String tambourine

Enormous sonority and
easy play

The string tambourine originally comes from France, where it was used in the Middle Ages as an accompaniment instrument, similar to a hammered dulcimer or a chorded zither. Each chord is made up of three strings which are hit with a mallet, a plectrum or the fingertips.

The string tambourine is ideal for people who like singing but up to now have not had a simple accompaniment instrument for that.

String tambourine - Manufactory Meerklang

Sound

The string tambura has an enormous fullness of sound and is extremely simple to play. It is both a plucked string instrument and a percussion instrument at the same time. No matter how it is played, it always produces a  deep, wide, very warm and all-encompassing sound.

As with all Meerklang instruments, it sounds very good in combination with other classical instruments.

Applications

The string tambourine is suited to accompanying songs with chords, similar to a guitar. And yet it is much simpler to play because you only have to hit the chords and don’t have to change the fingering as with guitar chords.

  • Accompaniment of songs

  • School music lessons

  • early musical education

  • Music therapy

  • Geriatrics

  • Sound meditation

  • Sound therapy

  • Improvisation

  • Sound healing

It has proved very useful as an accompaniment instrument in school music-making, because both children and teachers can learn to accompany songs with it in a short time.

During the Jekits project the string tambourine was used very successfully in many schools throughout Germany.

Photos