Welcome to the World's Dulcimer Community.
Click any of the menu items at the top of the page to start
exploring. If you're new here, start with the Welcome menu.
Sign up for our FREE newsletters now!
Everything Dulcimer member Skip just started a new group in Dulcimer Life for learning and discussing theory.
This is perfect for beginners and all dulcimer players are welcome - hammered and fretted. What a great idea!
The first topic is understand intervals. What are they and why do they matter. Come join us and we'll learn together.
Some time in between supper and jam time at Kentucky Music Week, Karen Alley, James Reid and I put our heads together to solve a problem. This brainstorming session came after we noticed how long it takes for us to find some of the lesser used intervalic reaches on hammered dulcimer. The result of our meeting was a 2 page chart we call Overlooked Intervals that you can download by clicking here ---> 
Overlooked_Intervals.pdf .
Enjoy. - Dan Landrum
Doug Snapp of Columbus, OH alerted us to a great radio documentary about the late Anne Grimes produced by WOSO out of Columbus. Mrs. Grimes collected dulcimers and folk songs. To hear the show, visit http://www.wosu.org/allsides/?archive=1&date=07/29/2010 and scroll to the bottom of the page. You can use the player but they also include a link to download an MP3 of the show. Thanks, Doug!
"Everybody thinks you find folk music in the hills; you don’t — it’s in people’s heads." - Anne Grimes
Look below for links to future posts.
But, seriously, this is our queen, Jean Ritchie. She's our matriarch. This is her book. I really do love it. There are great photos, a nice section on the history of the mountain dulcimer, and a good treatise on why we should even play these things. There's a great bunch of tips on how to play. Then there's all the tunes that are really mainstays of our instrument. I want to read and play through this book with YOU. Get yourself a copy (You probably already have this on your shelf) and get ready to work through it together one section or tune every week or so. There's a lot of good stuff in here and I'd like to explore it (or re-explore it) with all y'all. I'll be back soon with thoughts on PART I: The Three Stringed Mountain Dulcimer as I Remember and Know It, In and Around Viper, Kentucky. Won't you join me? Tell me what you think. Let's get something going here! (If you're looking to order this book, try McSpadden Mountain Dulcimers or Folkcraft. I'll be glad to list other vendors that carry it. Just let me know.) See and add comments to this article. Visit my Everything Dulcimer blog to catch up with this series OR Try these direct links: Where to Get the Book |
Really clean luthiers? Not exactly. Everything Dulcimer member Pristine2 has been maintaining a great list of dulcimer makers and their contact info. The list is found in the Eveything Dulcimer Discussion Forum.
Check it out and use the forum to contribute any new builder information you may have. This link will take you directly there.
Thanks Pristine2 for compiling this great resource.
Notes on traditional styles of playing the mountain dulcimer and its European antecedents before the Folk Revival, and what 21st-century players can learn from old techniques and new media technology
Sooner or later, anybody who plays the Appalachian dulcimer has the dulcimer conversation. [1] I usually have it at Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site in Illinois, when visitors see me sitting on the porch of a country store going plinkety-twang on a musical instrument like nothing they've never seen before.
“What's that,” they ask.
“A dulcimer,” I tell ’em, even though I know what's probably coming next.
“Oh,” they say. “A dulcimer. What's that?”
Musical Piece Alphabet - dulcimerman Sunday, 05 September 2010 04:54 - [6939 replies]Let's play the song game! - dulcimerman Sunday, 05 September 2010 04:31 - [20854 replies]
Paying Attention to What You're Doing - waterpig master Sunday, 05 September 2010 04:05 - [38 replies]
скачать коды на call of duty 2 - diovawipaxold Sunday, 05 September 2010 02:41 - [0 replies]
Just got my hammered dulcimer today - fishingcat Saturday, 04 September 2010 23:23 - [3 replies]What Are Your Dulcimer Dreams? - danny900 Saturday, 04 September 2010 22:55 - [39 replies]A few more songs from Henry Kunz's zitter repertoi... - flint-hill Saturday, 04 September 2010 21:46 - [0 replies]Struggling with accuracy when playing fast - xingbridges Saturday, 04 September 2010 16:10 - [12 replies]
Greenville SC Dulcimer Club forming - kwl Saturday, 04 September 2010 11:13 - [3 replies]
Attention All Dulcimer Life Users - dfh Saturday, 04 September 2010 10:16 - [1 reply]
I love this book. I love the cover. I was 16 when I first saw it. I remember thinking, "What a head of hair!"
Canadian dulcimer player Sylvain LaCroix, along with his band, were recently featured on the NBC Today show. 
You can now quickly find teachers, events, builders and more with just one click. You find it all under the Resource Lists menu. Our menus are the same on every page, making sweet music out of finding your way around the site. Give 'em a strum, and be sure to click Get Connected to get started uploading pictures, showing off your YouTube videos, and writing your own dulcimer blog.
Before I'd ever heard of a mountain dulcimer, I was trying to figure out what a hammered dulcimer was. I had heard one on a Manheim Steamroller Christmas album. My grandmother knew about my search and called one day to tell me she was saving an article for me from the Cincinnati Enquirer. A few days later, during our regular Sunday visit, my grandma brought out the article. It wasn't about hammered dulcimers at all. Instead, it was all about an instrument I knew nothing about, the mountain dulcimer. I was disappointed and intrigued at the same time.
In the mosaic of faces that make up our memories, there are some selfless giants in all of our lives, I suspect. In my personal experience, I have been very fortunate to have benefited from many guides and mentors who have whispered sage advice at just the right time.
