Scherr zither

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Scherr zither

The Scherrzither , also known as Kratzzither or Schlagzither, is an old peasant stringed instrument that belongs to the box zither and is used in alpine folk music . In particular, playing with the Scherr zither is cultivated in the Allgäu , in the neighboring Vorarlberg and Tyrolean regions, and in Upper Bavaria . Like the older Scheitholt , the narrow shape of the Scherr zither belongs to the drone zithers ; a variant with a wider, bulged body has no drone strings .

Regional names are Raffele in Tyrol, Zwecklzither in Vorarlberg and Scharr in Werdenfelser Land . In northern Germany and parts of Scandinavia, a similar instrument is called a bumblebee .

origin

The Scherr zither is a further development of the medieval Scheitholt and one of many early zither forms. It can be seen as a preliminary stage of today's concert zither. In the Allgäu, the use of the Scherr zither can be proven as early as 1675. Furthermore, the instrument is written about in old writings from the beginning of the 19th century, such as how it was played with it for dancing in the farmhouse parlor or at the dairy hut . There are still Scherrzithers, for example in the Oberstdorf Local History Museum, which can be dated to around 1800.

Design

The Scherr Zither consists of a resonator box having a shape of one side substantially asymmetrical flared and rounded rectangle and an attached fingerboard with diatonic arranged frets . Two metal strings with the same sound are stretched on it. One or more strings next to the fingerboard vibrates or resonates as a drone . Old instruments in particular are sometimes relatively different in shape and appearance, as they were not manufactured according to a uniform plan.

The diatonic arrangement of the frets only allows playing in certain keys . In the past, in order to be able to play melodies with other keys, twin or triple zithers were occasionally built with more than just one fingerboard.

With the fingers of the left hand, the melody on the fingerboard is gripped with one or more voices, while the right hand strokes the strings with a plectrum in rhythmic strokes. With faster hand movements a distinctive, tremolo-like sound is created.

In contrast to the normal zither, the Scherr zither has no free strings (accompanying strings). The missing accompaniment is therefore taken over by a second instrument, usually a guitar or bass guitar .

Style of play

In the Allgäu, playing with the Scherr zither was almost extinct at the beginning of the 20th century. At that time there is still a report of a man in Oberstdorf who mastered the instrument. His name was August Bader, or, as the people called him, Gorers Gustl , a shepherd and Holzer . If 18-year-old Max Schraudolf had n't met this August Bader by chance, the Scherrzither would probably only be found in the museum. Because Schraudolf was immediately enthusiastic about the almost extinct instrument, learned to play it and devoted himself to it for the rest of his life, so that it is played again throughout the Allgäu today. Michael Bredl made another contribution to the current distribution of this instrument .

In addition to several Scherr zither duos and trios, there are now nationally known folk music ensembles that have the Scherr zither in their instruments, such as the Fraunhofer string music .

Raffele

Raffele, built in 2013

A variant of the Scherr zither that is widespread in Tyrol is the somewhat larger Raffele , also called Raffelzither . While there is a great variety of historical designs, today's Raffelzithers usually have three playing strings (two a 'and one d' string) and no drone strings. The Raffele can also be recognized by a slightly more even bulge on the resonance box. In the Burggrafenamt ( South Tyrol ) a four-string variant is common (two a ', one d' and one g 'strings) with an additional chromatic fret (2nd from the left). This design was largely shaped by the music teacher Marianne Elsler in order to expand the limited play possibilities of the three-string design.

literature

Web links

Commons : Scherrzither  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Scherrzither building course ( Memento from January 23, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Day of the Zither ( Memento of January 24, 2005 in the Internet Archive )