I neglected to mention that the current (Summer 2024) issue of Dulcimer Players News has several pages (46-50 inclusive) on hammered dulcimers that I wrote -- most of it in 1969-70, but a little of it is new (and a little is not by me). Kind of off-topic, but I haven't posted much here, recently, and I know many FOTMD members also read DPN.
In the interest of closure I'll post a photo of what I wanted to do, and ended up doing. It isn't quite as secure or "finished" as I had hoped, but I had a deadline of Aug. 10th (getting married, in our "great room," or whatever the Arts & Crafts style calls a living room with an excessively high ceiling). I ended up putting them on a blank wall over a sofa, rather than over one of the doorways. If one happens to slip off before I have their mounts better secured, it will only fall about two feet, onto pillows. The story I wanted to illustrate was the evolution of the German-American zitter (scheitholt, hummel) into the "hourglass" form of the mountain dulcimer. And I illustrated it with good examples I've collected since 1963 when I bought my first one, new, from Homer Ledford. I've called this fanned display of five instruments "Darwin's Dulcimers."
The unobtrusive mechanism I used for this display included a long nail set into the drywall, painted the same color as the wall; a clear vinyl loop made for attaching ID (such as a laminated business card) to the handle of a suitcase, or instrument case; and for the four instruments that lean inward at the bottom (to create the fan shape), a 3/16 inch dowel long enough to hold in the drywall, and to extend outward far enough to prevent the tail from returning to a vertical hanging position.
I was reasonably satisfied with the result, and several of the two dozen wedding guests were complimentary. I think only one is a dulcimist, and one (besides me) a folklorist. But many of the rest are musicians, and otherwise artistic folk. It was anyway a friendly and forgiving bunch, and we had fun. Party is over, the dulcimers live here and will stay up a while.
OK, now I understand the requirements. Just have a blacksmith or welder construct five separate cradles, each customized to fit an individual instrument and at your chosen angle. A single hanging point for each is all that is needed.
That's far beyond what I'd want to have showing, but you make a statement about the "single hanging point" that I think I'd agree with -- if it's actually hanging (as I had originally asked).
If it's more or less bolted to the wall, as Ken Hulme seems to suggest, the center of gravity of each displayed object wouldn't much matter. But I'm still wrestling with the invisibility question; something like fishing leader (or a clear nylon guitar string) was suggested, I think, in the Sam Rizzetta article I cited. I'm hesitant because stretchy materials tend to lose their tension gradually, over time. It would be nice to have a "cradle" material that was thin and/or clear -- but would stay as tight as one had pulled it, before hanging the contraption seven or eight feet up.
Spiders seem to manage this sort of task pretty well.
I like Wally's thought of angled bookshelves.
I must dissent, not that Wally (and Dusty before him) don't have good ideas on the broad topic of dulcimer displays. But I'm specifically asking how I might best arrange five dulcimers to tell "The Story of the Dulcimer" visually, as Ralph Lee Smith did with three instruments in the cover illustration of the first edition of his excellent little book on that subject. I own a couple of "missing links" in the sequence he has documented, there and in the revised 2nd edition, as well as his long-running series in Dulcimer Players News. And I've specifically proposed a fan shape, over a wide doorway, in a large room with an unusually high ceiling.
Nearly alone in Dulcimerica, you (Strumelia) have actually seen my collection -- six or eight of them -- some years ago at an Antietam Early Banjo Gathering. Other dulcimer fans who have seen most of them include Roddy Moore; the late Ralph Lee Smith himself; and most recently John Hallberg and Ken Longfield (together), alongside John's large and growing museum collection. For this proposed, historically informative wall display, none of the five is newer than 1963. Three of them date from the early to mid-19th century, including a fine German-American zitter (regrettably called a "scheitholt" by most of our community). All are now in playable, gently restored and unmodified condition; so I might, very occasionally, want to take one or two down to play, or to show someone. They are in my residence, not a museum.
Make a fan of lengths of 1x2 with cross pieces to hold the wide ends apart. Mount that to the wall with standard hardware, then attach the dulcimers to the angled arms...
This is a useful idea, though I remain very reluctant to make the mount itself a prominent element of the display. Preferably it would be invisible. But for purposes of discussion, there is not a problem with mounting a fan of five 1x2 planks (each shorter overall than the dulcimer or zitter it will support) directly to the drywall, e.g. with molly bolts. Individual harnesses, each of which will hold (but can release) one instrument to its custom-sized plank, might differ in the means and location of their unobtrusive attachment mechanisms. I might seek inspiration at REI or someplace where I can look at nylon web belts, etc. made with quick-release clamps, for things like water bottles attached to bicycles, flare guns to kayaks, or whatever.
The fan of dulcimers will be roughly five and a half feet wide, three and a half feet high, and the lowest point (on the two outside examples) will be seven feet or so above the floor. The room has about a 16 foot ceiling, not a problem for looking at dulcimers, but a long way to drop one.
I think I would experiment with [a lot of things that never would have occurred to me, so, thanks...]
[snip]
That way, if the head is secure you could angle them any way you wanted depending on where and how you placed the plastic piece.
Just a thought or two..........
I appreciate all the ideas; every instrument deserves its own approach, and some of them may differ, on the wall. I'll address the fundamental topic as it was more tersely stated by Ken Hulme.
The "unobtrusive" support is puzzling me. Most of what I've thought of would require making some sort of cradle to hold the lower end.
Thanks, Ken, it's the cradle details that bother me. Some sort of attachment to the back that would hold the negligible weight of an instrument, be almost entirely out of sight, and could be suspended at any angle I wish. I was thinking of some light harness (twine?) assembled as a loose fit, with maybe a miniature turnbuckle, or similar device to make its grip gentle but firm. Padded hooks or tabs at the edges where it has to be gripped.
IDK, the dulcimers are all differently shaped but have fronts, backs, and sides. And of course are old, rare, irreplaceable... Maybe I should lay them out on the floor, take a photo of the view I want, blow that up, and mount that over the doorway. But it would have a fraction of the impact, or educational value. And be two-dimensional. As you and I well know, John Hallberg has a similar problem, multiplied by some large number. The Story of the Dulcimer is still worth telling visually.
The late Sam Rizzetta had a column about the issue in DPN, Fall 1995, p. 9. But he didn't address techniques for hanging them at angles.
Not that they aren't playable; the ones I intend to hang are just historically interesting. I want to fan five of them side by side in a sort of homage to Ralph Lee Smith's cover photo (that showed three) for the original edition of "The Story of the Dulcimer." Thanks to Ralph himself and other collectors/researchers, we have more details of the story than he had forty years ago. I own a couple of the "missing links" that help tell the story visually. And I think they'd look better as a fan display than as soldiers standing at attention (all hanging parallel, because gravity works that way).
So the question I'd like to address is, how have others here dealt with the lower end or edge of a dulcimer so it can hang at an angle, about 30 degrees left or right of vertical? The top end isn't the problem, but I wouldn't want any of these antiques falling off the wall for lack of attention to that detail. I'd prefer some sort of unobtrusive hardware solution, not nails or glue, or double-sticky tape on the instrument backs. None of them are heavily built, like e.g. the "TMB" form.
In my 20's I lived in Puerto Rico for 13 yearsPretty good trick. I've been in my 40s for a little over 30 years, now.
Also, I can play most brass instruments (of the band type); most fretted strings (but concentrate on kontrabass balalaika, mainly because the Washington Balalaika Society orchestra keeps me too busy to have time for many other musical activities); some keyboards, including bayan (Russian B-system chromatic button accordion), which doesn't have the piano type arrangement of keys; several recorder-like flutes (but not the transverse ones); twangophones, such as Jew's harp and mouth bow; jug, washtub bass, etc.
I would LOVE to be able to dance like those teenage clog dancers in that videoI didn't bring any party food, so I guess I'll just bring Leah (my first cousin, once removed); there won't be a better time to run one of the video ads for her business, Grumpy's Bail Bonds. She was Miss Tennessee, some years ago, and her talent in the Miss America pageant was clogging. I'd guess she's around 42, now -- but she's still right limber. I couldn't do this when I was 22. (And I do love that Middle Tennessee accent.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_ZfAI8L9RQ&feature=player_embedded If any of you have read the Stephanie Plum detective series, they are kind of alike: two young women in the same unusual line of work, but with substantial ethnic and regional differences. Oh, and Leah is a real person. Stephanie is a figment of the imagination of Janet Evanovich.
Well, I have a new favourite Irish song... It's "John of Dreams" performed (perhaps written?) by Mick Moloney... Anyone else know it?Don't know the song, actually -- but I used to know Mick pretty well, and he's an approachable sort of person. He has a very nice website, and it has an "email Mick" link, if you want to ask him. http://www.mickmoloney.com/index.html
Hey are you another banjo player?Assuming you meant me -- I have had a banjo (or several) since about 1963-64, but never got especially good at playing them. Basically, I played guitar, and collected other old folk instruments (not guitars). I learned to play something on all of them -- both sorts of dulcimer, fretless banjo, mandolin, fiddle, balalaika, Jew's harp -- just whatever turned up. I sometimes participate in the "Minstrel Banjo" world, because those guys are interested in the earlier, historical instruments -- they learn the tunes from early method books (pre-1865 ones, because a lot of them are CW reenactors) and generally strive for an authentic 19th century sound. Which is very different from modern banjo styles, played on modern instruments.Dick
That trick worked like a charm -- when Matt stepped into the restaurant, he said to his wife and son, "That guy looks a lot like Pappy." (It's true, I do.) I'll post a couple more shots -- the first, taken by Matt's wife Nancy, showing the happy camper after he got it home:
That's to show off the kid (Kathy and I made him, too); and the quilt on the wall behind the kid (Kathy also made that, about 15 years ago). Here's one closeup of the axe:
That inlay is my "Kolibri" maker's mark, since 1992. This guitar is only Kolibri #4; I spend much larger amounts of my life not out in the wood shop. Kolibri is "hummingbird," in Russian (and many other languages). There are, technically, no hummingbirds native to Russia; but the first two Kolibri instruments were balalaikas (a sekunda for Kathy, and a kontrabass for me). Those larger sizes are hard to find for sale, so I just made them. Kolibri #3 is a regular (six string) dreadnought guitar, and is featured on some tracks of the CDs recorded by our other son, Ben: http://www.myspace.com/benhulanmusic That 6-string was the first guitar I made, but Matt was the first kid we made. And all of the above -- wife, kids, various instruments and whatnot -- even 12-string guitars -- have given me a lot of joy, over a lot of years. Here, for example, is one from the summer of 1965:
I rest my case.Dick
... the bridges on most older dulcimers do not easily lend themselves to good bowing technique. Besides, the fiddle was already present throughout Appalachia, and was in fact already the premiere instrument of the region.I was mostly alluding to earlier forms of the dulcimer -- zitters and such -- that seem to have been used more for hymn singing than for hoedowns; and more by German-American radical sectarians than by either Anglo-Americans, or more mainstream Protestants of any ethnicity. There was some documentation of that tradition just as it was fading from the scene, perhaps about as late as WWI, but mostly in the 19th century. What little we have about it in the written record has been reviewed on various ED threads, especially by Greg Gunner (Banjimer, there).But even the links with German pietists, Mennonites etc. may be more apparent than real; the people who saw fit to write on this obscure topic (the bowing of diatonic zithers) were after all in Pennsylvania, and surrounded by those folks. If Henry Mercer had collected in the vicinity of Burkesville, KY or Red Boiling Springs, TN around 1910, he might have found Scotch-Irish hillbillies bowing dulcimers. And btw calling them Frog fiddles.Anyway, it was done here and there, in Appalachia and elsewhere, a few generations before Ken Bloom was on the scene. The need perceived by violinists and their sympathizers for "good bowing technique" is fairly irrelevant, if one is using a slack, homemade bow -- and letting one's drones be drones. So the flat bridge is OK, really. On an old TMB, it's built-in (the "bridge" is a piece of sheet metal bent over a nail, as is the nut). That didn't keep people from bowing a TMB.That's not quite the same as bowing a psalmodikon -- an instrument that normally has one string, and frets at every semitone (though it may also come with a set of diatonic transposing sticks, painted with the gapped scales for playing in several different modes). With one string, the top of the bridge can be flat, arched, concave, or whatever.Dick
Psalmodikons were also bowed, and still areHere's a clip of that (in Sweden, I think): http://www.stthuset.com/tidning/film/viavinga/psalmdiakon/index.htm I can read Swedish, but this clip is just a link -- and there's no caption, that I could see, telling where the group is playing. Some of the members of this organization are in Norway.Dick
There are less than 100 of those floating around the US... Most of them seem to be below the Mason Dixon lineI just looked at the "About Ken" page on http://www.boweddulcimer.com/ and found this:"He has presented these programs at National battlefields, Living History sites, Highland Games, and schools all over North and South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky."Seems to be a correlation between seeing Ken Bloom and owning, or playing, a bowed dulcimer.I think there may be a great many more old dulcimers floating around that have been bowed, but not lately -- and we just don't know it.Those who bowed them a little deeper in the past than 1972 were not necessarily also violinists, or cellists; some bowed them noter-and-drone style, and some leaned them on a table with the head away from the seated player.Psalmodikons were also bowed, and still are -- mostly well to the north of the Mason-Dixon line, because that's where most of the Nordic population settled. http://www.psalmodikon.com/AnnualMeeting.html Just a little grist for the mill.Dick
