(Fr. médiator, plectre; Ger. Dorn, Kiel, Plektrum, Schlagfeder; It. plettro).
A general term for a piece of material with which the strings of an instrument are plucked. Tinctoris called the plectrum of antiquity ‘pecten’ and that of the Middle Ages ‘penna’ (quill). Ancient Greek sources used the terms ‘plectron’ and ‘pecten’. Plucked instruments with stopped strings and more specifically lute-type instruments – such as the biwa of Japan and the Western lute itself up to the late 15th century – have often been played with a plectrum, in some instances a rather large one (see Japan, fig.17), in others a more delicate type (see Lute, fig.7).
Sources since the Middle Ages describe plectra made from eagles’ talons as well as ones of wood, metal (see Sitār, fig.1c), ivory, bone, tortoiseshell, parchment and quill. The use of synthetic material, such as nylon or plastic, for plectra is now almost universal. Medieval Arabic writings describe the use of plectra on the lute. In muslim Spain the musician Ziryāb (d 852) was accredited with replacing the traditional wooden plectrum with one made from an eagle’s talon. This material was said to be successful because of its subtle tip, its purity, and its flexibility between the fingers; the strings also lasted longer. Eagle’s talon or tortoiseshell plectra are still somtimes used by ’ūd players, although synthetic materials are now more common.
Iconographical evidence shows the use of a bird’s feather quill by European lute players, but that the transition to thumb-and-index-finger technique took place between about 1460 and 1500, although the two techniques must have co-existed over a long period. The duets in various 16th-century publications of lute music (e.g. F. Spinacino: Intabulatura de lauto, Venice, 1507/R), while specifying the use of thumb-and-finger technique, preserve a style of single-note lines and chordal playing that in many cases could be played with a plectrum, and is clearly descended from the extemporary playing technique of the previous century. This style is evident in some of the pieces in the ‘Pesaro Manuscript’ (c1500, I-PESo 1144).
The initial sound of a string set into vibration by a plectrum is naturally more akin to that of a string plucked by a fingernail than by the flesh of the finger. A plectrum facilitates tremolando effects (as on the mandolin) and vigorous strumming, but does not favour the kind of polyphonic texture that was cultivated on the high-Renaissance lute and vihuela. Psaltery-type instruments, such as the zither and the Middle Eastern qānūn, are likely to be played with a plectrum (see Qānūn), but harps virtually never are, as the player often has a relatively unclear view of the strings and so tends to rely on the sense of touch to help distinguish them. The term also refers to the small tongue which plucks the string of a harpsichord (it may be of leather or plastic instead of quill). A modern technique of virtuoso melodic playing with a ‘pick’ or ‘flat-pick’ (plectrum) on a (normally steel-strung) guitar is often referred to as ‘flat-picking’.
J. Tinctoris: De inventione et usu musicae (Naples, c1481)
W. Bachmann: Die Anfänge des Streichinstrumentenspiels (Leipzig, 1964, 2/1966; Eng. trans., 1969)
V. Ivanoff: ‘Das Lautenduo im 15. Jahrhundert’, Basler Jb für historische Musikpraxis, viii (1984), 147–62
V. Ivanoff: Das Pesaro-Manuskript: ein Beitrag zur Frühgeschichte der Lautentabulatur (Tutzing, 1988)
E. Neubauer: ‘Der Bau der Laute und ihre Besaitung nach arabischen, persischen und türkischen Quellen des 9. bis 15. Jahrhunderts’, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften, viii (1993), 279–378
VLADIMIR IVANOFF
