Well this may not be particularly germane to the purpose of this group, but...on the heels of all the discussion involving some of the more unusual instruments on the adjacent thread, I'd like to further posit the spectre of such instruments--elaborating on their aspects: conception, design, function, origins, etc. I'd also like to see photos--and sound clips--of the instruments...since I can't have them all :-( and likely won't ever get close to the vast majority of them, but which compel my imagination so... I'm particularly fond of the zithers (broadly speaking--referring basically to anything with predominantly little to no pitch-varying of individual strings, and typically absence of a fingerboard--although there are of course many combinations and permutations [such as the basic "mountain" or lap-style dulcimer and myriad related or progenitor instruments from Europe and Asia]; sympathetic string elements; and of course beyond plectrum-strumming, we "finger" harps and zithers by plucking and stopping individual strings--so the distinctions are elusive and instead there's every overlap and conjunction). I think the reason I have such affinity for these instruments is due to their particular resonances--which is generally effected by a "fixed"-type of string arrangement and structure (e.g., piano, etc). I'm a big fan of metal strings on these zithers and find their evocativeness particularly alluring...I'm playing more small harp, myself, but always loved the sound of the simple diatonic folk harps/lyres/zithers, like the Finnish kantele, and of course the many forms of harps and lyres from Africa (I once thought I would have to acquire a kora, but [thankfully] finally assuaged my compulsion for all of these harps with simple lever harp, and a repertoire of O'Carolan and Ap Huw tunes) There's also a vehicle of opportunity--in these small zithers--conducive to exercising florid expressions of plastic folk arts, as a box with strings (with no neck, scale, or action to "fret" about) enables great latitude in ornamentation and visual aesthetics--exemplified in the variety of design and liberal incorporation of visual ornamentation in these mountain dulcimers, for example (which brings up another dimension necessarily addressed here: the convergence of art and technology traditions in musical and oral custom...a dissertation on these is beyond my purpose here, but necessary to mention its bearing in the context here)--which may further warrant an image of instruments of mention Check out the lyres and early harps, and Alemu Aga (4:13"):
And just for good measure--I'll throw up a vid of one of my inspirations--Shivkumar Sharma (and Zakir), by whom I was blown away in 1984--and never recovered. From his santoor, some of the same delicate, ethereal filagrees emanate--that I hear in the other wire zithers, and my wire harp. I have a couple of hammered dulcimers too, and would someday like to acquire a santur as well Notice the remarkable subtlety of the instrument, and playing style:
Hmm... broadly speaking, a "zither" is any stringed instrument with the strings parallel to the soundboard, which includes everything from mandolins and guitars to cimbaloms and pianos. And, of course, those beasts just called "zithers", too. The "harps" are any stringed instrument in which the strings are perpendicular to the soundboard. So the broadest organological categories don't address whether the strings are stopped or unstopped, fretted, etc. That said, I do know what category you're talking about. I also have a fascination with zithers, though for the past few years mine has been focused on the "alpine" or "harp" zither, the Austrian/German instrument with five single strings over a fretboard, and anywhere from 27-37 unfretted strings. Finding one of these in playable condition for a reasonable price has proven something of a challenge, and, as my attic has been filling up with unplayable, unrepairable examples, I've back-burnered that interest for now. For several years I have been on a minor quest to obtain and learn to play as many guitaroid fretted instruments as I could. My initial interest in the alpine zither was that it was one of the few fretted western instruments in which the position of the hand over the fretboard is reversed compared to most others. Anyway, I have acquired a modest collection of fretted instruments, many of South or Central American origin. Don't know how many of these fit your criteria for "unusual," but a number of them might be considered "ethnic," I suppose, and I find all of them interesting in their way. In addition to multiple guitars (acoustic and electric, 6- & 12-string), a couple of banjos, mandolins, and electric basses, a few autoharps and a mountain dulcimer, the string collection currently includes: 5-string acoustic bass guitar; requinto; bajo sexto; ukulele; baritone ukulele; lili'u; guitalele; mandola; octave mandolin; Puerto Rican cuatro; tiple Colombiano -- and my current fasciantion, the charango family: two charangos (one made from a hairy armadillo); ronroco, and hualyacho. I guess the most unusual from my perspective right now is the hualyacho. This is a tiny, sopranino version of the charango, smaller than a uke, they're strung either with these ridiculously fine brass strings (I measured them at 0.0065"), or with very light nylon strings; mine came with a set of each. The problem lies in figuring out how to tune it. There is very little cogent information on this instrument (which I suspect is a relatively recent invention) on the web, and what is there all seems to have cribbed from the same source. The consensus presented by these sources (which may just be a single source) is that the instrument is tuned a 4th, or sometimes a 5th higher than the standard charango tuning. Having had the thing for a month now, I've about concluded that neither of these tunings is possible. The standard charango is tuned entirely within the octave starting on 'E' above middle 'C' and the 'E' one octave above: G4 G4, C5 C5, E5 E4, A4 A4, E5 E5. Note that "E5" is already the pitch of the top open string on the mandolin. I have found no way yet, to get any kind of string to take a tuning an octave above that (E6) on the hualyacho. In fact, I can't get any string to go up to an A5 without breaking. G5 is right at the limit of what I can get from the thinnest nylon string; every brass string I've tried breaks before I even get to F#5. Heavier strings might be a little stronger, but the instrument isn't designed to take much tension, and anything like mandolin strings would literally rip it apart. What I suspect at this point, is that the various information source(s) have played fast and loose with octave designations, and aren't really sure themselves with the "standard" tuning is for this thing, if indeed there actually is a "standard". Indeed, the lack of octave specification has been an ongoing source of frustration for me, as regards many -- often otherwise quite good -- sources of organological information. Well, that's probably more of a rant than you were interested in, but hey, when I get on a roll, there's no stopping me.
Perhaps more to the point... The story I've always heard for the origin of the charango is that the Andean Indians had their own guitar-like instruments that they used for various festivals. When the Spanish conquistadors came in and insisted on converting everyone to Christianity, they confiscated and destroyed all of these instruments. So the Indians devised a small guitar, easily concealed or carried under a cloak, to replace it. They used armadillo shells for the backing because armadillos were everywhere, and it reduced the amount of wood needed, as well as construction time, making it less likely that they would be discovered making the things. This may all be apocryphal, but it sounds as though parts of it could be true. Anyway, it is a fact that up until about 20 years ago, most charangos were made from armadillo shells. It wasn't until the instrument started getting popular outside of it's native habitat (e.g., in North America) that the luthiers started making them entirely out of wood, to placate squeamish Norte Americanos. (Some people have opined this was because the armadillo was becoming endangered; this turns out not to be the case. According to people I know who live where charangos are king, the quirquinchu -- the armadillos favored for charangos -- are as common as rats, and considered nearly as much of a nuisance.) One other thing I learned in researching charangos is that armadillos are the only other species (than humans) that get leprosy. Hmm... I find the tuning on the instruments in the charango family fosters a very different approach to playing, as compared to mandolin or guitar. First off, it's reentrant, like the ukulele. Then, all the pitches are gathered close together, within a single octave. Finally, the intervals between the courses are fairly unique: a 4th, a M3rd, another 4th, and then a 5th. It's like a guitar on the bottom, a mandolin on the top, with the lowest pitch in the middle.
Yes and the Sweeney-style banjos --also reentrant and much different than the "zither rest"--in terms of feel, approach, concept The perspective of the strings, fingerboards and soundboards was what I had in mind vis a vis parallelism/perpendicularity architecture; "plucking and stopping," playing style, and aesthetic experience and approach is just my concept. I was thinking "broadly" in terms of just my concept, trying to catch it all--rather than tryng to define them (I'm more aesthetician than scientist). But I should probably pay greater attention--if I'm ever in the company of other harpists, they'd not cotton to me calling my harp a zither. The problem with nomenclature is the frequent apparent anomaly--"harp guitar" (Gibson style U), for example, would actually be more of a zither-type than a harp-type in that the strings are parallel to the soundboard rather than perpendicular (employing a "bridge"--probably more of a distinguishing characteristic than others ive mentioned), etc. But it would just be easiest to call it all lyre...maybe I'll call it all lyre-derived ; ) But what intrigues me are the combinations and permutations. Something interesting is the somewhat anomalous wire strung harp (which to me feels and sounds reminiscent of zithers); the vast majority of "harps" throughout the world are gut/nylon. Here is another area of "crossover" I think--the convergence of harp with zither--perhaps not "physiognomically," but sonically and aesthetically: the use of wire is such a distinct departure from all gut/nylon approaches--it basically takes the zither and stands it vertically and with a perpendicular perspective then--its playing style, aside from the fact that it's a harp and is played with ostensibly harp technique--is as much zither in string spacing, attack, modulations and dynamics. Culturally, AFAIK its (historical clarsach) prevalence was limited to the British Isles--it seems reasonable to assume it made its way around Scandinavia and maybe the continent as well, but there it must have mutated toward zither-type configuration (or vice versa) Have you got some clips and such of some of your instruments? I'd love to see/hear em...what are you doing with them? PS- I was totally interested in charango myself, but then the oud bug hit me. Now, I'm having to forego oud and fiddle, as the left-hand fingernails for wire harp interfere. The creative urge is a powerful possession--
Colloquial nomenclature and organological nomenclature are quite frequently at odds. The "harp guitar" is, in fact, a member of the zither family, and not the harp family. The alpine zither is also frequently refered to as a "harp zither," which (organologically, at least) is a direct contradiction -- but, there it is. I also find ironic that the colloquial term "guitar zither" refers not to the zithers with fretted fingerboards, but to those which specifically do not have any fingerboards, just open strings. Then there's the "autoharp," which is pure zither. Vibraphones have been sold as "vibraharps"; harmonicas get called "harps" if you happen to play the blues on them. "Lyre" is kind of a special case, with about half of organologists regarding it as a subcategory of the zithers, and the other half putting it in a category seperate from both the zithers and the harps. Then you have instruments like the west African kora, which seem to bridge the characteristics of harp and zither. From what I know of instrument history, the gut/nylon versus metal-wire string distinction was mostly a function of what was more easily and plentifully available in the region where a particular instrument evolved or gained popularity. It's only been in relatively recent times (past 200 years or so) that we've started changing the traditional string material on instruments specifically to achieve a particular volume advantage or tonal quality. Charangos, for example, were originally strung with fishing twine. In the 20th century, when fishing line began to be made from nylon and other synthetics, for a long time charangos were still strung with fishing line, just because it was available everywhere. (I've tried this, BTW, and in some cases it's actually an improvement over some of the nylon charango strings being sold -- you can get more gauge variations in nylon fishing line than you can in "official" charango strings." Tradition can persist for a long time, even when technology makes it superfluous. When I started playing string bass in high school, some string basses still used gut strings, and you can still buy real gut sets. Yet the rest of the orchestral strings had all been using metal strings for 150 years, by that point. I actually prefered the gut strings, especially for pizzicato, but they had to be replaced every few months, and at $150/set (back then; nearly double that, now) they just weren't economical compared to metal strings, that cost less and lasted for a year or more. As to what I'm doing with my instruments... right now mostly building new nuts and bridges for them. I'm planning on doing a photographic catalog of them soon (for insurance purposes, if nothing else), but my digital camera's in the shop right now. As far as recordings, most of what I have is either wierd electronic stuff, piano rags, or with the more conventional guitar/bass/mandolins. For the most part my work with the more exotic strings has been a project of the last couple of years, so in many cases I'm still learning my way around these beasts. I may do some recording with the ronroco soon, though -- I really fell in love with this instrument. It's like having a charango that's actually big enough for me to feel comfortable with.
And I do believe there is a "piano-violin" or "harp-violin" or some such--very widely distrubuted...we have one hanging on the wall downstairs--a zither, bowed like a psaltry I guess I'll have to keep ronroco in mind--if I ever have time/inclinations to get back to the charango...I have a predilection generally for larger instruments and its small size is challenging for me (mandolin too)
Well, what an interesting discussion. Music experience actually can include how we experience different instruments such as zithers, harps, charango mandolin? I have a separate group I created for African music instruments. The group concentrates particularly on things with strings. Pardon the coloquial use of the term. Just to say each instrument is a sound - a different one - each different tuning is an experience and this channel or group allows for the sharing of that. For me, each sound has a colour - each note - as a blind person the heaviness, the whispiness of sound - each has an experience - I am pleased this group has these kinds of discussions. Speaking of colour in sound, small instruments such charango is light in colour - om has a darker autumn burnt orange - guitar is a coral or peach sound? Well, no I am not on some hallucinogenic I just experience sound this way.
Musical timbre--evokes the fundamental aspect of sound and our relationships. You might enjoy some readings in the sufi tradition, vanillam- I always enjoyed Elvin's demonstration of his experience of timbral "equivalents"...speaking of color, if we look at these phenomena from the chemo-neural trans-process perspective I guess it's easy to associate one with another on a frequency sprectrum
Here's a wonderful zither--seen in this vid at 4:10" (and heard beginning at 3:50"). The vid concerns Gaelic harp tradition, but the sound and approach of this zither is something similar to what I've heard in wide examples--ranging throughout Europe, Asia, and Scandinavia. There are estimates of the existence of some ~300 types of zithers and traditions--this one is new to me and I might pursue it more if given the opportunity...but for now, it's clarsach
The synesthesia thing -- associating, or actually perceiving certain colors associated with certain sounds or pitches -- is a fascinating, but frustrating subject. Many experimenters and composers, some of them quite famous, have attempted to construct a "scale of color" to correspond to the scale of musical pitch. Scriabin and Messiean, among others. I explored this a bit in a "psychology of music" class some years ago. The main thing I discovered is that pretty much no two people associate the same colors with the same pitches, and in many cases they're not even close to being in the same ball park. This would seem to suggest that there really isn't any physical or physiological basis for making this connection, that it's either arbitrary, or entirely psychological. Some psychoactive drugs seem to promote temporary synesthesia in some people -- mescaline has a history of this. I experienced this kind of synesthesia several times, but the color/pitch associations weren't even consistent for me from one experience to the next. Something definitely "happens" there, but what it is, exactly, is elusive.
Panpipes and reed flutes were the people's melodic instruments back in the day. Cheap and easy; cut them yourself. Then came technology: tinwhistles, and harmonicas, and eventually those annoying singing XMas and birthday cards. (The sound chips can be hacked with interesting results.) And pieced-together scraps of discarded technology: steel drums, thumb-pianos, washtub bass and jug bands, tin-pan banjos and cigar-box mandolins. What will be the 'folk' instruments of the future?
Glad to see someone else found their way here k-peli - "What will be the 'folk' instruments of the future?" Synth fwiw, discovered the name - of the "Anglo Saxon lyre" I find so compelling - related -
