Thank you very much for all this. I don't think the Waldzither and its music is very well known in Britain (nor perhaps in the USA too?). Is there a website that has some music that would be played on the Waldzither?
Also, I don't understand what you mean by 'soundpost'? > > >Martina, some questions if you have time to answer them: > > > >Does the Waldzither have its own unique music and repertoire or do you play > folk music that best fits the tuning? > > There is nearly no unique music for Waldzither. It's mostly folk songs. > Singing of folk song became very popular at about 1900. Youth Clubs, Walking > tours, tramping, scouting and so on. The Waldzither is "easy to play" as > long as you use a capo to change tune. If you don't use a capo, like me, it > is getting more and more artistic with every # more. > The typical music from 1900 until 1950, (later singing of german folk songs > got out of fashion), was to play the melodie one- ore two-voiced and use the > open tuning to get a simultanous chord. > It is easier than on English Guittar because of the missing E-Bass. > It is more difficult than on English Guittar to play Bass Melodies for the > same reason. > > Does the Waldzither play along with other folk instruments? Is it more like > the Irish bouzouki (or mandola) or more like the Portuguese guitarra? > > The B�hm Waldzither resembles the Portuguese guitarra at 1900. The modern > "Guitarra Portuguesa" is very strangely tuned and the picking styles are > quite artistic and very difficult. There is more to tell about the > connection of the two instruments at 1900, but my documentation about C.H. > Boehm is not ready yet. > > >You say the C- Model is sometimes used for strumming. Strumming is quite > rare in 18th Century music and chords aren't that easy to do in these > tunings? > > I think, the English Guittar has a soundpost, too. I have seen it in one or > two instruments. Isn't that an indicator for melodie-playing? > If you just "rip" all strings of the waldzither, they will hold the sound > for a long time (no soundpost) , so you get your basic chord to play the > melodie with. > > To change tune, it could be necessary to use the thumb of the left hand. > Some portuguese players do that, too. Without the thumb, you can't use all > strings in a picking patterns when you have to play g-minor or fis-minor > (for example) > > > >Do you know anything about those strange German instruments that were > around the same time as the 'guittar' in Britain - e.g. the ones made by > Klemm in the middle of the 18th C (Four top courses doubled and lots of bass > strings)? > I 'm sorry, that is not my special subject. > > I apologize for some probably strange words, but I'm not so fit in musical > terms yet. > > Martina > > > ----------------------------------------- Email sent from www.ntlworld.com virus-checked using McAfee(R) Software visit www.ntlworld.com/security for more information To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
