Dulcimer

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Dulcimer" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

Dulcimer

Two types of dulcimer.

An Appalachian dulcimer...

...and a hammered dulcimer

String instrument
Classification|

* Plucked string instruments
* Struck string instruments

Developed| Antiquity
Musicians

* List of Appalachian dulcimer players
* List of hammered dulcimer players

The term dulcimer  refers to two families of musical string instruments.

## Hammered dulcimers

[edit]

The word dulcimer originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers".[1] Variants of this instrument are found in many cultures, including:

* Hammered dulcimer (England, Scotland, United States)
* Hackbrett (southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
* Tsymbaly (Ukraine), tsimbl (Ashkenazi Jewish), țambal (Romania) and cimbalom (Hungary) may refer to either a relatively small folk instrument or a larger classical instrument. The santouri (Greece) (called "santur" in the Ottoman Empire) is almost identical to the Jewish and Romanian folk instruments.
* Santur (Iran and Iraq)
* Santoor (northern India and Pakistan) is constructed and tuned differently from the santur of Iran and Iraq
* Khim (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand)
* Yangqin (China), Đàn tam thập lục (Vietnam), yanggeum (Korea)

## Appalachian dulcimer and derivatives

[edit]

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

In the Appalachian region of the U.S. in the nineteenth century, hammered dulcimers were rare. There, the word dulcimer, which was familiar from the King James Version of the Bible, was used to refer to a three or four stringed fretted instrument, generally played on the lap by strumming.

Variants include:

* The original Appalachian dulcimer
* Various twentieth century derivatives, including
* Banjo dulcimer, with banjo-like resonating membrane
* Resonator dulcimer, with inset conical resonator
* Bowed dulcimer, teardrop-shaped and played upright with a bow
* Electric dulcimer, various types of dulcimer which use a pickup to amplify the sound

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "The Hammered Dulcimer". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved February 28, 2022.

Index of articles associated with the same name

This set index article includes a list of related items that share the same name (or similar names).
If an internal link incorrectly led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.