ABSOLUTELY MUSIC TO THE EARS “GREENSLEEVES” ON BOWED PSALTERY

In 1973, I got my first Bowed Psaltery and played this tune in a week, I was so excited! Dave Lucas, "Dave's Psalteries" built me this Bowed Psaltery. The most ancient stringed musical instrument was one single string tuned to a note, the Monochord.

Where and when a monochord was first played upon by dragging a rosined stick or horse hair bow across it is lost in the mists of time. Any early version of the Bowed Psaltery would probably have had a scale of strings available to be plucked as well as bowed. In Europe in the 1800's it developed into the Violin-Zither which has chordally arranged strum strings as well as individually bowed strings.

The modern chromatic Bowed
Psaltery using modern metal strings is gaining in popularity around the world.