Re: whither the zither

[Owen Davidson <owend...>]

"Paul M. Gifford" wrote:

> I suppose the Sachs-Hornbostel system uses "zither" as a kind of
> cross-cultural classification ("box zither," "trough zither," "board
> zither"), but it's Germanocentric and ignores the historical
> development of each instrument.  

Thank you for your reply, Paul.  It answers my question partially, in
that I now know whose definition you're *not* using.  I can see that
we're coming at this question from different sides; I'm very interested
in the historical perspective you present, but as an instrument builder,
I naturally cleave toward a taxonomic viewpoint.  If I understand you,
the zither evolved from a fretted ancestor like our "mountain" dulcimer,
and added an array of open strings for the purpose of providing a
harmonic accompaniment and perhaps sympathetic enhancement of the
melodic notes.  Again I ask, where is this information to be found?

Regarding the kanun, my understanding is that the name derives from the
Greek "kanon," meaning "canon" in its sense of "rule."  This reflects
its role as the leader's instrument in an ensemble, which sets the
tunings.  Seeing that you've found cognate names in use far into Asia, I
wonder if this derivation from Greek can be correct.  Do you have any
information on this?

Owen

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