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Blog

One Hundred Years Plus

7/12/2017

5 Comments

 
Picture
Pardon the out-of-tune strings but this Harp Zither or Guitar Zither, as it was coined in Germany, is well over one hundred years old and I was very careful not to push tuning since these are original strings you are hearing me play. 

Sears began making this instrument in 1902, calling it a Zither #2.  My great-grandmother Nora Thayer Duncan ordered one from the Sears catalogue and played it for her family as an accompaniment for hymn singing, usually on Sunday evenings. 

​My Grandma Char, her youngest daughter, granted my wish to inherit this treasure, recalling her mother playing it.

On her hundredth birthday ....... I surprised her by playing several of those old hymns on the Zither.  There weren't too many dry eyes after that special music.
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Do you see the shape of another more common instrument in the Zither?  Ideas?
5 Comments
Sunny
7/13/2017 07:59:51 am

Wonderful post! I loved the care and delicacy I heard in each note you played.

Reply
Robin
7/15/2017 07:24:56 pm

Even with the out of tune notes? Thanks for lovely comment!

Reply
Cliff Hall
7/13/2017 06:43:04 pm

Ditto Sunny's comment. Very sweet and special.

Reply
Robin Gaiser
7/15/2017 07:26:23 pm

Thanks.........even with out of tune strings? Maybe the authenticity comes out more clearly that way.

Reply
Donna Castaner
7/24/2017 09:19:01 pm

that was so much fun! - thank you for sharing - it looks a little like the autoharp I got to play at Eileen's during Mod 5 - wow - and you play it so gently...thanks for the musical memory hug

Reply



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