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Drone zithers or droned zithers are stringed instruments of the zither family that have few (sometimes only one) melodic strings and a greater number of drone strings. The oldest known form of drone zither is the Scheitholt. The Scheitholt developed into many different variants of drone zithers, such as the Langspil, the Epinette des Vosges or ...
Diatonic, lute-like string instrument langeleik [13] Norway: 314.122 Rectangular zither with five to nine strings, one melody string and several drone strings santur [16] Iran: 314.122-4 Hammered dulcimer, trapezoidal-shaped with 72 strings and two sets of bridges, hit with mallets yangqin [17] yang ch'in, yang qin: China: 314.122-4
Zither (/ ˈ z ɪ ð ər, ˈ z ɪ θ-/; [1] German:, from the Greek cithara) is a class of stringed instruments.The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body.
It has a single melody string and usually 2 drone strings. The langspil can be played by plucking the strings by hand, with a bow or by hammering. Langspils exist in two basic versions, straight and curved and are generally around the length of 80 cm (31 in), and can be as long as 104 cm (41 in) or as short as 73 cm (29 in).
Note: Because the dulcimer is most often played on the lap or with the instrument lying on a table, when the instrument is held upright (headstock at the top), the highest pitched string will be on the left—this is the reverse of most other string instruments (e.g., guitar, bass, fiddle, etc.) where the lowest string is on the left.
Strings were historically of natural materials, such as vegetable fibers or "cow sinew". [6] One long piece of string is put through the holes or in the notches, back and forth from end to end, creating segments of individual strings. [14] [6] The ends of the string may be held in place, wrapped around a wooden peg, anchoring the string.
The langeleik has only one melody string and up to 8 drone strings. [1] Under the melody string there are seven frets per octave, forming a diatonic major scale. [2] The drone strings are tuned to a triad. The langeleik is tuned to about an A, though on score the C major key is used, as if the instrument were tuned in C.
[citation needed] Strings 2 to 4 go over fret 1 and are positioned over the frets whilst 1, 5, and 6 are supported by the anjok bridges. Strings 2 and 3 are used to play stopped notes and the rest are played open or as drones (even string 4 which is above the frets, though it is sometimes played stopped in some pieces).