Origins and History of the DulcimerThe dulcimer is a member of the string family. It is further classified in the family of Psalters, a group of instruments composed of strings stretched over a frame and played by plucking or drumming. In fact, the only difference between the dulcimer and the psalter is that one is plucked and the other played on a drum. The dulcimer family is divided into two sections. Dulcimers with keys and dulcimers without keys. A dulcimer with keys would be played by pressing a key which would move a mechanism which would cause a hammer to strike the string. The most improved instrument in the key dulcimer section is the piano. Dulcimers played without the aid of a key usually have the unusual shape of a trapezoid. The first descriptions of this instrument, dating back to the Middle Ages, describe it as a rectangular box whose strings are stretched over two bridges. Single and double bridge dulcimers are common in traditional Irish music. It is played by striking the strings with a padded wooden hammer. The dulcimer is generally thought to have arrived in Europe from the East in the 15th century. This can't be true. The dulcimer is closely related to the yang ch'in of China. However, the yang ch'in was introduced to China around 1800. A similar traditional dulcimer found its way to Korea around 1725. The dulcimer originated in present-day Iraq, under the name santir, from an instrument Greek, the Psalter. The santir was a trapezoidal box covered with strings. It was played by hitting the strings with glow sticks. From there, the Arabs carried the santir across North Africa where it became integrated into Jewish culture. From North Africa it was transported to Spain, because a sculpture was discovered in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, dated 1184. It is not known why the Irish make mention of the timpani, a generic term for any member of the psalter family, used by Saint Patrick in the 6th century, six hundred years before dulcimers were first introduced to Spain from North Africa. Dulcimers grew in popularity in churches and cathedrals throughout the 14th century. But in the 16th century, as the violin and wind instruments became more and more fashionable, the dulcimer all but disappeared. For the next two hundred years, this phenomenon went unnoticed. In 1705, Pantaleon Hebenstreit presented the French King Louis XIV with a slightly revised dulcimer..