Have you ever wondered what a hurdy-gurdy sounds like?

I have. I've seen pictures of them. I knew they were a very old instrument with a crank handle that used drones similar to the way a bagpipe uses drones. But I had never actually heard a good example of the hurdy-gurdy.

Interesting Thing of the Day gives us an article chock full of information about the hurdy-gurdy, and points us to a site with several hurdy-gurdy sound samples. I recommend the one called The Dining Table. At 2.32 megs, it won't take long to download even if you're cursed with a dial-up connection such as I am.

I love medieval music. Those modal scales that fall somewhere in between pure major and pure minor just give me the chills.