Appalachian Dulcimer
The Appalachian dulcimer, or mountain dulcimer, is a fretted folk zither that is semi-indigenous to the Appalachia and Ohio River Valley areas of the United States. Evolved from older European instruments (especially, it seems, the German scheitholt), the dulcimer's defining characteristic is its diatonic fretboard. That is, on any string you can only play all the notes of a major scale with a flat seventh (e.g., a mixolydian mode). Most modern models also include a major seven on the so-called 6 1/2 fret; a few are starting to feature 1 1/2 frets as well for expanded blues options. Generally, the Appalachian dulcimer features 3 string courses. Generally, the string along the top of instrument (closest to the player when the instrument is in the lap) is doubled, with the middle and bass strings standing alone, though some models double all strings. The string closest to the player is usually referred to as the "melody string," so named for its use in traditional playing styles.... Playing StyleThough the instrument is sometimes played with a wooden noter on the "melody string," with the open strings only used as drones for a modal, bag-pipe sort of feel, I'm among the increasing number of modern dulcimer players who approach it as a chordal instrument, utilizing all 3 string courses. Even in this modernized context, the instrument retains the trancelike droning modal qualities that make it such a treat. Many players, regardless of their inclination toward chordal playing or melody/drone style, play the instrument sitting flat on their lap — to such a degree that the Appalachian dulcimer is sometimes referred to as the "lap dulcimer." I play in an upright overhand style, which, though not uncommon, is not the traditional angle of approach. Dulcimer Scordatura?Playing chromatic music on a diatonic instrument leads to unusual tunings. You can get some pretty interesting scordatura happening — and dulcimer scordatura is powerful mojo, with different scales becoming available as you retune each string. What kind of music will you make when one string makes available all the notes in E major and another adds the notes of E minor? One of the songs ("Greensleeves in Blue") on my 2007 CD, Bukka's Bad Trip does just that — check it out. Read more about scordatura on wikipedia. Dulcimer Pictures
A Few Dulcimer MP3Most of the of dulcimer recordings below are featured on my 2002 cd/mp3 collection (album, you might say), The Dirt Roads of Nations. A more recent CD, Bukka's Bad Trip, also includes several dulcimer tracks. From Bukka's Bad Trip:
From Dirt Roads of Nations:
Extra:
Dulcimer ArticlesIdentifying the modes associated with particular tunings can be a little daunting once you get away from DAD. In 2002, I whipped together an article on this issue: Modal Tunings on the Mountain Dulcimer Dulcimer Links
Other Dulcimer Musicians |
Appalachian Dulcimer VideosFind more on my YouTube page. "Chimera"
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