How Is It Made?

Well, there are two actually stories about how the lyre was made, and one of them is practical, the other a little gross, in which the Greeks take most of the credit. The most practical way of constructing the lyre is with tools, and materials. A hollow body is made from wood, in the classical lyre construction, also called the “sound chest”, and then extending from the sound chest are two raised arms, curving forward, and outward.. This makes the u shape, and once the two arms are connected by the crossbar, this top section becomes the “yoke” of the instrument.

Then, at the opposite end of the instrument, another cross bar is attached to the sound chest, or the hollow body on the bottom. From this piece, the strings are fastened, –the number anything from three onward. To make the strings, one need only slaughter and disembowel a cow. Though, these days I hear they use different kinds of metal, or synthetic strings, at least I hope so. On the top crossbar, the other ends of the strings were fixed, and attached, then tightened to their appropriate tune. The lowest note was that furthest from the player’s body.

The version in which the Greeks take all the credit comes from Greek mythology, and involves Hermes, and the sacred cattle herd of Apollo. When Hermes was in his youth, he slaughtered one of Apollo’s sacred golden cows, and from its ribs, created the lyre’s frame. With the intestines, he created the strings. Later, lyres became associated with the virtues of Apollo’s character; moderation, and equilibrium, which contrasted with Dionysian pipes, and aulos instruments, which symbolised celebration and ecstasy.