I am looking into various stringed instruments that might have been portable enough for constant travelers to carry. One is the Gusli, in particular the 7-stringed version known as the winged gusli. It is a Russion Psaltry, used for folk type music. I did find one modern woman who plays the lap version of the gusli in Russia. Olga Shishkina lives in St. Petersburg, Russia. I listened to some of her music, available from her site. It sounds like a dulcimer, except it is plucked, not hammered or strummed.
Another instrument I am considering is the Japanese Shamisen. I have listened to a lot of music with them and have wanted one for years. However, it does tend to be played almost painfully high pitched. I have not heard the Yamatogoto played, but it looks less wieldy and fragile. If I had a choice, I’d probably buy a Yamatogoto over the Shamisen, basically because it is a native Nippon instrument, vs being imported from mainland Asia.
Another Japanese stringed instrument, the Biwa, was used by Biwa Hoshi, kind of a minstrel. This is my next one to investigate.
The problem with all of these instruments is that I can’t seem to find any sizes!!! Some of the pages have images, yes, but unless there is someone or something in the image to compare it to, I haven’t a clue if it would work. I don’t need to know how to play the thing, just the basics (strummed vs picked) and its size!
At any rate, I may just make one up since it is for a fiction manuscript. But that would be FAR too easy! 😳
The wooden flute one character will use and the small hand drum another will use is much easier to fake dissemble in the book. Another character plays a harp while at home, but that is rather awkward on the road. Perhaps she could use a different kind of psaltry.
Okay, well, anyway, back to work I go, hi ho, hi ho!
How about a mandolin? More compact than a dulcimer. I think they come in different sizes, too. If you ever see the old couple in a TV ad singing “Keep on the Sunny Side”, it’s a mandolin one of them is playing.
Yes, I am looking into that too. They do come in small sizes. Music is important in this book. I even wrote two songs to go along with it! No music, just the words. One is a series of limericks (bar song) and the other is a round.
The shamisen is large, longer than a guitar, more like a banjo. The Chinese pipa is more modest, and more melodious to my ears. But I’m prejudiced because of much time spent with Chinese culture and language.
I did a Wikipedia search and it is a nice looking instrument. I then found Liu Fang from there then found a CD of hers at Amazon which had sound files. Nice sound!
Just received a yamatogoto and can’t seem to find music for it, can any one help? Would like to learn how to play it, instructions in japanese.
If you have a University near you, see if there are any students from Japan there. They could help with the basics.
As for any other source, I guess try the library. Maybe Gutenberg has a book online.
http://www.gutenberg.org/
Good luck! I am envious!