Why Play Mountain Dulcimer

[brashley46]

Bonnie in Houston wrote,

As to key changes, my chromatic dulcimers take care of that little difficulty quite nicely. As far as I'm concerned I have no limits.

Some of us like frantically retuning! Gives me something to talk about between tunes.

[Bonnie in Houston]

Yes, but with a chromatic you have the option...

[dingoII]

Its the K thing. And do you realize if you do not have a voice, it still sounds good. Plus all the dulcimer people are cool.

[montana]

Why I play the MD. I've never learned music; but always wanted to play some instrument, without all the "hard" learning. The Mountain Dulcimer fits this requirement perfectly! I was "playing" a tune the first time I picked my first dulcimer up! This is so encouraging, and so enjoyable to be able to do this; so, my question is; Why NOT play Mountain Dulcimer?

[recap]

Au contraire, my friend! If I had, say, a guitar or a violin few people, if any, would ask me about my instrument for the simple reason they knew what it was. People see my dulcimer and are intrigued because it is anything but "common".

Bonnie,

My fault for not being clear. I did not mean "common" in the usual sense (e.g., "She spent the day sneezing, having come down with the common cold."), but in the elitist sense (e.g., "I would never be seen with her! She is just too common."). The dulcimer is uncommon in one sense (in that it is not ordinary), but very common in another (in that it is not "superior" by nature and does not require a "superior" talent to make it produce music).

Russ