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Stringed Instrument
(redirected from String instrument)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia 0.02 sec.
stringed instrument, any musical instrument whose tone is produced by vibrating strings. Those whose strings are plucked with the finger or a plectrum include the balalaika balalaika , Russian stringed musical instrument, with a triangular body and a long fretted neck fretted instrument. Usually there are three strings, which are generally plucked with a pick.
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, banjo banjo, stringed musical instrument, with a body resembling a tambourine. The banjo consists of a hoop over which a skin membrane is stretched; it has a long, often fretted neck and four to nine strings, which are plucked with a pick or the fingers.
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, guitar guitar, musical instrument related to the lute, modern guitars normally having six strings that are plucked with the fingers or strummed with a pick. Earlier versions had pairs of strings like the lute.
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, harp harp, stringed musical instrument of ancient origin, the strings of which are plucked with the fingers. Harps were found in paintings from the 13th cent. B.C. at Thebes. In different forms it was played by peoples of nearly all lands throughout the ages.
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, lute lute, musical instrument that has a half-pear-shaped body, a fretted neck, and a variable number of strings, which are plucked with the fingers. The long lute, with its neck much longer than its body, seems to have been older than the short lute, existing very early
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, mandolin mandolin , musical instrument of the lute family, with a half-pear-shaped body, a fretted neck, and a variable number of strings, plucked with the fingers or with a plectrum.
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, zither zither , stringed musical instrument, derived from the psaltery and the dulcimer. It has a flat sound box over which are stretched from 30 to 45 strings; these are plucked with the fingers and a plectrum. In the 18th cent.
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, the sitar sitar , fretted string instrument with a gourdlike body and a long neck, similar to the lute. It has from 3 to 7 gut strings, tuned in fourths or fifths (or both), and a lower course of 12 wire strings that vibrate sympathetically with the first set.
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 of India and Pakistan, the koto koto , a Japanese string instrument related in structure to the zither. It consists of an elongated rectangular wooden body, strung lengthwise with 7 to 13 silk strings.
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 of Japan, and countless others. Those plucked by means of a keyboard include the harpsichord and spinet spinet, musical instrument of the harpsichord family. Although the terms virginal and spinet, interchangeable until the end of the 17th cent., were sometimes used indiscriminately to designate any harpsichord, they usually referred to small instruments
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. Those played with the bow are principally of the viol viol, family of bowed stringed instruments, the most important ensemble instruments from the 15th to the 17th cent. The viol's early history is indefinite, but it is recognizable in depictions from as early as the 11th cent. During the second half of the 17th cent.
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 and violin families, the kemence of Turkey and Central Asia, the rebab of the Arab world and the many varieties of spike fiddle in Indonesia, Central Asia and elsewhere. Instruments whose strings are struck include the dulcimer dulcimer , stringed musical instrument. It is a wooden box with strings stretched over it that are struck with small mallets. The number of strings may vary. The dulcimer is related to the psaltery and modern zither.
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 of Europe and America, the santur of Iran, Iraq and other countries, and several keyboard instruments, among them the piano piano or pianoforte, musical instrument whose sound is produced by vibrating strings struck by felt hammers that are controlled from a keyboard.

The piano's earliest predecessor was the dulcimer. The first piano was made c.
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 and clavichord clavichord , keyboard musical instrument invented in the Middle Ages. It consists of a small rectangular wooden box, placed upon a table or on legs, containing a sounding board and a set of strings.
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stringed instrument

Any musical instrument that produces sound by the vibrations of strings. The strings may be of gut, metal, fibre, or plastic, and may be plucked, bowed, or struck. The orchestral stringed instruments include the violin, viola, cello, double bass, and harp. Keyboard stringed instruments include the clavichord, harpsichord, piano, and virginal. See also Aeolian harp; balalaika; dulcimer; guitar; kithara; koto; lute; lyre; mandolin; pipa; sitar; 'ud; ukulele; viol; zither.


Stringed Instrument 

(also chordophone), a musical instrument in which the sound is produced by stretched strings. Changes in the pitch of the sound are produced either by shortening the strings, as on the violin, or by using strings permanently tuned to a certain pitch within the range of the particular instrument, as on the piano. Most stringed instruments are made of various woods, with the soundboard made of resonant spruce or fir. Except for the strings themselves, metal is usually used only for fasteners and parts of the action.

Stringed instruments are divided into several subgroups according to the method of producing the sound: bowed, plucked, hammered, keyboard hammered, and keyboard plucked instru ments. (SeeMUSICAL INSTRUMENTS).



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String instruments are also noticeably prominent on several tracks on Truelove's Gutter.
For 10 days Totah taught African students how to play the violin and oud, and how to repair string instruments.
With violins, cellos, and string instruments downstage, the wind instruments were in center stage at a small height while the percussion instruments dominated the upstage.
 
 
 
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