String instrument

What it means

String instruments produce their sound through vibrating strings. Organology calls them chordophones and subdivides them by the manner of excitation: bowed like violin and cello, plucked like guitar, lute, and harp, struck like the dulcimer and the piano. A second ordering starts from the construction — lutes with a neck, zithers without a neck, harps with vertically standing strings, lyres with a yoke. Common to all is that the string alone would be too quiet: a resonating body or, with electric instruments, a pickup transmits and amplifies the vibration.

Musical use

The manner of excitation determines the musical possibilities. Bowed instruments can hold notes for any length of time and shape them while sounding; they therefore stand close to the singing voice and form the backbone of the orchestra. Plucked and struck instruments supply a clearly outlined attack with a natural decay; their music lives from movement, broken chords, and polyphony rather than from long lines. Both groups allow double stops and chords, though to differing degrees. The tuning of the strings, moreover, shapes which keys and fingerings lie comfortably.

Performance practice

Watch the age and condition of the strings: a worn string octaves impurely and sounds dull long before it breaks. Do not change strings immediately before a performance, because new strings need time to hold their tuning. Check the contact points at the nut and bridge, for most extraneous noises arise there. Keep temperature and humidity as constant as possible, since wood works and the tuning reacts immediately. Get to know your instrument tonally: where it sounds full, where narrow — this knowledge guides fingering and tonal planning more than any general rule.

Bear in mind that the resonance of the body depends on climate: in dry heated air an instrument often sounds hard and can develop cracks, in too much humidity it sounds dull. A simple hygrometer in the case helps more than any rule. Check bridge, sound post, and glue joints regularly, because changes first show up in the sound. With plucked instruments, adjusting the string action belongs to playability. Have repairs done by a professional, even if they seem minor.