The Ravanahatha is one of the oldest bowed string instruments in the world. It is made from a coconut shell resonator, a bamboo neck, and a horsehair bow. This combination produces a raw, haunting ...

Since the first of our ancestors discovered that banging a stick on a hollow log makes a jolly sound, we hominids have been finding new and unusual ways to make music. We haven’t come close to tapping ...

At the heart of many of the world’s musical instruments is the same, simple component—a string stretched tight between two points. Plucked, bowed, or struck, each of an instrument’s strings creates ...

On the 27th evening in Sangdo-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, a rehearsal room echoed with Bach’s *Brandenburg Concerto No. 1*, the ...