The bowed dulcimer is a musical instrument. Designed in the style of the
Appalachian dulcimer
The Appalachian dulcimer (many variant names; see below) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of t ...
(a fretted string instrument of the
zither
Zither (; , from the Greek ''cithara'') is a class of stringed instruments. The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body.
Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a ...
family, typically with three or four strings), it is either a standard instrument played with a
violin bow
The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino pi ...
, or a purpose-built dulcimer designed around bow playing. The purpose-designed instrument is described as resembling a hybrid between a dulcimer and a cello or
viola da gamba
The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (m ...
.
Bowing as a technique of playing the standard dulcimer has some historical roots;
L. Allen Smith feature several examples in his historical survey ''A Catalogue of Pre-Revival Appalachian Dulcimers'' (1983).
The more modern purpose-built version of the instrument was developed by Kenneth Bloom of Pilot Mountain, North Carolina in the late 1990s.
References
Further reading
*, section on bowing technique
External links
"BowedDulcimer.com" at boweddulcimer.org(Ambiguous: "BowedDulcimer.com" is the title, but the domain is not redirected to there.)
Bowed box zithers
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