Roman music Mini-lesson for schools Marble figure of a muse, possibly Erato, seated on a rock playing a lyre; Roman, from the Barberini Palace, Italy.  The torso is Roman; the head, arms and most of the lyre are restored.          Museum number:  1805,0703.455

How do you think you played this instrument? What do you think it’s made of? Bronze circular military trumpet; 400BC-200BC ; Etruscan   Museum number: 1839,1109.46.c

Which part of an instrument do you think these are? Left to right: Mouthpiece of a bronze trumpet; Roman or Etruscan? Museum number: 1856,1226.977 Mouthpiece of a trumpet; copper-alloy; Romano-British period; from Great Chesterford, Essex, England Museum number: 1871,1221.1 They are mouthpieces. You blow down them.

What is unusual about how this young man is playing his trumpet? He is blowing through the side instead of down the end. Bronze statuette of youth blowing a trumpet, probably from a cinerary urn; 480BC-460BC ; from Torre Annunziata, Campania, Italy Museum number:  1856,1226.779 This little statue and the trumpet and mouthpieces are made of a metal called bronze.

Here are some other wind instruments. What modern instrument do you think they are like? Two wooden auloi (pipes); 5th - 4th century BC; from Athens, Greece Museum number:  1816,0610.502

Here’s a carving of someone playing them. You can see that you blew down them both at the same time. They probably had a reed in them. The closest modern instrument is probably an oboe. Terracotta votive model of musicians with double-pipes and lyre with plectrum; 400BC-300BC ; Etruscan from Caere, Italy Museum number:  1919,0620.6

This figure of a Roman god is holding another type of instrument This figure of a Roman god is holding another type of instrument. It is named after the god: he is Pan. They are Pan pipes. Here are some from Papua New Guinea which is in the Pacific Ocean. They were made in the 1800s. They work the same way as the Roman ones. Left to right: Bronze figure of Pan with pan-pipes - a decorative fitting, probably from a wagon; 2nd - 3rd century AD; Roman          Museum number:  1772,0302.189 Pan-pipes made of reed, pandanus palm leaf; acquired by the British Museum in 1875; from East Cape, New Guinea Museum number:  Oc.9194   The Roman word for Pan pipes was ‘syrinx’. This is the name of somebody in a Greek myth. See if you can find out more about her.

How do you think you played these instruments? Here’s a clue: They always come in pairs and they are made of metal. Bronze cymbals; 3rd - 5th century BC; from Palestrina, Italy Museum number:  1814,0704.702 The slide shows two views of the same objects.

Here’s a carving of someone playing them. Were you right? They are small cymbals. Detail of terracotta relief showing a satyr playing cymbals; 50 – 100 BC; Roman from Italy Museum number:  1805,0703.306

Here is a Roman statue of someone playing castanets. Bronze figure of a dwarf entertainer dancing and playing castanets; 1st century AD; Roman from Italy Museum number:  1824,0431.3

What is this woman playing? It is a drum – a bit like a tambourine. The traditional Irish drum called a bodhran is very similar. Detail of a marble relief showing a maenad and two satyrs in a Bacchic procession; about AD 100; from Roma Vecchia, Italy  Museum number:  1805,0703.128

This is an Egyptian instrument that was also used by the Romans. It was usually only used in religious ceremonies. How do you think you played it? Bronze sistrum (rattle); 1st - 2nd century AD; from Rome, Italy  At the base of the frame of the rattle, below the rattling bars, are small images of a phallus and a pine-cone, symbols of fertility and good fortune. The seated cat on top of the rattle indicates its association with the worship of Egyptian goddess Isis. Museum number:  1756,0101.541 You played it by shaking it. It is called a sistrum.

Wind instruments Percussion instruments What sort of instrument have we not seen so far? Left to right: Bronze statuette of youth blowing a trumpet, probably from a cinerary urn; 480BC-460BC ; from Torre Annunziata, Campania, Italy Museum number:  1856,1226.779 Detail of terracotta relief showing a satyr playing cymbals; 50 – 100 BC; Roman from Italy Museum number:  1805,0703.306 We have not seen any stringed instruments. Did the Romans have stringed instruments? Look at the next slide and see what you think.

The woman in this picture is playing a lyre. Wall-painting of an amorous scene; 1st century AD; from Pompeii, Italy Museum number:  1867,0508.1353 Yes, they did. The woman in this picture is playing a lyre.

Here are two more pictures of lyres. You can see that there were small lyres and large lyres. How do you think they sounded different? Left to right: Marble relief showing a Victory pouring a libation in front of Apollo; 1st century AD probably; made in Greece  Museum number:  1776,1108.6 Marble figure of a muse, possibly Erato, seated on a rock playing a lyre; Roman, from the Barberini Palace, Italy.  The torso is Roman; the head, arms and most of the lyre are restored.          Museum number:  1805,0703.455

What instrument do you think it is? Finally, here are two sides of a little figure showing someone sitting, playing an instrument. Unfortunately the person’s head has broken off. Mould-made pottery lamp in the form of a man playing a water-organ; 175-250  AD (about); Roman, made in Tunisia Museum number:  1965,1011.1 What instrument do you think it is? Clue: lots of Christian churches have them and there’s a huge one in the Albert Hall in London.

Here’s another organ carved on a gemstone. The Romans used water to pump the air through the pipes. It is an organ – a bit like this one, but much smaller: Left to right: The Organ, St John The Baptist Church, Hinton, Wiltshire, England Carnelian sealstone engraved with a man playing a water-organ, with attendants working the pumps; 1st -2nd century AD; Roman  Museum number:  1859,0301.112 Photo: Jim Linwood (flickr.com/brighton/3426313664)