Musical Instruments – Hello friends, welcome to all of you on ssccglexam.com. In this article, all the important facts related to the Static GK topic “Musical Instruments and its Players”, which is very important from the point of view of the SSC CGL exam, have been shared. So if you are preparing for SSC CGL or any other SSC exam, then read this article thoroughly.
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Musical Instruments
India has an ancient and rich tradition of musical instruments. Information about the history of musical instruments in India is available from musical texts to sculptures and paintings. The oldest information related to music in India was obtained from the excavations of Bhimbetka caves and the Harappan civilization.
Types of Musical Instruments
According to Natya Shastra written by Bharat Muni, musical instruments have been divided into four parts based on the origin of sound.
- Chordophone or Stringed Instruments
- Aerophone or Wind Instruments
- Membranophones or Percussion Instruments
- Idiophone or Solid Instruments
Chordophone or Stringed Instruments
- Such musical instruments in which the vibration of strings produces sound are called musical instruments.
- In musical instruments, this vibration is produced with the help of fingers or strings.
Example – Santoor, Veena, Sarod, Sitar, Surbahar, Mohan Veena, Violin, Mandolin, Kamicha etc.
Aerophone or Wind Instruments
- Such musical instruments in which sound is produced by filling air i.e. by blowing, are called wind instruments.
- The intensity of the note is changed by controlling the passage of air and the raga is played by opening and closing the holes made in the instrument with the help of fingers.
Examples – Flute, Shehnai, Nadaswaran, etc.
Membranophones or Percussion Instruments
- Such musical instruments which are made of animal skin and sound produced by striking them are called Avanaddha instruments.
- Mention of these musical instruments can be seen in Vedic literature.
Example – Dholak, Tabla, Damru, Mridangam, Pakhawaj, etc.
Idiophone or Solid Instruments
The oldest musical instrument invented by man is called Ghan Vadya. After such musical instruments are ready, there is no need to mix special notes while playing them.
Examples – utensils, cymbals, stones, etc.
Musical Instruments and Players
Now we will read about musical instruments and their famous players one by one.
Tabla Musical Instrument and players
- Tabla is made of wood whose upper part is covered with animal skin and connected with the help of leather straps.
Following are the names of prominent tabla players in India.
- Ustad Allah Rakha Khan, Zakir Hussain, Samata Prasad, etc.
Flute Musical Instrument and Players
The flute is a musical instrument originally made of bamboo in a hollow tube with holes to control the pitch of the note. There are two types of flutes.
- Solo flute
- Double flute
Following are the names of prominent flute players of India.
- Hariprasad Chaurasia, N Ramani, Rakesh Chaurasia, Pannalal Ghosh, Shashank Subramaniam, Praveen Godkhindi, Raghunath Seth, Ronu Majumdar, etc.
Shehnai Musical Instrument and Players
- Shehnai is a musical instrument with a vibration. It is also called Mangal Vadya because it is played in marriages, festivals in temples, or any other auspicious event. After India’s independence, this musical instrument was made famous by Ustad Bismillah Khan.
- Ustad Bismillah Khan was awarded Padma Shri in 1961, Padma Bhushan in 1968, Padma Vibhushan in 1980, and Bharat Ratna Award in 2001 for his contribution to music.
Following are the names of prominent Shehnai players of India.
- Ustad Bismillah Khan, Krishna Ram Chaudhary, Ustad Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan, Pandit Anant Lal, Dayashankar, etc.
Sitar Musical Instrument and Players
- Sitar was invented in the 13th century by Amir Khusro, a poet of the Tarana, Khayal, and Qawwali genre. Sitar musical instrument is a mixture of Indian Veena and Iranian Tambura. Regressive and transverse waves are generated from the sitar. Sitar strings have different thicknesses.
Following are the names of prominent sitar players of India.
- Pandit Ravi Shankar, Nikhil Banerjee, Vilayat Khan, Vande Hasan, Shahid Parvez, Buddhaditya Banerjee, Umashankar Mishra, etc.
Santoor Musical Instrument and Players
- Santoor is also known as Shatatantri Veena and has 72 strings. Santoor originated in present-day Iran about 1800 years ago.
Following are the names of prominent Santoor players of India.
- Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Rahul Sharma, Ulhas Bapat, Bhajan Sopori, Abhay Sopori, Tarun Bhattacharya, Satish Vyas, R Visweswaran, etc.
Sarod Musical Instrument and Players
- The word Sarod is of Persian origin which means song or melody. Sarod mainly has 6 or 8 strings. The credit for making Sarod famous in the world goes to Ustad Amjad Ali Khan.
Following are the names of prominent sarod players of India.
- Ustad Alauddin Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Soumik Dutt, Abhishek Lahiri, Brij Narayan, Hafiz Ali Khan, Rajeev Taranath, Ayaan Ali Khan, Aman Ali Khan and Asad Kijibaish, Buddhadev Das Gupta, Bahadur Khan, Sharan Rani etc.
Surbahar Musical Instrument and Players
- Surbahar is a modified form of sitar instrument. It has seven main strings. Ghulam Mohammad Khan of Lucknow is credited with the invention of Surbahar around the year 1825.
Following are the names of prominent Surbahar players of India.
- Annapurna Devi, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Imrat Khan, Irshad Khan etc.
Sarangi Musical Instrument and Players
Sarangi was a musical instrument of the nomadic castes in ancient times. It was earlier known as Sarinda. Sarangi is mainly of two types.
- Sindhi sarangi
- Gujarat sarangi
Following are the names of prominent Sarangi players of India.
- Shakur Khan, Pandit Ram Narayan, Ahmed Khan, Ramesh Mishra, Dhrub Ghosh, Surinder Sandhu, Ustad Sultan Khan, Ustad Bundu Khan, etc.
Veena Musical Instrument and Players
- Veena is an important instrument of Indian music and according to the beliefs of the Hindu religion, Goddess Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, also plays Veena.
- Veena generally has seven strings. The famous king Samudragupta of the Gupta dynasty was adept at playing the Veena.
Following are the names of prominent veena players of India.
- Dr. Lalmani Mishra, S. Balachandran, Punya Srinivas, Krishna Bhagwathar, Lalgudi Jayaraman, etc.
Rudra Veena Musical Instrument and Players
- Rudra Veena is an improved version of the Veena instrument.
Following are the names of the major Rudra Veena players of India.
- Jyoti Hegde, Asad Ali Khan, Zia Mohiuddin Hegde, etc.
Violin Musical Instrument and Players
- The violin is one of the most famous instruments in the world.
- Famous scientist Albert Einstein was also skilled in playing the violin. The violin is known as Bela in Hindi.
Following are the names of prominent violinists in India.
- Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu, Vishnu Govind Jog, M Chandrasekaran, TN Krishnan, Mrs. M Rajan, Lalgudi Jayaram, MS Gopalakrishnan etc.
Pakhawaj Musical Instrument and Players
- Pakhawaj is a type of drum and Tabla originated from Pakhawaj only.
- Pakhavaj is also known by the names Pushkar, Mridang Mridal, etc.
Following are the names of the major Pakhawaj players of India.
- Totaram Sharma, Pandit Ayodhya Prasad, Uppalapu Srinivas, Pandit Gopal Das Ram Shankar Das etc.
Nadaswaram Musical Instrument and Players
- The Nadaswaram instrument originated in the state of Tamil Nadu and is very similar to the Shehnai of North India.
Following are the names of prominent Nadaswaram players of India.
- Sheikh Chinna Maulana and TN Rajaratnam etc.
Ghatam Musical Instrument and Players
- Ghatam is a large-sized, narrow-mouthed clay pot, which is used as a tabla.
Following are the names of prominent Ghatam players of India.
- Vikku Vinayak or T Vinayakram and EM Subramaniam etc.
Piano Musical Instrument and Players
- Piano is a string instrument, it is also known as Mahavadya. The piano was invented by Bartholomew Christopher in the 10th century.
Following are the names of prominent pianists of India.
- V Balasara, Anil Srinivasan, Lydian Nadhaswaram etc.
So in this way, we have read about the Musical Instrument and the player. We hope you liked this article. You can download the PDF by the link given below.