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Psaltery [sawl-tuh-ree]
1. An ancient musical instrument made of a flat sounding box with strings which are plucked or bowed.
This is the bowed psaltery. It produces long, lush sustained sounds and can be played with one or two bows. I ordered this custom made Psaltery with a built in pick-up for electronic amplification and effects. The bowed psaltery is a lovely way to catch sustained string sounds when you’re not a seasoned cello or violin player. It was made by James Jones and the sound clip here is from his website. (I did not want to torture you with my interpretations of it just yet. Soon I will…)
Click here for brief history of how this modern psaltery came to be.
Click here to find out more about the Bowed Psaltery and the instrument maker James Jones
I love this…
It was as if I were in a sea of violins flooding and crowding all over me but then I could just imagine that I was on the titanic next to the string orchestra playing there romantic soft melodies.The way this instrument plays is like if you were in a dream of wonders just prancing by your mind every other day.
Hello! I am a huge fan of the bowed psaltery and moderate a network dedicated to the instrument. If you are a fan or just curious about the bowed psaltery please visit psalterystrings.com
We’d love to have you join us there!
Donna