Zither - Definition and Overview

Zither

The zither is a musical string instrument, mainly used in folk music. The strings are stretched across the length of the soundbox, and the instrument does not have a neck. In entertainment, the zither is perhaps most famous for its role in providing the soundtrack of the classic film noir The Third Man.

Examples:

• American Appalachian dulcimer
• Chinese Guqin
• Chinese Guzheng
• Chinese ChaoZhou zheng
• Chinese hammered yãngqín
• Estonian kannel
• Finnish kantele
• French épinette
• German Scheitholt or Hackbrett
• hammered dulcimer
• Icelandic langspil
• Japanese koto
• Korean gayageum and geomungo
• Latvian kokle
• Lithuanian kanklės
• Norwegian langeleik
• Persian santur
• Sundanese kacapi
• Swedish hummel
• Vietnamese Dan Tranh or Dan Thap Luc