Frame zither

Jacqke/Frame zither
	Liberian zither with calabash resonator. Called a "harp" by its collector; however, on a harp the "plane of the strings lies perpendicular to the resonator's surface." The strings running parallel to the gourd resonator make this a frame zither under Hornbostel-Sachs.
String instrument
Other names	belly harp
Classification	String instrument Chordophone Plucked string instrument
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	316 316.1 Without resonator.; 316.2 With resonator.; (Instruments which are in essence simply a string or strings and a string bearer. The strings are stretched across an open frame);
Inventor(s)	folk instrument

Last updated December 05, 2023

Stylized drawing in a medieval manuscript shows a man playing an instrument with strings stretched across a frame. Text reveals it is a psaltery, which means it would have a board behind the strings and not be a frame zither.

Frame zither is a class of musical instrument (subset of zither) within the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system for a type of simple chordophone (stringed instrument), in which the body of the instrument is made from a frame.^[1]

Frame zithers are musical instruments in which strings are strung across an open frame.^[2] They could be similar to harps and psalteries which can also have strings stretched across frames. However, in harps the strings run from the frame to a resonating table embedded into the frame on the frame's other end. Psalteries may also have a frame, but behind the strings (parallel to them) is a board, the top of a box which acts as a resonator.

Musicians may add a resonator as is done with a bow harp; they can attach or put the instrument into a calabash gourd or a ceramic pot.^[3]

Under the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification, any frame with strings stretched across, and without a built in resonator, would count as a frame zither. In musical instrument encyclopedias, however, there are few or no examples of frame zithers except those found in Africa. Potential examples include medieval European illustrations; these however are not clear and could equally illustrate forms of harps or psalteries.^[1]

Africa

Triangular

African frame zithers are made with frames of three "arms" forming a triangle, or a round frame made of wood.^[3] Two of the arms are inserted into a calabash gourd base, with the base of the gourd cut away.^[4] The gourd acts as a resonator.^[4] The instrument is played by holding the opening in the resonator against the player's chest or stomach, with the instrument being within reach of their arms.^[4]^[5]^[6]

The main known example are instruments of the Kru people of Liberia. They may also be seen in Sierra Leone and Guinea.^[4]

Round

Another form of African frame zither uses a round frame or hoop, with the strings stretched across it.^[3] Women of the Nuba people of Sudan make round frame-zithers, by bending a stick into a hoop, spanned 3 or four times by a single string (forming individual lengths to play).^[3] The instrument is placed on top of a gourd for resonance.^[3]

Recordings

Belly Harp. Folk Music of Liberia, Folkways FE 4465 (Side ll, band 3)^[7]

A loma belly harp, played by the Crau, Crau, Krao, Krawi, Kru, Nana peoples of West Africa.

Related Research Articles

Hornbostel–Sachs or Sachs–Hornbostel is a system of musical instrument classification devised by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs, and first published in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie in 1914. An English translation was published in the Galpin Society Journal in 1961. It is the most widely used system for classifying musical instruments by ethnomusicologists and organologists. The system was updated in 2011 as part of the work of the Musical Instrument Museums Online (MIMO) Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musical bow</span> Simple string musical instrument

The musical bow is a simple string instrument used by a number of South African peoples, which is also found in the Americas via slave trade. It consists of a flexible, usually wooden, stick 1.5 to 10 feet long, and strung end to end with a taut cord, usually metal. It can be played with the hands or a wooden stick or branch. It is uncertain if the musical bow developed from the hunting bow, though the San or Bushmen people of the Kalahari Desert do convert their hunting bows to musical use.

Zithers are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. This article describes the latter variety.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bar zither</span> Musical instrument

Bar zither is class of musical instruments within the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system for a type of simple chordophone, in which the body of the instrument is shaped like a bar.

The belly harp is a musical instrument found in West Africa which is a musical bow with a gourd resonator which is held against the body.

Trough zithers are a group of African stringed instruments or chordophones whose members resemble wooden bowls, pans, platters, or shallow gutters with strings stretched across the opening. A type of zither, the instruments may be quiet, depending upon the shape of the bowl or string-holder. Sound is often amplified with the addition of a gourd resonator. Instruments have been classed into five different types, based on shape.

References

1 2 von Hornbostel, Erich M.; Sachs, Curt (March 1961). "Classification of Musical Instruments: Translated from the Original German by Anthony Baines and Klaus P. Wachsmann". The Galpin Society Journal. 14: 20–21. doi:10.2307/842168. JSTOR 842168. [Example:] Perhaps in medieval psalteries.
↑ Sadie, Stanley, ed. (1984). "Frame zither". The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. p. 794. Volume 1.
1 2 3 4 5 Ulrich Wegner (1984). Afrikanische Saiteninstrumente. Veröffentlichungen des Museums für Völkerkunde Berlin. Neue Folge 41. Abteilung Musikethnologie V (translation: African string instruments. Publications of the Museum for Ethnology, Berlin. New series 41, Department of Ethnic Music V. Berlin: Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz. pp. 76–81.
1 2 3 4 Marcuse, Sybil (1975). A Survey of Musical Instruments. New York: Harper & Row. pp. 188–189.
↑ Liberian Educational and Cultural Materials Research Project. 1973.
↑ Sadie, Stanley, ed. (1984). "Belly Harp". The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. p. 219. Volume 1.
↑ Development of Materials for a One Year Course in African Music for the General Undergraduate Student: (Project in African Music). Office of Education. 1970.

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[system-1] 1 2 von Hornbostel, Erich M.; Sachs, Curt (March 1961). "Classification of Musical Instruments: Translated from the Original German by Anthony Baines and Klaus P. Wachsmann". The Galpin Society Journal. 14: 20–21. doi:10.2307/842168. JSTOR 842168. [Example:] Perhaps in medieval psalteries.

[2] Sadie, Stanley, ed. (1984). "Frame zither". The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. p. 794. Volume 1.

[Wegner-3] 1 2 3 4 5 Ulrich Wegner (1984). Afrikanische Saiteninstrumente. Veröffentlichungen des Museums für Völkerkunde Berlin. Neue Folge 41. Abteilung Musikethnologie V (translation: African string instruments. Publications of the Museum for Ethnology, Berlin. New series 41, Department of Ethnic Music V. Berlin: Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz. pp. 76–81.

[Marcuse-4] 1 2 3 4 Marcuse, Sybil (1975). A Survey of Musical Instruments. New York: Harper & Row. pp. 188–189.

[5] Liberian Educational and Cultural Materials Research Project. 1973.

[6] Sadie, Stanley, ed. (1984). "Belly Harp". The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. p. 219. Volume 1.

[7] Development of Materials for a One Year Course in African Music for the General Undergraduate Student: (Project in African Music). Office of Education. 1970.

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