WHAT IS A HURDY GURDY?
The Hurdy Gurdy is a stringed instrument that is played by turning a wheel which vibrates the strings to create sound. By pressing keys you change the length of the strings and create different pitches. A hurdy gurdy has drone strings (strings which never change pitch) and melody strings. This gives the hurdy gurdy a sound similar to that of bagpipes.
A hurdy gurdy is a stringed musical instrument with several strings arranged so that they can be played simultaneously by a rotating wheel covered with rosin. It is essentially a mechanical violin. This method of producing sound is similar to string instruments such as the violin, but because the hurdy gurdy produces several notes together, with a melody accompanied by chords made by “drone strings”, its sound is perhaps more comparable to that of bagpipes. For this reason, the hurdy gurdy is often accompanied by the bagpipes, particularly in French and contemporary Hungarian folk music.
