What is the origin of the medieval violin?” and other distractions

Sometimes I struggle to maintain my thoughts. Some call it stress, others procrastination, and then some would label it as ADHD. Whatever the reason is, I know when I started this article; I began by researching the words people most frequently ask about medieval times, and one of those questions was, “What is the origin of the medieval violin?”

Naturally, I started my morning researching. “What is the origin of the medieval violin?” I noticed I was struggling to start, so I selected some music to help me focus. But in the interests of the research of this article, I headed over to Mozart, an Austrian composer who lived in the 1700s.

I thought I may as well be listening to the violin while discovering the origins of the medieval violin. Perhaps it is because I was researching music to help you focus. I stumbled across a website which has a survey about people struggling to focus and I thought, “What the heck? Let me do that as well.” In hindsight, it was probably a cleverly placed advertisement which targets people who type in “music to focus on.”

Do you see the pattern? My mind is easily distracted. According to the survey‘s results, I display a 27% level of distraction. At the time of this writing, I have 21 tabs open on my computer. Among those tabs is an article about a 2014 study listed in the National Library of Medicine which states that listening to classical music seemed to help older adults perform better on memory and processing tasks. This means it can help authors in their 50s like me focus better.

Now I already know about music helping people to focus because I use it when I get down to writing. But I thought it was just me. However, studies show certain types of music can boost your ability to remember things and other cognitive functions. It stimulates the brain in the same way exercise helps stimulate your body. But I don’t want my mind to be stimulated while I am writing, so I switched from the violin to a more harmonious uniform kind of background sound.

I could imagine many Medieval Monarchs also struggled with focus. So many of them faced the stress of protecting their kingdoms from greedy rivals, hell bent on claiming as much territory as possible. Perhaps being a patron of the arts was not just about the love of listening to music, but also the medieval version of stress management.

Although I focused on Henry VIII’s love of chopping off his wives’ heads, in previous articles, I also discovered he had a love of music. King Henry VIII played many instruments – at one point, records of his property showed he owned 78 flutes, 76 recorders, 10 trombones, 14 trumpets, and 5 bagpipes! We also know he played the organ, other keyboard instruments, viols (a predecessor of the violin) and lutes.

I have to say that if someone was playing the bagpipes in my house, I would have abandoned writing this article a long time ago, because some music is simply not conducive to concentration.

Perhaps. this monarch thought the same way, which is why bagpipes only form under 3% of his musical instrument stockpile or perhaps it was not politically correct for an English Monarch who did battle with the Scotts to have too many of their national musical symbols lying around..

Maybe Henry knew that he needed different kinds of music for different times, which is why, at the time of his death in 1509, Henry VIII had at least 60 musicians on his staff.

The violin, as we know it, only appeared in its current form in 1550. An interesting fact is that the oldest violin in existence today is one built by Andre Amati around 1565. But back to the original question, “What is the origin of the medieval violin?” and the answer is The rebec (sometimes rebecha, rebeckha,) which is a bowed stringed instrument of the Medieval era and the early Renaissance. It was popular from the 13th to 16th centuries. This instrument arrived in Western Europe during the Muslim conquest of Spain between 710 to 780.

However, a Persian geographer of the 9th century Ibn Khurradadhbih, who is known as the author of the earliest surviving Arabic book on administrative geography, cited a bowed Byzantine lira in some of his writings. This instrument was pear-shaped with between 3 to 5 strings. I imagine the jester that appeared in my first book, “The Last of the Silver Wings,” may have also played a similar instrument.

Having gone a roundabout way in this article, I hope I have encouraged you that even if you, like me, are easily distracted, there are ways to bring you back to what is important.

Before you beat yourself up about it, take time to celebrate some lessons that you have learned along your journey of distraction. A curious mind may just stumble across an idea that will bring alignment and opportunity. So write out your TO DO list, put on some music that helps you focus and enjoy the journey while you strive to finish what you started.