kypfer
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A friend of mine sent me these snaps of an instrument he was shown in a museum near Groningen, Netherlands yesterday.
Looks more like a zither or psaltery to me, apparently it's played with a bow, but it's called a "uke" so I thought some here might find it interesting
View attachment 118165
View attachment 118166
They were sold door to door for awhile and advertised as a way to play violin without having to learn to play violin. I've never seen anyone play one well, not even on Youtube.
They were sold door to door for awhile and advertised as a way to play violin without having to learn to play violin. I've never seen anyone play one well, not even on Youtube.
Haha, no one "takes a stab" at violin and does well. Start at age 5. Practice 8 hours every day. Then you might play good enough to enjoy playing it!Interesting instruments! We've been thinking o taking a stab at violin, but haven't yet.
BTW, If you are want them they are available at good prices on Ebay;
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=ukulele+violin
I taught school for over 30 years. Each new school I taught at, starting in 1967, had a dusty, out-of-tune Autoharp in a store room. I would get them out, repair and clean them and tune them up. When the other teachers heard my class singing to the Autoharp, they wanted to use them too, and we often had sign-up sheets for folks to use the Autoharp. When I moved to a new school and talked to the teachers in the school I'd left, I would ask how much use the Autoharp was getting. They'd usually say, "It went out of tune, so nobody uses it any more."Good grief! Imagine tuning these before electronic tuners. You'd need a whole set of tuning forks like the piano tuners used to have and one heck of an ear for exact notes.
Really interesting thread.
I've always wanted to learn violin, but I don't think my cat's ears would thank me for it! She seems to enjoy the uke, though...Haha, no one "takes a stab" at violin and does well. Start at age 5. Practice 8 hours every day. Then you might play good enough to enjoy playing it!
For those who are curious what they would sound like