Domra

Classification	Plucked string instrument
Related instruments
Balalaika, Mandolin

The domra (Russian: домра) is a long-necked Russian string instrument of the lute family with a round body and three or four metal strings.

Contents 1 History 2 The four-string domra 3 Orchestral instruments 4 Performers 5 See also 6 Sources

[edit] History

In 1896, a student of Vassily Vassilievich Andreyev found a broken instrument in a stable in rural Russia. It was thought that this instrument may have been an example of a domra, although no illustrations or examples of the traditional domra were known to exist in Russian chronicles. A three-stringed version of this instrument was later redesigned in 1896, patented, and introduced into the orchestra of Russian folk instruments.

The three-stringed domra uses a tuning in 4ths.

Later, a four-stringed version was developed employing a violin tuning by Moscow instrument maker, Liubimov, in 1905.

In recent times, scholars have come to the conclusion that the term "domra" actually described a percussive instrument popular in Russia, and that the discovered instrument was either a variant of the balalaika or a mandolin.

Today, it is the three-stringed domra that is used almost exclusively in Russia. It is played with a plectrum, and is often used to play the lead melody in Russian balalaika ensembles.

[edit] The four-string domra

The four-string domra is somewhat different from the three-string variant. It is larger and has a different tuning, and as a result a different quality of sound. It is used and taught exclusively in Ukraine where it replaced the mandolin that was popular in the 1920s.

The fact that the four-stringed domra is no longer used or taught in Russia has raised the question of whether the four-string variant remains, in fact, a Russian folk instrument, or whether it has effectively become a Ukrainian folk instrument. In 2001, the Kyiv Conservatory renamed their domra class, calling it a kobza class, and ordering instruments with a slightly different appearance, but using the same tuning and playing technique. Other conservatories in Ukraine are also following suit.

[edit] Orchestral instruments

The basic domra is tuned as follows:

• Three strings—EAD tuning
• Four strings—GDAE tuning (like the mandolin or the violin)

Instruments are made in various sizes including piccolo, prima, alto, tenor, bass, and contrabass.

• Piccolodomra : b1 e2 a2 Tessitura
• Primdomra : e1 a1 d2 [1]
• Soprandomra : b e1 a1 [2]
• Altdomra : e a d1 [3]
• Tenordomra : B e a [4]
• Bassdomra : E A d [5]
• Kontrabassdomra (minor): 1E 1A D [6]
• Kontrabassdomra (major): 1A D G [7]

[edit] Performers

Tamara Volskaya is considered to be one of the leading contemporary performers on the domra. She is a Merited Artist of Russia, a Laureate of the USSR competition, and a Professor at the Mussorgsky Ural State Conservatory in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

[edit] See also

• Balalaika
• The Andreyev State Russian Orchestra

[edit] Sources

(Some help to improve it, you may find in the german article which has been refreshed)