Technologi

The psaltery is a very known instrument during the olden times. It is a string instrument that is actually from the same family as the zither or the harp with the only difference is that one would be using a bow to play it like a violin. If one is curious as to how psalteries originated, here is a brief background of this very influential instrument.

Now just to give people an idea of what this instrument looks like, it is actually a triangle shaped box with a few strings on it and a little bit of pins. In the modern setting, people would make use of bows to make music just like one would do with a violin. Now even if this is the normal way to play it, a lot of people would still use their hands and play it like a harp or guitar.

Now the version with the bow was invented only during the twentieth century while the old version was created even in the Bible times. The earliest record of such an instrument was during the time of the famous King Nebuchadnezzar. Often, King Nebuchadnezzar would ask all of his servants to play this instrument for him so that he could be entertained when there were no royal meetings with the council.

This instrument could also be found in Medieval literature alongside some other similar instruments namely the harp and the zither. Unlike the one from the time of King Nebuchadnezzar, the Medieval versions had sound holes in the middle which made the sound more solid and nicer to the ears. This instrument was also used in order to appease the kings and other royalty.

Now the year nineteen twenty five saw the introduction of the bowed version of the instrument. The one who created it was a German instrument maker who worked for the German company Clemens Neuber Company which patented the instrument so only they could produce it. Now before this was known as the bowed psaltery, it was first known as the violin zither.

After the creation of this one from the German company, the Americans tried to create something rather similar. They used Hawaiian culture as an inspiration for this type of instrument that they were creating. They called this creation of their the Ukelin and the sounds were actually quite similar to that of the Hawaiian ukulele.

It was only after World War II that this instrument became very popular around the world. This became especially popular in Germany because a primary school teacher known as Walter Mittman used it for his class during that time. He used it for education purposes so that children could learn how to play it and appreciate folk music.

These days, many people still play this instrument as a hobby. Now there have been many innovative ways that were created in order for people to play them. From the traditional hand plucking and strumming method, people were then able to play them with bows and nowadays there are many types of bows that one can play this instrument with.