Hackbrett

The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-string instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more traditional styles may sit cross-legged on the floor, or in a more modern style may stand or sit at a wooden support with legs. The player holds a small spoon-shaped mallet or hammer in each hand to strike the strings. The Graeco-Roman word dulcimer ('sweet song') derives from the Latin dulcis ('sweet') and the Greek melos (μέλος, 'song'). The dulcimer, in which the strings are beaten with small hammers, originated from the psaltery, in which the strings are plucked.