Hammered dulcimer

The hammered dulcimer is a percussion instrument and stringed instrument with the strings stretched over a trapezoidal sounding board. Typically, the hammered dulcimer is set on a stand, at an angle, before the musician, who holds small mallet hammers in each hand to strike the strings. The Graeco-Roman dulcimer derives from the Latin dulcis and the Greek melos. The dulcimer, in which the strings are beaten with small hammers, originated from the psaltery, in which the strings are plucked. Various types of hammered dulcimers are traditionally played in Iraq, India, Iran, Southwest Asia, China, and parts of Southeast Asia, Central Europe, the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. The instrument is also played in the United Kingdom and the U.S., where its traditional use in folk music saw a notable revival in the late 20th century.