A jew’s-harp is a musical instrument consisting of a simple frame with a vibrating central prong; it’s held against the teeth to play, using the mouth as a resonating cavity.  It was also known as a “jew’s-trump” in period, and a “mouth harp” in modern times.  The jew’s-harp is a period charge, found in the arms of Brenntl, 1548 [Vigil Raber’s Armorial of the Arlberg Brotherhood of St. Christopher, fo.120]; the instrument itself is illustrated in Virdung’s Musica Getutscht, 1511 [Montagu 91].  The jew’s-harp has its prong to chief by Society default.

Barak Raz bears:  Per pale sable and azure, a jew’s-harp Or.

Torleif Sverkerssen Hvide bears:  Gules, three jew’s-harps inverted Or.

Zoe Doukaina bears as a badge:  Argent, a jew’s-harp purpure.

A harp is a stringed musical instrument, with many strings stretched across an open triangular frame.  As an heraldic charge, it appears c.1450, in the arms of Lantschad or Landschaden [Ingeram 268].  The harp was frequent in arms attributed to King David; it acquired its present association with Ireland under the Tudors.

There are many variants of the harp in heraldry, depending on time and place.  The most common form is the “Irish (or Celtic) harp” or “cloyshacke”, as in the illustration:  this may always be used if no other form has been specified in the blazon.  Some Society blazons specify the shape of the forepillar (e.g., “carved in the shape of a woman’s body”), but this was not done in period; it’s considered an artistic detail worth no heraldic difference.   In Society armory, the harp has the forepillar to dexter by default; a “harp proper”, like all wooden charges, is brown.

For related charges, see lyre.  See also jew’s-harp.

The Ministry of Arts bears:  Purpure, an Irish harp Or.

Milla Meadows bears:  Sable, three harps argent.

Theodosius Athanasius bears:  Argent, a Byzantine harp azure, a bordure compony azure and Or.

The zither is a stringed musical instrument, or rather, a family of instruments, with strings stretched over a flat shallow box.  Unlike the harp, the strings were not free-standing; and unlike the lyre, the zither had no yoke.  It differed from the psaltery in that the strings’ notes were determined, not by their length, but by frets, bridges, or finger pressure; it could be played by strumming, plucking with a plectrum, or striking with hammers.  Though a period instrument, we’ve found no examples of the zither in medieval heraldry.

One form of zither (in a sense, the generic zither) is a long slender soundbox with three or four strings; it’s found in a fresco in the church of Rynkeby, Denmark, c.1560 [Grove 27:858].  This form evolved into the Swiss “scheitholt”, described in Praetorius’ Syntagma Musica, 1619, and the more ornate “epinette des Vosges” of France, post-period – and eventually to the modern “Appalachian dulcimer”, so-called though not actually a dulcimer.  The modern forms are no longer registerable, pending documentation.

The “dulcimer”, in its true sense, is a specific form of zither, a broad box with many strings.  It’s a period instrument, shown in a Flemish painting Mary Queen of Heaven c.1485 [Remnant 117].  In period, the dulcimer was always played by hammering; in modern parlance, it’s best to blazon it fully as a “hammered dulcimer”.

All zithers are shown with the strings facing the viewer by default; when blazoned “proper”, they are of brown wood.  No heraldic difference is granted between the various kinds of medieval zither.

Miriel d’Estoile bears:  Per bend argent and azure, a compass star azure and in bend a feather argent and a fretted zither Or.

Cadwan Galwiddoe of Redmarch bears:  Gules, on a bend between two mullets of eight points argent, a ram’s-headed scheitholt sable, detailed gules.

Dulcinea Margarita Teresa Velasquez de Ribera bears as a badge:  A hammered dulcimer Or.