The Tabor is a small drum, so fiat, that the two heads are not more than three Indies asunder. It is only used as an ac companiment to the pipe, for dances, &c. The tambourine is a kind of drum with only one head, the other end of the hoop, which is not more than four inches in breadth, being open ; the head, which is of the best parchment, is fixed to an iron rim, and by means of screws fixed to the exterior of the hoop, can be tightened at pleasure. The performei puts the thumb of his left hand through a hole in the hoop, lined with an ivory, moveable bush or box, to prevent chafing. In this man ner he whirls the tambourine about, and snakes the brass jingles, or cymbals, (as they are called) which are inserted in pairs, through slits in the hoop, strike so as to produce various sounds, either clash ing or tremulous, according as he may apply his right hand. The performer should have plenty of well pulverized resin strewed on the face of the tambou rine, so that when he rolls, by means of the tip off' a finger being rubbed thereon, the instrument may sound well. The mi litary tambourines have generally an iron bar across the interior, furnished with bells of various sorts and sizes. This in strument was for some years much. in vogue among the English ladies, as an ac companiment, jointly with a triangle, for the piano-forte. It is not easy to account for so heterogeneous an assemblage, un less in the opportunity afforded of display ing symmetry of form and gracelt1 ac tion. The good sense of the sex, how ever, speedily dismissed so absurd a com bination, and allowed our ears to be again delighted with the purity of harmony, supporting the melody of a fine voice.— Though the term tambourine would im ply it to be of French invention, and to mean only% little drum, we are rather disposed to believe it originated in the coonjery, which is extremely • like it, though smaller, and has been in common use throughout Asia for centuries, and which probably received its designation from being always employed among a tribe,called the Coonjoors,or Sampareahs, who get a livelihood by catching and showing snakes. It is beat with the fin gers of.the right hand ; and in possession of a good performer, yields a variety of intonations, far from disagreeable, and partly caused by the pressure of the fin ger of the left hand, by which it is held. This instrument rare ly e xceeds nine inches in diameter, nor is the hoop, usually more than three inches broad, generally less; the head is either of bladder, or of raw kid-skin scraped extremely thin. The ancients had drums of various descrip tions; such as the timbre!, which appears to have much resembled the common Asiatic long-drum, or dole; and the mi naghinim, which cannot be classed with any other instrument, it being a hollowed board, over which a chain was stretched, and which, passing through balls of iron, gre- was beat, and swung round, so as to occasion a deafening noise.
The Triangle is a round steel bar, about the third of an inch thick, made into an equilateral triangle, and beat with a little piece of the same metal; it forms a pas sable accompaniment in a military band, and in country dances seems to give a life to the music. It appears to be of a very ancient invention, though revived only within these few years.
The Castagnee was originally made of two hollow chesnut shells, which, being connected by a string passing round the outside of the middle finger, were rattled together, according to the measure, while dancing, each hand havinga pair. Castag nets are in general use among the Spanish women ; but instead of chesnut shells, as their name indicates they should be, they are now commonly made of sonorous wood. There is another kind, made of small shin-bones of animals, of which one being held between the fore and middle fingers, and another between the middle and third fingers, they are rattled toge ther for the same purpose.
We believe these to be all the instru ments of percussion known to us, except ing, indeed, some of the most trifling, which de not merit a place in this work. The next class, namely, instruments of inflation, now comes under consideration; the principal of these is The Organ, an instrument of the high est antiquity; in the structure of which the greatest ingenuity has been displayed. The reader cannot expect to find here a detailed description of so very complex an instrument ; but we shall endeavour to afford such a perspicuous and general out line, as may exhibit the principal parts sufficiently for his purpose. The most difficult to make properly is the wind chest; which is an extensive, horizontal box, so closely fitted and prepared, as to retain the wind impelled into it by various large bellows, which must be numerous.
and capacious in proportion to the size of the wind-chest. The quantity of wind in it is always known to the organist by means of a tell-tale, or index, which rises and falls in proportion thereto. The top of the wind-chest is bared with several lines of apertures, proportioned to the sizes of the pipes they are to receive,those of the bass notes being the largest ; but all the pipes in each row being different as to their interior construction, and consequently producing very different sounds, each row is called a stop, and has a plug appropriate thereto, acting upon a slide, which shuts or opens the whole of that row at pleasure ; and is called a register. There are as many of such rows of apertures or registers, as there are kinds of toqe or stops in the organ: some having few, others having nume rous stops. The wind is prevented es caping from the wind-chest into the pipes by valves, which are opened only when the performer presses the keys respec tively ; when, by means of communicating wires, the valves are pressed down, and the wind passes into the pipes. When the key is quitted, the pressure of the wind, aided by a spiral wire spring, shuts the valve, and that sound of the pipe instant ly ceases. In order to regulate the force of the sound, most church organs have either two or three rows of keys, where by a greater or less number of pipes may be filled, and the powers of the instru ment be controlled into what is called the small organ, or let loose so as to become the full organ. The pipes suited to the higher notes are made of mixed metals, chiefly grain tin and lead ; they increase in length and diameter in proportion to the note: until, metal pipes being no fur. ther applicable, square ones of wood are substituted in their stead for all the lower notes. The dimensions of all the pipes of an organ are regulated by a scale or diapason, !brined for the use of manufac turers in this line, and apportioned to every size of instrument usually made. Many designate the organ according to the length of its lowest note, i. e. a six teen, a twelve, or an eight foot organ, such being the dimensions of the main wooden pipe. Some organs have been built on the continent, whose powers were immense, causing the largest cathe drals to vibrate sensibly with their sounds. The following are the stops usually made in a great organ : The open diapason, in which all the pipes are open at the toe ; this is a metallic stop. The stopped dia pason; the bass notes of this, up to the tenor C, are always made of wood, and are stopped at their summits with wooden plugs, whereby the tone is very much softened. The principal is the middle stop, and serves, when tuned, as the basis for tuning all the ;Aber parts, above and below ; it is metallic. The twelfth is me tallic also, and derives its name from being a twelfth, or an octave and a half above the diapason., The fifteenth, so called, because it is two octaves above the diapason. The sesquialtera, compos ed of various pipes, tuned in the parts of the common chord; the upper part is often called the cornet. The furniture stop is very shrill, and in some passages has a peculiar fine effect. The trumpet is a metallic stop, and derives its name from the instrument it so admirably imi tates; this peculiar tone is produced by means of what is called a reed, but is in reality a piece of brass, on which the wind acts forcibly, giving a roughness to the sound, which is further changed by all the pipes of this stop having bell mouths like trumpets. The clarion is a reed stop also, but an octave higher than the trum pet ; it is only suited to a full chorus. The tierce is only employed in the full organ, it being very shrill, and a third above the fifteenth. The octave above the twelfth is too shrill to be used but in the full organ. The cornet is a treble stop. The dulcimer takes its name from the sweetness of its tones. The flute is named from the instrument it imitates, as are the bassoon, voxhumana, hautboy, and cremona, or krumhorn, stops. The pro per.adaptation•of the severaletops in the performance of sacred music, and in ac. companying a choir, requires both judg ment and experience. The fingering of the organ is precisely the same as that of the piano-forte, so far as relates to the si tuation of the keys, Ace.; but on account of the great number of holding notes in organ music, the fingers are more kept down, whence it is considered highly in jurious to piano-forte performers to prac tise the organ, they being subject to lose that lightness, and that delicacy of touch, required for the former instrument.