Santur

Key takeaways

Santur belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Santur to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Santur from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The santur English: [SanToor] Persian: سنتور [sænˈt̪ʰuːɹ]) is a hammered dulcimer of Iranian origin.

History

The santur was invented and developed in Persia and its region. The earliest sign of it coming from Assyrian and Babylonian stone carvings (669 BCE); it shows the instrument being played while hanging from the player's neck. This instrument traveled and developed in different regions of the Middle East. Musicians modified the original design over the centuries, yielding a wide array of musical scales and tunings. The first santur were probably made of wood, perhaps with stone elements, and goat gut strings. According to Habib Hasan Touma, the Babylonian santur was the ancestor of the harp, the yangqin, the harpsichord, the qanun, the cimbalom, and the hammered dulcimers.

Name The name 'santur' comes from Persian sanṭīr, related to the Greek ψαλτήριον 'psalterion'. The Biblical Aramaic form psantērīn is found in the Book of Daniel 3:5.

Description The oval-shaped mezrabs (mallets) are feather-weight and are held between the thumb, index, and middle fingers. A typical Persian santur has two sets of nine bridges, providing a range of approximately three diatonic octaves. The mezrabs are made out of wood with tips that may or may not be wrapped with cotton or felt. The right-hand strings are made of brass or copper, while the left-hand strings are made of steel. A total of 18 bridges divide the santur into three positions. Over each bridge cross four strings tuned in unison, spanning horizontally across the right and left side of the instrument. There are three sections of nine pitches: each for the bass, middle, and higher octave called behind the left bridges comprising 27 tones altogether. The top "F" note is repeated twice, creating a total of 25 separate tones on the santur. The Persian santur is primarily tuned to a variety of different diatonic scales utilizing 1/4 tones which are designated into 12 modes (dastgahs) of Persian classical music. These 12 Dastgahs are the repertory of Persian classical music known as the Radif.

Derivations Similar musical instruments have been present since medieval times all over in Persian-influenced regions, including Armenia, China, Greece, India, etc. The Indian santoor, directly borrowed from the Persian santoor, is wider, more rectangular and has more strings. Its corresponding mallets are also held differently and played with a different technique. The eastern European version of the santur called the cimbalom, which is much larger and chromatic, is used to accompany Hungarian folk music, Eastern European Jewish music, and Slavic music, as well as Romani music.

Iraqi santur

The Iraqi santur (also santour, santoor) (Arabic: سنطور) is a hammered dulcimer of Mesopotamian origin. It is a trapezoid box zither with a walnut body and 92 steel (or bronze) strings. The strings, tuned to the same pitch in groups of four, are struck with two wooden mallets called "midhrab". The tuning of these 23 sets of strings extends from the lower yakah (G) up to jawab jawab husayni (A). The bridges are called dama ("chessmen" in Iraqi Arabic) because they look like pawns. It is native to Iraq, Syria, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran, Greece (the Aegean coasts) and Azerbaijan. It and the joza are the main instruments used in the classical Iraqi Maqam tradition. The instrument was brought to Europe by the Arabs through North Africa and Spain during the Middle Ages and also to China where it was referred to as the "foreign qin". The Iraqi santur has, since its inception, been fully chromatic, allowing for full maqam modulations. It uses 12 bridges of steel strings on both sides. Three of these bridges are movable: B half flat qaraar, E half flat, and B half flat jawaab. The non-standard version of the Iraqi santur includes extra bridges so that there's no need to move those three bridges. However, playing it is a bit harder than playing the standard 12-bridge santur.

Notable players

Iran

Iraq Notable players of the Iraqi santur include:

Greece

Players of the Greek Santouri include:

Tasos Diakogiorgis Aristidis Moschos

India Notable players of the Indian santoor include:

Ulhas Bapat (1950–2018) Tarun Bhattacharya (b. 1957) Rahul Sharma (b. 1972) Shivkumar Sharma (1938–2022) Abhay Sopori Bhajan Sopori (1948–2022) R. Visweswaran (1944–2007) Varsha Agrawal (b. 1967) Mohammad Tibet Baqal (1914–1982) Harjinder Pal Singh (b. 1953)

Germany Bee Seavers, disciple of Shivkumar Sharma (see above)

From around the world Versions of the santur or hammered dulcimer are used throughout the world. In Eastern Europe, a larger descendant of the hammered dulcimer called the cimbalom is played and has been used by a number of classical composers, including Zoltán Kodály, Igor Stravinsky, and Pierre Boulez, and more recently, in a different musical context, by Blue Man Group. The khim is the name of both the Thai and the Khmer hammered dulcimer. The Chinese yangqin is a type of hammered dulcimer that originated in Persia. The santur and santoor are found in the Middle East and India, respectively.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Santur

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Santur claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Santur before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Santur ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Santur

In research: Santur appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Santur in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Santur is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Arabic musical instruments, Azerbaijani musical instruments, Hammered box zithers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Santur outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Santur in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Santur means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Santur out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Santur in simple terms?

The santur English: [SanToor] Persian: سنتور [sænˈt̪ʰuːɹ]) is a hammered dulcimer of Iranian origin. History The santur was invented and developed in Persia and its region.

Why does Santur matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Santur?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Santur.