Cornstalk fiddle
The cornstalk fiddle is a toy, and a type of bowed string instrument played historically in North America. The instrument consists of a cornstalk, with slits cut into the shaft to allow one or more fibrous sections to separate from the main body and serve as "strings." Pieces of wood or other material are wedged under the strings before they rejoin the body to serve as a nut and bridge. The fiddle can be bowed with a bow made from another cornstalk, made from a shoelace or other piece of string, or with a standard violin bow. The instrument is attested as far back as pre-revolutionary war America, when the British soldiers used the song "Yankee Doodle" to taunt the shabby militiamen of the colonies. The verse which includes the reference to cornstalk fiddles reads: "And then they'd fife away like fun and play on cornstalk fiddles, and some had ribbons red as blood all bound around their middles." Similar instruments are played in Serbia and Hungary, known as the gingara or dječje guslice and cirokhegedű or kucoricahegedű, respectively. Construction Each fiddle uses three sections of stalk, and each bow two. The fiddle contains two strings which are constructed by