(1993-06-22)

Measuring 13 inches by 19 inches, this Marxophone has a faceplate showing the C to C scale above the tongues, and Patent No. 1044553.

Chordophones are musical instruments whose sound is produced by a vibrating chord or string. When a hammer, mallet, or beater is used to strike the chord, the instrument belongs to the percussion family. Two types of chordophones categorized this way are the Marxophone and the Yang Chin. Manufactured by, and named after the Marx family, the Marxophone is modeled after the autoharp. Instead of strumming the strings and pressing chorded buttons like an autoharp, however, only the lower strings are strummed. The melody is played by depressing weighted, metal tongues. When a tongue is depressed, it bounces repeatedly on the melodic strings resulting in a tremolo effect. The instrument has a two-octave melodic range, from middle C to high C, with four major chords (C, G, F, D) tuned for the strummed, chordal accompaniment. The Yang Chin is the Chinese version of the hammered dulcimer or zither, arriving there from the Mid-East ca. 1800. The instrument consists of rows of wire strings strung over a bridge, resulting in two pitches for each group of strings. The lower register is strung with two wires per pitch, and the upper register with four wires per pitch. Each register has nine rows of strings, resulting in 36 total pitches. The instrument is played by striking a group of strings with two small, broad-headed hammers.

Two hammers for use with the Yang Chin.

(1993-02-15)

This Yang Chin is trapezoidal in shape, measuring 23 inches on the top, 16 inches on each side, and 37 inches on the longest side.