How the ground bow makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the ground bow belongs to the bar zithers: strings are stretched along a rigid bar or stick, often with a gourd resonator.
More broadly it is one of the chordophones (string instruments), where sound comes from vibrating strings, amplified by a resonating body.
Press play above and watch the spectrum: the evenly spaced peaks are harmonics, and their relative strength is what gives the instrument its character.
From Wikipedia
The ground-bow, also known as an earth-bow or ground harp, is a single-string bow-shaped folk musical instrument, classified as a chordophone. It is known in cultures of equatorial and south Africa, and in other cultures with African roots. It consists of a flexible stick planted into the ground (possibly a stripped sapling or a branch), with a string from its free end to a resonator of some kind based on a pit in the ground. It looks like a game trap or a child toy, therefore its distribution over Africa used to be overlooked. Hornbostel (1933) classified is in the category of harps, although it has combined characteristics of a harp and a musical bow.
The resonator may be a pit covered by a board, with string attached to it. Kruges describes several other constructions by Venda, e.g., the other end of a string is tied to a stone dropped into the pit, with string passing through the board covering the pit, etc.
Other bar zithers
Frequently asked questions
What does a ground bow sound like?
As one of the bar zithers, its sound comes from the way strings are stretched along a rigid bar or stick, often with a gourd resonator.
What type of instrument is the ground bow?
It is classified as bar zithers (Hornbostel–Sachs 311).
Sources & credits
- Wikidata Q25226698 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Ground bow – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by Unknown author Unknown author – Public domain