Name of music instrument?
Isabelle Cecchini
zither. It looks and sounds a bit like a zither, but it's different from
a "The Third Man" type of zither: the strings are not plucked, but
strummed, and there's a keyboard. The right hand is playing on the
keyboard, while the left hand is strumming the strings.
Here's a picture:
http://cjoint.com/?hzmnMuldTM
Here's what it sounds like:
http://cjoint.com/?hzwvlmN1qU
The picture and the sound both come from an episode of "The Little House
on the Prairie".
Have you got any idea what it might be called? I don't have a name for
it in French either.
--
Isabelle Cecchini
HVS
I think it's an "autoharp".
--
Cheers, Harvey
CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
That appears to be the case:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoharp
http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=autoharp&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)
Isabelle Cecchini
--
Isabelle Cecchini> On 25 Jul 2008, Isabelle Cecchini wrote
Ah, thank you. The instruments shown on the Wikipedia page and on this
page http://www.azautoharpfest.com/club.html
certainly look like the instrument in "Little House". The autoharp seems
to be held differently, though. Do you think that it might be an earlier
model?
--
Isabelle Cecchini
Don Phillipson
news:g6ddup$l1s$1...@registered.motzarella.org...
> I'm looking for the name of a music instrument. It might be a sort of
> zither. It looks and sounds a bit like a zither, but it's different from
> a "The Third Man" type of zither: the strings are not plucked, but
> strummed, and there's a keyboard. The right hand is playing on the
> keyboard, while the left hand is strumming the strings.
>
> Here's a picture:
> http://cjoint.com/?hzmnMuldTM
>
> Here's what it sounds like:
> http://cjoint.com/?hzwvlmN1qU
There is a whole range of similar (evolving) instruments
from the Hungarian cembalom (as featured in Kodaly's
Hary Janos) to the American dulcimer (played by some
Appalachian folk musicians.) I'd bet musicologists treat
all string-plucked instruments as a single genre, from
the harpsichord (plucked by quills activated by a mechanism)
to the guitar strummed by human fingers. Their range of
sound appears to be continuous, e.g. the Little House
instrument (dulcimer?) sounds very like a guitar . . .
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
Isabelle Cecchini
Ah, thank you. The instruments shown on the Wikipedia page and on this
HVS
I could be wrong, but I think the flat-on-your-knees position is an
older -- probably self-taught -- way of playing them. (Like
bending your wrist when playing a fiddle, or back-strapping rather
than finger-barring on a guitar.)
musika
The earlier "A" models were meant to be played flat.
--
Ray
UK
HVS
> HVS wrote:
>> On 25 Jul 2008, Isabelle Cecchini wrote
>>> HVS a écrit :
>>>> On 25 Jul 2008, Isabelle Cecchini wrote
>>>>> Have you got any idea what it might be called? I don't have
>>>>> a name for it in French either.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I think it's an "autoharp".
>>>>
>>>
>>> Ah, thank you. The instruments shown on the Wikipedia page and
>>> on this page http://www.azautoharpfest.com/club.html
>>> certainly look like the instrument in "Little House". The
>>> autoharp seems to be held differently, though. Do you think
>>> that it might be an earlier model?
>>
>> I could be wrong, but I think the flat-on-your-knees position
>> is an older -- probably self-taught -- way of playing them.
>> (Like bending your wrist when playing a fiddle, or
>> back-strapping rather than finger-barring on a guitar.)
>
> The earlier "A" models were meant to be played flat.
Ah; thanks -- I wasn't sure if it was an "older model" thing or
something to do with "less-tutored players".
R H Draney
"Granny" on "The Beverly Hillbillies" played an autoharp using a (turkey?) quill
as a plectrum....r
--
Evelyn Wood just looks at the pictures.
John Dean
As most people have pointed out, it's an autoharp. I have one and it's a
very simple instrument to play when you use it as strummed accompaniment to
songs. Rather more demanding when you want to pick out a tune. I note the
wiki article includes Billy Connolly among noted autoharpists. I've heard
him play it and he's pretty good.
The traditional or 'purist' approach is to hold the autoharp in the crook of
your left arm, use the left hand to depress the chord bars and strum or pick
with your right hand. You can even attach a strap to suspend it from your
shoulders similar to suspending a guitar or banjo. However, it's perfectly
possible to play it flat on your thighs or even on a table or bench.
They vary in the number of strings and the number of chord bars.
A nuisance to tune and a bugger to restring, but it produces a lovely sound,
particularly for folky / country music. And they're pretty cheap to get hold
of, even new.
--
John Dean
Oxford
Isabelle Cecchini
> HVS wrote:
[about the autoharp]
>> I could be wrong, but I think the flat-on-your-knees position is an
>> older -- probably self-taught -- way of playing them. (Like
>> bending your wrist when playing a fiddle, or back-strapping rather
>> than finger-barring on a guitar.)
>
> The earlier "A" models were meant to be played flat.
Thanks! You've put me on a trail leading to this page
http://www.ukautoharps.org.uk/abouttheautoharp.html
where I learnt that it was "Maybelle Carter [who] is [...] credited with
liberating the autoharp from being played flat on a table like a zither."
--
Isabelle Cecchini
Isabelle Cecchini
[...]
> As most people have pointed out, it's an autoharp. I have one and it's a
> very simple instrument to play when you use it as strummed accompaniment to
> songs. Rather more demanding when you want to pick out a tune.
[...]
<admiring whistle>
The wealth of talent to be found in this newsgroup never ceases to amaze me.
--
Isabelle Cecchini
Roland Hutchinson
That's the very woman. Before she came along, folks played the instrument
the way the manufacturer said to!
I think that nowadays the only place it's usual to play an autoharp flat on
a table is in elementary schools, where it is (or at any rate used to be)
very well known in America as a simple accompaniment instrument that
children can learn to play almost instantly: Just strum and follow the
chords given on the song sheet.
The instrument is very well known in the USA.
--
Roland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food.
NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to
remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it.
John Dean
And you can whistle! Who knew! I take it you just put your lips together and
blow ...
--
John Dean
Oxford
Raymond O'Hara
"Roland Hutchinson" <my.sp...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:g6dqih$h0h$1...@registered.motzarella.org...
angelgl...@yahoo.com
The nearest I can think of is the cimbalom, but your description doesn't
precisely fit the playing of that instrument.
Purl Gurl
(snipped)
> I'm looking for the name of a music instrument. It might be a sort of
> zither. It looks and sounds a bit like a zither, but it's different from
> a "The Third Man" type of zither: the strings are not plucked, but
> strummed, and there's a keyboard. The right hand is playing on the
> keyboard, while the left hand is strumming the strings.
> The picture and the sound both come from an episode of "The Little House
> on the Prairie".
chorded zither
--
Purl Gurl
--
So many are stumped by what slips right off the top of my mind
like a man's bad fitting hairpiece.
Pierre Jelenc
>
> Here's a picture:
> http://cjoint.com/?hzmnMuldTM
As others mentioned, it's an autoharp. You can see it in action in the
Johnny Cash bio movie "Walk the Line" where Reese Witherspoon wields
one (as June Carter, Maybelle Carter's daughter.)
En français, on dit apparemment "autoharpe".
Pierre
--
Pierre Jelenc
The Gigometer www.gigometer.com
The NYC Beer Guide www.nycbeer.org
Jitze
These instruments are all designed to be plucked, but there is a very
similar instrument designed to be bowed like a violin - i.e. it has
strings that are stopped at fixed lengths with keys like the above,
but bowed like a violin rather than plucked like a harp. It is a
traditional Swedish instrument called the Nyckelharpa (note - it has
the meme "harp" in it) and a description can be found at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyckelharpa
There are a number of other curiously sophisticated aspects
to this traditionaly "rural" instrument. While it may in fact
sport 12 strings, only three (or four in some models) are
bowed, the others are all sympathetic strings that resonate,
or in some models theyare used as drones.
The sound of this instrument can be truly haunting and very beautiful
in the right hands and right circumstances.
For example, last weekend I heard "Ashokan Farewell" played on
it (maybe more familiar to some as the sound track from the PBS
series on the Civil War) - if anything more heart-tugging
than the original which was done on a violin
(Here's the composer playing it and talking about it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx6dxrhqPZY )
Jitze
John Dean
> On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:20:02 +0100, "John Dean"
> <john...@fraglineone.net> wrote:
>
>> Isabelle Cecchini wrote:
>>> HVS a écrit :
>>>> On 25 Jul 2008, Isabelle Cecchini wrote
>>>>
>>>>> I'm looking for the name of a music instrument. It might be a
>>>>> sort of zither. It looks and sounds a bit like a zither, but
>>>>> it's different from a "The Third Man" type of zither: the
>>>>> strings are not plucked, but strummed, and there's a keyboard.
>>>>> The right hand is playing on the keyboard, while the left hand
>>>>> is strumming the strings.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> Ah, thank you. The instruments shown on the Wikipedia page and on
>>> this page http://www.azautoharpfest.com/club.html
>>> certainly look like the instrument in "Little House". The autoharp
>>> seems to be held differently, though. Do you think that it might be
>>> an earlier model?
>>
>> As most people have pointed out, it's an autoharp. I have one and
>> it's a very simple instrument to play when you use it as strummed
>> accompaniment to songs.
>> They vary in the number of strings and the number of chord bars.
>> A nuisance to tune and a bugger to restring, but it produces a
>> lovely sound, particularly for folky / country music. And they're
>> pretty cheap to get hold of, even new.
>
> These instruments are all designed to be plucked, but there is a very
> similar instrument designed to be bowed like a violin - i.e. it has
> strings that are stopped at fixed lengths with keys like the above,
> but bowed like a violin rather than plucked like a harp. It is a
> traditional Swedish instrument called the Nyckelharpa (note - it has
> the meme "harp" in it) and a description can be found at
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyckelharpa
>
That has similarities with the Appalachian dulcimer ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_dulcimer
... which I used to hear described as the Appalachian mountain harp.
--
John Dean
Oxford
John Kane
<isabelle.cecch...@wanadoo.fr.invalid> wrote:
> HVS a écrit :
>
>
>
>
>
> > On 25 Jul 2008, Isabelle Cecchini wrote
>
> >> I'm looking for the name of a music instrument. It might be a
> >> sort of zither. It looks and sounds a bit like a zither, but
> >> it's different from a "The Third Man" type of zither: the
> >> strings are not plucked, but strummed, and there's a keyboard.
> >> The right hand is playing on the keyboard, while the left hand
> >> is strumming the strings.
>
> >> Here's a picture:
> >>http://cjoint.com/?hzmnMuldTM
>
> >> Here's what it sounds like:
> >>http://cjoint.com/?hzwvlmN1qU
>
> >> The picture and the sound both come from an episode of "The
> >> Little House on the Prairie".
>
> >> Have you got any idea what it might be called? I don't have a
> >> name for it in French either.
>
> > I think it's an "autoharp".
>
> Ah, thank you. The instruments shown on the Wikipedia page and on this
> certainly look like the instrument in "Little House". The autoharp seems
> to be held differently, though. Do you think that it might be an earlier
> model?
>
> --
>
> - Show quoted text -
A former girlfriend played the autoharp and used either position
depending on where she was.
John Kane Kingston ON Canada
John Kane
Wait a minute Isabelle, we have not heard John play.
John Dean
Oh ye of little faith
Cop for this ...
tap tap 1-2-3 and
plinka plinka plinka plink
a plinka plinky plink o
plink plink a plinky plinky plonk
<curtsey>
thankyou
--
John Dean
Oxford
LFS
Ah. Before reading this post I was tempted to offer to do some research,
in true aue style, in order to allay any doubts that Mr Kane may have
raised, by suggesting that I might pop round the corner to Chateau Dean
for a recital. I think it's the curtsey that has put me off.
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email)
Robin Bignall
Is it possible to curtsey while wearing trousers?
--
Robin
(BrE)
Herts, England
Barbara Bailey
> Oh ye of little faith
>
> Cop for this ...
>
> tap tap 1-2-3 and
>
> plinka plinka plinka plink
> a plinka plinky plink o
> plink plink a plinky plinky plonk
>
> <curtsey>
>
> thankyou
<applause>
angelgl...@yahoo.com
I think that every ev'ry music instrument
Is either Satan's work, or Heaven sent:
Just think: the sweet notes of a violin
Can cause a stuffy puritan to sin;
But to the dulcet tones of a strummed harp,
A straying husband sings a hymn. Why carp
And say that music's either bad or good
When all it does is to arouse a mood
That we're inclined to anyway? Now one
Who hears a march may grab his hunting gun--
His tranquil state is changed by what he hears,
And so he thinks of killing men to cheers;
And yet another hears a march and made
To wish that she were dancing on parade
And twirling her baton in neat display
In football games or on St. Patrick's Day.
Another sighs with an unstifled groan
When hearing Wagner's march, played on trombone.
Yet nubile women, when their trousseau's done
Will weep with joy to strains of Mendelssohn.
So who can say, for better or for worse,
If music be a blessing or a curse?