Origins And History Of The Dulcimer :: essays research papers

Origins and account statement of The DulcimerThe dulcimer is a member of the string family. It is further categorized intothe Psaltrey family, a theme 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 force and the other is drummed. The dulcimer family is divided into 2sections. The dulcimers with severalises and dulcimers without keys. A dulcimer withkeys would be played by depressing a key which would move a mechanism that would urinate a hammer to strike the string. The most improved instrument in the keyeddulcimer section is the piano. Dulcimers that are played without the aid of akey are usually in the unusual shape of a trapezoid. proto(prenominal) descriptions of thisinstrument, dating back to the Middle Ages, describe the instrument as arectangular box with strings stretched over two bridges. Both the angiotensin converting enz yme and thedouble bridged dulcimers are common in traditional Irish music. It is played bystriking the strings with padded wooden hammer.It is commonly believed that the dulcimer came to atomic number 63 from the East sometimein the fifteenth century. This cannot be true. The dulcimer is closely relateto the yang chin from China. However, the yang chin was introduced to theChinese around 1800. A similar traditional dulcimer found its management to Korea inabout 1725. The dulcimer originated as the santir in what is now Iraq from a Greek 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 northeast Africa where it was integrated intothe Jewish culture. From North Africa it was taken to Spain, for a carving wasdiscovered in the cathedral capital of Chile 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 yearsearlier than the dulcimers initiative introduction into Spain from North Africa.Dulcimers gained popularity from the churches and cathedrals throughout the 14thcentury. But in the sixteenth 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.