1. Ancient Roman music
Mini-lesson for schools 1

2. How do you think you played this instrument?
What do you think it’s made of?
400BC-200BC  Etruscan 
Registration Number:  1839, c

3. Which part of an instrument do you think these are?
Registration numbers:
1856,
and
1871,1221.1
They are mouthpieces.
You blow down them.

4. What is unusual about how this young man is playing his trumpet?
He is blowing through the side instead of down the end.
480BC-460BC  Etrusco-Campanian 
Registration Number:  1856,
This little statue and the trumpet and mouthpieces are made of a metal called bronze.

5. Here are some other wind instruments.
What modern instrument do you think they are like?
5thC BC-4thC BC  (?)  Classical Greek 
Registration Number:  1816,

6. 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.
400BC-300BC  Etruscan 
Registration Number:  1919,0620.6

7. 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.
Bronze figure of Pan:
2ndC-3rdC  Roman         
Registration Number:  1772,
Pan-pipes made of reed, pandanus palm leaf. 
Acquired by the British Museum in :1875 
Registration Number:  Oc.9194 PRN: EOC4551 Additional Numbers:  Oc1875C1.9194  (old CDMS no.) Oc1875C0313 
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.

8. How do you think you played these instruments? Here’s a clue:
They always come in pairs and they are made of metal.
3rdC BC-5thC  Roman 
Registration Number:  1814,

9. Here’s a carving of someone playing them.
Were you right?
They are small cymbals.
50BC -100
Roman
Registration Number:  1805,

10. Here is a Roman statue of someone playing castanets.
C1 AD
Roman
Registration Number:  1824,0431.3

11. What is this woman playing?
It is a drum – a bit like a tambourine.
The traditional Irish drum called a bodhran is very similar.
AD 100  (circa)  Roman         
Registration Number:  1805,

12. 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?
1stC-2ndC  Roman 
Registration Number:  1756,
You played it by shaking it.
It is called a sistrum.

13. Wind instruments Percussion instruments
What sort of instrument have we not seen so far?
We have not seen any stringed instruments.
Did the Romans have stringed instruments? Look at the next slide and see what you think.

14. The woman in this picture is playing a lyre.
Roman
C1 AD
From Pompeii
Registration Number:  1867,
Yes, they did.
The woman in this picture is playing a lyre.

15. 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?
1stC  AD (probably)  Roman Imperial 
Registration Number:  1776,1108.6
Marble figure of a muse, possibly Erato, seated on a rock playing a lyre.  The torso is Roman; the head, arms and most of the lyre are restored.          Roman         
Registration Number:  1805,

16. 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.
  AD (about)  Roman 
Registration 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.

17. 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:
1stC-2ndC  AD Roman 
Registration Number:  1859,
Photo: Jim Linwood (flickr.com/brighton/ )

18. Find out more about the Romans on the Young Explorers pages: britishmuseum.org/explore/young_explorers1.aspx There are lots more Roman objects on the British Museum website: britishmuseum.org/explore.aspx 18