Stringed Instrument 4 Letters

Stringed Instrument 4 Letters – The automatic harp or chord zither is a stringed instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses an array of individually configured bars to mute all strings except those required for the specified chat. The word “autoharp” was a trademark of Oscar Schmidt’s company, but has become a common name for all such instruments, regardless of manufacturer.

Charles F. Zimmermann, a German immigrant in Philadelphia, was awarded a patt in 1882 for a “Harp” equipped with a mechanism that selectively muted the strings while playing.

Stringed Instrument 4 Letters

Unlike later designs, the instrument shown on the patt was symmetrical, and the dirty mechanism was fastened with a cord on the side instead of from the top. It is not known if Zimmermann ever produced such instruments commercially. Karl August Gütter of Markneukirch, Germany, built a model that he called the Volkszither, which was the most obvious example of a piano in its currt form. He obtained a British patt for it c. 1883-1884.

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In 1885, after returning from a tour of Germany, Zimmermann began the manufacture of instruments with Gütter’s design. He labeled the auto harps and included his own name and patt number. Thus, Zimmermann is widely but erroneously regarded as the originator of the instrument in its current form.

The term is briefly claimed as a trademark by the American Music Corporation, whose division is Oscar Schmidt Inc. makes automatic harps. The USPTO registration, however, only includes “Code for Drawing Symbols (5) Words, Letters, and/or Numbers in Stylized Form” and has expired.

In the civil case by George Orthey, it was believed that Oscar Schmidt could only claim ownership of automatic pictorial representation, the term itself has come into use.

The body of the autoharp is made of wood, and has a regular rectangular shape, with one corner cut off. A soundboard generally has a sound hole similar to a guitar, and the top may be of solid wood or of laminated construction. A pin of many layers of laminated wood takes the raised and curved edges, and serves as a bed for tuning pins, similar to those used in concert pianos and zithers.

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On the edge opposite the upper pin block is a row of metal pins, or a grooved metal plate, which accepts the lower thread ds. Directly above the strings, on the lower half of the upper part, there are chord bars, which are made of plastic, wood, or metal, with support of felt or foam on the side facing the strings. These bars are mounted on springs, and are pressed down with one hand, through buttons placed on their upper part. The bars are labeled with the name of the chord created by the bar being pressed against the strings, and the strings are struck. The back of the instrument consists of three wooden, plastic, or rubber “legs”, which support the instrument which is placed upside down on a table top, to be played in a traditional position.

The cable runs up to the top, between the mounting plate and the fixing pins, and passes under the chat bar assembly. Modern autoharps often have 36 strings, with some models having 47 strings, and rare 48-string models (such as the Orthey Autoharps No. 136, drawn in G and D major). It is played in semi-chromatic form which, however, is sometimes changed to a diatonic or full chromatic scale. Standard models have 12, 15 or 21 chord bars available, offering a selection of major, minor and major sevth chords. These are arranged for historical or systemic reasons.

A variety of special models are also offered, such as one-, two-, or three-key models, models with fewer or additional chords, and a rollback model (43-string, 28-string Chromaharp Caroler).

The range is determined by the number of strings and their order. A 36-string automatic harp in standard tuning has a 3+ 1 ⁄2 -octave range, from F.

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. The instrument is not perfectly chromatic throughout this range, however, as this would require 44 strings. The full 36-string tuning is:

There are a number of gaps in the lowest octave, which work mainly to produce bass notes in diatonic contexts; there is also a missing G♯

Diatonically-strung key instruments from modern luthiers are known for their beautiful sound. This is achieved by adding double threads to the individual details. Since chords of notes not in the diatonic scale need not appear on the chord bed, the resulting extra space is used for doubled chords, resulting in fewer diminished chords. Two- and three-key diatonics risk doubling the number of strings in order to gain the ability to play in two or three keys, allowing for compositions with accidentals, which could not be arranged on a single-key harp. A three-piece harp in a circle of fifths, such as the GDA, is often called a concert or campfire harp, as the instrument can easily accompany a fiddle around a campfire or at a concert.

Until the 1960s, no pickups were available to develop an automatic harp other than conventional contact microphones, which often had poor quality, low volume. In the early 1960s, a bar magnet imager was designed for instruments by Harry DeArmond, and manufactured by Rowe Industries. Pinkerton’s Assorted Colors used the instrumental on their 1966 hit “Mirror, Mirror”.

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In the 1970s, Oscar Schmidt came out with his magnetic picture. The Evil One, a 1979 album by Roky Erickson and Alis featured Bill Miller’s electronic vocals that gave the music an “uncanny edge”.

Shown is Oscar Schmidt’s “Model A” from 1930. This harp has two DeArmond pickups (one under the fret bars), with a d’Aigle fine-tuning mechanism, and a d’chord bar assembly. Aigle, and was used on a 1968 MGM Records/Heritage Records recording by Euphoria.

A synthesized version of the auto-chord, the Omnichord, was introduced in 1981 and is now known as the Q-Chord, described as a “digital chord card guitar”.

As originally conceived, the automatic harp was played in the position of a concert zither, that is, with the instrument laid flat on the table (there are three “legs” at the back for this purpose), with the flat edge of the instrument. (below the chord bars) placed to the player’s right. The left hand worked the chord buttons, and the right hand would play the string in the narrow area below the chord bars.

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Right-hand frets were usually made with a plectrum similar to a guitar pick, made of shell, plastic, or pressed felt. The drum usually turns on multiple strings, playing a chord held by the left hand.

Partly because of this type of playing, the harp came to be considered a percussion instrument for choral playing, and even today many people still think of the instrument in that way. New techniques have been developed, however, and modern players can play chords on the instrument: diatonic players, for example, can play fiddle chords using op-chording techniques, “pushing” the damper buttons while picking individual strings. Skilled chromatic players can perform a wide variety of rhythms, and ev solos including melodies, melodies and complex rhythmic accompaniments.

In the mid-20s, performers began to try to take the instrument off the table and play it in an upright position, held on the lap, with the back of the instrument (with “legs”) holding the chest. Cecil Null, of the Grand Ole Opry is usually recognized as the first to use this style of playing in a public performance, in the 1950s. In this position the left hand still works the chat buttons, but from the opposite edge of the instrumt, and the right hand still performs the strums, but now plays in the area above the chord bars. (See Joe Butler’s drawing, below.) This playing mode makes a wider area of ​​the strings accessible to the picking hand, increasing the range of tonal possibilities, and proved very popular. It was soon adopted by other artists, notably by members of the Carter Family.

By the early 1970s some players were using fingerstyle techniques, where individual fingers of the right hand would pluck individual strings, rather than simply holding down chords. Bryan Bowers became a champion of this type of playing, and developed a complex technique using all five fingers of his right hand. This allows him to play independent bass notes, chords, melodies, and counters as a soloist. Bowers was also one of the early pioneers in adding strings to the instrument and playing it while standing.

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Kilby Snow (May 28, 1905 – March 29, 1980) was an American folk musician and acoustic harpist, who won the North Carolina Autoharp Champion title at the age of 5. He developed the “note drag” style of playing. method. which relied on using his left hand to produce “uncertain” notes; he has been very influential among harpists, and is considered by many to be the first modern harpist.

Maybelle Carter of the original Carter Family brought the instrument to fame in the late 1940s by using it as a lead instrument when performing with her daughters; Carter’s sister.

Maybelle Carter’s grandson Carle Carter regularly plays the auto-harp on and off the stage.