Global InformationVeena information
 A Saraswati Veena | |
| String instrument | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Vina[1] |
| Classification | String instruments |
| Developed | Veena has applied to stringed instruments in Indian written records since at least 1000 BCE. Instruments using the name have included forms of arched harp and musical bow, lutes, medieval stick zithers and tube zithers, bowed chordophones, fretless lutes, the Hindustani bīn and Sarasvati veena.[2] |
| Related instruments | |
| Chitra veena, Harp-style veena, Mohan veena, Rudra veena, Saraswati veena, Vichitra veena, Sarod, Sitar, Surbahar, Sursingar, Tambouras, Tambura, | |
The veena, also spelled vina (Sanskrit: वीणा IAST: vīṇā), is any of various chordophone instruments from the Indian subcontinent.[3] Ancient musical instruments evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps.[1] The many regional designs have different names such as the Rudra veena, the Saraswati veena, the Vichitra veena and others.[4][5]
The North Indian rudra veena, used in Hindustani classical music, is a stick zither.[1] About 3.5 to 4 feet (1 to 1.2 meters) long to fit the measurements of the musician, it has a hollow body and two large resonating gourds, one under each end.[5] It has four main strings which are melodic, and three auxiliary drone strings.[1] To play, the musician plucks the melody strings downward with a plectrum worn on the first and second fingers, while the drone strings are strummed with the little finger of the playing hand. The musician stops the resonating strings, when so desired, with the fingers of the free hand. In modern times the veena has been generally replaced with the sitar in North Indian performances.[1][3]
The South Indian Saraswati veena, used in Carnatic classical music, is a lute. It is a long-necked, pear-shaped lute, but instead of the lower gourd of the North Indian design, it has a pear-shaped wooden piece. However it, too, has 24 frets, four melody strings, and three drone strings, and is played similarly. It remains an important and popular string instrument in classical Carnatic music.[1][6][7]
As a fretted, plucked lute, the veena can produce pitches in a full three-octave range.[3] The long, hollow neck design of these Indian instruments allows portamento effects and legato ornaments found in Indian ragas.[7] It has been a popular instrument in Indian classical music, and one revered in the Indian culture by its inclusion in the iconography of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of arts and learning.[6]
- ^ a b c d e f Vina: Musical Instrument, Encyclopædia Britannica (2010)
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- ^ a b Lochtefeld 2002, pp. 753–754.
- ^ a b Randel 2003, pp. 819–820.