Tsimbl revisited 4

[Joshua Horowitz <horowitz...>]

> I doubt if you can reach a lower string tension than with the Romanian

I was told by Nagy Akos in Budapest (who made my Jewish-tuned small
pedal
tsimbl) that within a certain size range, the instrument will always be
F or G.  Therefore the Romanian tsambal mics use a F or G string length
but tuned downed to C! Indeed I used to own a Hungarian Kis
(small) cymbalom, and there was no way to bring the G tuning down to C
without a serious loss of tension. I did math from here to the moon, got
Pichlmaier to work on the problem (he's considered the most knowledgable
about the acoustics of the instrument of European tsimbl makers) and
gave measurements to string makers from Budapest and all over Germany
and one maker in Switzerland. I
even went to Gabor Frey (Bohak's last master student) in Budapest. He
tried and
couldn't do it. Noone has figured it out. You can't turn a G instrument
into a C one through different strings. You have to restructure the
whole instrument. Nagy said it was a basic known fact among tsimbl
makers that all small tsimbls are G Instruments no matter what you do. I
thought that was milkmaid myth, but after going through the mill,
I'll be damned if they weren't right.  

>  But the
> the photograph of the tsimbl (c.1860s) of the Przemysl klezmorim in
> the CD "Klezmer Pioneers" shows a lot of similarity to Galician
> instruments used today, with the cove cut out under the pinblocks.

Pichlmaier made that same cove on my instrument. That style of pinblock
got started in order to make it easier to get the instrument out of its
case. You can get your fingers right in under the instrument - its like
a handle. There's a Dutch chromatic (18th cent?) model that has that-
I''m sure you've seen it.  

>  Hungarian/Bohemian/German cimbalom/Cymbaln) all
> have basically the same construction----heavy rails mortised into the
> pinblocks at both ends, 

Do you mean the joint  connecting the pinblocks to the crosspiece at the
junction like this? /__  The Anski instrument has dovetailed joints.

About the people you are searching info about: I only know that Julius
Klein played cymbalom on most of the Hollywood sessions, but that's not
news to you. HOWEVER, I do have a lead: After I played a concert at a
cymbalom festival in Budapest 2 years ago, a nice, complimentary little
old lady came up to me and asked if I had any written Jewish music she
could learn. While I was talking to her, all these people gathered
around. I couldn't figure out what was so interesting about this
encounter until it turns out that the little old lady was none other
than Ida Toth, the first cymbalom teacher in Hungary. She had taught
virtually everyone in Hungary, well-known and unknown, had worked with
Bartok, Kodaly, Aladar Racz and everyone else. Sandor Kuti, our cellist
then (and also a virtuoso cymbalom player) said she taught him when he
was in gradeshool. She was in her 90's. I felt like an idiot not knowing
I was talking to an icon. When I got home I sent her a packet of klezmer
transcriptions, but she never wrote back (I think she had trouble
writing due to an unsteady hand ). Her address is:

Ida Tarjaní Toth
Petöfi Sándor u. 12
H-1052 Budapest V
Tel (xx361) 31-83-388

If you reach her give her my regards.  

Josh

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