapea barbarian). All these concepts, complementing each other, convey the essence of the balalaika - a light, funny, “strumming”, not very serious instrument.

Adding to the above! The word "balabaika" comes from the Turkish "balaba" - a musical folk instrument, akin to dombra, with a rounded shape (see above). The etymology of the word "balaba" - "balabaika" - "balalaika", as well as most Slavic words with a repeating The vowel in a syllable comes from Turkic languages. It is possible that both “to chat” and “to hurt” have a similar history.

The first written mention of the balalaika is contained in a document dated June 13, 1688, “Memory from the Streletsky Prikaz to the Little Russian Prikaz,” which, among other things, reports that in Moscow

“In the Streletsky order, the Arzamas townsman Savka Fedorov, the son of Seleznev and Shenkursky, was brought to the district of the palace Vazheskaya volost, the peasant Ivashko Dmitriev, and with them a balalaika was brought so that they rode on a carriage horse in a cart to the Yau Gate, sang songs and played with the balalaika and the guard archers who stood guard at the Yau Gate were scolded"

Another mention of the balalaika dates back to October 1700 in connection with a fight that took place in Verkhoturye district. According to the testimony of the coachmen Pronka and Alexei Bayanov, the yard man of the steward of the governor K.P. Kozlova I. Pashkov chased them and “beat them with a balalaika.”

The next written source that mentions the balalaika is the “Register” signed by Peter I, dating back to 1714: in St. Petersburg, during the celebration of the clownish wedding of the “prince-papa” N. M. Zotov, in addition to other instruments carried by the mummers, four balalaikas were named.

J. Shtelin said about Peter I that “from his very young years he had no opportunity to hear anything other than the rough sound of drums, a field flute, a balalaika...”

At the end of the 18th century, the word began to penetrate high literature, for example, it is found in V. I. Maykov’s poem “Elisha”, 1771, song 1: “tune me to a whistle or a balalaika.”

In the Ukrainian language, the word was first attested in diary entries from the beginning of the 18th century, telling about “a Tatar playing a balabaika.” This form of “balabaika” is also present in southern Russian dialects and the Belarusian language.