That's a great kit-- makes a great dulcimer.
2 newly made instruments from musicmakerz
Ken, your lyre's are very very beautiful....and made to replicate really the REAL OLD ONES. wow. And....Lorraine, From the bottom note of the Old world Lyre....what note do you start with. "G"? and so when I go on up to the highest string...I have to skip the leading note, "B" and C is my highest string. Interesting that the olden days they were NOT sung with, but just played. hoooo boy. sooooooooo much to learn and so little time to learn it. Thanks so very much. aloha, irene
Lorraine and Ken, you have made some very nice instruments. I'm sure yours are nice as well Irene. I just can't see them at the moment. It is good that you play them for people so that they can get an idea of how music was made a long time ago.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
I do play them -- in the old style -- not singing along with the music. Lyres, at least the Anglo-Saxon lyres that I build, come from a tradition that pre-dates singing along with music.
The Cologne Lyre is GABcde, and the Oberflacht is tuned DEFABc
Irene,, yes they were a bit challenging ..esp putting the strings on the one..i just finished both of them this month...i tne the small one to c and the lg to d. One thing to do on the olde is to play melody and shen u run out of notes go to the lower note and play it there...so if you are playing the high e but the need to play the higher f and g go to the lower f and g and play them..it sounds pretty fine..i too play older songs on it
Interesting to see other maker's lyres. Here are two lyres I made: The smaller one, with the mango top, is a replica of the Cologne Lyre from an 8th century archeological site near that city. The larger is a replica of the Oberflacht 84 from a 7th century German archaeological site, with carved kolrose decorations from a Pictish standing stone.
updated by @ken-hulme: 11/14/18 10:38:27PM
I have made both of these when they first came out. I've had a lot of fun with the old World Lyre as I introduce folks to all my instruments as "and this is a Lyre and I'm telling you the truth".....yeah, I know, bad joke. I love using this lyre to play very old melodies and it fits to more minor then major tunes. I chord and sing with it. I always wish for just one more higher string. The Lynda Lyre has a LOT MORE STINGS...and I can play a lot of tunes on this. I just sit by the fire and hold it with my left hand play with the right.....I like the thick strings in the lower end. I like it that I've chosen to use the nylon (you can choose to have metal strings if you like)....I sapose it would be much more expensive to use gut strings and find ways to sharpen and change keys quickly, but I don't see much need for that. I have other instruments that I can change the keys fast. These are BOTH great instruments. Unique sound. Lots to add your own touch of painting or wood burnings. I painted tulips on the larger Lyre, and used some ground turquoise on the smaller old world lyre. Both of these are a little challenging to make....but worth the trouble. For those that might want to tune the larger lyre to the key of D to play with dulcimers....just sharpen the C's and F's in the tunings. easy. That would be really fun to try.
