Medieval Music, Rebec

The use of a bow on stringed instruments probably originated in central Asia during the ninth century, spreading through Islamic and Byzantine territories and later reaching western Europe in the tenth to twelth centuries.

Bowing may have developed in an attempt to create an instrument which could imitate the voice. Bowing gave stringed instruments the sustaining power necessary to play a continuous melodic line. Nevertheless, the status of these bowed instruments and their players remained low.

The rebec was definitely an instrument of the lower classes, not the court.

 

 

 

 

Music Bladder Pipe Cornamuse Dulcian Gamba Harp Harpsichord Kortholt Lizard Lute Organetto Pipe and Tabor Psaltery Rebec Recorder Sacbut Schalmei Serpent Shawm Shofar Viol Songs