Monday, December 7, 2009

More instruments I can't play

You have to check out this video of a kid playing Pachelbel's canon on two gayageums. A gayageum is a Korean zither or plucked harp of twelve strings. More like a harp in that there's no fretting, as there is with the zither, an instrument in which I have no interest, but like the zither in shape and orientation (rectangle laid flat on table or stand).

The kid is amazing. It starts slowly, but trust me, it gets seriously impressive.

It's also similar to the Japanese koto or Chinese guzheng, but not the same as the taisho-koto I eyed in a Tokyo flea market. That is a pianolin, which hasn't existed in the West since the Renaissance as far as I know (long rectangular box across the lap, press keys that do the fretting for you with the left, pluck with the right, only five strings).

I am pondering a purchase. If I go to Korea next summer, as I am also pondering, I might be able to get one then, though good luck to me getting it back.

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