Gusli. History of an ancient instrument. What is a gusli

The bowstring rang

An arrow flew...

Gusli. Story ancient instrument

Gusli is an ancient musical instrument. Thousands of years of human history have hidden from us both the age and place of their birth. IN different countries and at different nations this instrument was called by different names. Among the Slavs, the name of this instrument, I think, is associated with the sound of the bowstring. The same string that was pulled onto the bow.

In ancient times, the elastic string of a bow was called differently - “gusla”. Here is one of the hypotheses for the origin of the name of the instrument. And by attaching a hollow vessel to a string, we get a primitive musical instrument. So: strings and a resonator that enhances their sound are the basic principle of this plucked instrument.

IN Old Russian manuscript, “Tales of the Belorized Man and Monasticism,” the miniaturist depicted in the initial letter “D” the figure of a king (possibly the psalmist David) playing the harp. Their shape corresponds to the instrument that existed in Rus' at that time. These are the so-called “helmet-shaped” harps. The shape of their body really resembles a helmet. Subsequently, the shape of the flat resonator box changed. A trapezoidal harp appeared. The number of strings on the instrument has decreased, and the shape of the body has also changed. This is how winged harps appeared.

Back in the 9th century, the Slavs amazed the kings of Byzantium by playing the harp. In those distant times, harps were made from hollowed-out dry spruce or maple boards. Maple "Yavor" is especially loved by music professionals. This is where the name of the gusli comes from - “Yarochnye”. / And as soon as the strings began to be pulled from metal, the gusli began to ring and began to be called “ringing”.

The fate of this instrument has long been associated with folk song and epic traditions. Master craftsmen have been passing on the secrets of making gusli for centuries. Gusel tunes, songs of singers, were loved by both the people and the kings. But often folk singers they sang unflatteringly about the authorities.

The epic writer will sing about the will, about the share,
And the heart will call out to the free will, call.
The nobles and kings stood on end with great anger,
So that vagabond guslars will appear in Rus'.
But the ringing harps sang, and their harmony was harsh,
And there were violent riots from the songs of the guslars.
I. Kobzev
These persecutions of gusli players (as this word sounds correctly), or, as they were disparagingly called guslars, did a disservice to the fate of the instrument. The interest in its improvement was not the same as it was in the fate of the violin. But time has changed this ancient instrument. Its design, body shape, wood processing technology, varnishes, decorative finishing - all this has long removed the harp from the category of an archaic, purely folk instrument, turning it into a professional stage instrument with a rich, unique sound.

Today every orchestra folk instruments It includes plucked psaltery - table-shaped psaltery and keyboard psaltery. The sound of these instruments gives the orchestra a unique flavor of ancient psaltery ringing.

Currently, interest in the gusli has grown significantly. Modern guslars appeared - storytellers who set out to recreate ancient tradition both playing the harp and singing to the harp. Along with three types of plucked psaltery, the main playing technique of which is plucking and strumming, keyboard psalteries also appeared. The mechanics installed on them, when you press the keys, opens the strings and makes it possible to select the desired chord. This significantly simplifies playing the gusli as an accompanying instrument.

Unfortunately, if you want to purchase an instrument, you have to talk about small workshops in Russia where harps are very rarely made as individual copies. In the whole world, it seems to me, there is not a single factory where this product is produced. unique instrument. The money goes for anything: wild entertainment, wars, pleasures... Diversion of funds for the production of at least one surface-to-air combat missile would be more than enough to build a small music factory. How sad and painful it is to realize all this today. But... the harp sounds and will sound forever!

In the article we will analyze the meaning of the word gusli, and also talk about the features of this instrument. The term has Old Slavic roots. It is associated with the word "buzz". We are talking about a Russian folk plucked string musical instrument such as the zither. The name is found already in sources of the 11th century. It could historically refer to a variety of musical instruments.

Special mention should be made about modern use of this term. Nowadays, the gusli is a musical instrument that is stringed, plucked and has a trapezoidal shape. Similar to a zither. Musicians who play such a musical instrument are called guslars. Details below.

Story

To understand what a gusli is, you should know that it is a musical instrument, the varieties of which include the zhetygen, psaltery, lyre, cithara, and harp. The Iranian santur and the Armenian canon are also similar to it. Musical harp used by the heroes of the epic Russian epic: Solovey Budimirovich, Dobrynya Nikitich, Sadko.

Researchers at the beginning of the twentieth century noticed an amazing detail. They noted the similarity of the Mari and Chuvash gusli with the drawings of the instrument we are considering on the pages of medieval Russian manuscripts. In the above images, the performers pluck the strings with their fingers. They hold the instrument itself on their laps. The Mari and Chuvash played in the same way at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The number of strings was not always the same. Psalter-shaped harps, according to researchers, were brought to Russia by the Greeks. The Mari and Chuvash borrowed this instrument from the Russians. Clavier-shaped harps were found at the beginning of the twentieth century mainly among the Russian clergy.

This instrument consists of a special rectangular resonance box, complemented by a lid, which is located on a table. A series of round cutouts are made on the board - voice boxes. A pair of concave wooden blocks is attached to it. Iron pegs are screwed into one of these elements. They get wrapped around them metal strings.

Another beam is used to attach the strings. The keyboard-shaped harp has a piano tuning. In this case, the strings that correspond to the black keys are placed below those that correspond to the white ones.

Notes were created for the clavier-shaped gusli. There was also a school that was founded by Fyodor Kushenov-Dmitrevsky at the beginning of the twentieth century. This person is also the author of a tutorial dedicated to this instrument.

Pterygoids

Considering the question of what a gusli is, it should be noted that they come in spring varieties. Historically, this type of musical instrument is the first. As a rule, such harps accompany the singer’s voice or solo. They have a diatonic scale.

The wing-shaped gusli is an instrument that was common in the 19th and 20th centuries in the northwestern territories of Russia, bordering Finland, Karelia and the Baltic states. They meet there related instruments: kannel, kantele, kokles, kankles. Largest quantity instruments were found by researchers in the Novgorod and Pskov regions.

Wing-shaped harps have a variety of shapes. The strings are stretched fan-shaped and taper towards the heel. You can select instruments that have a beveled body. It tapers as it approaches the tailpiece. The thickness of the tool varies between 4-6 centimeters, and the length does not exceed 800 mm.

A special feature here is the thin postcard - about 6-11 mm. During the game it is used to support the left hand. After all, she quickly gets tired from hanging over the strings. This type The gusli has 5-17 strings. Most often there are from 6 to 9. They are tuned in accordance with the degrees of the diatonic scale.

The upper or lower extreme strings can be tuned as bourdon strings, which sound constantly during playing. There are about twelve different methods for tuning the gusli. Wing-shaped instruments are usually played by touching all the strings at once. This technique is called “rattling”. Unnecessary strings are muffled with the fingers of the left hand.

This is achieved by placing three or four (less commonly) fingers between the strings. This approach allows you to change chords with particular speed. The blow usually comes from top to bottom. You can also achieve smoother sound here. To do this, strikes are added from bottom to top, equal in strength to the first. You can also play melodies on this instrument. Sometimes techniques of plucking sounds with the fingers of the left hand are used. As a rule, it is large and nameless.

Helmet-shaped

For a long time, historiography was dominated by the idea of Old Russian origin of this tool. Later, an assumption arose about borrowing this design from the peoples of the Volga region. Modern researchers who wonder what a gusli is and what are the features of this particular species take a more cautious view.

At the same time, they indicate a possible relationship between this instrument and the Western European psalterium. You should pay attention to the point of view of the historian A. A. Novoselsky. In his opinion, harps of this type used in music were borrowed from Western European peoples. This is indicated by the name and external resemblance with a psalterium.

Helmet-shaped harps originated in Rus' in the nineteenth century. Five images of musical instruments were found in Veliky Novgorod. All depict a musician with an instrument similar to a helmet-shaped harp. Such a performer was called a buzzer.

Lyre-shaped

In music, this type of harp is also called a playing window. They were distributed in Ancient Rus', as well as in Poland in the 11th-13th centuries. The earliest finds came from Novgorod and the Polish city of Opole. They date back to the 11th century. Such harps have an opening in the upper part. This feature makes such finds similar to other lyre-shaped structures.

Stationary

Answering the question of what a gusli is, it should be noted that they are table-shaped, rectangular and clavier-shaped. All of them are also called stationary. They have a chromatic scale. The tool was developed in XVI-XVII centuries based on helmet-shaped and ringed gusli. It was also used as a portable instrument, which was placed horizontally on the musician’s lap.

Plucked

Such harps, together with keyboards, can also be called concert or academic. The range and tuning here do not have pronounced features. It is the same as that of the keyboard gusli. This assumes a more complex playing technique. Plucking the strings is done with both hands. The left one creates the accompaniment, the melody is performed by the right one.

Keyboards

Such gusli were created in 1905 by N.P. Fomin based on rectangular ones. They are used by folk instrument orchestras, mainly for playing chords, as an accompanying instrument. The performer presses the keys with his left hand and plucks the strings with his right hand using a leather pick, or less often without it. The main technique of the game is arpeggiato - the transition to the upper sound from the lower one.

Facts

The musical instrument gusli, in essence, is a purely Russian phenomenon (if we talk about the type we talked about above). Various Slavic peoples There are instruments with similar names. This applies to Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs. These tools are varied. They are often bowed.

In the 1980-1990s, during the frontal work of folklore expeditions of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory, headed by Anatoly Mikhailovich Mekhnetsov, remains of an archaic type of gusel playing were identified in the Pskov and Novgorod regions. By the way, when the Bible was translated into Russian, the kinnor was called the harp.

Gusli- a stringed musical instrument, most common in Russia.

The gusli is a flat resonator box with strings stretched over it. Under different names- kannel, kankles, kok-le, kantele, kusle, kesle - this multi-string plucked instrument known among the peoples of the Baltic and Volga regions.

In Rus', gusli has been known since the 11th century. The shapes differed between wing-shaped psaltery, also called ringed or vernal, and helmet-shaped. Both were held on their knees when playing, but on the first the strings were plucked with a special thin plate - a plectrum, and on the second - with the fingers of both hands. At the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries. rectangular gusli were created in Russia. They had a table-shaped body with a lid, and up to 66 strings were stretched inside it. While playing, the strings were plucked with the fingers of both hands, the sounds were loud and did not fade for a long time.

Nowadays three types of gusli are common: ringed, plucked and keyboard. The ringed gusli is the direct descendant of the ancient winged gusli. They are usually trapezoidal in shape. When playing, the performer holds them on his knees, producing sound in several ways: plucking the strings with the fingers of both hands or just right hand, and with the left one muffles the strings; uses a plectrum, then the sound becomes especially sonorous. They play this harp and rattle it, like a balalaika. At the beginning of the 20th century. musician-ethnographer, conductor N. I. Privalov and guslier O. U. Smolensky reconstructed this type of gusli: they gave it a triangular shape, increased the number of strings - from 5-9 to 13, and created ensemble gusli - piccolo, primo, viola and bass. Currently, only prima is used predominantly. The Soviet performer D. Lokshin designed chromatic ringed gusli, which greatly expanded the artistic capabilities of the instrument.

Plucked harp- improved rectangular harp. They consist of a metal frame on wooden legs with strings stretched over it. Their scale is chromatic; they can play chords and even various polyphonic pieces. Numerous strings are placed on two levels: on the top there are strings tuned diatonically, on the bottom there are strings that provide the missing chromatic sounds.

Keyboard harp designed by V.V. Andreev’s closest associate, N.P. Fomin. Device, appearance and their range is similar to plucked gusli, but all the strings are located in the same plane, and above the strings there is a box with a system of mufflers - dampers. This entire system is controlled using 12 one-octave keys of a piano keyboard located on the edge of the damper box. When you press a key, the damper associated with it rises and opens the strings corresponding to a given sound in all octaves at once. Most often, arpeggiated chords are played on the keyboard gusli. With his right hand, the performer runs a pick (a thin plate with a pointed end) along the strings, and with his left hand presses the necessary keys. Using the pedal located near the keys, all dampers are raised at once. When the pedal is pressed, the keyboard psaltery can be used as a plucked psaltery.

In modern Russian folk orchestra This type of gusli is used; in professional groups there is a duet of plucked and keyboard gusli.

History of the gusli

Gusli- a musical instrument, the name of which in Russia refers to several varieties of recumbent harps. Psalted harps have similarities with the Greek psalter and the Hebrew kinnor; these include: Chuvash gusli, Cheremis gusli, clavier-shaped gusli and gusli, which are similar to the Finnish kantele, Latvian kukles and Lithuanian kankles.

The Chuvash and Cheremis gusli have a striking resemblance to images of this instrument preserved in the monuments of our antiquity, for example, in a handwritten service book of the 14th century, where a person playing the gusli is represented in the capital letter D, in the Makaryevskaya Chetye-Minea of ​​1542, etc.

In all of these images, the performers hold the harp on their knees and pluck the strings with their fingers. The Chuvash and Cheremis play the harp in exactly the same way. The strings of their harp are intestinal; their number is not always the same. Psalter-shaped harps were brought to Russia by the Greeks; The Chuvash and Cheremis borrowed this instrument from the Russians.

The clavier-shaped gusli, which is still found today, mainly among the Russian clergy, is nothing more than an improved type of psalter-shaped gusli. This instrument consists of a rectangular resonance box with a lid, which rests on a table. Several circular cutouts (voices) are made on the resonance board, and two concave wooden blocks are attached to it.

On one of them, iron pegs are screwed in, on which metal strings are wound; the other beam plays the role of a stringer, that is, it serves to attach the strings. The keyboard-shaped psaltery has a piano tuning, with the strings corresponding to the black keys placed below those corresponding to the white keys.

For clavier-shaped gusli there are notes and a school compiled by Kushenov-Dmitrevsky. In addition to the psaltery-shaped gusli, there are kantele, similar to the Finnish instrument. This type of gusli has almost completely disappeared. It is very likely that it was borrowed by the Russians from the Finns. The ancient Slavic word means cithara, that is, at the beginning of the Middle Ages it expressed the general concept of stringed instruments.

From this word came modern names: gusle - among Serbs and Bulgarians, gusle, guzla, gusli - among Croats, gosle - among Slovenes, guslic - among Poles, housle ("violin") among Czechs and gusli among Russians. These instruments are quite diverse and many of them are bowed, for example. guzla, which has only one horsehair string.

Gusli Origin of the word gusli Gusli is an ancient musical instrument. Thousands of years of human history have hidden from us both the age and place of their birth. In different countries and among different peoples this instrument was called differently. Among the Slavs, the name of this instrument, I think, is associated with the sound of the bowstring. The same string that was pulled onto the bow. In ancient times, the elastic string of a bow was called differently - “gasla”. Here is one of the hypotheses for the origin of the name of the instrument.

Gusli is a folk musical instrument. Derived from the word “to buzz.” The sound of strings was called humming. Had horizontal position. The heroes Dobrynya Nikitich, Solovey Budimirovich and the Novgorod guest Sadko played the gusli. They were common among buffoons. In the 20th century, the harp was improved. The instrument acquired a triangular shape, the number of strings became constant

They played the harp while sitting, the instrument was placed in a slightly inclined position on the knees, resting its top on the chest. The melody was performed on the high register strings, and the homophonic harmonic accompaniment and bass bourdon were performed on the lower register strings. Playing while standing was also practiced.

The gusli is a musical instrument, a type of which is the harp. Also similar to the harp are the Greek psalter, the Hebrew Connor and the Armenian canon; these include: Chuvash gusli, Cheremis gusli, clavier-shaped gusli and gusli, which are similar to the Finnish kantele, Latvian kukles and Lithuanian kankles.

Manufacturing It is usually made from an already processed board, sometimes from a wooden block, which is split to the required dimensions. The manufacturing technology is quite simple. It can be pine, spruce, and sometimes (in Siberia) cedar. In the past they also used, and sometimes still do, apple and sycamore maple.

Strings The sound of the gusli depends on the quality of the strings. On modern harps, the strings are made of wire made from special grades of steel. The strings vary in length and have a cross-section from thin 0.30 mm to thicker 0.70 mm. IN in this example the strings stretched on the harp do not have a stand, and their sound is gentle and ringing.

Techniques of playing The sound on the instrument is produced in the following ways: rattling; alternating blows with a pick on the strings down and up; arpeggio sequential extraction of sounds included in a chord, from low to high sounds, the same in reverse motion; glissando fast sliding with a pick along open strings; tremolo - rapid alternation of light blows with a pick on the strings, with a certain frequency, alternately down and up; pizzicato playback individual sounds or chords by plucking the fingertips of the right or left hand; Chords are extracted by hitting the pick downwards. The string is struck more sharply and forcefully, with emphasis.

Guslyar Guslyar Egor Strelnikov was born in Ukraine, in the Zaporozhye region. From the very first concerts he proved himself to be a bright, original guslar-instrumentalist, a virtuoso-nugget! The elemental sound of the living strings of the gusli, their magic and multi-timbre depth, the thirst to master all the subtleties and techniques of playing, brought him to the class of the famous Russian master Dmitry Lokshin. The instrumentalist's art gained even greater strength when he became a performer of spiritual chants and epics of Ancient Rus'. A bright string imitation of bell ringings led him to the belfries Orthodox churches. And now, he is already a bell ringer at the St. Danilov Monastery in Moscow. IN concert activities, there is a meeting with comrades Valery Garanin, Lyubov Basurmanova, Maxim Gavrilenko, Vasily Zhdankin and guitarist Ivan Smirnov. Takes an active part in festivals of sacred and traditional music. His cultural mission to Serbia at the beginning of 2005 turned out to be very important for the spiritual unity of the Russian and Serbian peoples, which resulted in the concert “Russians for the Children of Kosovo.” Guslar singer Andrey Baikalets. Came to Moscow on foot from ancient city Irkutsk, from the sacred waters of Lake Baikal. A guslar singer from the outback, from the very heart of the people. His unexpected appearance was a joyful event for many. And his open appearance, and the sonorous sound of the gusli, and the voice itself - all this, harmoniously merging together, awakens living pictures of antiquity. The spiritual songs and epics performed by him are disturbing, warm the soul, and remain in the memory for a long time. The abundance of his repertoire and the maturity of his Christian worldview are amazing. He knows what needs to be done, where to go and what awaits us ahead. His songs sound anxiety, appeal, and at the same time, they contain hope, faith and love for one’s neighbor. His most popular album is "My Heaven to Paradise". Valery Nikolaevich Tikhov () - an outstanding Russian Soviet performer on the ringed gusli, creator of the original repertoire for this instrument, organizer and creator of the gusli class at the Department of Folk Instruments of the Leningrad Conservatory. The records were destroyed.

VKontakte

Traditionally, there are several types of plucked gusli, which are interconnected common name, while they are different tools.

Musicians who play the gusli are called guslars.

Story

Gusli is a musical instrument, a variety of which is the harp, cithara, lyre, psaltery, zhetygen. Also similar to the harp are the ancient Greek cithara, the Armenian canon and the Iranian santur. These include: Chuvash gusli, Mari (Cheremis) gusli, clavier-shaped gusli and gusli, which are similar to the Finnish kantele, Latvian kokle and Lithuanian kankles.

There was a hypothesis that the cithara is the ancestor of the gusli, but in fact it is an ancient Greek branch of the evolution of the gusli.

Russian heroes play the gusli epic epic: Sadko, Dobrynya Nikitich, Solovey Budimirovich.

Researchers at the beginning of the 20th century noted the striking similarity of contemporary Chuvash and Mari (Cheremis) gusli with images of this instrument in medieval Russian manuscripts.

For example, in the Service Book of the 14th century, where the capital letter D represents a man playing the harp, and in the Makaryevskaya Chetye-Minea of ​​1542. In these images, the performers hold the harp on their knees and pluck the strings with their fingers.

In exactly the same way, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Chuvash and Mari (Cheremis) played the harp. The strings of their harp were intestinal. Their number was not always the same.

Psalter-shaped harps are believed to have been brought to Russia by the Greeks, and the Chuvash and Mari (Cheremis) borrowed this instrument from the Russians.

The clavier-shaped gusli, which was also found at the beginning of the 20th century mainly among the Russian clergy, was an improved type of psalter-shaped gusli.

Species

Pterygoid (voiced)

Also called vernal (from the word (white maple) - the type of wood from which the body of the gusli is made, except for the spruce soundboard of the instrument). Historically, the very first types of gusli. As a rule, they are a solo or accompanying instrument for the singer’s voice. They have a diatonic scale.

Helmet-shaped (harp psaltery)

Also known as helmet-shaped. Among the Russian population they have fallen out of use and are found only among the peoples of the Volga region. Psalter-shaped harps have the shape of a helmet or a hill and have from 10 to 26 strings of the same tuning as the winged ones (lowered seventh degree).

In Veliky Novgorod, on all five finds depicting musical instruments, there is an image of a musician (buzzer) with an instrument such as a helmet-shaped harp.

Lyre-shaped

They are also called gusli with a playing window. They were widespread in the territory of Ancient Rus' and Poland in the 11th-13th centuries (Novgorod, Staraya Russa, Gdansk and Opole). The earliest finds come from Novgorod and the Polish city of Opole, which date back to the 11th century.

Gusli with a playing window have an opening in the upper part of the instrument (playing window). This feature makes this instrument similar to other lyre-shaped instruments. Probably it was placed in the game window left hand the musician and the fingers manipulated the strings (muffled/plucked). With his right hand, the musician struck the strings closer to the tailpiece. When playing, the instrument was held vertically, with the lower end resting against the knee or belt. When playing on the move or standing, he could rest on his thigh.

Stationary

Also clavier-like, rectangular and table-shaped. They have a chromatic scale. The instrument was created in the 16th-17th centuries. based on ringed and helmet-shaped gusli. It was also used as a portable instrument, which was placed horizontally on the knees of the guslar. It was mainly distributed as a stationary instrument with a number of strings of 55-66. Such gusli were used in Russian houses of wealthy townspeople, including among the clergy, which is why such gusli were also called priestly.

Plucked

Plucked and keyboard harps can also be called academic or concert. The structure and sound range of plucked gusli are the same as that of keyboard gusli, but the playing technique is more complex. Plucking the strings is done with both hands: the left one creates accompaniment for the melody played by the right hand. The strings are stretched in two planes: the scale is located in the top A major, at the bottom are the rest of the sounds.

Keyboards

Created by N.P. Fomin in 1905 on the basis of rectangular gusli. They are used in folk instrument orchestras mainly as an accompanying instrument for playing chords. The performer presses the keys with his left hand, and plucks the strings with his right hand using a leather pick, or, sometimes, without it.

Playing technique

Voiced harp

The harp is played sitting or standing. When playing while sitting, the harp is placed on the knees with its edge, slightly tilted towards the body. When playing standing or during a procession, the harp is hung on a string or strap. The harp is placed on the lap or on the table.

Musical repertoire for gusli is varied. The winged gusli is characterized by the traditional game “ to the songs" And " while dancing», « for a fight" Playing to songs is characterized by smooth beats and the same rhythm, and all rhythmic patterns are performed with the voice. Playing to dance, on the contrary, is distinguished by a sharp and pronounced “march” rhythm. The repertoire for the helmet-shaped gusli included, first of all, the playing of song melodies, but did not exclude playing accompanied by dances and dances.

Photo gallery

Useful information

Gusli (Old Russian gusli, Old Slavic associated with buzzing)

What is a gusli

Strings of different designs and origins musical instruments, common in Russia. The most ancient Russian stringed musical instrument is the lyre-shaped gusli. In ancient times, all stringed musical instruments could be called gusli.

Gusli can be called a purely Russian phenomenon. Although many Slavic peoples have musical instruments with similar names:

• gusle - among the Serbs and Bulgarians
• gusle, guzla, gusli - among the Croats
• gosle - among the Slovenians,
• guslić - among the Poles,
• housle ("violin") from the Czechs.

However, these instruments are quite diverse, and many of them are bowed (for example, guzla, which has only one horsehair string).

On the five-string harp with a playing window, found in Novgorod at the Troitsky excavation in 1975 in layers of the mid-11th century, there is a Cyrillic inscription “Slovisha”.

Settings

The gusli is tuned diatonically with a decrease in the 7th step: Do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si flat-do. In ethnographic samples, several methods of tuning are known, including bourdon - constantly sounding strings during the game.

Setting up bourdons:

1. for 9-string gusli (Pskov region) Sol-do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si flat-do;
2. for 9-string gusli (Novgorod, Pskov regions) B flat-do re-mi-fa-sol-la-si flat-do;
3. for 12-string gusli (Novosibirsk region) Do-do-sol-do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si flat-do-do;
4. for 5-string gusli (Belgian musicologist Dr. Gutry, 17th century) ( Leningrad region) Do-fa-sol-si-flat-do;
5. South Russian system (Voronezh, Kursk, Oryol provinces) G-b flat-do-re-mi.

Tuning the gusli of the academic school (orchestras of folk instruments) - without lowering the seventh step: Do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si-do.

Construction of a clavier-shaped gusli

This instrument consisted of a rectangular resonance box with a lid, which rested on a table. Several round cutouts were made on the resonance board - voice boxes - and two concave wooden blocks were attached to it.

Iron pegs were screwed into one of them, onto which metal strings were wound. The other beam played the role of a stringer, that is, it served to attach the strings. The keyboard-shaped harp had a piano tuning, and the strings corresponding to the black keys were placed below the corresponding white keys on the piano keyboard.