PSALTERIES AND ZITHERS

MUSIC 318 MINI-COURSE ON PLUCKED STRING INSTRUMENTS

“The Acoustics of Carved Baltic Psalteries” (A.Peekna, T.Rossing, Acta Acustica 91, 269 (2005))“Acoustical analysis and model-based synthesis of the kantele” (C.Erkut, et al., JASA 112,1681 (2002)“Intercultural contact and the evolution of the Baltic psaltery” (A.Haas, J. Baltic Studies 32,209 (2001)).

PSALTERIES AND ZITHERS

PSALTERIES BELONG TO THE ZITHER FAMILY OF INSTRUMENTS, WHICH ALSO INCLUDES APPALACHIAN DULCIMERS, AUTOHARPS, AND HAMMERED DULCIMERS. PSALTERIES EXISTED IN MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE EUROPE.

THE HAMMERED DULCIMER, OR ITS LARGER COUSIN THE CIMBALOM, ALTHOUGH NOT PLUCKED STRING INSTRUMENTS, CAN BE CONSIDERED A BRANCH OF THE ZITHER FAMILY.

NOWHERE ARE PSALTERIES MORE POPULAR THAN THE BALTIC COUNTRIES, AS EXEMPLIFIED BY THE ESTONIAN KANNEL, THE LATVIAN KOKLE, THE FINNISH KANTELE, THE LITHUANIAN KANKLE, AND THE RUSSIAN GUSLI. A FEATURE OF ANTIQUE CARVED PSALTERIES IS THAT NO TWO INSTRUMENTS WERE EXACTLY ALIKE.

BALTIC PSALTERIES

THE BALTIC PSALTERY IS AT LEAST 1000 YEARS OLD. THE CARVED BALTIC PSALTERY IS A PLUCKED STRING INSTRUMENT WITHOUT FRETS. THE SOUNDBOXES OF ITS EARLY FORMS WERE CARVED FROM A SINGLE BLOCK OF WOOD WITH A SEPARATE SOUNDBOARD.

CARVED BALTIC PSALTERIES

SIX CARVED BALTIC PSALTERIES ALONG WITH A VIOLIN AND A SWEDISH NYCKELHARPA

PLAYING TECHNIQUES

IN ONE PLAYING TECHNIQUE THE FINGERS OF THE LEFT HAND ARE USED TO MUTE UNWANTED NOTES WHILE THE RIGHT HAND STRUMS ACROSS WITH A WOOD STIFF LEATHER PLECTRUM OR WITH FINGERS.

ANOTHER TECHNIQUE IS THE “INTERTWINED PLUCKING TECHNIQUE’ IN WHICH EACH FINGER HAS A DEFINITE POSITION ON ITS RESPECTIVE STRING AND ALWAYS RETURNS TO IT. IN THIS TECHNIQUE, TOO, HARMONY IS ESSENTIAL.

ALTHOUGH THE PSALTERY HAS BEEN PRIMARILY A SOLO INSTRUMENT, IT IS OFTEN PLAYED TOGETHER WITH OTHER INSTRUMENTS, SUCH AS VIOLIN, BAGPIPE OR ACCORDIAN.

KANNEL (ESTONIA)

ANDRES PEEKNA PLAYING A 12-STRING CARVED KANNEL

CARVED BALTIC PSALTERIES

TWO KANNELS (ESTONIAN) AND A KOKLE (LATVIAN)

BODY RESONANCES

THE RATHER COMPLEX VIBRATIONS OF THE SOUNDBOARD CAN BE CONVENIENTLY DESCRIBED IN TERMS OF NORMAL MODES OF VIBRATION. A NORMAL MODE IS CHARACTERISTIC OF THE VIBRATING OBJECT ITSELF AND IS NOT DEPENDENT ON HOW THE OBJECT IS EXCITED OR OBSERVED. FOR A PSALTEERY, A NORMAL MODE IS DETERMINED BY THE COUPLED MOTION OF ITS STRINGS, BRIDGE, TOP PLATES, SIDES, AND ENCLOSED AIR CAVITY.

THE DEFLECTION OF AN OBJECT AT A PARTICULAR FREQUENCY IS CALLED AN OPERATING DEFLECTION SHAPE (ODS). AN ODS MAY RESULT FROM THE EXCITATION OF MORE THAN ONE NORMAL MODE. A CURVE FITTING PROGRAM MAY BE USED TO DETERMINE THE INDIVIDUAL NORMAL MODES FROM THE ODS.

HOLOGRAPHIC INTERFEROMETRY

EXPERIMENTAL MODAL ANALYSIS MY BE ACCOMPLISHED USING ANY TRANSDUCER CAPABLE OF DETECTING MOTION, BUT HOLOGRAPHIC INTERFEROMETRY OFFERS THE BEST SPATIAL RESOLUTION. ELECTRONIC TV HOLOGRAPHY IS A FAST AND CONVENIENT WAY TO RECORD ODSs FROM WHICH NORMAL MODES CAN BE DETERMINED.

SYSTEM USED FOR TV HOLOGRAPHY

HOLOGRAPHIC INTERFEROGRAMS SHOWING MODES OF VIBRATION IN A 6-STRING KANNEL.

EACH ARROWHEAD POINTS TO THE FREQUENCY OF A PEAK RESPONSE. THE VERTICAL BARS AT THE ARROWHEADS ARE ROUGH MEASURES OF THE WIDTH OF EACH PEAK.

THE LOWEST MODE AT 269 Hz IS WELL BELOW THE PLAYING RANGE. THE MODE AT 417 Hz INVOLVES AIR MOTION IN AND OUT OF THE SOUNDHOLES, AND IT RADIATES EFFICIENTLY. FOUR BODY RESONANCES ARE AVAILABLE TO SUPPORT THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE SIX STRINGS

HOLOGRAPHIC INTERFEROGRAMS SHOWING MODES OF VIBRATION IN

A 10-STRING KANNEL

HOLOGRAPHIC INTERFEROGRAMS SHOWING MODES OF VIBRATION

IN A 13-STRING K0KLE

DISTRIBUTION OF SOUND HOLES

OLD PSALTERIES OFTEN HAD MANY SMALL SOUND HOLES DISTRIBUTED AROUND THE SOUNDBOARD, WHEREAS MODERN PSALTERIES OFTEN HAVE A SINGLE SOUND HOLE OF THE EQUIVALENT AREA.

EXPERIMENTS (PEEKNA AND ROSSING 2005) SHOWED THAT DISTRIBUTED SOUND HOLES GENERALLY PRODUCED A BETTER OVERALL TONE QUALITY.

ZITHERS

A FRETTED ALPINE ZITHER. THE STRINGS ARE PERPENDICULAR TO THE PLAYER’S LINE OF SIGHT. THE FRETBOARD IS CLOSEST TO THE PLAYER, WHO USES FINGERS OF THE LEFT HAND ON THE FRETS WHILE A METAL PICK ON THE RIGHT THUMB PLUCKS THE FRETTED MELODY STRINGS. THE BASS STRINGS ARE PLUCKED WITH THE REMAINING FINGERS OF THE RIGHT HAND

MODERNIZED BALTIC PSALTERIES

THE TRANSITION FROM CARVED TO BOX-LIKE BODIES BEGAN EARLY IN THE 19TH CENTURY. EARLY IN THE 20TH CENTURY ZITHER-LIKE INSTRUMENTS BECAME POPULAR.

CHROMATIC PSALTERIES INCLUDE A TUNING MECHANISM THAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO PLAY SHARPS AND FLATS BY FLIPPING A LEVER.

ZITHER-LIKE KANNEL

ALFRED KUUS PLAYHING AN ESTONIAN ZITHER-LIKE KANNEL

ILMAR TIIDEBERG PLAYING HIS VARIANT OF ESTONIAN ZITHER-

LIKE KANNEL

CHROMATIC PSALTERIES

CHROMATIC LATVIAN KOKLE INCLUDES A MECHANISM FOR HALF-TONE CHANGES

FINNISH KANTELE

FINISH CONCERT KANTELE. LEVERS FOR HALF-TONE CHANGES, AT LOWER RIGHT, AFFECT ALL OCTAVES.

MODIFIED 11-STRING KANTELEPenttinen, et al. 2005

MODIFIED KANTELE HAS A FREELY VIBRATING TOP PLATE WITH GREATER RADIATING EFFICIENCY. 20 AND 21 STRING MODELS HAVE ALSO BEEN BUILT.

MODIFIED 11-STRING KANTELEPenttinen, et al. 2005

TRADITIONALKANTELE

MODIFIED ‘KANTELE

CHROMATIC ESTONIAN KANNEL

CHROMATIC ESTONIAN KANNEL, WITH CROSSED-STRING CONSTRUCTION, IS A DESCENDENT OF THE CARVED KANNEL SHOWN EARLIER