Everything about citerka
“Citerka” means “little zither” in English. Zither was once very popular instrument in Central Europe, almost every family in every town had at least one and many many people played it. We hope many many children can play our citerka in the near future :-).
Why do we work on spreading this very instrument for kids? A few years ago, Kamila Zenklová, who sells it and who writes all the sheet music for it, was trying to find a suitable musical instrument for her daughter. Something easy to play, with no need of difficult technique, so that the kid could play it without any help, lightweight, so that the child could carry it easily wherever she or he wants, and, last but not least, with tonal range suitable for little children of the preschool age to sing along with. Citerka meets all these requirements and what's the best, kids love it. This is why Kamila started to work on spreading it among all the children we can reach :-).
Since we live and work in the Czech Republic, most of our materials are in Czech. Other languages will follow.
By now, you can buy these (please, note, that the stated ages are not exact, take them only as indicative):
- Citerka + startovací sada – Lidovky 1 – that's our “starter”, most people buy it together with citerka. It's a set of 16 Czech folk songs, in the six-tone range, suitable for four-year-olds. The set also includes 8 methodological sheets, lyrics and chords (for guitar or piano) for adults to help children get the most out of the music.
- Lidovky 2 – the second set of Czech folk songs, this one in the eight-tone range. It's suitable for five-year-olds, consists of 20 songs and 4 methodological sheets, lyrics and chords.
- Lidovky 3 – the third set of Czech folk songs, again in the six-tone range, suitable for four-year-olds. 23 songs, 1 methodological sheet – this one shows adults how to help kids use the pentatonic scale for to accompany the songs. This method is usable for beginners and very little kids giving them the chance to “make music“ by themselves. Lyrics and chords for guitar (or piano) included.
- Lidovky s doprovody – 24 Czech folk songs for six-year-olds, in the six-tone range; these are with accompaniment. 11 songs are in two parts (voices), 11 songs are accompanied with chords and 2 of them have both two voices and chords. Lyrics and chords for guitar (or piano) included.
- Koledy české – 22 Czech Christmas carrols with accompaniment. Lyrics and chords for guitar (or piano) included.
- Koledy zahraniční – 12 Christmas carrols in several languages (English, German and others). With accompaniment. Lyrics and chords for guitar (or piano) included.
- Sada pro ZUŠ – set for music schools, so far only in Czech. 13 methodological sheets, 3 songs with accompaniment.
- Slovenská sada – 24 Slovak folk songs for very little children. Lyrics and chords for guitar (or piano) included.
- Anglická sada – 22 English nursery rhymes for very little children. Lyrics and chords for guitar (or piano) included.