At 2:19 PM -0500 12/11/10, Blake Richardson wrote:
I've been watching the HBO show "Boardwalk Empire" lately, which is
set in 1920s Prohibition-era Atlantic City, and they've had several
scenes set in a dance hall with a band in a reverse orchestra pit
(in a balcony up near the rafters as opposed to below the stage).
One instrument they use is something I've never seen before and I
was wondering if anyone knows what it is: it looks like and is
played like a standard violin but there's a big trumpet-like brass
bell attached to it that extends up over the neck of the instrument.
Seems like some kind of string/brass hybrid thingy.
Anyone have a clue?
Wow! I thought I was familiar with historical instruments, but the
Stroh violin was a new one on me! (Of course the "history" is a
little more recent than my usual.)
For comparison purposes, consider the Dobro, a non-electric (i.e., it
probably preceded the electric version) slide guitar with a (metal?)
diaphragm to give increased acoustical amplification. The main
difference is that the Dobro has continued in use in acoustic country
bands, while the Stroh vioin apparently died out once electrical
recording replaced acoustical. (Same reason that tubas were used in
early recordings rather then string basses, and why bell-front tubas
are still called "recording" tubas.)
And this all makes sense because the recording industry, using
acoustical technology, was going great guns in the '20s, and it was
in the '20s that electrical amplification was first introduced into
popular music. (Anyone else remember singers who used megaphones
before the days of mics and speakers--or in some cases even after?)
John
--
John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music
Virginia Tech Department of Music
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[email protected])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
"We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition
of jazz musicians.
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