String instrument

A string instrument (also "stringed instrument") is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones.

Sound production in string instruments

In order for a string instrument to produce sound, its string or strings must vibrate. There are three common ways of bringing this about.

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Instruments such as the guitar and kora are plucked, either by a finger or thumb, or by some other device such as a plectrum. Instruments like the cello and rebec are usually played by drawing a bow across the strings.

Related Topics:
Guitar - Kora - Plectrum - Cello - Rebec - Bow

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However, instruments normally bowed are occasionally plucked (this is known as pizzicato), and instruments normally plucked are sometimes bowed (Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin sometimes played the electric guitar this way, for example).

Related Topics:
Pizzicato - Jimmy Page - Led Zeppelin - Electric guitar

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The third common method of sound production in stringed instruments is to strike the string with a hammer. By far the most well-known instrument to use this method is the piano, where the hammers are controlled by a mechanical action; another example is the hammered dulcimer, where the player herself wields the hammers. It should be noted that the piano is often considered a percussion instrument, since sound production through struck blows defines this instrument family; the proclamation that the piano is a percussion instrument has at times served as rhetoric for composers who relished sharp percussive effects.

Related Topics:
Piano - Hammered dulcimer - Percussion instrument

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A variant of the hammering method is found in the clavichord: a brass tangent touches the string and presses it to a hard surface, inducing vibration. This is a very inefficient method of sound production, thus clavichords have a very soft tone. The maneuver can also be executed with a finger on plucked and bowed instruments, where it gives equally soft results.

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The aeolian harp employs a very unusual method of sound production: the strings are excited by the movement of the air.

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Some string instruments have keyboards attached which are manipulated by the player, meaning she does not have to pay attention to the strings directly. The most familiar example is the piano, where the keys control the felt hammers by means of a complex mechanical action. Other string instruments with a keyboard include the clavichord (where the strings are struck by tangents), and the harpsichord (where the strings are plucked by tiny plectra).

Related Topics:
Keyboards - Piano - Clavichord - Harpsichord - Plectra

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With these keyboard instruments too, the strings are occasionally plucked or bowed by hand. Composers such as Henry Cowell wrote music which asks for the player to reach inside the piano and pluck the strings directly, or to "bow" them with bow hair wrapped around the strings.

Related Topics:
Keyboard instrument - Composer - Henry Cowell

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