In the summer of 2015, I was sitting on the edge of Diablo Lake. My first assignment of my residency program was to write a poem titled “Where I’m From.” While my cohort talked about this mountain range, or that river valley, mine was completely devoid of any physical place. I mentioned the music I grew up with, my family, and the things I had done. But I didn’t think of myself having a connection to the land.
That poem started my search into what it means to be Appalachian. In trying to reconnect with my heritage, I found the only string instrument “born from these hills”: the mountain dulcimer. So in the summer of 2020 while the world was on lockdown, I bought a cheap one and started to play. Worst case scenario I spent $80 on something to hang on my wall. Fast forward to last month where I spent a week playing the dulcimer with others and learning about the deep history of this instrument.
A dulcimer sold at Folkcraft Instruments.
Before diving into the history, players, or makers, let’s take a look at the instrument itself. Confusingly, the word “dulcimer” in English can refer to the mountain dulcimer or the hammered dulcimer. As interesting as the hammered dulcimer is, I will not be discussing it here.
The mountain dulcimer is a “diatonically fretted zither.” Let’s break that down by word;
Zither: a string instrument that has the strings over the body with no neck. So a guitar has a “neck.” Zithers don’t.
Fretted: Some string instruments, like violins or cellos, don’t have frets. The dulcimer does, just like a guitar.
Diatonic: To dip our toes into music theory, the guitar has frets just like the piano has keys. So, taking a look at the piano the white keys and black keys allow you play chromatically, or all notes in western music theory. Diatonic means not all the notes are there. To over-simplify, it is basically just the white keys on a piano. While that means there are some notes you just can’t play on the dulcimer, it does mean it is so incredibly easy to ‘pick up and play,’ because no matter what you do it will sound good.
The mountain dulcimer that we know today has three main strings. Some can vary to four, or even go to six, but with higher numbers they are usually doubled. For example, on my dulcimer it has one bass string tuned to a low D, a middle string tuned to an A, and two melody strings close together tuned to high D. The double melody string allows the melody to overcome the sound of the drone from the bottom two strings.
Other dulcimers can come in other tunings, but the most popular tuning today is DAD, or DDAD.
COMING TO AMERICA
Since the dulcimer is a folk instrument, there hasn’t been much academic study into it’s origins or preservation. Some folks assumed it was “born from these hills,” by just slapping some strings on dried out gourds. The most complete history I have found is in Ralph Lee Smith’s Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions.
In Europe, there were many “diatonic fretted zithers” including the German Scheiholt. Notice at the 2:02 mark that only the melody string is fretted. This means you can quickly change what the melody is while keeping the bottom two strings droning. It sounds like a string equivalent of a bagpipe.
While any of these instruments could have been the origin of the dulcimer, Smith argues it is the scheiholt specifically because of the immigration history of the United States.
Pennsylvania became the “gateway to the west,” where many European immigrants traveled to get to the mountains. Many German immigrants stopped in Pennsylvania (what we refer to as the ‘Pennsylvania Dutch’ today). Of course, some may not have brought their instruments but they could re-make them in America.
As the Scots-Irish traveled through Pennsylvania, they would have encountered these scheiholts. It is unknown whether three major changes happened because of the Scots-Irish, the Germans, or a mix of the two;
Playing with a pick (often a feather) instead of a bow
Frets going underneath all strings, instead of just the melody
A bigger soundboard
After generations of players and makers, the folks of the mountains were playing what we would call a dulcimer today. While there were many different spellings and styles of play, they converged into one unified instrument.
FOLK REVIVAL to now
Through classist stereotypes, the people of Appalachia were often looked down upon. There wasn’t much focus on the history and preservation of “mountain folk” music. That is until the Folk Revival. Post WW2 through the ‘60’s brought a wave of interest in folk music. Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger are still names many know today. But it was Jean Ritchie who brought the dulcimer into the public eye.
Born in 1922 in Viper Kentucky, Jean Ritchie grew up learning to play from her father. As an adult, she became a social worker and moved to New York City. Once there, she started to meet and play with the other greats during the Folk Revival.
While there are countless players and performers, there are two more I want to mention here.
Bing Futch is an amazing player that is adapting the dulcimer to many different genres of music. He is pushing the boundaries on what this instrument can do.
Last month I went to Augusta’s Heritage Center’s Old Time Music Week. While the dulcimer wasn’t the most popular instrument there (it was a tie between fiddle or banjo), we had a little cohort of dulcimer players led by Sarah Kate Morgan. She did an amazing job sharing old tunes while guiding us to fully utilizing the instrument.
MAKERS
While at that music camp, folks kept asking “oh who made your instrument?” I felt like new kid in school who shows up with a worn out backpack. The reason why my dulcimer was so cheap was 1) it was made in a factory and 2) it was made for students. While it can play many different tunes, it didn’t have all the frets that a modern dulcimer has.
Also, the form of the dulcimer isn’t set in stone! Makers are adapting this instrument to what players are asking for, including smaller or larger instruments, more frets, or electronic pick-ups. Below are a list of some of my favorite makers I have found.
Ron Ewing makes standard dulcimers, along with his own creation: the dulcimette. It is an octave above the standard dulcimer, and gives a mandolin type sound.
Folkcraft Instruments not only make dulcimers, but also sell plans and kits for you to make your own!
Out in California, Blue Lion makes standard and bass dulcimers, which are an octave below
Folks are also combining the dulcimer with different instruments and forms, including the “dulcijo” and the Woodrow!
I may never be good enough to play in concert halls or in front of crowds, but I’ll be continuing the tradition of my ancestors by sitting on the porch and picking away at my dulcimer.