Re: zither/tsimbl, radio show

[Owen Davidson <owend...>]

Every instrument we choose, if properly played, is only an earthly excrescence 
of
the big instrument that we all play.  On this Earthly plane, however, since Adam
and Eve ate the fruit of discrimination, and since Hashem wisely and graciously
confused our tongues at Babel, we are never quite sure what it is we are seeing 
or
doing.  A woman asked me once, gesturing toward my chromatic accordion, "Is 
that an
ocarina?"  I was sure she had meant to say "concertina," and I assured her that 
it
was indeed an accordion.  But I have no doubt that she went away convinced that 
she
had heard music played on the Ocarina, which, in some growing quarter of lore,  
is
an instrument kind of like an accordion.

Seth Austen wrote:

> on 6/12/00 11:14 PM, Huppert23 (at) aol(dot)com at Huppert23 (at) aol(dot)com 
> wrote:
>
> >
> > I think 'zither' is the most common guess I have heard, when people are
> > wondering what a tsimbl is. I also hear 'xylophone' a lot. One time I
> > overheard an old couple arguing about it, DURING a concert. She was pretty
> > sure it was a zither. He was dead certain it was a xylophone, and he 
> > couldn't
> > believe she was so ignorant she didn't know a xylophone when she heard and
> > saw one.
> >
> I play in a duo with a hammered dulcimer player, we've had people ask one or
> the other of us (or tell us) what it is WHILE WE'RE PLAYING...
>
> Seth's acoustic music dictionary; tsimbl/dulcimer, also commonly mistaken
> for autoharp, harpsichord, xylophone, zither, even banjo... I love how
> people are always completely sure of what it is, proudly proclaiming to
> their spouses, friends, and anyone else closely around that they are in the
> know.
>
> Most common response to finding out it's a dulcimer, "I thought a dulcimer
> was played in the lap"...
>
> Seth
>
> --
> Seth Austen
> please visit me on the web at http://www.sethausten.com
> email; seth (at) sethausten(dot)com
>
> Download a song (mp3) at www.mp3.com/sethausten
>
> "All TRUTH passes through three stages.
> First it is ridiculed.
> Second it is violently opposed.
> Third it is accepted as being self-evident."
>             Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
>

--
Owen Davidson
Amherst  Mass
The Wholesale Klezmer Band

The Angel that presided oer my birth
Said Little creature formd of Joy & Mirth
Go Love without the help of any King on Earth

Wm. Blake


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