Because first of all, there's no stand. You are holding the instrument and have to stabilize it yourself, meaning you need extremely good motor control because every strike affects your entire position in space.

Second of all, you are probably moving through space at the same time, because the last thing you want to do in null gravity is be stranded in the middle of the auditorium with no way to create velocity. So you're either paused in space until someone zooms past and takes you with them or yeets you in another direction, or you're constantly in flight.

Third of all if you're playing it with all four hands, I think it'd be vertical with a set of strings on either side rather than horizontal with one set of strings out of view.

Fourth of all: Nicol going absolutely bananas with her four-handed hammered dulcimer while an entire 3D ballet takes place around her really is a very good mental image that everyone should have.<3

(For those unfamiliar, Nicol's population was genetically engineered 200 years before main canon to have four arms instead of two arms and two legs, along with other alterations intended to make them good little null-gravity workers. Instead, they stole their space habitat and started an independent nation.)

(Nicol herself is smart, brave, determined, and an absolute madwoman on her instrument, and basically she's just really really good and should be appreciated.)

The question is, how to stabilize the dulcimer. Most of the time, when you see a large instrument supported off the ground, there are straps involved but gravity does a lot of the work; the body is basically working against gravity to hold the instrument upright.

Here, the instrument would have to be stabilized against the body while all four arms are busy with the hammers, so there'd be straps but I feel like there'd also be a portion of the dulcimer designed to be balanced against the body. Essentially, the body would be the instrument's "down."

Or looking at it another way, the body would be "up," providing a force which presses "down" against the dulcimer, and the straps would be preventing the dulcimer from falling away.

So then the question is how to arrange all this while keeping the arms free to move.

Someone like Nicol, who has lived most of her life in microgravity, would be very attuned to the big effects even small movements can have when there's no down-force or friction to keep objects in place.

Even our bodies adjust to such things very quickly; see the videos of astronauts back on Earth after long stretches of the ISS, absentmindedly trying to leave a pen or cup in the air next to them.

Useless, but my first thought was Tail! 🤭

Heeeee! Quaddies don't have tails, but they'd probably be very useful!

lol, yeah, I can imagine so! 🤭

It's clearly a major misstep on the part of those long-ago genetic engineers.

I'm sure some people (both legged and nonlegged) have had tails modded on recreationally; genetic engineering on the scale of whole new populations is illegal (partly due to how things went down back then, both for Nicol's people and for Bel's) but personal body mods for things like gills, blue skin, etc do happen.

(and of course there's a whole terrible planet where illegal things do happen for a price, but that's a whole book or few)

I kind of assumed they'd be on a framework like for tenor or snare drummers in marching bands--rigidly supporting them out from your body... and also that they were larger/more elaborate than traditional dulcimers (one of my all time favorite instruments)

Oooh, that sounds promising! Do you have an example of a framework like that? And yeah, I'd imagine it's either some kind of huge orchestral dulcimer or, since the performance described in Diplomatic Immunity is a historical drama, a smaller instrument designed to look like part of the performance.

Like a visually, though not actually, cheaper instrument the quaddies might have had access to before escaping.

It also might not be a Western-style instrument! (Canon certainly needs more non-Cetagandan Asian characters.)SPLATOON 2 - song “don’t slip” on Chinese hammered d...

Largest Dulcimer Ensemble in the World: Guiness Worl...
meanwhile here's what 424 dulcimers sounds like

Clearly! 🤭

Oooh, that's super neat that modifications are possible and accepted!

Idk if they are, it's not described in canon! XD

I keep searching for dulcimers in a marching-band or other mobile setting but can't find anything.

(Meanwhile, Bel about Miles probably....)

(they find it so easy to fall for stunningly talented people with huge hearts, and Nicol is no exception)

Oooh, I see! The stability would definitely be an asset here. It's still a setup where gravity's providing a significant stabilizing force, but I'm sure there's ways around that.

My first thought is "needs some VERY strong shoulders." XD

just strap it around instead of hanging it on

Yeah; I'm thinking about anchor points on a living being shifting in relation to each other, especially when all four limbs are moving