also allowed for it to be steadily placed in the lap in a vertical position, resting the shorter edge of kokles against the stomach and placing both arms on the instrument for extra comfort and stability. Strumming is done with the right hand's index finger, while the left hand is used for muting unwanted strings by lightly placing fingers on them. An alternative string muting technique found in Latgale features the fingers being inserted in-between the strings, but such option heavily restricts the movement of the left arm. The left hand can also be used for picking strings. Tuning Tuning of the kokles is a diatonic scale, with some lower strings traditionally functioning as drones. A few traditional tuning variations include D-G-A-H-C for 5-stringed kokles written down by Andrejs Jurjāns at the end of the 19th century, D-C-D-E-F-G-A for 7-stringed kokles and D-C-D-E-F-G-A-H-C for 9-stringed kokles both used by traditional suiti kokles player Jānis Poriķis. However, as kokles began to be constructed with more strings and Latgale kokles became the dominant type of kokles among many other factors, the drone strings have gradually lost their function and become just a lower range extension of the kokles' diapason. Since the 1980s, the most popular tunings among kokles players for 11-stringed kokles are G-A-C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C (GA) and G-A-C-D-E-F-G-A-B♭-C (GA-b♭). Types In his book "The Baltic Psaltery and Playing Traditions in Latvia" (Kokles un koklēšana Latvijā) Latvian ethnomusicologist Valdis Muktupāvels distinguishes 3 types of traditional kokles – Kurzeme kokles (Kurzemes kokles), Latgale kokles (Latgales kokles) and zither kokles (cītarkokles) – and 3 types of modernised kokles – the so-called 15-stringed Krasnopjorovs'-Ķirpis' diatonic kokles (Krasnopjorova-Ķirpja diatoniskās kokles) and the concert kokles (koncertkokles) both designed in the Latvian SSR in 1940s to 1960s, as well as the so-called 13-stringed Linauts'-Dravnieks'-Jansons' kokles (Linauta-Dravnieka-Jansona kokles) that emerged in the Latvian American community in the 1960s. Kurzeme kokles In the Latvian historical region of Kurzeme kokles are traditionally constructed smaller in size and without a "wing", but with more ornate carvings and ornaments. It also usually has fewer strings than Latgale kokles, ranging from 5 to 6 stings for the ones found at the west coast of Kurzeme and Selonia to 7, 8 or even 9 strings for the suiti inhabited areas. On May 17, 2015, during Latvia's presidency of the Council of the European Union, a Kurzemes kokles built by the crafter Jānis Rozenbergs was donated to the