Dictionary of Music - Birding America

Zwilich, Ellen Taaffe 481twenty-one being the most common number inmodern times. The bridges divide the strings intotwo sections, the righthand one for open strings thatare plucked, the lefthand one for strings that arepressed down or released for ornaments (such asvibrato) and pitch changes. The instrument rests on atable or stand, and the player’s right hand pluckswith the nails (real or artificial) for single notes,octaves, or harmonies, while the left presses downon the strings. Occasionally the left hand will alsoplay melody strings along with the right. The zhengis a very old instrument, mentioned in sources datingback 2,500 years. Sofia Gubaidulina scored for it ina 1999 composition.ziemlich (tsim′ liKH) German: “quite.” A wordused in such musical directions as ziemlich schnell,“quite fast.”Zimbel (tsim′b ə l).The German word for CYMBAL.zingara, alla (ä′ lä tsin gä′ rä) Italian. Also, allazingarese (ä′lä tsin gä rā′ze). A direction to performin gypsy style.Zink (tsink) German.The old CORNETT.zither (zith′ər) 1 A folk instrument of South Germany,Austria, and Switzerland. It consists of a flat,shallow wooden box with a large sound hole; overthe box are stretched a few melody strings and severaldozen accompaniment strings. The melodyfig. 270 p/u from p. 503twenty-five to forty or more, are made of gut ornylon and are tuned in a variety of ways. The playerstops the melody strings with the left hand andstrikes them with a plectrum worn on the thumb ofthe right hand; the other fingers of the right handstrum the accompaniment strings. The melodystrings are tuned in several different ways; two commontunings are A A D G C and A D G G C (shownin the accompanying example). 2 A general term forfig. 271 p/ufrom p. 503any instrument in which strings are stretched over asoundboard without a neck. Examples include thevarious kinds of PSALTERY, whose strings areplucked, and the DULCIMER, whose strings arestruck.zögernd (tsŒ′gernt) German. A direction to performin a hesitant manner, holding back the tempo.zoomoozophone (zoo — moo — ′zə fōn′′). See underMICROTONE.zoppa, alla (ä′lä tsôp′pä) Italian. A direction toperform in a syncopated rhythm, using the SCOTCHSNAP or a similar pattern.zouk (zoo — k) Creole: “party.” A style of Caribbeandance music using synthesizers as well as traditionalinstruments, such as the Antillean horizontal logdrum. Produced mainly in Paris, France by musiciansfrom Martinique and Guadeloupe, it combineselements of Caribbean and African music in asophisticated way.zurückhaltend (tsoo — rYk′häl tent) German:“holding back.” A direction to perform somewhatmore slowly.strings, usually five in number and made of metal,are on one side of the box, over a fingerboard providedwith frets (to indicate stopping positions). Theaccompaniment strings, numbering anywhere fromZwilich (zwil′ək), Ellen Taaffe (tāf), 1939– .An American composer who in 1983 became thefirst woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for compositionfor her First Symphony. Trained as a violinist,Zwilich wrote primarily instrumental