Frame zither

rdf:langString Frame zither

rdf:langString Jacqke/Frame zither

rdf:langString left

rdf:langString Benedictine psalter

rdf:langString Liberian frame zither with calabash resonator

rdf:langString string

rdf:langString Liberian zither with calabash resonator. Called a "harp" by its collector; however, on a harp the "plane of the strings lies perpendicular to the resonator's surface." The strings running parallel to the gourd resonator make this a frame zither under Hornbostel-Sachs.

rdf:langString Stylized drawing in a medieval manuscript shows a man playing an instrument with strings stretched across a frame. Text reveals it is a psaltery, which means it would have a board behind the strings and not be a frame zither.

rdf:langString center

rdf:langString center

rdf:langString Benedictine Psalter, Psalterium.jpg

rdf:langString belly harp

rdf:langString Frame zither is a class of musical instrument (subset of zither) within the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system for a type of simple chordophone (stringed instrument), in which the body of the instrument is made from a frame. Frame zithers are musical instruments in which strings are strung across an open frame. They could be similar to harps and psalteries which can also have strings stretched across frames. However, in harps the strings run from the frame to a resonating table embedded into the frame on the frame's other end. Psalteries may also have a frame, but behind the strings (parallel to them) is a board, the top of a box which acts as a resonator. Musicians may add a resonator as is done with a bow harp; they can attach or put the instrument into a calabash gourd or a ceramic pot. Under the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification, any frame with strings stretched across, and without a built in resonator, would count as a frame zither. In musical instrument encyclopedias, however, there are few or no examples of frame zithers except those found in Africa. Potential examples include medieval European illustrations; these however are not clear and could equally illustrate forms of harps or psalteries.

rdf:langString Instruments which are in essence simply a string or strings and a string bearer. The strings are stretched across an open frame