![Psalmodicon, played in the School Museum in Djurmo, Dalarna, Sweden](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Psalmodicon%2C_played_in_the_School_Museum_in_Djurmo%2C_Dalarna%2C_Sweden.jpg)
The psalmodicon (psalmodikon or salmodikon) is a
stringed
musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...
; the most common variants have a single string. It was developed in
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...
for simplifying music in churches and schools, and as an alternative to the
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...
for sacred music.
The instrument could be plucked or bowed. Beginning in the early 19th century, it was adopted by many rural churches in Scandinavia; later, immigrants brought the instrument to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
.
[ – "The psalmodicon was also used in Finland, in Estonia, and by the Scandinavian immigrants in North America. Dillner's pupil and colleague, Lars Paul Esbjörn, who emigrated from Sweden to America in 1849, took with him both instruments"]
At the time, many congregations could not afford
organ
Organ may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a part of an organism
Musical instruments
* Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone
** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument
** Hammond ...
s. Dance instruments were considered inappropriate for sacred settings, so
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
s were not allowed. The psalmodikon, on the other hand, was inexpensive to build, was not used for dancing, took up little space, and could be played by people with little musical training. Its slow, melodic quality worked well with the hymns of the period. Examples of older printed music from these churches often have numbers written over the words, corresponding to numbers painted on the fret board of the psalmodikon. This system, known as ''
siffernotskrift
Siffernotskrift ( sv, "numerical note writing") or sifferskrift is a form of numbered musical notation in which numerals are given which correspond to musical notes on given instruments. The system was devised and used by Swedish clergyman, psa ...
'', allowed players who could not read standard musical notation to accompany hymns. As churches saved money for organs, however, psalmodikons became less common; by the late 20th century, they were rarely seen outside museums. In later years, however, the instrument was reintroduced by multi-instrumentalist folk musicians.
Construction
The instrument consists of a long box, upon which is a
chromatic
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, ...
fret board with up to around 25 semitone positions. It has one to three strings of metal or of gut (or in the modern day nylon); some earlier variants included metal
sympathetic string
Sympathetic strings or resonance strings are auxiliary strings found on many Indian musical instruments, as well as some Western Baroque instruments and a variety of folk instruments. They are typically not played directly by the performer (excep ...
s that were not touched, but vibrated due to the sound waves around them.
[ - ''The Norwegian and Swedish Psalmodikon, of somewhat the same outline, was introduced by Johan Dillner (c. 1810) for accompanying the Church hymn-singing; it has one melody string of gut and eight sympathetic strings of metal.''] The measure of one Swedish instrument from 1869 is 878 millimeter, which roughly corresponds with that of a cello. Over a sawtooth shaped fret board, it originally had three metal strings, of which two were removed to facilitate the learning process.
Advanced models could be fitted with ''bourdon'' strings on both sides of the fret board, up to twelve strings that individually could be mechanically subdued.
History
Though some books attribute the instrument's invention to the Swedish
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
priest (1785–1862) from Medelpad, others note that he promoted, rather than invented, the instrument.
He published a book of for hymns in 1830, and claimed that he could teach anyone to play in two hours. Notable players of the instrument include Ole H. Bremnes, Salmodikon, Forlaget Habet in 1998 (in Norwegian), and Ardith K. Melloh from the Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly who wrote a book called "Grandfather's Songbook; Or, The Psalmodikon in America" in October 1981. There is some scholarly consensus that the instrument first developed in Denmark around 1820, and spread from there.
In the 1830s and 1840s, the Norwegian music educator
Lars Roverud
Lars Roverud (19 December 1776 – 26 February 1850) was a Norwegian musician and music teacher, among others at Asker Seminary
Asker Seminary was a Teachers' college, teachers' seminary at Bjerke near Tanum, Norway, Tanum.
Tanum is located in BÃ ...
traveled widely in Norway popularising the instrument for training students and congregations in singing.
In the United States, the instrument retains a small following among Scandinavian-descended Americans, who have formed ''Nordic-American Psalmodikonforbundet'' to promote and preserve the instrument, produce recordings and tutorials.
Distribution
The instrument is also known in Lithuania as or in Latvia as or ; a two-string variant developed within Latvian folk music, and became the
ģīga
The ģīga or divstīdzis is a two-stringed bowed zither found in Latvia.
The instrument is descended from the psalmodicon ( lv, vienstīdzis or ''manihorka''), a bowed monochord developed in Sweden in 1829 for liturgical singing. From there it f ...
or . In Estonia it is known as the or and in Norway as the or . In Finland the instrument is known as .
See also
*
Monochord
A monochord, also known as sonometer (see below), is an ancient musical and scientific laboratory instrument, involving one (mono-) string ( chord). The term ''monochord'' is sometimes used as the class-name for any musical stringed instrument h ...
*
Tromba marina
A tromba marina, marine trumpet or nuns' fiddle, ( Fr. ''trompette marine''; Ger. ''Marientrompete, Trompetengeige, Nonnengeige'' or ''Trumscheit'', Pol. ''tubmaryna'') is a triangular bowed string instrument used in medieval and Renaissance ...
References
Further reading
* Ole H. Bremnes. ''Salmodikon''. Forlaget Habet, 1998
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*
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External links
Nordic-American Psalmodikonforbundet
Nordiska Psalmodikonförbundet
{{Authority control
Bowed box zithers
Lithuanian musical instruments
Monochords
Norwegian musical instruments
Swedish musical instruments
Sacred musical instruments