Introduction to the Dulcimer

The dulcimer is a stringed instrument of the Jing ethnic group, known as the Dan Lagen in the Jing language. Popularized in Fangcheng Autonomous County of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the dulcimer is an ancient folk bamboo musical instrument of the Jing people. Let me give you some information about the dulcimer!

Basic information about the dulcimer

The dulcimer is also known as the dulcimer Lagenaria, one-stringed zither, which is called in Jing? Du yan Dan bou (Du yan Dan bou)? For a long time, although the form of the dulcimer, the production of materials and their craftsmanship are not the same, but in folklore, can be divided into bamboo and wooden two kinds, all by the body of the piano, rocking rod, string shaft and pick stick and other components, the length of the whole are about 110 centimeters. Bamboo, with a diameter of 12 centimeters of the large half of the moso bamboo for the body, the head is about 6.5 centimeters high, about 8 centimeters wide, the tail is 8 centimeters high, about 12 centimeters wide, the face is slightly arched. String axle are wooden, from the end of the piano side into the body; rocker with bamboo or horn system, about 40 cm long, vertical inserted in the head, the pole mounted on the zucchini to expand the volume; from the string axis to the rocker Zhang silk or metal strings a string, the effective string length of 90 centimeters, the fixed strings more than a large group of A to the group of small characters of the C; pick stick bamboo, about 15 centimeters long, about 0.5 centimeters wide, toggle the string at the end of the slightly pointed.

Beginning in the 1950s, a new generation of dulcimer players have made appropriate improvements to the dulcimer, optimizing its original characteristics and enriching its performance techniques and expressive power. These improvements are summarized in the following aspects. Firstly, the production materials are mostly changed to better quality palm wood, hardwood, or precious mahogany and rosewood, etc. Secondly, the stringed instrument is replaced by a better one. Second, the stringed instrument, replaced by a more standardized guzheng strings, yangqin strings or guitar strings, generally with yangqin 26 to 30, especially 28 to 29 best. The third is to add pickups to expand its volume with electric sound, highlighting its tonal characteristics. Fourth, according to the need to improve its shape, in addition to the original long box shape, adding a long strip type, faucet type and other new styles. Fifth, (individual players) in the body of the instrument to add a fingerboard and taste, expanding the performance of the instrument. Sixthly, the exposed string shaft is changed to a stable string shaft, which beautifies its appearance and improves its sound quality. Seven is to change the pick for the delicate plucking piece, or directly with the fingernail, Pei sets finger playing, can obtain a variety of tones and playing skills.

Performance of the commonly used dulcimer, folk bamboo dulcimer and wooden dulcimer and a variety of improved dulcimer.

The structure of the dulcimer

The left end of the strings is tied to the rocker by a *** sounding tube, with the strings about 6 centimeters away from the surface of the instrument, and the right end passes through the string holes and is wrapped around the axle at the bottom of the instrument. Using bamboo picks to play. 1960s, the bamboo dulcimer has been reformed to increase the base plate and the first and last frames, so that it becomes a *** sounding box, the surface of the instrument like the guqin marked overtone position. Some of them also added a wooden fingerboard on the surface of the instrument, the fingerboard is embedded with 16 grades, which can make the strings emit more solid tones and play overtones more quickly, enriching the playing skills of the dulcimer.

Acoustic principle of the dulcimer

The acoustic principle of the dulcimer can be roughly divided into two kinds: one is the acoustic dulcimer using the organ body*** sound amplification; the other is the electroacoustic dulcimer using pickups to pick up the sound through the amplifier speakers to amplify the sound. Whether acoustic or electric dulcimer, playing, the player with the right hand little finger on one side of the finger flesh lightly touch the string on the position of an equidistant point (that is, the cut string), while the right hand holding the gabion pick bullet (traditional playing method, but also more than the right hand with the right esophagus with the A playing), playing the string at the same time the pinky finger quickly left the string, it will be issued by the string is cut to take the part of the overtones and the full-length vibration of the base note, the composite sound, the overtones are very beautiful and soft, the volume is larger, but the base note is relatively weak This composite sound has beautiful, soft overtones and a high volume, while the fundamental is weak. The solo instrument usually uses the overtones from the cut strings at the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and eighth points, and the six tones obtained by playing the strings only with the right hand are known as the "natural overtones". Natural overtones. The six natural overtones are called "natural overtones", but if the solo instrument is played with only these six natural overtones, it is far from being able to fulfill the needs of performance, and there must be more overtones to form a perfect piece of music. With its unique device? The rocker can easily solve this problem. By pushing and pulling the rocker with the left hand, the player can change the tension of the strings and raise or lower the height of the articulation. When the lever is pulled outward, the strings are tightened and the sound is raised; when the lever is pushed inward, the strings are loosened and the articulation is lowered. Thus, a new overtone can be obtained after the string is raised or lowered, which we call the "rocker overtone". The rocker overtones are called "rocker overtones". No need to cut the strings. Cutting the strings? The tone played without cutting the strings (but at any point on the string) is called the fundamental, and is less frequently used in music.

Since the solo instrument is primarily played with these? The overtones are used to play the solo instrument, so its meter is based on this. Specifically, for the dulcimer, except for the base note, which is not cut, all other notes are cut at six positions (1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/8, etc.), which are 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, and 1/8 of the effective string length (commonly known as the "cut point"). The tangent point?) The natural overtones of the tangent section are the same as the natural overtones of the string. Natural overtones The natural overtones of the tangent section are called "natural overtones", and the tone rows they form are called "natural overtones". The natural overtones are called "natural overtones". The following is the natural overtones of the small group of C as the fixed string tone of the rocker overtones are also based on the diatonic, trill, and pentatonic as the basis of the rhythm, because the solo instrument is purely rhythmic.