Dulcimer
title: "Dulcimer" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["early-musical-instruments", "english-musical-instruments", "box-zithers"] topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulcimer" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox instrument"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| image | {{Multiple image |
| align | center |
| direction | vertical |
| width | 250 |
| header | Two types of dulcimer. |
| image1 | Dulcimer (UP).jpg |
| caption1 | An Appalachian dulcimer... |
| image2 | Hammered dulcimer.JPG |
| caption2 | ...and a hammered dulcimer |
| background | string |
| classification | *Plucked string instruments |
| developed | Antiquity |
| musicians | *List of Appalachian dulcimer players |
| :: |
|image = {{Multiple image |align = center |direction = vertical |width = 250 |header = Two types of dulcimer. |image1 = Dulcimer (UP).jpg |caption1 = An Appalachian dulcimer... |image2 = Hammered dulcimer.JPG |caption2 = ...and a hammered dulcimer |background = string |classification = *Plucked string instruments
- Struck string instruments |developed = Antiquity |musicians = *List of Appalachian dulcimer players
- List of hammered dulcimer players The term **dulcimer ** refers to two families of musical string instruments.
Hammered dulcimers
The word dulcimer originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of this instrument are found in many cultures, including:
- Hammered dulcimer (England, Scotland, United States)
- Hackbrett (southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
- Tsymbaly (Ukraine), tsimbl (Ashkenazi Jewish), țambal (Romania) and cimbalom (Hungary) may refer to either a relatively small folk instrument or a larger classical instrument ("cimbál" in the Czech Republic). The santouri (Greece) (called "santur" in the Ottoman Empire) is almost identical to the Jewish and Romanian folk instruments.
- Santur (Iran and Iraq)
- Santoor (northern India and Pakistan) is constructed and tuned differently from the santur of Iran and Iraq
- Khim (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand)
- Yangqin (China), Đàn tam thập lục (Vietnam), yanggeum (Korea)
Appalachian dulcimer and derivatives
In the Appalachian region of the U.S. in the nineteenth century, hammered dulcimers were rare. There, the word dulcimer, which was familiar from the King James Version of the Bible, was used to refer to a three or four stringed fretted instrument, generally played on the lap by strumming.
Variants include:
- The original Appalachian dulcimer
- Various twentieth century derivatives, including
- Banjo dulcimer, with banjo-like resonating membrane
- Resonator dulcimer, with inset conical resonator
- Bowed dulcimer, teardrop-shaped and played upright with a bow
- Electric dulcimer, various types of dulcimer which use a pickup to amplify the sound
References
References
- "The Hammered Dulcimer". Smithsonian Institution.
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