This section is from the book "The Corner Cupboard; Or, Facts For Everybody", by Robert Kemp Philp. Also available from Amazon: The Corner Cupboard; or Facts for Everybody.
Tambourine. A kind of semi-drum in the shape of a sieve, mounted at the sides with small hells and loose pieces of tin. It was formerly considered as a tinkling cymbal.
Violoncello. An instrument like the violin, but much larger in size, and deeper in tone. In quartetts of stringed instruments, two violins generally take the first and second parts ; a larger kind of violin, called a viola or tenor, the third; and the violoncello the fourth. The double-bass is the largest instrument of the violin kind ; it is usually furnished with only three strings of great thickness. Its notes are deep and powerful.
Drum. A well-known martial musical instrument in use principally among the infantry, serving to call the soldiers together, to direct their march, attack, retreat, etc. The drum is said to be an • oriental invention, and is thought to have been first brought into Europe by the Arabians.
Kettle Drums are used by cavalry, and consist of two large basons with spherical bottoms, or, rather, two hemispheres, which are covered over the flat side with vellum, and made tight with screws and an iron ring. Kettle-drums are always tuned - the one to the key-note, the other to the fifth, of the piece that is to be played.
Dulcimer. A triangular instrument, strung with about fifty wires cast over a bridge at each end, the shortest being generally eighteen inches and the longest thirty-six. It is performed upon by striking the wires with little wooden rods turned up a little at the ends. This name is also applied to a Hebrew instrument by the trans-ators of the Bible, the figure of which is not now known.
 
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