Hammered dulcimer in wrong music group
I play the hammered dulcimer and I just found out that the reason I never found pieces to play is because the dulcimer is not listet under percussion. I understand why it isn't listed as an own instrument, since it is fairly unknown in most countries, but shouldn't it be listed as "stringed instrument"?
Comments
"I just found out that the reason I never found pieces to play is because the dulcimer is not listet under percussion."
![dulcimer.jpg]( "dulcimer.jpg")
It is listed under percusion: in "All instruments" tab in the New Score Wizard, or type some letters of dulcimer in the search box.
In reply to "I just found out that the… by cadiz1
OP is probably referring to the 'Filter by Instruments' menu on musesore.com - not the program itself.
In reply to OP is probably referring to… by rmattes
N.B.: the instrument list in MS should probably label that instrument 'hammered dulcimer' since in (american) english the word 'dulcimer' alone often is a synonym for the appalachian/mountain dulcimer. And in my more than a quarter century of dulcimer playing I only once saw that instrument notated with a treble/bass system like a piano. The common notation for hammered dulcimers is a single system with violin clef.
In reply to OP is probably referring to… by rmattes
If so, this here is the wrong site, and the OP should try https://musescore.com/groups/improving-musescore-com
In reply to "I just found out that the… by cadiz1
Oh crap, I meant to write "is listed under percussion". Sorry for the misunderstanding.
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulcimer, the dulcimer is a stringed instrument even though it is struck rather than plucked. I would put it in the Plucked Strings category, or better still "World" category since it really isn't a common ensemble instrument.
In reply to According to https://en… by mike320
You're confusing Genre (here hammered dulcimer indeed may belong to the "World" genre, formerly "Ethnic") and Instrument group. And there it is under Percussion, putting it to Plucked Strings, together with Guitar is not appropriate I think. MusicXML ID is pitched-percussion.hammer-dulcimer
Wouldn't harpsichord also be plucked strings?
Wouldn't Piano be hammered strings?
In reply to You're confusing Genre (here… by Jojo-Schmitz
The difference with Harpsichord and Piano is that they both have keyboards. With a dulcimer you hold the hammer in your hand like the mallets for a xylophone. I understand putting the dulcimer in pitched percussion for that reason, but it's not considered a percussion instrument outside of MuseScore. It needs an instrument group to be placed in, so plucked strings is probably the most logical since it's more like a steel guitar than anything else. It's actually a type of zither, which surprisingly is missing from MuseScore all together.
There have been other discussions of Appalachian Dulcimers, which are sometimes simply called a dulcimer, except they are plucked and no doubt belong in the plucked strings.
In reply to The difference with… by mike320
"... but it's not considered a percussion instrument outside of MuseScore. "
What? I am a hammered dulcimer player and I certainly consider the instrument a pitched percussion instrument (and, at least over here it's an instrument optionally taught to the percussion students).
In reply to "... but it's not considered… by rmattes
Interesting. The instrument classification standard classifies it as a Chordophone which makes it a string instrument. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornbostel%E2%80%93Sachs#Board_zithers_(3… and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zither#Etymology (second paragraph). I can understand why it's taught to percussion students because it is played in a similar manner to xylophone type instruments. The vibrating strings that makes the sound is what makes it a string instrument related to the harp, it just has a really odd way of making sound for a string instrument.
To answer Jojo's earlier question, yes Pianos and Harpsichords are also Chordophones. The piano actually has a similar sound making technique to the hammered dulcimer, but it still has a keyboard, so in MuseScore's world it could fit no where else but Keyboard instruments.
In reply to Interesting. The instrument… by mike320
Of course Piano is a keyboard, because it is played with key.
For the exact same reason a hammered dulcimer is a pitched percussion, as it is play with hammers (?)
Maybe we should rename "Dulcimer" to "Hammered Dulcimer" and add "Mountain Dulcimer" (this to the "Plucked Strings" category and "World" genre)
Zithers are "Plucked Strings" instruments BTW (and would also belong to the "World" genre), also missing from the current list
In reply to Of course Piano is a… by Jojo-Schmitz
In reading about zithers for my response, it's not surprising a German would insist a zither is plucked, since the zithers of Germany are plucked. I read about other zithers of Europe that were played in a similar way to a dulcimer and a hammered dulcimer is considered a type of zither, while the Mountain (or Appalachian) Dulcimer is considered a type of lute like a violin or guitar.
While English is a robust language with a lot of words, it often lacks distinction between instruments by calling several instruments a zither (or even dulcimer) while a German, or other nationality, my call them by distinct names. I mention this because it is necessary to consider this when we put names into categories so they will make sense to both English speakers, the first language of MuseScore, and in translation for non-English speakers.
Translating into about 100 languages is a complicated task, even when native speakers are translating from English to their own.
In reply to In reading about zithers for… by mike320
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gS68v-7hY0
In reply to https://www.youtube.com… by cadiz1
very similar to the Salterio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7FCGIUqsDc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78ww4hVM04c
Edit That is https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salterio_(strumento_musicale)
for example present in the lyrics of https://musescore.com/user/56747/scores/1717386
So you could consider inserting the same instrument in the two families (and, as always, please excuse the intrusion)