the.com/zither
a tabletop harp that scored Cold War paranoia better than any orchestra ever could
means A flat, stringed instrument laid across a table or the lap, its many strings plucked or strummed to produce a bright, shimmering tone.
from From the German Zither, which descends from Latin cithara — itself borrowed from Greek kithara, the lyre-like instrument of the ancient world. That same Greek root, traveling through other tongues, also gave us the word 'guitar,' making the zither and the guitar distant linguistic cousins despite their very different shapes.
- film fame
- Solo zither soundtracked the entire film The Third Man
- string count
- Some concert models carry over forty strings
- played flat
- Rests on a table or the lap, not held
- folk roots
- Alpine households once kept one by the fire
- name origin
- Comes from Greek kithara, ancestor of guitar
appalachian dulcimer — stringed instrument used in appalachia since the 1700s, with 4-6 strings played with hammers
cimbalom — large hammered dulcimer from central europe, featured prominently in hungarian folk music and orchestras
guzheng — chinese plucked zither with 21+ strings, used in traditional music for over 2,500 years
koto — japanese stringed instrument with 13 silk strings, core instrument of traditional japanese court music