minstrel: Some Period Equivalents of the Lap Dulcimer

[mn13189 at WCUVAX1.WCU.EDU]

As promised, here is my one-page handout from a class I taught on
begginning lap dulcimer.  Better late, than never, right?  Feel free to
pass this on if you want, just make sure the quoted sections get cited
properly.
Aye,
Eogan
-----------------------------------------
SOME PERIOD EQUIVALENTS TO THE LAP DULCIMER

The Scheitholt:  a possibly German instrument.  It was popular in many
European nations, and all claimed it was an import from somewhere else.
It was known in France as Epinette des Vosges.  Horace Panum writes in his
_Stringed_Instruments_of_the_Middle_Ages (appendix I:5):
	
	The first account of this instrumet comes from Praetorius
	('Syntagma musicum,' 1618) who described it as a small
	monochord made of three or four boards, provided at one
	end with a peg box in which are inserted three or four
	pegs for tuning brass strings. . . Of these strings three are
	tuned to the same note, while the fourth. . . was tuned one
	octave higher.  One of the unison strings was pressed on 
	the fingerboard by a little metal hook halfway (?) down,
	so that its pitch was raised a fifth.  Near the nut the 
	thumb of the right hand made the instrument sound by
	crossing all the strings, while the left hand made the 
	melody by drawing a little smooth rod backwards and 
	forwards over the foremost string.  Brass frets indicated the
	places where the various notes were to be found.

	Although this description originated long after the Middle
	Ages, it cannot be doubted that the instrument described was
	of medieval origin.  Its simple construction, its close 
	relationship to a definite group of medieval instruments,
	and its early distribution over almost all parts of Europe,
	are proofs of this fact.

	. . . It had but one string, i.e., the melody string, passing over 
	the frets and inteded for stopping.  The other strings, unstopped,
	merely served to support the melody since the gave a consistently
	bass chord. . .

	The manner in which the strings were made to sound by means of
	the thumb and the production of the melody by means of a rod 
	gliding backwards and forwards were also very primitive features.

SOme European descendants of the Scheitholt and possible anscestors of the
Appalachian Lap Dulcimer are the Norweigan Langelek, the Epinette Des
Vosges, and the Humle.
	The earliers description of a Langelek comes from the 17th
century, and in the 18th century it was the most popular instrument among
Norweigan peasants.  This instrument resembles the Sheitholt in both shape
and manner of play.  In Iceland a version of this instrument developed
later, called a Langspil, only there it was played with a bow, rather than
by strumming.
	The Epinette Des Vosges was played in the Vosges mountains of
France "from ancient times to the present day," according to Panum.  This
instrument also greatly resembles the Scheitholt in both construction and
manner of play, only it is described as being strummed with a goose quill
rather than the thumb.
	The Humle (named for the sound it makes) was developed in Holland.
It was more advanced than any of its cousins, having more strings, a
distinct fingerboard, iron pegs, and the first bulge or curve in the
soundboard.
	These instruments were most likely brought over to America by the
European settlers.  When the Scotch-Irish came over and settled first
among the Germans and Dutch in Pennsylvania, they adapted the instrument
to their own music and brought it with them to the Appalachians.  This is
why Appalachian music, with its Celtic roots, is frequently played on this
non-Celtic instrument, a descendant of the German Scheitholt, the lap
dulcimer.
--------------------------------
           "I brought ye to the ring.  Now dance best ye can."
    ------------------------<mn13189 at wcu.edu>-------------------------
   Matthew Allen Newsome            |	    Lard Eogan Og Mac Labruinn
   curator/historical consultant    |       Sangster of Scotland&Atlantia
   Scottish Tartans Museum          |	    Chronicler, MSoB
   & Heritage Center	    	    |	    (Militant Society of Bards)
   http://intertekweb.com/tartans/  |	    Clan Og, SCA
   <tartans at dnet.net>               |       "IT'S ONLY A GAME!"
    --------------------"Bring Forrit The Tartan"---------------------


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