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Owl Mountain Music Dulcimer Webpage Index FREE Music and TABLATURE is here
Origins
Of the board Zither family, the Mountain Dulcimer was derived
from the German Scheitholt which was essentially a narrow board
with partial frets & drone strings. It was known in other European
countries as Epinette des Vosges- France; Hummel/Humle-Sweden
& Denmark; Langeleik-Norway; Langspil-Iceland). (You can translate
non-English webpages at www.freetranslation.com)
Names
In the US, the mountain dulcimer has been named for its construction:
fretted, teardrop, hourglass; for where it it found: Mountain,
Appalachian, Kentucky; and how it is played: Plucked, Strummed
& Lap dulcimer. Some other intriguing names include: Harmonium,
Tennessee Music Box and "hog fiddle." In some parts
of the Southern Appalachians, it and the fiddle & sometimes the
banjo were the only instruments used for making music for many
years.
Features
The mountain dulcimer is a Modal Instrument, with the frets arranged
in 7 note scales, according to the patterns that pre-date modern
Western Harmonic music. Each of the modes were thought to relate
to certain planets, and call forth particular characteristics
in the listeners.
American
Innovations
When it first came the US, in the memory of the German settlers
in Pennsylvania and the Shenandoah River Valley in Virginia, it
was played with a bow for accompanying hymns--often for private
devotions. Some unknown builders began to experiment with adding
a sound box for more volume and tone and some distinct traditional
styles began to be identified with Kentucky, Southwestern Virginia,
Tennessee & North Carolina. There are very few traditional builders
today. Most dulcimers are built with innovations (such as frets
that extend all the way across the fret board) that are characteristic
of the Urban folk/dulcimer Revival that took place following the
2nd World War.
However, it remains associated with Mountain and traditional people all across the country. And, I'm convinced, is a very friendly instrument to learn to play!
I am author of three books for the mountain dulcimer: Dulcimer-Friendly Worship Vol. I: the season of Advent; Vol. II: A Service of Evening Prayer and Vol. III 'Twas In the Moon of Wintertime: Christmas in a Mellow Mode accompanying book for the recording of the same name. Includes standard musical notation, mountain dulcimer tablature. I have also reviewed several Mountain Dulcimer Hymn Books.
Hammered
Dulcimer
dulci-melos
"Sweet Song"
Background
It is the older of the 2 instruments that share the same name,
originating in Persia (Iran/Iraq) perhaps 2-4,000 years ago. It
is of the board zither family (strings stretched over a hollow
box) and variations are found in cultures all around the world.
(e.g. Santyr/Santur-Iran;
Sandouri-Greece; Santoor- India; Tsimbaly-Belarus (photo of a Belarus woman playing Tsimbaly);
Cymbalom-Hungary
& Romania; Salterio -Italian; Humle - Swedish;
Tsimbl-Klezmer;
Hackbrett-Switzerland/Germany;
Yang
Quin(Yangchin):
China; Yangum-Korea (photo);
Qanun-Egypt; (view demonstration of
Qanun here.) Kanoun-Turkey.) In
some places it is plucked, but in most it is a percussion instrument
with the strings struck with small mallets or hammers. Together
with the key-action of the harpsichord it gave birth to the Pianoforte
which then eclipsed it in popularity.
American
Context
There are strong dulcimer traditions in the lumber camps of Maine
& Michigan where it was sometimes called the "lumberjack's
piano." It was called the "whamdiddle" by some
further south. (The most interesting name, I think!) It found
its way into string bands in the late 1800's and was available
through mail-order catalogues such as Sears & Roebuck & Montgomery
Ward. In one upstate New York town there were 3 full-time hammered
dulcimer factories in the late 1800s!
Henry Ford, seeking to undermine jazz (which he abhorred), funded a short- lived renaissance of the instrument in the 1920s, by finding and hiring players from the midwest to come and play for regular string band dances in Dearborn, Michigan and around the midwest.
Since the 1970's
a new wave of interest has swept the hammered dulcimer back into
musical focus of many people.
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Northern
Colorado
The Fort Collins Museum has a hammered dulcimer in its Musical
Instruments display that came to Larimer County in 1869, before
Fort Collins was a city. The instrument's most influential presence,
however, came with the Germans from Russia who arrived to work
in the sugar beet fields around the turn of the century. The Hammered
Dulcimer, or simply "dulcimer" to them, was an integral
part of the bands that played for the festive hochzeit (weddings).
Other instruments, such as violins, cellos & clarinets, have been
replaced by the accordion, but the dulcimer continues today in
what is known as "Dutch Hop" music.
There is a national publication, Dulcimer Players News which is dedicated to these instruments, their music and their players.
Northern
Colorado Dulcimer Links
Internet Dulcimer Listserv Conversations:
Dulcimer Stores carrying Owl Mountain Music Products