Hurdy-gurdy Hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a stringed instrument that produces sound by a hand crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a violin. Melodies are played on a keyboard that presses "tangents"—small wedges, typically made of wood—against one or more of the strings to change their pitch. Like most other acoustic stringed instruments, it has a sound board and hollow cavity to make the vibration of the strings audible. Most hurdy-gurdies have multiple drone strings, which give a constant pitch accompaniment
Anna Katharina Kränzlein across the hurdy-gurdy in 2000 when she met hurdy-gurdy maker Karl Riedl and built an instrument with him for her specialised course in music at school. Since the second Schandmaul album, she plays the hurdy-gurdy with the band, since the fourth album she also participates in texting and composing and with the fifth album she also contributed viola parts. From 1998 to 2000, Kränzlein read music at the Munich Conservatory with Urs Stieler. In 2001, she moved to the Saar University of Music at Saarbrücken where she studied with Ulrike Dierick. There she played with the University Orchestra under Max