 t
the turn of the last century before the days of records, CDs, and
radios
it was impossible to hear music if youd did not go out especially or
made
it yourself unless, of course, you were wealthy enough to hire your own
private musicians! This led more folk to learn instruments or to sing
and
many happy evenings were spent making music.
Of course, not
everyone has great
musical talents so there were instruments which were easy and quick to
learn for those not so blessed. One of those instruments is the chord
or
American Zither. This differs from the classical zither by having
papers
to place under the strings with dots indicating the strings to be
plucked.
The dots are joined by a line which starts with an arrow indicating the
direction of the run and marked with numbers to indicate the
accompanying
chords.
These zithers come in
different
sizes, formats and types with single or double melody strings and with
or without semitones. The number of harmony strings varied between the
different types. A simple version of the basic type is made in Germany
till these days.
A technically
improved instrument
is the hammer chord zither or Fischer´s Mandolinette. So named because
the sound of the rapidly repeated hammer strikes on the steel strings
can
resemble a mandolin. This instrument was made in Germany before the
first
world war. Some were made that resembled a small piano (the piano harp)
or even combination instruments with the chord section of a zither
combined
with the pedals an bellows of a harmonium. In zither pianinos the
keyboard
could be removed and the instrument plucked with the fingers. When in
use
the keyboard was held in place by two pins to stop it sliding
about.
Another type - the
Violin Harp
type used a bow to play the melody with chords strummed in the normal
way.
The Aeolian Harp zithers had arpeggio chords plus a manual autoharp
with
wooden manuals which had felt dampers to dampen the sound of unwanted
strings.
Mechanical hammer
zithers came
in many shapes and sizes with or without semitones they all had a range
of two octaves and an accompaniment of arpeggiated chords. Even these
had
papers with foltk notes so that the mucially uneducated could play
them.
Paul Reissner
improved this instrument
in 1919 so that played on a tape punched full of holes like a barrel
organ.
This zither TRIOLA was made from 1920-1925.
As times have changed
with an increased
pace of life singing and playing the zither have been replaced by TV,
radio
and record player. The character of popular music has changed and folk
music is the preserve of the enthusiast. Now these fine instruments
have
faded into obscurity and most are curious.
The biggest practical
problem leading
to their decline is the need for continuous tuning of the large number
of strings, especially since the characteristic clear and precise sound
depends on perfect tuning.
This instrument on
which this recording
was made has 92 strings and can stay in tune for several hours of
continunous
play. |
