Origins And History Of The Dulcimer :: essays research papers

Origins and History of The DulcimerThe dulcimer is a member of the string family. It is further categorized intothe Psaltrey family, a group of instruments that are comprised of stringsstretched across a frame and play by plucking or drumming. The onlydifference, in fact, between the dulcimer and the psaltrey is the fact that oneis plucked and the other is drummed. The dulcimer family is divided into twosections. The dulcimers with keys and dulcimers without keys. A dulcimer withkeys would be played by depressing a key which would move a mechanism that wouldcause a hammer to strike the string. The most improved instrument in the identifydulcimer section is the piano. Dulcimers that are played without the aid of akey are usually in the unusual shape of a trapezoid. Early descriptions of thisinstrument, dating stomach to the Middle Ages, describe the instrument as arectangular box with strings stretched over two bridges. Both the single and thedouble bridged dulcimers are usual in t raditional Irish music. It is played bystriking the strings with padded wooden hammer.It is commonly believed that the dulcimer came to Europe from the East sometimein the fifteenth century. This cannot be true. The dulcimer is closely relatedto the yang chin from China. However, the yang chin was introduced to theChinese around 1800. A similar traditional dulcimer found its way to Korea inabout 1725. The dulcimer originated as the santir in what is right away Iraq from aGreek instrument, the psalterion. The santir was a trapeziodal box covered withstrings. It was played by striking the strings with light sticks. From therethe Arabs carried the santir through North Africa where it was integrated intothe Judaic culture. From North Africa it was taken to Spain, for a carving wasdiscovered in the cathedral Santiago de Compostela, dated 1184. It is unknownwhy the Irish make mention of the timpan, a generic term for any member of thepsaltrey family, being used by St. Patrick in the 6th century, six hundred historic periodearlier than the dulcimers first initiation into Spain from North Africa.Dulcimers gained popularity from the churches and cathedrals throughout the 14thcentury. But in the 16th century, as the violin and wind instruments becameincreasingly fashionable, the dulcimer virtually disappeared. For the next twohundred years it went unnoticed. In 1705 Pantaleon Hebenstreit presented theFrench King Louis XIV with a slightly revised dulcimer.