The present my fiance bought for my birthday arrived today. I am now the owner of a bowed psaltery! It’s the historical precursor to the violin and other bowed stringed instruments. I’ve wanted one for a good 6-8 years now, so I’m very happy indeed to have it. We’re ordering a new bow to go with it, as the current bow is a bit hard for me to grip and has synthetic ‘hair’ that doesn’t make for the nicest of sounds.
Physically speaking, the psaltery is a big improvement over a violin for me. On a violin, you have to be able to press down the strings all the way to the neck, in order to get different notes. My fingers do NOT like doing things like that – it’s quite painful. A psaltery, on the other hand, has one note per string. Want more notes? Get a bigger psaltery with more strings.
Hopefully I will learn to play this quickly! I’ll record a sample for you guys, once it’s sounding decent.
Happy birthday!!!
I have never heard of a psaltery before! I’m very curious about what they look like. OK, sure I could google it, but I want to see what YOURS looks like! At some point when you have the spoons, would you be willing to post a picture of it?
Happy music-making!
Sure!
Ooh, I also owe you pictures of the fuzzy boy in harness, so you can see what our gear looks like. And envy me (at least until you remember that I have to pick it up and put it on him!)
Happy Birthday and I would love to hear a sampling of your music
Aww, shucks, I’m blushing a bit. It’ll be a while before I’m good enough to want to show off with the psaltery, but I’m sure I can find (or make) one of me singing. I started training as a singer when I was 12, and while I haven’t done any formal training since I was 18 or 19, I’ve kept in shape and kept up my repertoire.
A very happy birthday to you, Kali! What a lovely present your boyfriend gave you. May you enjoy every moment as you learn to play it. I’m looking forward to hearing you play one day.
Thanks, Wren!