Hammered Dulcimer Quick Facts Percussion instrument Santir and
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Hammered Dulcimer
Quick Facts • Percussion instrument • Santir and psanterim were early names. • The name dulcimer comes from the Latin and Greek works dulce and melos, which combine to mean "sweet tune. “ • The ancient origins of the dulcimer are Woman playing the sanṭūr, a undoubtedly in the Near East, where type of dulcimer, in a painting instruments of this type have been made from the Hasht-Behesht palace in Isfahan. Iran, 1669 and played for perhaps 5000 years. • Santur is a Persian instrument very similar to the hammered dulcimer. Modern day Persia is the country of Iran.
Dulcimers in America • common domestic and concert instruments in the US during the 18 th and 19 th centuries. • first brought to the colonies from England where they were used in the street music of the time • Portability and simplicity-much more practical than the piano for many settlers. • lumber camps of Maine and Michigan • Called "lumberjack's piano" in the North.
Most dulcimers are tuned to a diatonic scale with ranges of two to three octaves.
Sources • http: //www. si. edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmah/hd hist. htm • http: //www. merriamwebster. com/dictionary/dulcimer? show=0&t= 1343588430
