minstrel: Thanks from Rosamunde

[Mike Baker]

>On Wed, 9 Oct 1996, Mike Baker wrote:
>> Psaltery, both bowed and plucked, are definitely within the scope of the
>> standard SCA timeframe ("period").
> I am curious as to where you found your reference.  I had previously
> thought the bowed psaltry to be perfectly period, but was informed by my
> lady (who plays both bowed and plucked psaltries) that it was not.  We
> settled the debate by asking a mundane seller of psaltries, who told us
> the answer I previously posted-- the bowed variety was invented by a
> musician in the 1920s as an instrument to teach his pupils on.  My copy of
> _Old English Instruments of Music_, by Francis W. Galpin, has a whole
> chapter on psaltries, but never mentions bowed psaltries.  In fact, he
> says, "In the psaltry and dulcimer we have yet a third type of medieval
> stringed instruments sounded without the use of the bow."  Of course, this
> book is limited to medieval England.

Gulp. It appears that I have definitely been out-documented at this point - 
I was taking hearsay at face value, primarily. What my memory adds as having 
been told in the past is that the bowed psaltery is similar in style of play 
to other bowed instruments, esp. from "eastern" sources.

> If you have documentation of a bowed
> variety of the psaltry being played elsewhere within our period, I would
> love to see it.  I'm always happy to know of another instrument I can
> bring out at events.

I will assuredly pass along anything of note I come across.

> I was extatic to find out that my lap dulcimer
> (which I thought was a Southern Appalachian invention) was actually a
> medieval, Eastern European instrument, and therefore ligit for me to play
> at events.  Yippie!  (Now I just have to learn some period tunes on it.)

Plucked or hammered? I *think* that both styles of play are old enough, but 
note Mr. Blount's comment about the dulcimer in conjunction with the 
reference to Grove's.

To all: sorry, I was going with the best information I had at the time. "And 
now I know."

Kihe Blackeagle (the Dreamsinger Bard)  s.k.a. Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri 
al-Amra
     currently residing in Barony of the Steppes, Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mike C. Baker                      mbaker at rapp.com
Any opinions expressed are obviously my own unless explicitly stated 
otherwise! 

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