Timple

Missing Infobox musical instrument / maintenance / Parameters Sound example: template

The Timple is the typical stringed instrument of the Canary Islands. She comes from the broad mass of Iberian lutes and guitars and is traditionally used as an accompanying instrument along with other instruments in songs and dances. It is very similar to the ukulele.

All signs indicate that the first Timplebauer are looking to Lanzarote - the island was conquered first from 1402 by Jean de Bethencourt. In the former island capital of Teguise is a known timple workshop today.

• 5.1 Accounting
• 5.2 Right Hand
• 5.3 Left Hand

Design and function

A handmade Timple from Teguise has approximately the following dimensions:

Total length 61 cm, divided into:

• Head plate, swirl, saddle 15 cm
• Neck, neck width 5 cm, fretboard, 12 frets 20 cm
• Cabinet, sound box, 26 cm.

The scale length of Timple is 40 cm. The body has resonance in outline the shape of a slender eight, with a width of 12 cm to 16 cm. On the ceiling, between the sound hole and the neck, is a guard, Golpeador attached. The strings run across the bridge to the tailpiece at the bottom edge of the body. The ceiling is on the sides that are 6 inches high at the ends of the eight 5 cm and in the middle. The different high frames carry the arched soundbox bottom, the hallmark of Timple. At the highest point of the resonator is 8.5 cm high. The curvature or the hump has the Timple also the name of the melodious Kamelchen, Spanish el camellito Sonoro given. That's the real difference between the Timple to the Spanish and Portuguese small guitars.

The soundboard of the Timple consists of stone pines, cedar or basswood, the sides and the bottom are made of Palo Santo ( the pliable wood of the Guajakbaums ), made ​​of maple wood species, cypress and walnut timber.

Vocal ranges

The vocal range is soprano, treble, Spanish tiple, closely. Treble. The standard tuning of the 5-string Timple, fifth to first string: gcead, in an octave. In Tenerife there is a 4-string Timple, here is the fifth string is missing: cead.

In a music group, the third Timplesaite, e, tuned to the first string of a guitar.

About the fifth fret the strings are tuned in each case up 3 - 1. The 5th string on the third fret of the 3rd and the 4th string on the third fret of the second. But all strings tones are also on the e-string guitar.

History

The studies by Lothar Siemens Hernández give the following picture of the history of Timple.

1402 began the Spanish conquest of the Canary Islands and ended in 1496, with the culture of the indigenous inhabitants, the Guanches, was almost exterminated. The Guanches had no stringed instruments, such as the poet Antonio de Viana 1604 declared on Tenerife, and described that the colonists had brought the guitars. A case against the citizens Millares is known from the early days of the Inquisition, who has played guitar during a procession where thousands sang along. In notarized letters from the 16th to the 18th century inventories of large and small guitars are enumerated.

The Spaniards, possibly even before the Berbers and Arabs could have brought their knowledge of the construction of stringed instruments, on the islands. From the eastern Canary Islands, it could have also had communications to West Africa, because there is the Kouco a widely used musical instrument. A stringed instrument with five strings, as the Timple, and a pumpkin - resonance body. Two melody strings are a fifth apart, the other three chord strings in octaves. It is believed that there were connections from Lanzarote to about 120 kilometers from the West African coast from Mauritania to Guinea, and inland over Mali to Niger.

1752 published D. Pablo Minguet in Madrid a method to la guitarra to learn el tiple y la vandola. This method, as bizarre as rare, is the first known of its kind. It can be seen that this ancient and the modern Canarian tiple Timple has to play the same strings, the same mood and the same way.

Another hypothesis leaves the Timple from the family of Baroque lutes come, had brought to the islands by the Spanish conquerors. The instruments were classified according to the level of the pitch, bass, tenor, soprano, as in a choir. The flashy instrument was commonly called treble or tiple. It seems that the occurrence of m can be returned by the linguistic phenomenon of epenthesis, involvement of a sound. (La Música Popular Canaria, page 121, B. Cabrera - JL Santos)

Use in the music

Soloist

Popular timple soloists are:

• Totoyo Millares, the pioneer
• José Antonio Ramos
• Benito Cabrera
• Domingo Rodríguez Oramas " El Colorao "
• José Manuel Aldana

Groups, chapels

Standard instrumentation for monitoring: Some guitars, lutes and Bandurrias (a form of Bandola, an octave higher than the lute), one or two Timple, a tambourine and sometimes even Triangles and scraper.

Songs and Dances: Aires de Lima, Folías, Seguidillas, Malagueña, Isa, Tajaraste ( only recorded dance of the Guanches ), Sorondongo, polka, mazurka and Sedan

Known groups:

• Los Sabandeños and Añoranza, Tenerife
• Los Gofiones, Gran Canaria
• Taburiente, La Palma

Game art

Attitude

When standing, you put the instrument with the bottom center where the tailpiece is in the right inner elbow. When sitting is given to the base chime in an extension of the center point of the bridge on your right thigh. The right forearm resting on the upper frame in the extension of the bar to the frame.

Right hand

The technique is, in consideration of the smaller type such as a guitar. The fingers of the right hand strike or pluck the strings over the Golpeador.

The little finger is not used, which contributes to more rapid movement of the right hand at.

The wrist must have a distance of three or four fingers on the soundboard. The right fingers should not beat on the soundboard.

The name of the fingers of the right hand is: Z = index finger, M = middle finger, ring finger = R, D = thumb

For arpeggio, harp -like, one usually uses the thumb for the fifth and fourth string, your index finger for the third, the middle finger for the second and the ring finger for the first string.

In Punteado, voices game, one used in most cases, the combination of Z and M, although all combinations with other fingers are possible.

Rasgueado the Timple: the generally accepted Rasgueado in ¾ time is the following: Man proposes with the right hand over all the strings down with the index, middle and ring fingers. Once for the first and second quarter note. For the impact keeping open the thumb and index finger to form a semi circle. Man beats up on all the strings, with two shots, first with the thumb, then the index finger with just a flick of the wrist, and then down as above, execute everything during the third quarter note.

Left Hand

The thumb is performed in parallel to support the gripper fingers behind the neck. The left hand fingers are numbered as follows:

1 = index finger 2 = middle finger 3 = ring finger 4 = pinky

The fingers 1, 2, 3 and 4 must touch the strings with the fingertips and form a semi-circle with your fingers without grip the neck closely. The left hand does not carry the weight of the Timple. The opening and closing of the elbow facilitate gripping in certain difficult positions.