is a
much disputed question. Some say there were but three and that they
represented the three seasons--spring, summer, and winter--into which it
was the custom of the Greeks to divide their year. Some authorities
claim that the strings numbered four. Others say there were seven. No
one knows. The Greek harp was played by picking the strings with the
fingers or with a plectrum. The latter was a small piece of bone or
metal, held in the fingers, with which the strings were snapped.
Sometimes a short piece of wood was used to strike the strings.

[Illustration: Spinet]

[Illustration: Queen Elizabeth's Virginal]

A step forward in the evolution of the stringed instrument was made
during the Middle Ages when the psaltery became popular. It consisted of
a box with strings across it, and records for us the first attempt at a
sounding board. This was followed by the dulcimer, which closely
resembled it but was somewhat larger. A plectrum was used to play them
both.

A very good idea of the psaltery and dulcimer may be obtained from the
xylophone. This instrument has bars of wood or metal which are struck
with a wooden mallet. The keyboard was invented in the eleventh century.
It was applied first to an instrument called a clavier and later to the
organ. The first stringed instrument to which this new device was
applied was the clavicytherium, or keyed cithara. It had a box with a
cover and strings of cat-gut, arranged in the form of a half triangle.
It was made to sound by means of a quill plectrum attached in a rude way
to the end of the keys. This was the progress the piano of today had
made in the thirteenth century.

Next in order of development comes the monochord, clarichord, or
clavichord, the latter being the name by which it is generally known. As
it was the instrument most used during the six centuries which followed,
it is worthy of close study. In shape it much resembled a small square
piano without frame or legs. The strings were of brass, struck by a
wedge made of the same metal which was called a tangent. It was capable
of soft tones only, but they were very sweet and melancholy. The elder
Bach loved this instrument. He did not take kindly to the piano which
was about to supplant his beloved clavichord. One regrets that he could
not have lived to have seen it perfected. In playing the music written
by Bach we must remember that he wrote entirely for the clavichord. The
instrument he used was, without dou