Memory (from Cats) played on a 6-chord zither 

Wow, didn't expect to find you in the comments. Never seen the musical.

Kris Music #

It is like playing a tune with one finger on a piano. My right hand plays the melody following a pattern of diamonds and dots which you can see on the instrument. You get used to the pattern, a bit like a keyboard with black and white keys. My left hand strums chords. There are 6 six chords. It is a bit like a singer who sings a melody and strums a guitar playing the right chords along with the melody.

Etienne de Lavaulx thanks so much for answering my question! I just got a zither myself. I’m finding it hard to play the music fast enough because I look at the music and then at the strings to see which I need to pluck. Do you memorize each piece of music or can you play the zither without looking at it because you know where the strings are? Thanks again!

Hi Gabrielle. In the process of learning a new piece, you would have to look at the music and the strings alternatively, starting slowly, but eventualy you will need to memorize the piece. I have never been able to play without looking at the strings. I play all my pieces from memory. I have one advantage: all the pieces I play I have arranged or composed for the chord - zither. As I arrange or compose a new piece, I play it repeatedly and that way I memorize it. But I have to keep revising my whole repertoire on a regular basis otherwise I may forget some pieces. It is the same with classical guitar; it is very hard to sight read music specially while going up to higher positions along the neck. I've never been good at it. I wish you the best!

Wow! Thank you so much! This was very helpful. I felt like maybe I had to memorize, but it was so great to get an opinion from someone who is such an excellent player themselves. Many thanks for responding so quickly and such a detailed helpful response!

@@gabrielle4howe p

It depends which strings you want to replace. You can contact me via my website at etiennedelavaulx.com.au for further details. Cheers.

Hello Thomas. Thank you for your interest. I hope this will help. Cheers, Etienne What strings do I use? There are three types of strings used: 1) Plain strings: For a full restring, use piano/music wire. You will need sizes 9 to 5. Eg: PIANO WIRE / Original Röslau piano steel wire available from Ebay. For a few replacement strings, use guitar steel strings of the same gauge as the broken one, or the string next to the broken one. You need a micrometre to measure the gauge or take the broken string to your nearest music shop and they will measure its gauge. 2) Thin wound strings: Use wound steel guitar strings. These can be purchased from your local music store or from Ebay* (Eg: SIT Phosphor Bronze Wound Acoustic Guitar Single String). You will need sizes 0.032”and 0.026” 3) Thick copper bass strings: These strings are wound with a copper wire within the length of the vibrating section only (they wouldn’t fit through the pin hole), therefore they have to be custom made. These can be ordered from a string manufacturing company such as Lenzner in Germany (www.lenzner-strings.de). When ordering, you will need to specify: 1) The pitch 2) The vibrating length 3) The length of the copper winding should be about 30mm less than the vibrating length. 4) Ask for no loop and 180mm extra at each end (you will make your own loop).

@@guitarzither thank you so much! I was recently gifted a Musima Zither from my Great Aunt, but I am having a hard time identifying the type of Zither. Would it be possible for me to send you a picture of what the Zither looks like? I want to restore it. I am new to Zithers, and there is not much documentation around the model I possess. Thank you again!

@@Tarangot Sure, Please email me via my website etiennedelavaulx.com.au

Dennis Rickman: and to play it! Imagine bringing out such beautiful music from this instrument! Wow!

Dear Graciela, This is my 6 chord zither. It is the same from right to left as my 5 chord zither, plus E minor (Ebass, gbe) on the left. My 5 chord zither is tuned like this: from right to left: C Major (C bass gce), A minor (A bass ace), F Major (F bass acf) D minor, (D bass adf) G Major G bass bdg). However, with the 6 chord zither I use slightly different tunings. For this piece, I tune D minor to D major (f to f#) as D major is needed in the middle section. If I want D minor, I stop the f# string with my thumb (see at 1.54). For some other pieces (Eg: The Wayfaring Stranger) which are in the Key of A melodic minor, I use D minor and E major (Ebass, g#be). Cheers, Etienne

Etienne de Lavaulx Muchas gracias por tu respuesta, ha sido de mucha utilidad, intentaré nuevas afinaciones. Saludos desde Bariloche, Graciela

It's easy to play. The difficulty is in getting the right instrument, tuning it the right way (to the right notes) and keeping it in tune.