Instruments

Transcript

• 00:04

  An impeccable performance takes more than a talented musician.It takes an exceptional instrument,such as the Vieuxtemps, named for the virtuoso whowas its original owner.When Geoff Fushi first heard this violin in his Chicagostudio last year, he could hardly believe his ears.

• 00:24

  I thought, what's wrong with me?That's the greatest sound I've ever heard.Not one of, I mean it's the most impressive.Built in 1751, the violin's unparalleled tonewon it instant acclaim.The Vieuxtemps has changed ownership a handful of times.But it's been off the market for nearly a half century,and rarely played during that time.

• 00:45

  Now its current owner, a wealthy Austrian philanthropist,has charged Fushi with selling the prized instrument,promising the proceeds will go to musical charities.If it is sold at the asking price of $18 million,the Vieuxtemps will be the most expensive instrumentin the world.But Fushi insists the sale is less about moneyand more about finding a suitable home for a masterpiece

• 01:06

  he compares to the Mona Lisa.It ought to be preserved for the future.And some of the greatest artists, or the greatestartist, should be allowed to play on it occasionallyfor really important concerts.That's what I'd like best, that it'spreserved for hundreds of years from now,

• 01:28

  and that it's allowed to express what it does best.And that's to play the most glorious music.In its history, the Vieuxtemps has been called the bestby such greats as Itzhak Perlman and Yehudi Menuhin,and will likely live on to seduce countless others.

What defines something as an instrument is largely based on culturally contextual systems of classification. Because almost anything can be used as an instrument, a look at some of the ways different human cultures have come to classify or recognize something as an instrument can demonstrate the myriad ways in which perception and categorization inform and are informed by musical practices. Taxonomies can vary so widely that one system may list something as an instrument while another may not. Elements such as the materials, structure, method of sound excitation, performance practice, and even cultural associations may influence the way a given culture classifies its instruments. The most widely utilized scholarly system of instrument classification in the 20th century was first proposed in 1914 by Erich M. von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs.

Most other systems developed by Western scholars in the 20th century have been attempts [Page 613]to either extend this classification system or transcend it. These attempts are largely rooted in researchers' desire to transcend the more top-down scholarly approach toward taxonomy and take into account the conceptual and cultural systems each culture has for defining its own projects. While fields like comparative musicology and ethnomusicology have provided researchers with many examples of different musical instruments and systems, thus providing examples for comparison on a more macrolevel, psychoacoustics has provided researchers with information about the process of sound perception on a microlevel (i.e., as it is processed by the ear and brain).