Hammered dulcimer
String instrument | |
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Other names | Cimbalom Dulcimer Four-hammer dulcimer Hammer dulcimer de: Hackbrett it: Salterio es: Dulcémele uk: Tsymbaly cs: Cimbal pl: Cymbały fa: Santoor, Santur fr: Tympanon zh: Yangqin ko: Yanggeum kh: ឃឹម Khim vi: Tam Thập Lục th: ขิม Khim tt: чимбал çimbal |
Classification |
chordophone sounded by hammers) |
Developed | Antiquity |
Related instruments | |
Sound sample | |
The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a
Hammered dulcimers and other similar instruments are traditionally played in Iraq, India, Iran,
Strings and tuning
A dulcimer usually has two bridges, a bass bridge near the right and a treble bridge on the left side. The bass bridge holds up bass strings, which are played to the left of the bridge. The treble strings can be played on either side of the treble bridge. In the usual construction, playing them on the left side gives a note a fifth higher than playing them on the right of the bridge.
The dulcimer comes in various sizes, identified by the number of strings that cross each of the bridges. A 15/14, for example, has 15 strings crossing the treble bridge and 14 crossing the bass bridge, and can span three
The strings of the hammered dulcimer are often tuned according to a
The shift from the bass bridge to the treble bridge is required because the bass bridge's fourth string G is the start of the lower tetrachord of the G scale. The player could go on up a couple notes (G – A – B), but the next note will be a flatted seventh (C natural in this case), because this note is drawn from the G tetrachord. This D major scale with a flatted seventh is the mixolydian mode in D.
The same thing happens as the player goes up the treble bridge – after getting to
The whole pattern can be shifted up by three courses, so that instead of a D-major scale one would have a G-major scale, and so on. This transposes one
This tuning results in most, but not all, notes of the chromatic scale being available. To fill in the gaps, many modern dulcimer builders include extra short bridges at the top and bottom of the soundboard, where extra strings are tuned to some or all of the missing pitches. Such instruments are often called "chromatic dulcimers" as opposed to the more traditional "diatonic dulcimers".
The tetrachord markers found on the bridges of most hammered dulcimers in the English-speaking world were introduced by the American player and maker Sam Rizzetta in the 1960s.[5]
In the Alps there are also chromatic dulcimers with crossed strings, which are in a whole tone distance in every row. This chromatic Salzburger hackbrett was developed in the mid 1930s from the diatonic hammered dulcimer by Tobi Reizer and his son along with Franz Peyer and Heinrich Bandzauner. In the postwar period it was one of the instruments taught in state-sponsored music schools.[6]
Hammered dulcimers of non-European descent may have other tuning patterns, and builders of European-style dulcimers sometimes experiment with alternate tuning patterns.
Hammers
The instrument is referred to as "hammered" in reference to the small
Several traditional players have used hammers that differ substantially from those in common use today.
Variants and adaptations
The hammered dulcimer was extensively used during the Middle Ages in England, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. Although it had a distinctive name in each country, it was everywhere regarded as a kind of
Around the world
Versions of the hammered dulcimer, each of which has its own distinct manner of construction and playing style, are used throughout the world:
- Afghanistan – santur
- Austria – Hackbrett
- Bangladesh – santoor
- Belarus – tsymbaly/цымбал
- Belgium – hakkebord
- Brazil – saltério
- Cambodia – khim
- Canada – hammered dulcimer
- China – yangqin (扬琴, formerly 洋琴)
- Croatian – cimbal, cimbale, cimbule
- Czech Republic – cimbál
- Denmark – hakkebræt
- France – tympanon
- Germany – Zymbal, Hackbrett
- Greece – Σαντούρι
- Hungary – cimbalom
- India – santoor
- Iran – santur
- Iraq – santur
- Ireland – tiompan
- Israel – דולצימר פטישים
- Italy – salterio
- Japan – darushimaa (ダルシマー)
- Korea – yanggeum (양금)
- Laos – khim
- Latgalia (Latvia) – cymbala
- Latvia – cimbole
- Lithuania – cimbalai, cimbolai
- Mexico – salterio
- Mongolia – yoochin (ёочин or ёчин)
- Netherlands – hakkebord
- Norway – hakkebrett
- Pakistan – santoor
- Poland – cymbały
- Portugal – saltério
- Romania – ţambal
- Russia – цимбалы, dultsimer (дульцимер)
- Serbia – цимбал (tsimbal)
- Slovakia – cimbal
- Slovenia – cimbale, oprekelj
- Spain (and Spanish-speaking countries) – salterio, dulcémele
- Sweden – hackbräde, hammarharpa
- Switzerland – Hackbrett
- Thailand – khim
- Turkey – santur
- Tibet - rgyud-mang or yangzi
(རྒྱུད་མང་, literally "many strings")
- Ukraine – tsymbaly (цимбали)
- United Kingdom – hammered dulcimer
- United States – hammered dulcimer
- Uzbekistan – chang
- Vietnam – đàn tam thập lục (lit. "36 strings")
- Yiddish – tsimbl
See also
- List of hammered dulcimer players
- Santoor – India
- Santur§Santurs from around the world
- Yangqin – China
- Santouri– Greece
References
- ^ "Definition of DULCIMER". Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
- ^ Groce, Nancy. The Hammered Dulcimer in America. Washington, DC: Smithsonian, 1983, pp. 72-73.
- ^ Rizzetta, Sam. "Hammer Dulcimer: History and Playing". Encyclopedia Smithsonian. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- ^ "Traditional or Fifth-Interval Tuning". Dusty Strings. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ Rizzetta, Sam. "Luthier Spotlight Sam Rizzetta and Music, Dulcimer Sessions". Encyclopedia Smithsonian. Mel Bay.
- ^ Gifford, Paul M., The Hammered Dulcimer: A History, Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2001. Page 81.
- ^ public domain: Schlesinger, Kathleen (1911). "Dulcimer". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 652. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
Further reading
- Gifford, Paul M. (2001), The Hammered Dulcimer: A History, The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8108-3943-1. A comprehensive history of the hammered dulcimer and its variants.
- Kettlewell, David (1976), The Dulcimer, PhD thesis. History and playing traditions around the world; web-version at https://web.archive.org/web/20110717071302/http://www.new-renaissance.net/dulcimer.
External links
- Santur on Nay-Nava, the encyclopedia of Persian music instruments
- Pete Rushefsky, "Jewish Strings: An Introduction to the Klezmer Tsimbl" (Related to the Hammered Dulcimer) (archive from 27 December 2009).
- Smithsonian Institution booklet on hammered dulcimer history and playing
- Smithsonian Institution booklet on making a hammered dulcimer (by Sam Rizzetta)
- Hammered dulcimers from polish collections (Polish folk musical instruments)
- East Anglian Dulcimers(ongoing historic research by John & Katie Howson about dulcimer players and makers from Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex, UK.)