Re: Tsimbl revisited 3

[Paul M. Gifford <PGIFFORD...>]

Joshua Horowitz <horowitz (at) styria(dot)com> wrote:
 
> Some of the tsimblists made careers as soloists, such as  
> 
Don't forget a vaudevillian who called his act "Uncle Sam and His 
Singing Strings." He came from Kiev, learned the instrument there, and 
toured all over (including Australia) in the 1910s; his dulcimer was 
placed inside a piano prop which collapsed upon playing the opening 
notes of Beethoven's 5th. He also played the xylophone and other 
instruments. Sam's nephew told me about him about 24 years ago; 
unfortunately I never got either the man's full name or the nephew's 
name, but he lived in the New York City area. Sound familiar to 
anyone? 

> I think in general, tsimblists had a fairly high status, due to the fact
> that they made up the gist of the rhythm section. I'll bet they were
> often like contra players today though: They were the brunt of musicians
> jokes- frustrating to play with at times due to tuning problems and
> frequent wrong chords when they were shiker, but necessary nonetheless.
> In Polish they still say "Ty cymbale!" to say "You idiot!" 
> 
Josh, that word (meaning "simpleton" or "idiot") has no connection 
with the instrument's name. At least according to various 
etymological dictionaries, although I don't know its derivation. It 
also exists in Lithuanian and Slovak, and the Lemko surname 
Cymbal derives from that word.

As to the instrument's status, one way to gauge it is by various 
Jewish surnames derived from klezmer occupations.  As far as I can 
tell, of the surnames derived from instruments, surnames 
from the cymbal (Zimbler, Cymbler, Zimbalist) are second only to 
those from violins (Fiedler, Fiedelman, Fiedel, etc.). I think 
'Pauker' is less common, and also Bass, Bassist, etc. Of course this 
would be as of about 1780-1810. There is a Hutsul family name, 
Tsymbalisty; they took their family names around 1750, but there are 
no other Slavic family names derived from this instrument as far as I 
can find.

Paul Gifford

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