Vielle

The vielle is a super old musical instrument that sounds a bit like a violin, but it's from way back in medieval times! It had strings that you played with a bow, just like a modern violin. But instead of a smooth, rounded body, some vielles were shaped like an oval or even had a body that looked like the number 8!

It was one of the most popular instruments for musicians called troubadours and jongleurs who traveled around playing music for people.

Nobody knows exactly where the vielle first popped up, but it might have come from an old instrument called the lira, which was played in a place called Byzantium. It's also related to an instrument from Arabia called the rebab. Think of it like a musical family tree!

Pictures from long ago show all sorts of different kinds of vielles, carved into stone or painted in books, showing how much people loved them.

The vielle was a really important instrument for telling stories and singing songs in the Middle Ages. Musicians used it to entertain kings and queens, and also everyday people. It helped create the music that people danced to and listened to during special parties and festivals. It's like the favorite toy of medieval musicians, always ready to make a happy sound!

The vielle had a special box called a soundchest, made of a back, a belly, and sides. This is how bowed instruments are built even today! It had between three and five strings made of gut, which is like a strong material from animals.

Musicians would rub a bow across these strings to make them vibrate and sing. The tuning pegs, which were used to tighten the strings, stuck out the front, which is a bit different from today's instruments.