Technical question

[Evelyn]

I am curious to learn how others would play the c/a combination I've circled in red (below). Would you use the second a string for the a, or would you play the a (with your thumb) on the d string? Can't make up my mind which is correct, but perhaps there are several ways?

zither.jpg (104.56 KiB) Viewed 10221 times

[kenbloom]

It depends on the sound that you want. You could certainly use an open A string for the A/C combination and it would be a convenient way to do it. You would not be able to add vibrato to the interval doing it that way and on many zithers the open string has a different tone quality to the fretted one.
Plklaying it all fretted would give you the option of adding vibrato. It is also more demanding on the left hand. When it comes to fingering there is no "correct" answer. there is only efficient or inefficient to achieve a particular artistic goal. In the end, it is a deciosn of what sounds best and only you can make that decision.

Ken Bloom
http://www.boweddulcimer.org

[kenbloom]

As far as fingering goes, I often use my little finger for things like this rather than my thumb. I find that less cumbersome. YMMV.

Ken Bloom
http://www.boweddulcimer.org

[Evelyn]

Thank you very much, Ken, for your opinion, which is greatly appreciated. Playing the piece all fretted sounds nicer, to my ears anyway, so this is what I am doing.

Re fingering - I only ever use the little finger of my right hand (for playing contrabass strings), but am guessing that I've probably not experimented quite as much as you have.

[kenbloom]

I came from a guitar and woodwind background. I have always gone with the idea that there was no reason not to use every finger I had. As I progressed in my playing, I was gifted with the Hintermeyer books for the right hand and they freed up my thinking about which fingers to use where. I will often use my little finger on the bass strings.
From my guitar playing and woodwind playing, my little finger on the left hand was already something that was more than just useful. I saw no reason not to use it on the zither. I began to work out fingerings for scales using all five fingers and no open strings. This has proved to be very useful over the years.

Ken Bloom
http://www.boweddulcimer.org