Lute

Lute

Medieval life and Times

Definition and Description of the Lute
Definition and description of the Lute: The Lute can be described as a plucked instrument having a pear-shaped body, a usually bent neck, and a fretted fingerboard. Description: A stringed instrument formerly much in use. It consists of four parts, namely, the table or front, the body, having nine or ten ribs or ``sides,'' arranged like the divisions of a melon, the neck, which has nine or ten frets or divisions, and the head, or cross, in which the screws for tuning are inserted. The strings are struck with the right hand, and with the left the stops are pressed. Melodically the instrument had little power, although its tone was gentle and sweet.

Family of Instruments: The Lute belongs to the family of String instruments.

Medieval Musical Instruments - Lute
Medieval Musical instruments, including the Lute, would be used by the musicians of the period including the Waits, Minstrels or Troubadours. There were three categories of musical instruments in the Middle Ages - wind, string and percussion. Terms of description were Bas instruments and Haut instruments. Bas referred to soft instruments (literally, "low," but referring to volume, not pitch) which were suitable for the chamber which included the vielle, rebec and other bowed strings, the lute and other plucked strings. Haut referred to loud instruments (literally "high" but referring to volume, not to pitch) which were suitable for outdoors which included the shawm, sackbut, pipe and tabor.

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