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63-572: Zither ( / ˈ z ɪ ð ər , ˈ z ɪ θ -/ ; German: [ˈtsɪtɐ] , from the Greek cithara ) is a class of stringed instruments . The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a plectrum . In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, the term refers to a larger family of similarly shaped instruments that also includes

126-421: A chorus effect usually results like a mandolin . A hammered dulcimer, like an autoharp , harp , or piano, requires a tuning wrench for tuning, since the dulcimer's strings are wound around tuning pins with square heads. (Ordinarily, 5 mm "zither pins" are used, similar to, but smaller in diameter than piano tuning pins, which come in various sizes ranging upwards from "1/0" or 7 mm.) The strings of

189-474: A G-major scale, and so on. This transposes one equally tempered scale to another. Shifting down three courses transposes the D-major scale to A-major, but of course the first Do-Re-Mi would be shifted off the instrument. This tuning results in most, but not all, notes of the chromatic scale being available. To fill in the gaps, many modern dulcimer builders include extra short bridges at the top and bottom of

252-401: A descending chromatic scale . Late 19th and early 20th century versions of the instrument were often called 'harp zithers' – so-named because the pillar extension seemed a miniature version of the harp's pillar. The extra contrabass strings ran parallel to the other strings on these earlier instruments, the diagonal arrangement illustrated developed later to assist the right hand in reaching

315-838: A fretless instrument, found in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng , dating from 433 BC. Similar instruments along this design were developed over the following centuries, for example, the Japanese silk-strung koto ; the siter of Indonesian gamelans ; the qānūn (or kanun) of Greece and the Middle East; the valiha , a tube zither of Madagascar; and many others. Increasing interest in " world music " has brought wider recognition to these other zither family members, both ancient and modern. Many of these instruments have been sampled electronically and are available in instrument banks for music synthesizers . In Europe and other more northern and western regions, early zithers were more similar to

378-583: A hammered dulcimer first appears in textual and iconographic sources from the early 15th century. The hammered dulcimer was extensively used during the Middle Ages in England, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. A dulcimer usually has two bridges , a bass bridge near the right and a treble bridge on the left side. The bass bridge holds up bass strings, which are played to the left of

441-819: A more modern style may stand or sit at a wooden support with legs. The player holds a small spoon-shaped mallet hammer in each hand to strike the strings. The Graeco-Roman word dulcimer ("sweet song") derives from the Latin dulcis (sweet) and the Greek melos (song). The dulcimer, in which the strings are beaten with small hammers, originated from the psaltery , in which the strings are plucked. Hammered dulcimers and other similar instruments are traditionally played in Iraq, India, Iran, Southwest Asia , China, Korea, and parts of Southeast Asia , Central Europe (Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland [particularly Appenzell ], Austria and Bavaria ),

504-475: A new zither based on Weigel's design. At this point the zither had reached something very close to its modern concert form. Within a relatively short time the new design had largely replaced the old Volkszither (though still called by the same name among folk musicians) throughout central Europe, particularly in the Alpine countries . As the 'concert zither' it also began to attract the attention of serious composers,

567-527: A number of whom, themselves, became concert zither virtuosi. These composers, called the " Altmeister ", flourished between 1870 and 1910. And no less a composer than Johann Strauss II gave the instrument a prominent solo in one of his most famous waltzes, " Tales from the Vienna Woods ". The zither went through two periods of great popularity in the United States. The first of these was in

630-415: A particularly distinctive tone to the contrabass strings. The resulting lower string tension also enabled Karas to perform an expressive vibrato on the fingerboard melody strings. Film director Carol Reed , (on whose oak kitchen table the music was performed), described the sound as "gritty and dirty", perfectly reflecting the atmospheric mood of the film. The Alpine zither has 42 strings, and differs from

693-485: A player from upstate New York , used flexible hammers made from hacksaw blades, with leather-covered wooden blocks attached to the ends (these were modeled after the hammers used by his grandfather, Jesse Martin). The Irish player John Rea (1915–1983) used hammers made of thick steel wire, which he made himself from old bicycle spokes wrapped with wool. Billy Bennington (1900–1986), a player from Norfolk, England , used cane hammers bound with wool. The piano, like

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756-474: A relatively small number of contemporary musicians from various global regions and musical genres, either out of interest in traditional musical styles for the instrument, or from a desire to seek new sounds for their music. New variations on the concert zither have also been employed, including the electric zither—and recent instruments that share zither characteristics, such as the Chapman stick . While use of

819-457: A truism that most zithers seen today are either 60 or 110 years old. Currently (2019) only a few independent luthiers and mid-European makers are producing new instruments. A concert zither may have from 29 to 38 strings, with 34 or 35 being most typical. These are arranged as follows: four or five fretted melody strings, placed above a guitar-like fretboard; 12 unfretted "accompaniment" strings; followed by 12 unfretted "bass" strings; followed by

882-513: A varying number of "contrabass" strings, with five or six being the most common number. On some older zithers, one may find "half-frets" above the 12th fret, which extend only under the first two or three strings. This results in the lower fretted strings having no pitches (or no chromatic pitches) available above the 12th fret, while the higher fretted strings still have higher chromatic pitches available at these half-frets. Nearly all instruments made after 1960, however, have full-length frets all

945-497: A whole tone distance in every row. This chromatic Salzburger hackbrett was developed in the mid 1930s from the diatonic hammered dulcimer by Tobi Reizer and his son along with Franz Peyer and Heinrich Bandzauner. In the postwar period it was one of the instruments taught in state-sponsored music schools. Hammered dulcimers of non-European descent may have other tuning patterns, and builders of European-style dulcimers sometimes experiment with alternate tuning patterns. The instrument

1008-520: Is also mentioned in other places in the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible, including Genesis 4:21, 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 16:16, 1 Paralipomenon (1 Chronicles) 25:3, Job 30:31, Psalms 32:2, Psalms 56:9, Psalms 70:22, Psalms 80:3, Psalms 91:4, Psalms 97:5, Psalms 107:3, Psalms 146:7, Psalms 150:3, Isaiah 5:12, Isaiah 16:11, 1 Machabees 3:45, and 1 Corinthians 14:7. The kaithros mentioned in

1071-508: Is derived from Latin cythara , which was used in this form for the title covers on many 16th- and 17th-century German-printed manuscript books originally for the 'cittern' – from the Greek word kithara , an instrument used in Ancient Greece . The German scholar Michael Praetorius mentions an Englishman who came to Germany with a small cittern, einem kleinen Citterlein , in his treatise Syntagma Musicum , published during

1134-416: Is played by plucking the strings while it lies flat on a table (which acts as a resonator to amplify the sound), or it can be held on the lap. On concert and Alpine zithers, the melody strings are pressed to the fingerboard ("fretted") with the fingers of the left hand, and plucked with a plectrum on the right thumb. The first and second fingers of the right hand pluck the accompaniment and bass strings, and

1197-544: Is referred to as "hammered" in reference to the small mallets (referred to as hammers ) that players use to strike the strings. Hammers are usually made of wood (most likely hardwoods such as maple, cherry, padauk, oak, walnut, or any other hardwood), but can also be made from any material, including metal and plastic. In the Western hemisphere, hammers are usually stiff, but in Asia, flexible hammers are often used. The head of

1260-400: Is required because the bass bridge's fourth string G is the start of the lower tetrachord of the G scale. The player could go on up a couple notes (G – A – B), but the next note will be a flatted seventh (C natural in this case), because this note is drawn from the G tetrachord. This D major scale with a flatted seventh is the mixolydian mode in D. The same thing happens as the player goes up

1323-602: Is the term for a type of statue or other image of Apollo with a cithara. Among the best-known examples is the Apollo Citharoedus at the Vatican Museums , a 2nd-century CE colossal marble statue by an unknown Roman sculptor. In the Middle Ages , cythara was also used generically for stringed instruments, including lyres, but also including lute -like instruments. The use of the name throughout

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1386-682: The Salzburg zither (with a rounded side away from the player), and the Mittenwald zither (with both sides rounded). Both styles are still found in concert zithers today, although the Salzburg style has become by far the most common. The zither became a popular folk music instrument in Bavaria and Austria and, at the beginning of the 19th century, was known as a Volkszither . Viennese zitherist Johann Petzmayer (1803–1884) became one of

1449-450: The Book of Daniel may have been the same instrument. Hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer ) is a percussion - stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board . The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more traditional styles may sit cross-legged on the floor, or in

1512-404: The hammered dulcimer family and piano and a few rare bowed instruments like the bowed psaltery , bowed dulcimer , and streichmelodion . Like an acoustic guitar or lute , a zither's body serves as a resonating chamber ( sound box ), but, unlike guitars and lutes, a zither lacks a distinctly separate neck assembly. The number of strings varies, from one to more than fifty. In modern usage

1575-691: The Balkans, Eastern Europe (Ukraine and Belarus), and Scandinavia . The instrument is also played in the United Kingdom (Wales, East Anglia , Northumbria ), and the United States , where its traditional use in folk music saw a revival in the late 20th century. The santur , a type of hammered dulcimer, originates from the Middle East . The earliest evidence comes from Assyrian and Babylonian stone carvings dated to 669 BC, showing

1638-532: The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Emigration from these areas during the 19th century introduced the concert and Alpine zither to North and South America. Chord zithers similar to the instrument in the photograph also became popular in North America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These variants all use metal strings, similar to the cittern . The word "zither"

1701-527: The Middle Ages looked back to the original Greek cithara, and its abilities to sway people's emotions. An instrument called the kinnor is mentioned a number of times in the Bible, generally translated into English as "harp" or "psaltery", but historically rendered as "cithara". Psalm 42 in the Latin Vulgate (Psalm 43 in other versions), says, which is translated in the Douay-Rheims version as The King James version renders this verse as The cithara

1764-534: The audience "in a dither with his zither". This new popularity for the zither lasted until well into the 1960s with many successful albums during the period from performers such as Karas, Ruth Welcome , and Shirley Abicair . German-born American Ruth Welcome released a number of very popular theme-based zither albums between 1958 and 1965 (e.g., Romantic Zither ; Zither South of the Border ; Zither Goes to Hollywood ). Australian-born singer Shirley Abicair popularised

1827-421: The bass bridge, and can span three octaves . The strings of a hammered dulcimer are usually found in pairs, two strings for each note (though some instruments have three or four strings per note). Each set of strings is tuned in unison and is called a course . As with a piano , the purpose of using multiple strings per course is to make the instrument louder, although as the courses are rarely in perfect unison,

1890-399: The bridge. The treble strings can be played on either side of the treble bridge. In the usual construction, playing them on the left side gives a note a fifth higher than playing them on the right of the bridge. The dulcimer comes in various sizes, identified by the number of strings that cross each of the bridges. A 15/14, for example, has 15 strings crossing the treble bridge and 14 crossing

1953-497: The chord zither when she used it for accompaniment in her TV shows, live performances and recordings in Britain in the 1950s and '60s. Zither music also featured in a Twilight Zone episode – Mr Bevis in 1960. Although interest in the zither had once more begun to wane by the late 1960s, owing to the two American vogues there are still many used instruments to be found, in various states of disrepair. It has become something of

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2016-549: The cithara and stringed instruments from ancient Anatolia . Whereas the basic lyra was widely used as a teaching instrument in boys’ schools, the cithara was a virtuoso's instrument and generally known as requiring a great deal of skill. The cithara was played primarily to accompany dance, epic recitations, rhapsodies, odes, and lyric songs. It was also played solo at the receptions, banquets, national games, and trials of skill. Aristotle said that these string instruments were not for educational purposes but for pleasure only. It

2079-399: The concert zither itself has declined, zither music and technique continue to influence contemporary musicians. For example: Canadian musician Jeff Healey , featured in the film thriller Road House in 1989, used a zither technique to play electric guitar. Blind from the age of one, Healey began playing when he was three with the instrument flat on his lap, left hand above the fingerboard in

2142-406: The concert zither primarily in requiring the addition of an extension to the body of the instrument to support both the longer additional contrabass strings and their tuners. Alpine zithers are tuned in a similar manner to the concert zither, with the accompaniment and bass strings each providing a full set of 12 chromatic pitches also arranged in a cycle of fifths. Contrabass strings are arranged in

2205-399: The conventional seven strings. The cithara is said to have been the invention of Apollo , the god of music. Apollo is often depicted playing a cithara instead of a lyre, often dressed in a kitharode ’s formal robes. Kitharoidos , or Citharoedus , is an epithet given to Apollo, which means "lyre-singer" or "one who sings to the lyre". An Apollo Citharoedus or Apollo Citharede ,

2268-462: The early 17th century. It is not fully understood how "zitter" or "zither" came to be applied to the instruments in this article as well as German varieties of the cittern. Other types of zither also existed in Germany, mostly drone zithers like the scheitholt (which was mentioned by Praetorius) or hummel , but these generally have their own individual regional names and may have been in use before

2331-404: The fingerboard and open strings. The accompaniment strings G and F ♯ were tuned an octave higher, while contrabass strings tuned E ♭ , F, D, E, C ♯ replaced the regular cycle of fifths bass strings. This brought the contrabasses closer to the fingerboard where the player could reach them more easily. For The Third Man , Karas tuned the zither a semi-tone lower, giving

2394-417: The gospel singer Washington Phillips , who used two instruments simultaneously, have revealed the virtuosic capability of the chord zither to modern musicians seeking to revive it. By the 1920s, this popularity had begun to wane, as other string instruments (notably guitars) increased in popularity along with the new fashion for jazz music . In the 1950s, interest in zithers resurfaced due in great measure to

2457-505: The hammer can be left bare for a sharp attack sound, or can be covered with adhesive tape, leather, or fabric for a softer sound. Two-sided hammers are also available. The heads of two sided hammers are usually oval or round. Most of the time, one side is left as bare wood while the other side may be covered in leather or a softer material such as piano felt . Several traditional players have used hammers that differ substantially from those in common use today. Paul Van Arsdale (1920–2018),

2520-497: The hammered dulcimer are often tuned according to a circle of fifths pattern. Typically, the lowest note (often a G or D) is struck at the lower right-hand of the instrument, just to the left of the right-hand (bass) bridge. As a player strikes the courses above in sequence, they ascend following a repeating sequence of two whole steps and a half step. With this tuning, a diatonic scale is broken into two tetrachords , or groups of four notes. For example, on an instrument with D as

2583-493: The instrument being played while hanging from the player's neck. This instrument was traded and travelled to different parts of the Middle East. Musicians modified the original design over the centuries, yielding a wide array of musical scales and tunings. The original santur was likely made with wood and stone and strung with goat intestines. The Babylonian santur was the ancestor of the harp , yangqin , harpsichord , qanun , cimbalom and hammered dulcimers. In Western Europe,

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2646-443: The instrument itself, in the form of a chart painted or glued under the strings. Since the zither requires advanced technique to play anything more than simple tunes, the vast majority of the concert zithers sold never attained more than amateur or (mostly) ornamental use; the playing of Washington Phillips was a rare exception. As a result, manufacturers attempted to simplify the instrument with various keyboard devices attached to

2709-569: The introduction into the lexicon of 'cythara' and its German derivative cognate . The Hornbostel–Sachs system, an academic instrument classification method, also uses the term zither to classify all stringed instruments in which the strings do not extend beyond the sounding box . Categories include Bar zithers (made up of musical bows and stick zithers ), tube zithers , raft zithers , board zithers (includes box zithers , ground zithers and harp zithers ), trough zithers and frame zithers . According to Sachs , Board-zithers form

2772-458: The late 19th through early 20th century, when it was greatly in vogue as a parlour instrument in many homes. During that period, a number of U.S.-based instrument manufacturers, many of them founded by, or staffed with, European (and especially German and Austrian) luthiers, were producing concert zithers. Chord zithers were often marketed under confusing brand names like ' guitar zither ' or 'mandoline zither'. The recently rediscovered recordings of

2835-405: The lowest note, the D major scale is played starting in the lower-right corner and ascending the bass bridge: D – E – F ♯ – G. This is the lower tetrachord of the D major scale. At this point the player returns to the bottom of the instrument and shifts to the treble strings to the right of the treble bridge to play the higher tetrachord: A – B – C ♯ – D. The player can continue up

2898-475: The melody strings ( Marxophone , dolceola , celestaphone , tremoloa , etc.). The invention of the autoharp , which uses bars with felt pads attached underneath placed across and above the strings, is probably the most successful adaptation. However, the absence of a fretboard makes the autoharp a closer relative of the chord zither than the concert zither. Presence of the concert zither in classical music remains sparse. Concert and Alpine zithers remain in use by

2961-442: The modern mountain dulcimer , having long, usually rectangular, sound boxes, with one or more melody strings and several unfretted drone strings. Some of these employed movable bridges similar to the Japanese koto, used for retuning the drone strings. The Alpine Scheitholt furnishes an example of this older type of European zither. By the late 18th century, two principal varieties of European concert zither had developed, known as

3024-695: The most important category from an occidental point of view because they include our stringed keyboard instruments. The strings are stretched out over a board, which is rectangular or trapezoidal or in some other shape, and which is glued onto a shallow box. The strings may be open or stopped , it may be a psaltery or a dulcimer. This includes such diverse instruments as the hammered dulcimer , psaltery , Appalachian dulcimer , guqin , guzheng , tromba marina , koto , gusli , kanun , kanklės , kantele , kannel , kokles , valiha , gayageum , đàn tranh , autoharp , santoor , yangqin , santur , swarmandal , and others. Pedal steel guitars , lap guitars (where

3087-411: The neck serves no separate function other than to extend the string length), and keyboard instruments like the clavichord , harpsichord and piano also fall within this broad categorical use. The word has also been used in conjunction with brand varieties of other string instruments, for example, the zither banjo . The earliest known surviving instrument of the zither family is a Chinese guqin ,

3150-491: The outstanding virtuosi on these early instruments and is credited with making the zither a household instrument. In 1838, Nikolaus Weigel of Munich conceived the idea of adopting fixed bridges, adding additional strings, tuning them in the cycle of fifths, and chromatically fretting the fingerboard – effectively converting a rather crude folk instrument into the concert zither. His ideas were not, however, widely accepted until 1862, when luthier Max Amberger of Munich fabricated

3213-479: The same manner as a zitherist. Although he used a Fender Stratocaster guitar throughout his career, the instrument was in effect being used as an electric zither. Other sources Cithara The cithara originated from Minoan - Mycenaean swan -neck lyres developed and used during the Aegean Bronze Age. Scholars such as M.L. West , Martha Maas, and Jane M. Snyder have made connections between

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3276-404: The scale on the right side of the treble bridge with E – F ♯ – G – A – B, but the next note will be C, not C ♯ , so he or she must switch to the left side of the treble bridge (and closer to the player) to continue the D major scale. See the drawing on the left above, in which "DO" would correspond to D (see Movable do solfège ). The shift from the bass bridge to the treble bridge

3339-639: The soundboard, where extra strings are tuned to some or all of the missing pitches. Such instruments are often called "chromatic dulcimers" as opposed to the more traditional "diatonic dulcimers". The tetrachord markers found on the bridges of most hammered dulcimers in the English-speaking world were introduced by the American player and maker Sam Rizzetta in the 1960s. In the Alps there are also chromatic dulcimers with crossed strings, which are in

3402-400: The strings are played open, in the manner of a harp. The strings on the left are arranged in groups of three or four, which form various chords to be played by the left hand. The strings to the right are single (or pairs of) strings intended for the right hand to pick out the melody. Tuning can vary widely from manufacturer to manufacturer and even from model to model, but is usually indicated on

3465-512: The strings. There are two popular tunings for the modern zither: Munich and Viennese. The zither tuning chart below gives tuning details, including pitches and octaves. Munich tuning is on top, and Vienna tuning below. Some players have used Vienna tuning only for the fretted strings, and Munich tuning for the unfretted strings. Full Viennese tuning is normally used only on instruments with 38 or fewer strings. However Optima makes Strings to allow for "Extended Viennese Tuning" w/ 42 Strings going all

3528-787: The success of the 1949 British film noir The Third Man . The soundtrack music for the film, which featured only a concert zither (no other instruments) – was performed by the Viennese musician Anton Karas . His " The Third Man Theme " was released as a single in 1949–50 and became a best-seller in the UK. Following its release in the U.S. in 1950, it spent eleven weeks at number one on Billboard 's U.S. Best Sellers in Stores Chart from 29 April to 8 July. The exposure made Karas an international star. A Time magazine film preview stated that "the famous musical score by Anton Karas" would have

3591-508: The term "zither" usually refers to three specific instruments: the concert zither (German: Konzertzither ), its variant the Alpine zither (each of which uses a fretted fingerboard ), and the chord zither (more recently described as a fretless zither or "guitar zither"). Concert and Alpine zithers are traditionally found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, France, north-western Croatia, the southern regions of Germany, Alpine Europe, Poland,

3654-495: The third finger of the right hand plucks the contrabass strings (there are variants on this technique), some musicians use Plectrums on the other 4 fingers too so they can strike the Accompaniment Strings more easily & get a sharper attack. The concept of the chord zither is different from that of the concert and alpine zithers. These instruments may have from 12 to 50 (or more) strings, depending on design. All

3717-467: The top, its strings were knotted around the crossbar or yoke ( zugon ) or to rings threaded over the bar, or wound around pegs. The other ends of the strings were secured to a tail-piece after passing over a flat bridge, or the tail-piece and bridge were combined. Most vase paintings show citharas with seven strings, in agreement with ancient authors, but those same authors also mention that occasionally an especially skillful kitharode would use more than

3780-400: The treble bridge – after getting to La (B in this case), one has to go to the left of the treble bridge. Moving from the left side of the bass bridge to the right side of the treble bridge is analogous to moving from the right side of the treble bridge to the left side of the treble bridge. The whole pattern can be shifted up by three courses, so that instead of a D-major scale one would have

3843-717: The way down to C#1 (the same note on the 2nd Fret of the 5th string on a 5 string Electric Bass). Tuning chart for concert and Alpine zithers: Note that the C#, F, & A Strings of the Unfretted String section on the Fretted Zither are Colored Red because like the Red C Strings & Blue/Black F Strings of a Harp , they act as "Separator Strings" to give the Musician useful reference points when playing. The zither

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3906-435: The way up the fretboard. Anton Karas and Ruth Welcome used instruments of similar design to the one illustrated. After World War II, Karas (according to zither scholar Günter Wittenstein, who was acquainted with him) performed on an instrument of larger dimensions than normal – with a 43 cm standard scale length for the fingerboard strings. He used Viennese tuning (see below), but with an altered chromatic sequence for

3969-404: Was played by strumming the strings with a stiff plectrum made of dried leather, held in the right hand with elbow outstretched and palm bent inwards. The strings with undesired notes were damped with the straightened fingers of the left hand. The cithara had a deep, wooden sound box composed of two resonating tables, either flat or slightly arched, connected by ribs or sides of equal width. At

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