Thursday, June 24, 2010

My psaltery

Rick Long demonstrates proper psaltery bowing technique.

The bowed psaltery.

Psalteries are not ancient instruments and are fairly new to Appalachia. They are not the psalters of Biblical times, but the invention (I am told) of a German musician who wanted to craft an instrument fairly easy to learn and available to many. The triangular shape and the bowed strings create a sharp, ringing sound similar to a violin. The larger the instrument, the lower the pitch. They stand out distinctively as solo instruments. I have been intrigued with them for some time and was happy to purchase one this year. It was crafted by Rick Long of Ringing Strings in Tennessee and is beautiful of sight and sound.

1 comment:

TPW said...

Hi Gina, I have one of Rick's psalteries also. Please consider joining our Bowed Psaltery web group at psalterystrings.ning.com
There are lots of pictures and videos and bowed psaltery information. We'd love to have you and anyone else who is interested in or loves the bowed psaltery join us there!
Donna