The kantele has a distinctive bell-like sound. The Finnish kantele generally has a diatonic tuning, though small kanteles with between 5 and 15 strings are often tuned to a gapped mode, missing a seventh and with the lowest pitched strings tuned to a fourth below the tonic, as a drone.
How big is a kantele?
However, a variety of tunings can be made on these instruments. The standard 5-string kantele ($165 for an open bottom model, $185 for one with a bottom and a soundhole in the top) is about 22 inches long, 2.5 inches deep at the deepest part, and about 4 inches wide at the widest part.
Is a kantele a harp?
The kantele is the Finnish version of an instrument known throughout the world as either a zither or lap harp.
How does a kantele work?
The kantele belongs to a large family of string instruments called zithers. Zithers have a resonating body with a variable number of strings, which can be plucked, strummed, struck, or bowed. In the case of the kantele, the strings are plucked or strummed and the smallest kanteles can be held in the player's lap.
What is kantele made out of?
Description. The oldest forms of kantele have five or six horsehair strings and a hollowed out wooden body carved from a piece of alder, pine or spruce. Modern instruments have metal strings, tuning pegs and often a body made from several pieces of wood. Modern concert kanteles can have up to 39 strings.
18 related questions foundWhat does a kantele sound like?
The kantele has a distinctive bell-like sound. The Finnish kantele generally has a diatonic tuning, though small kanteles with between 5 and 15 strings are often tuned to a gapped mode, missing a seventh and with the lowest pitched strings tuned to a fourth below the tonic, as a drone.
Is the kantele hard?
The five-string kantele is an easy-to-learn instrument. You can take it wherever you go. Whenever you like to sing with your own family, or if you work with children or elderly people in your job or as a volunteer – take a kantele in your hands to support or accompany your singing!
When was the kantele invented?
The first concert kantele, or machine kantele, was invented in the 1920's by Paul Salminen. Concert kanteles are equipped with a tuning machine that makes it easy to quickly change keys. Kanteles don't have a bridge. Instead, the strings are attached to a metal rod at one end and pegs at the other.
What is Sisu Finland?
To the Finnish people, sisu has a mystical, almost magical meaning. Sisu is a unique Finnish concept. It is a Finnish term that can be roughly translated into English as strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity.
How many strings does a Nyckelharpa have?
The modern chromatic nyckelharpa has 16 strings: 3 melody strings, one drone string, and 12 sympathetic vibration (or resonance) strings. It has about 37 wooden keys arranged to slide under the strings. Each key has a tangent that reaches up and stops (frets) a string to make a particular note.
Are harps string instruments?
harp, stringed instrument in which the resonator, or belly, is perpendicular, or nearly so, to the plane of the strings. Each string produces one note, the gradation of string length from short to long corresponding to that from high to low pitch. The resonator is usually of wood or skin.
What is kantele English?
Definition of kantele
: a traditional Finnish zither originally having five strings but now having as many as thirty.
Is a dulcimer?
A dulcimer is a stringed folk instrument which basically comes in two different varieties: the hammered dulcimer – which has strings stretched over a sounding board with a trapezoidal shape, generally setting on a stand, angled in front of the player who strikes the strings with two small hammers called mallets and the ...
What is the psaltery and harp?
psaltery, (from Greek psaltērion: “harp”), musical instrument having plucked strings of gut, horsehair, or metal stretched across a flat soundboard, often trapezoidal but also rectangular, triangular, or wing-shaped. The strings are open, none being stopped to produce different notes.
Where did the zither come from?
The earliest known surviving instrument of the zither family is a Chinese guqin, a fretless instrument, found in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng dating from 433 BC.
What key is a kantele in?
Since the kantele is tuned to the key of D, the chord you have played by strumming the first, third and fifth notes of the scale is the D chord.
What happened to the harpsichord?
By the late 18th century the harpsichord was supplanted by the piano and almost disappeared from view for most of the 19th century: an exception was its continued use in opera for accompanying recitative, but the piano sometimes displaced it even there.
What does a harp look like?
Harps are essentially triangular and made primarily of wood. Strings are made of gut or wire, often replaced in the modern day by nylon or metal. The top end of each string is secured on the crossbar or neck, where each will have a tuning peg or similar device to adjust the pitch.
Are harps loud?
The harp is not a particularly loud instrument but the sound of its attack does penetrate, so composers often only use one with an orchestra or two with a larger orchestra. The harp relies on 7 foot pedals to change the pitches of its 47 strings.
What sound does a harp make?
Gentle, metallic, blurring, resonant, short, hard, drifting, full-sounding, rushing, clear, brilliant, glittering, flowing, dull, mellow, sharp, crystal clear, reverberating, splashing, cascading. The attack time is short and depends on the length of the string.
What does a Shawm look like?
The shawm (/ʃɔːm/) is a conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissance periods, after which it was gradually eclipsed by the oboe family of descendant instruments in classical music.
What does a nyckelharpa look like?
The nyckelharpa is similar in appearance to a fiddle or the big Sorb geige or viol. Structurally, it is more closely related to the hurdy-gurdy, both employing key-actuated tangents to change the pitch.
What is the hardest instrument to play?
The 7 hardest instruments to learn, play, and master
- Oboe. Even if you don't think you know what an oboe sounds like, you've heard it more than you realize. ...
- Violin. ...
- French horn. ...
- Piano. ...
- Hammond organ. ...
- Drums. ...
- Accordion. ...
- 3 reasons learning ukulele is hard (or easy) + FAQ.
What culture is sisu from?
Sisu is a term which dates back hundreds of years and is described as being integral to understanding Finnish culture. It is a term for going beyond one's mental or physical capacity, and is a central part of the country's culture and collective discourse.
