Trang

Nhãn

Thứ Năm, 24 tháng 4, 2014

The Origin Of The Psalteries

By Essie Osborn


The psaltery is a very known instrument during the olden times. It is a string instrument that is actually from the same family as the zither or the harp with the only difference is that one would be using a bow to play it like a violin. If one is curious as to how psalteries originated, here is a brief background of this very influential instrument.

For those who do not know what this instrument looks like, it is a triangular shaped instrument that has some strings and some pins. It also comes with a bow wherein one will be able to make the strings sound with it. Now although people usually play it with a bow, it can also be played by strumming or plucking with hands like a guitar.

Now the version with the bow was invented only during the twentieth century while the old version was created even in the Bible times. The earliest record of such an instrument was during the time of the famous King Nebuchadnezzar. Often, King Nebuchadnezzar would ask all of his servants to play this instrument for him so that he could be entertained when there were no royal meetings with the council.

Now aside from that, the psaltery was also mentioned during the Medieval times as an instrument that was played along with the zithers or harps. Now this version was different than the previously mentioned one as it was slightly bigger and had a sound hole that is located in the middle of the instrument. The purpose of this hole was to make the sound of the strings more apparent.

Now the year nineteen twenty five saw the introduction of the bowed version of the instrument. The one who created it was a German instrument maker who worked for the German company Clemens Neuber Company which patented the instrument so only they could produce it. Now before this was known as the bowed psaltery, it was first known as the violin zither.

After the original bowed psaltery, the Americans tried to create something similar but with some Hawaiian inspiration to it. They called this the Ukelin and this was usually used to make music during Hawaiian themed parties or luaus that would take place. Now the Hawaiians did have their own version of this instrument and was often used by people as a hobby.

It was only after World War II that this instrument became very popular around the world. This became especially popular in Germany because a primary school teacher known as Walter Mittman used it for his class during that time. He used it for education purposes so that children could learn how to play it and appreciate folk music.

Nowadays, musicians and instrument makers have created a lot of ways to actually play this instrument. In fact, there are so many types of bows that were created like the bamboo bow, the wooden bow. Because of its evolution from the plucked psaltery, there have been many innovative ways that one can make music with this.




About the Author:



Không có nhận xét nào:

Đăng nhận xét

Tổng số lượt xem trang