Mountain dulcimer

Some information from Wikipedia:

The mountain dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. It is native to the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of the fingerboard, and its fretting is generally diatonic.

The traditional way to play the instrument is to lay it flat on the lap and pluck or strum the strings with the right hand, while fretting with the other. The dulcimer may also be placed in a similar position on a piece of furniture, such as a table or chest of drawers, to enhance the sound. There are two predominant methods of fretting. First, the strings may be depressed with the fingertips of the fretting hand. Using this technique, all the strings may be fretted, allowing the player to produce chords. Second, the melody string, the string closest to the player, may be depressed with a "noter," typically a short length of dowel or bamboo. Using this method, only the melody string is fretted and the other strings act as drone strings (the melody string may be doubled, so that the melody can be better heard over the drones). In this second style of playing, the combination of the drone strings and the buzz of the noter on the melody strings produces a unique sound.

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Kora

Harp with two rows of strings. It changes play technique and make harp more mobile.

Some information from Wikipedia:

The kora is a 21-string bridge-harp used extensively by people in West Africa.

A kora is built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator, and has a notched bridge like a lute or guitar. The sound of a kora resembles that of a harp, though when played in the traditional style, it bears a closer resemblance to flamenco and delta blues guitar techniques. The player uses only the thumb and index finger of both hands to pluck the strings in polyrhythmic patterns (using the remaining fingers to secure the instrument by holding the hand posts on either side of the strings).

Traditional koras feature 21 strings, eleven played by the left hand and ten by the right. Modern koras made in the Casamance region of southern Senegal sometimes feature additional bass strings, adding up to four strings to the traditional 21. Strings were traditionally made from thin strips of hide, for example antelope skin - now most strings are made from harp strings or nylon fishing line, sometimes plaited together to create thicker strings.

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Rubab

Some information from Wikipedia:

Rubab or robab is a lute-like musical instrument originally from Afghanistan but is also played in the neighbouring countries, especially Pakistan. It derives its name from the Arab rebab which means "played with a bow" but the Central Asian instrument is plucked, and is distinctly different in construction. The rubab is mainly used by Tajik, Pashtun, Kashmiri and Iranian Kurdish classical musicians.

The rubab is a short-necked lute whose body is carved out of a single piece of wood, with a membrane, covering the hollow bowl of the sound-chamber, upon which the bridge is positioned. It has three melody strings tuned in fourths, three drone strings and 11 or 12 sympathetic strings. The instrument is made from the trunk of a mulberry tree, the head from an animal skin such as a goat skin, and the strings either gut (from the intestines of young goats, brought to the size of thread) or nylon.

The rubab is attested from the 7th century CE. It is mentioned in old Persian books, and many Sufi poets mention it in their poems. It is the traditional instrument of Khorasan.

In Tajikistan a similar but somewhat distinct rubab-i-pamir (Pamiri rubab) is played, having a shallower body and neck. The rubab of the Pamir area has six gut strings, one of which, rather than running from the head to the bridge, is attached partway down the neck, similar to the fifth string of the American banjo.

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Banjo

Some information from Wikipedia:

The banjo is a stringed instrument with, typically, four or five strings, which vibrate a membrane of plastic material or animal hide stretched over a circular frame. Simpler forms of the instrument were fashioned by enslaved Africans in Colonial America, adapted from several African instruments of the same basic design. There are several theories concerning the origin of the name banjo. It may derive from the Kimbundu term mbanza. Some etymologists believe it comes from a dialectal pronunciation of the Portuguese "bandore" or from an early anglicisation of the Spanish word "bandurria", though other research suggests that it may come from a Senegambian term for a bamboo stick formerly used for the instrument's neck.

Enslaved Africans, living in Appalachia, fashioned gourd-bodied instruments like those they knew in Africa. 18th and early 19th century writers transcribed the name of these instruments variously as bangie, banza, banjer and banjar. The modern banjo was popularized by the American minstrel performer Joel Sweeney in the 1830s. Banjos were introduced in Britain in the 1840s by Sweeney's group, the American Virginia Minstrels, and became very popular in music halls.

The modern banjo comes in a variety of forms, including four- and five-string versions. A six-string version, tuned and played similar to a guitar, has gained popularity. In almost all of its forms, the banjo's playing is characterized by a fast arpeggiated plucking, although there are many different playing styles.

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Chapman stick

Nice instrument. Good choice for people who want to play guitar, but want more functionality from instrument.

Some information from Wikipedia:

The Chapman Stick (the Stick) is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and has been used on music recordings to play bass lines, melody lines, chords or textures. Designed as a fully polyphonic chordal instrument, it can also cover several of these musical parts simultaneously.

A Stick looks like a wide version of the fretboard of an electric guitar, but having 8, 10 or 12 strings. It is, however, considerably longer and wider than a guitar fretboard. Unlike the electric guitar, it is usually played by tapping or fretting the strings, rather than plucking them. Instead of one hand fretting and the other hand plucking, both hands sound notes by striking the strings against the fingerboard just behind the appropriate frets for the desired notes.

For this reason, it can sound many more notes at once than some other stringed instruments, making it more comparable to a keyboard instrument than to other stringed instruments. This arrangement lends itself to playing multiple lines at once and many Stick players have mastered performing bass, chords and melody lines simultaneously.

The technique is very similar to that of piano in as much as the player covers both bass and melody notes together with both hands and each note is struck with one finger of one hand. Typically, one hand plays the melody on the treble strings and the other plays rhythm on the bass strings.

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Shamisen

Some information from Wikipedia:

The shamisen (三味線?, literally "three flavor strings"), also called sangen (三絃?, literally "three strings") is a three-stringed musical instrument played with a plectrum called a bachi.

The shamisen is similar in length to a guitar, but its neck is much much slimmer and has no frets. Its drum-like rounded rectangular body, known as the dō, is taut front and back with skin in the manner of a banjo, and amplifies the sound of the strings. The skin is usually from a dog or cat, but in the past a special type of paper was used and recently various types of plastics are being tried. On the skin of some of the best shamisen, the position of the cat's nipples can still be seen.

The neck of the shamisen is usually constructed such that it is divided into three or four pieces that fit and lock together. Indeed, some shamisens are made so that they can be easily disassembled and stowed to save space. The pegs used to wind the strings were traditionally fashioned out of ivory, but as it has become a rare resource, they have been recently fashioned out of other materials, such as various kinds of wood and plastic.

The three strings are traditionally made of silk, or, more recently, nylon. The lowest passes over a small hump at the "nut" end so that it buzzes, creating a characteristic sound known as sawari (somewhat reminiscent of the "buzzing" of a sitar, which is called jivari). The upper part of the dō is almost always protected by a cover known as a dō kake, and players often wear a little band of cloth on their left hand to facilitate sliding up and down the neck. This band is known as a yubikake. There may also be a cover on the head of the instrument, known as a tenjin.

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Harpsichord

Thanks to Oramah Maalhur (шаурама) for this instrument. And maybe harp just means "musical instrument" in english? I see it word in half of posts.

Some information from Wikipedia:

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.

In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard. In a broader sense, "harpsichord" designates the whole family of similar plucked keyboard instruments, including the smaller virginals, muselar, and spinet.

The harpsichord was widely used in Renaissance and Baroque music. During the late 18th century it gradually disappeared from the musical scene with the rise of the piano. But in the 20th century it made a resurgence, used in historically informed performance of older music, in new (contemporary) compositions, and in popular culture.

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Bandura

Nice zither/lute/gusli-like instrument. In russian language it also means "big thing" ^_^_^

Some information from Wikipedia:

Bandura refers to a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of a box zither and lute, as well as its lute-like predecessor, the kobza.

The term is also occasionally used by when referring to a number of other Eastern European string instruments such as the hurdy gurdy and the 5 string guitar (commonly referred to by the diminutive bandurka).

The use of lute-like instruments by the inhabitants of the lands than now constitute Ukraine dates back to 591. In that year Byzantine Greek chronicles mention Bulgar warriors who travelled with lute-like instruments.

There are iconographic depictions of lute-like instruments in the 11th century frescoes of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, once the capital of a vast medieval kingdom of the Kievan Rus'. It is not known by what specific term these instruments were referred to in these early times, although it has been surmised that the lute-like instrument was referred to by the generic medieval slavic term for a string instrument - Gusli.

The instrument became popular in the courts of the nobility in Eastern Europe. There are numerous citations mentioning the existence of Ukrainian bandurists in both Russia and Poland.

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Pipa

I thought that pipa is just a chinese variant of lute, but now i understand that its sounds really different.

Some information from Wikipedia:

The pipa is a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12–26. Another Chinese 4 string plucked lute is the liuqin, which looks like a smaller version of the pipa.

The pipa appeared in the Qin Dynasty (221 - 206 BCE) and was developed during the Han Dynasty. It is one of the most popular Chinese instruments and has been played for nearly two thousand years in China. Several related instruments in East and Southeast Asia are derived from the pipa; these include the Japanese biwa, the Vietnamese đàn tỳ bà, and the Korean bipa. The Korean instrument is the only one of the three that is no longer used. Attempts to revive the instrument have failed, although examples survive in museums.

The name "pípá" is made up of two Chinese syllables, "pí" (琵) and "pá" (琶). These are the two most common ways of playing this instrument. "Pí" is to push the fingers of the right hand from right to left, thus more than one finger can be used at a time striking multiple notes, and "pá" is to pull the thumb of the right hand from left to right, in the opposite direction. The strings were originally played using a large plectrum in the Tang Dynasty, then gradually replaced by the fingernails of the right hand. Since the revolutions in Chinese instrument making during the 20th century, the softer twisted silk strings of earlier times have been exchanged for nylon-wound steel strings, which are far too strong for human fingernails, so false nails are now used, constructed of plastic or tortoise-shell, and affixed to the fingertips with the player's choice of elastic tape.

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Harp Guitar

One of the best plucked string instruments. I think it should be more popular than usual guitar, but people even don't know about it...

Some information from Wikipedia:

The harp guitar is a stringed instrument with a history of well over two centuries. While there are several unrelated historical stringed instruments that have appropriated the name “harp-guitar” over the centuries, the term today is understood as the accepted vernacular to refer to a particular family of instruments defined as "A guitar, in any of its accepted forms, with any number of additional unstopped strings that can accommodate individual plucking." Additionally, in reference to these instruments, the word "harp" is now a specific reference to the unstopped open strings, and is not specifically a reference to the tone, pitch range, volume, silhouette similarity, construction, floor-standing ability, nor any other alleged "harp-like" properties. To qualify in this category, an instrument must have at least one unfretted string lying off the main fretboard. Further, the unfretted strings can be, and typically are, played as an open string.

Domra

And Happy New Year everybody! Now i can say that i write this blog in 2010-2011 years ^_^_^

Some information from Wikipedia:

The domra is a long-necked Russian string instrument of the lute family with a round body and three or four metal strings.

In 1896, a student of Vassily Vassilievich Andreyev found a broken instrument in a stable in rural Russia. It was thought that this instrument may have been an example of a domra, although no illustrations or examples of the traditional domra were known to exist in Russian chronicles. A three-stringed version of this instrument was later redesigned in 1896, patented, and introduced into the orchestra of Russian folk instruments.

Gusli

It's a favorite instruments of Russian ancient bards and talers.

Some information from Wikipedia:

Gusli is the oldest Russian multi-string plucked instrument. Its exact history is unknown, but it may have derived from a Byzantine form of the Greek kythare, which in turn derived from the ancient lyre. It has its relatives throughout the world - kantele in Finland, kannel in Estonia, kankles and kokle in Lithuania and Latvia. Furthermore, we can find kanun in Arabic countries and the autoharp in the USA. It is also related to such ancient instruments as Chinese gu zheng which has a thousand year history and its Japanese relative koto.

In the times of Kievan Rus’, the term gusli is thought to simply refer to any generic stringed instrument. The root of the term comes from the word to make sound in the wind. The term was eventually associated with the trapezoidal gusli-psaltyry (which may have originated in Byzantium).

Folk Gusli have from eleven to thirty-six gut or metal strings, tuned diatonically. There were two main forms: helmet-shaped and wing-shaped.

Helmet-shaped gusli is a variety of gusli held by the musician on his knees, so that strings were horizontal, resonator body under them. He uses his left hand to mute unnecessary strings and thus forming chords, while passing all the strings with his right hand. The instrument was spread in southern and western regions of Kievan Rus’.

wing-shaped gusli is much smaller, and had more resemblance to Scandinavian folk psalteries such as the kantele. They were held much more like modern guitars (although strings were still muted by the left hand through a special opening in the instrument's body). This modification was more prevalent in northern parts of Russia, especially Novgorod and Pskov.

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From mystery of music

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Balalaika

The best instrument for beginning of Russian ethnic week.

Some information from Wikipedia:

The balalaika is a stringed instrument of Russian origin, with a characteristic triangular body and three strings. The balalaika family of instruments includes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest, the prima balalaika, sekunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass balalaika and contrabass balalaika. All have three-sided bodies, spruce or fir tops, backs made of 3-9 wooden sections, and usually three strings.

Early representations of the balalaika show it with anywhere from two to six strings, which resembles certain Central Asian instruments. Similarly, frets on earlier balalaikas were made of animal gut and tied to the neck so that they could be moved around by the player at will (as is the case with the modern saz, which allows for the microtonal playing distinctive to Turkish and Central Asian music).

In the 19th century the balalaika evolved into a triangular instrument with a neck substantially shorter than its Asian counterparts. It was popular as a village instrument for centuries, particularly with the skomorokhs, sort of free-lance musical jesters whose tunes ridiculed the Tsar, the Russian Orthodox Church, and Russian society in general.

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Autoharp

I think it s name should be autogusli but in english language most of instruments have "harp" or "organ" in their names ^_^_^"

Some information from Wikipedia:

The autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers, which, when depressed, mute all the strings other than those that form the desired chord. Despite its name, the autoharp is not a harp at all, but a chorded zither.

There is debate over the origin of the auto-harp. A German immigrant in Philadelphia by the name of Charles F. Zimmermann was awarded US 257808 in 1882 for a design for a musical instrument that included mechanisms for muting certain strings during play. He named his invention the "autoharp". Unlike later autoharps, the shape of the instrument was symmetrical, and the felt-bearing bars moved horizontally against the strings instead of vertically. It is not known if Zimmermann ever commercially produced any instruments of this early design. Karl August Gütter of Markneukirchen, Germany, built a model that he called a "Volkszither," which most resembles the autoharp played today. Gütter obtained a British patent for his instrument circa 1883–1884. Zimmermann, after returning from a visit to Germany, began production of the Gütter design in 1885 but with his own design patent number and catchy name. Gütter's instrument design became very popular, and Zimmermann has often been mistaken as the inventor.

Modern autoharps have 36 or 37 strings, although some examples with as many as 47 strings, and even a rare 48-string model exists. They are strung in either diatonic (1, 2 or 3 key models) or chromatic scales. Standard models have 15 or 21 chord bars, or buttons, available, a selection of major, minor, and dominant seventh chords.

Although the autoharp is often thought of as a rhythm instrument for playing chordal accompaniment, modern players can play melodies on the instrument. Diatonic players are able to play fiddle tunes by using open-chording techniques, "pumping" the damper buttons while picking individual strings. Skilled chromatic players can perform a range of melodies.

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Lute

Lute is a most popular instrument in a culture of European middle ages. Favorite instrument of bards ^_^_^

Some information from Wikipedia:

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck (either fretted or unfretted) and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes.

The European lute and the modern Near-Eastern oud both descend from a common ancestor via diverging evolutionary paths. The lute is used in a great variety of instrumental music from the early Renaissance to the late Baroque eras. It is also an accompanying instrument, especially in vocal works, often realizing a basso continuo or playing a written-out accompaniment.

Various types of necked chordophones were in use in ancient Egyptian in the Middle Kingdom), Hittite, Greek, Roman, Bulgar, Turkic, Indian, Chinese, Armenian/Cilician cultures. The Lute developed its familiar forms as Barbat in Persia, Armenia, and Byzantium beginning in the early 7th century. These instruments often had bodies covered with animal skin, and it is unknown exactly when it became replaced with a wooden soundboard.

As early as the 6th century, the Bulgars brought the short-necked variety of the instrument called Kobuz to the Balkans, and in the 9th century, Moors brought the Oud to Spain. The long-necked Pandura had previously been a quite common variety of the lute in the Mediterranean. The quitra didn't become extinct, however, but continued its evolution. Besides the still survinving Kuitra of Algiers and Morocco, its descendants include the Chitarra Italiana, Chitarrone and Colascione.

In about the year 1500 many Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese lutenists adopted vihuela de mano, a viol-shaped instrument tuned like the lute, but both instruments continued in coexistence. This instrument also found its way to parts of Italy that were under Spanish domination (especially Sicily and the papal states under the Borgia pope Alexander VI who brought many Catalan musicians to Italy), where it was known as the viola da mano.

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Harp

I thought that harp is a one of the simpliest musical instruments, but when i searched information i understood that it has many variations. I think i even can make a harp week in future.

Some information from Wikipedia:

The harp is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. All harps have a neck, resonator, and strings. Some, known as frame harps, also have a forepillar; those lacking the forepillar are referred to as open harps. Depending on its size (which varies considerably), a harp may be played while held in the lap or while it stands on the floor.

Various types of harps are found in Africa, Europe, North, and South America, and in Asia. In antiquity, harps and the closely related lyres were very prominent in nearly all cultures. The oldest harps found thus far have been uncovered in ruins from ancient Sumer. The harp also predominant in the hands of medieval bards, troubadors and minnesingers, as well as throughout the Spanish Empire. Harps continued to grow in popularity through improvements in their design and construction through the beginning of the 20th century.

Harps were most likely independently invented in many parts of the world in remote prehistory. It is self-evident that the harp's origins may lie in the sound of a plucked hunter's bow string or the strings of a loom.

A type of harp called a 'bow harp' is nothing more than a bow like a hunter's, with a resonating vessel such as a gourd fixed somewhere along its length. To allow a greater number of strings, harps were later made from two pieces of wood attached at the ends: this type is known as the 'angle harp'. They can also come in different colours.

The oldest depictions of harps without a forepillar are from 4000 BC in Egypt[citation needed](see Music of Egypt) the sumerian harp of Ur 3500 BC,and 3000 BC in Persia. Other ancient names for harps include magadis and sambuka. The kanun is a descendant of the ancient Egyptian harp and was introduced to Europe by the Moors during the Middle Ages but is like the beforementioned Aeolian harp not a harp but a member of the zither family.

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Gopichand

Maybe most original instrument from all Indian music. And it will be the last instrument in the Indian ethnic week.

Some information from here:

The gopichand, also, known as gopiyantra, is a very popular folk instrument of Bengal. It is an instrument that is much used by the wandering minstrels known as the Baul.

There are several variations on the construction. The length may be as small as one foot or as long as three feet, however 2-3 feet is the norm. It consists of a length of bamboo that is split through most of the length. The two ends are pried apart and attached to a resonator. This resonator may be a coconut, gourd, metal container or a hollowed out cylindrical section of wood. The open end of the resonator is covered with taught skin and a string penetrates the centre. This string is attached to a reinforced section in the centre. This string then passes through the hollow of the resonator and attaches to a tuning peg located in the bamboo.

The sound of the gopichand is most distinctive. There is a peculiar bending of the pitch as the two legs of the bamboo are squeezed together by the left hand while the right hand plucks the string. This is a rhythmic instrument rather than a melodic instrument and it is used to accompany instruments such as kartal, dotar, or khol.

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Rudra veena

One more plucked sting instruments. Now it is just neck with two pots, which works as resonators.

Some information from Wikipedia:

The rudra veena is a large plucked string instrument used in Hindustani classical music. It is an ancient instrument rarely played today. The rudra veena declined in popularity in part due to the introduction of the surbahar in the early 19th century which allowed sitarists to more easily present the alap sections of slow dhrupad-style ragas.

The rudra veena has a long tubular body with a length ranging between 137 and 157 cm made of wood or bamboo. Two large-sized, round resonators, made of dried and hollowed gourds, are attached under the tube. Twenty-four brass-fitted raised wooden frets are fixed on the tube with the help of wax.

It is one of the three other major types of veena popular today. The others include vichitra veena and Saraswati veena. Out of these the rudra and vichitra veenas are used in the Hindustani classical music of North India, while Tanjour veena (also known as Saraswati veena) is used in the Carnatic music of South India. As Rudra is a name for the Hindu god Shiva, rudra vina literally means "the veena dear to Shiva."

Zia Mohiuddin Dagar was one of the 20th century's foremost exponents of the instrument. He modified and redesigned the rudra veena using bigger gourds, a thicker tube (Dandi), thicker steel playing strings (0.45-0.47 mm) and closed Javari that. This produced a soft and deep sound when plucked without the use of any plectrum (Mizrab).

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Sitar

Sitar with all its 22 strings and long neck has one of the richest sounds from all plucked strinf instruments.

Some information from Wikipedia:

The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages. It derives its resonance from sympathetic strings, a long hollow neck and a gourd resonating chamber.

Used throughout the Indian subcontinent, particularly in Northern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

The sitar's curved frets are movable, allowing fine tuning, and raised so that sympathetic strings can run underneath them. A sitar can have 21, 22, or 23 strings, among them six or seven played strings which run over the frets: the Gandhaar-pancham sitar (used by Vilayat Khan and his disciples) has six playable strings, whereas the Kharaj-pancham sitar, used in the Maihar gharana ,to which Pt. Ravi Shankar belongs, has seven. Three of these (or four on a Kharaj-pancham sitar), called the chikaari, simply provide a drone: the rest are used to play the melody, though the first string (baajtaar) is most used.

The instrument has two bridges; the large bridge (badaa goraa) for the playing and drone strings and the small bridge (chota goraa) for the sympathetic strings. Its timbre results from the way the strings interact with the wide, sloping bridge. As a string reverberates its length changes slightly as its edge touches the bridge, promoting the creation of overtones and giving the sound its distinctive tone. The maintenance of this specific tone by shaping the bridge is called jawari. Many musicians rely on instrument makers to adjust this.

Materials used in construction include teak wood or tun wood (Cedrela tuna), which is a variation of mahogany, for the neck and faceplate (tabli), and gourds for the kaddu (the main resonating chamber). The instrument's bridges are made of deer horn, ebony, or very occasionally from camel bone. Synthetic material is now common as well. The sitar may have a secondary resonator, the tumbaa, near the top

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