Forum Activity for @razyn

Dulcimer History and Tradition

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Since you mentioned them -- my antique dulcimer collection (that I laid out on a table in the Pry Barn at an Antietam Early Banjo Gathering) has spent most of the time since I acquired them, one at a time over about sixty years, packed away in closets, attics, basements and occasionally garages, wherever I happened to be living.  The next time I had most of them in one place, it was to compare mine with similar examples in the very much larger collection John Hallberg has been assembling for display.  And Ken Longfield came down to Sperryville VA the same day, by prior arrangement so we could put our heads together.  Anyway, I got a bee in my bonnet about trying to display five of them; and I started a chat here on FOTMD to get some ideas about how to do that.  I had them on the wall in our new home in Black Mountain, NC just barely in time to be seen by the guests at our wedding in August, 2024.

After they were hanging on the wall here for some months, I decided they could tell a story, like Ralph Lee Smith's display of three versions that was his cover illustration on The Story of the Dulcimer (first edition, that was published by Jean and Lee Schilling).  But as I got my act together enough to write the actual article for DPN, I decided I was really telling "The Story of the Zitter."  Or, responding to the same set of facts (and artifacts) from a different perspective.  Not so much, "Where did our lovely American folk instrument come from?" but "Where did the Zitter go, after Germanic emigrants crossed the Atlantic with Zitters in their hands, or at least their heads?"

So anyway, I did write it, and it's been out since February.  

The Praetorius Scheitholt

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

If you haven't looked through Charles Seeger's article recently (I sure hadn't, though I had read it sometime in the 1970s), the "Clan Campbell" dulcimer (that he illustrates in Plate VI, but mostly dismisses as non-Scottish) appears to be the 1832 one, now in the Tennessee State Museum, that was the subject of Ralph Lee Smith's article in DPN, 37:1, Winter 2011, 71-72.  It did indeed come down in the Campbell family of California, though their specific ancestor who had made it (in Sneedville, TN) was named Neal McNeal.

Hanging some dulcimers as a wall display

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Just a followup to this older post:  After looking at my wall display for a year or so, last summer I wrote up my notes on each of the five displayed instruments.  Having discussed this with Fiona Potts for most of a year, we decided that it could be a new article for DPN.  That took a while longer; although I finished my work on it last October, it took a while longer to get in the queue for publication.  And I decided it's really "The Story of the Zitter," so that was the title I submitted.  It has just come out, in the Feb. 2026 issue of DPN.

Most, maybe all, such studies so far have begun in the present and looked back:  what are the roots of this lovely little box?  I thought it might be more sympathetic to start with a lovely little example from those roots, and take it forward.  I'm almost, but not quite, tempted to use the recently made-up term "proactive" for my approach: let an old zitter tell its gr-gr-grandchildren the bittersweet tale of its gradual Americanization. 

Hanging some dulcimers as a wall display

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

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.

Hanging some dulcimers as a wall display

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

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.

Hanging some dulcimers as a wall display

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

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.

Hanging some dulcimers as a wall display

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

 

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.

Hanging some dulcimers as a wall display

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

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.

Hanging some dulcimers as a wall display

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

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.

Hanging some dulcimers as a wall display

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

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.

Hanging some dulcimers as a wall display

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

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.

Hanging some dulcimers as a wall display

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

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.

"John the Balladeer" Stories

OFF TOPIC discussions

Hey, that's cool -- we were talking about him, about a year ago. Didn't know he was online now.I changed my avatar, because my youngest grandson changes so fast, at two and a half, that last photo was obsolete. The other two are 7 and 8, and seem a little more stable, somehow. I'm also fairly stable.

One time I made a hammered dulcimer for my wife; and since at the time both of our sons were active high school thespians, I carved the little tragedy/comedy masks, as inserts or "rosettes" for the fairly large-diameter holes one makes on an HD. For a pattern, I borrowed a pair of earrings owned by my younger son's girlfriend (a thespianette). Basically, I just enlarged what somebody else had already worked out, in terms of stylization and contours.Sometime, I can excavate that instrument and photograph the holes -- but not at the moment. Also, at my limited skill level, it would be fairly hard to carve those at the smaller scale of most MD soundholes; but there are people in our community who could easily do it. They do make a nice pair, visually.

Robin the Busker is from Snowdonia, Wales. He's active on the ED forum -- don't remember if he's on here, also. Ptarmigan is from County Antrim, and set up the Dulcimer Ancestors Group, here -- haven't seen him for a while.

I wouldn't know about lessons; but an old friend of mine who was making dulcimers in Nashville around 1967 or earlier lives at Herstmonceux, kind of between Brighton and Hastings, but inland on A271. He is a custom cabinetmaker, makes and repairs instruments, and has made a dulcimer quite recently -- though I don't know if he does that very often. Anyway, his name is Barry M. Murphy. No revival of mountain dulcimers in the UK would be complete without him. http://www.oldtimeherald.org/archive/back_issues/volume-8/8-8/fullcircle.html

In case anybody wants to see Flint Hill's noter "on the hoof," so to speak -- I have a pretty big American hornbeam tree in my yard. Maybe 30 feet tall, and it's often more like a shrub. The post at left in this photo of it (from my deck) is 5 feet tall, or so.

The Kitchen Sink - talk about food

OFF TOPIC discussions

We tried your basic recipe last night, and enjoyed it. (Finished enjoying it today, actually.) Technically we didn't have Porcini mushrooms, but at least they were fresh ones -- of whatever generic species the grocery store had. I guess if I cared enough, I could have gone down to Dean & DeLuca, but I don't. Just wanted some chicken for dinner, basically. And it was quite yummy.

Strumelia said:

In my 20's I lived in Puerto Rico for 13 years

Pretty 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.

Party Time coming for 700 !!

OFF TOPIC discussions

I was afraid we were going to have to have a wake, for the 40.

Party Time coming for 700 !!

OFF TOPIC discussions

It is conceivable that FOTMD will have to squeeze in an 800 Member party before grocery shopping for the big 4th of July cookout. I just peeked, and the number this AM was 784.

Party Time coming for 700 !!

OFF TOPIC discussions

Strumelia said:

I would LOVE to be able to dance like those teenage clog dancers in that video

I 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.

Do You Have A Favorite Irish Song?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Paul Rappell said:

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

cats & songs

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I was hoping somebody (else) would remember the poignant "Nobody's Moggy;" and that has come to pass. But since Flint Hill only posted the sheet music, here's the audio of a performance by its Down Under creators. A very sad tale.

"The Intoxicated Rat," often credited to Doc Watson and nearly as often to Cisco Houston, is I believe by Dorsey Dixon, of The Dixon Brothers. May be mistaken about that; anyway, I'm sure it was recorded before Watson came along. The plot has to do with a rodent who gets drunk -- and belligerent about cats, until one actually shows up -- at which time he quickly gets sober."Pinkle Purr" by A.A. Milne has latterly been set to music at least a couple of times, but I don't know if the music is good. The poem is.

dogs & songs

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

But, isn't the best dog song EVER, "Old Blue?"And you banja pickers ought to know "Cumberland Mountain Deer Race," with various dogs being called by name, and imitated on the banjo. More acoustically realistic is DeFord Bailey's harmonica rendition of "Fox Chase," on the same general theme, only the dogs are chasing a different critter.I regularly have deer and foxes in my yard, but almost never a dog (chasing them, or otherwise). Fairfax County has a leash law, applied pretty strictly to dogs, but not to wildlife. Hardly seems fair.

wow...it's party time again... REVISITED :)

OFF TOPIC discussions

I think I'll bring Gelusil this time.

Favorite accessories to go with MD

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

But the term "possum board" historically refers to a pelt stretcher. Also works for cats, btw, or any similar sized critter, the hide of which one wants to use. For several of the appropriate uses, verses of the song "Ground Hog" are informative. Here is an actual possum board; some dulcimer player realized long ago that it was also an acoustically useful accessory. http://www.museumofappalachia.org/veWebsite/exhibit1/e10342a.htm

I think it would make more sense to string the dulcimer backward and turn it around. Might have to re-notch the nut and bridge, or make a new bridge if it's compensated (longer VSL for the bass string). Very few dulcimers have anything like a bass bar inside, that would cause reversal of the string gauges to mess with the actual sound of the instrument.

Just curious, but are you noting with your right hand and picking with your left, reaching across? Your avatar photo looks that way, to me. That's already adding a little... variety.

Bess Lomax Hawes, 1921-2009

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Well, not so much a span of years, but a cast of characters -- and they got off the ground in the late 1930s. Almanac Singers (Bess was one), Weavers... Burl Ives, Pete Seeger, Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, et al. A few influential regional festivals (such as White Top, and the one Jean Thomas traipsed around) were begun a little earlier than the public careers of these New Yorkish types -- but they didn't really cause any national movement, that I can see. Since actual folk music was alive and well in the 1930s, it didn't need to be revived; but The Folksong Revival was a national pop culture phenomenon -- and those take something like air time on the (radio) networks, coverage in the major print media, and all that.What did Allen Smith say ("Pre-Revival Dulcimers")?

Bess Lomax Hawes, 1921-2009

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I was on the road around the end of November, and didn't catch up with the news very well when I got home. I had missed the fact that another former colleague, who was one of the last surviving members of the original "folksong revival" cast, had passed away. I've looked at several of her obituaries, on Mudcat, and I think this one from the Huffington Post is the most complete and sensitive: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/bess-lomax-hawes-1921-200_b_373423.html Almost all of my dealings with Bess had to do with NEA Folk Arts grants (applying for them, accounting for them, reviewing others' applications for them, etc.). But I knew her earlier, when she was still teaching at Cal State Northridge; and the last time I ran into her, we were in the produce section of a Safeway -- we lived in the same Arlington neighborhood after she retired. She was a fine person -- not as well known as her flamboyant brother Alan Lomax, but having many of the same gifts and credentials -- in conjunction with an open, pleasant personality.
updated by @razyn: 06/09/16 08:21:50PM

John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry

OFF TOPIC discussions

Jill Jalbert said:

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

John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry

OFF TOPIC discussions

The Battle Hymn of the Republic was written to fit the tune of (some would say, partly inspired by) the more or less comic song "John Brown's body;" which in turn was based upon the camp-meeting hymn "Say, brothers, will you meet me, On Canaan's happy shore;" which was also newly in print around the time of John Brown's raid, i.e. 150 years ago. (Actually, I think that hymn was published in 1858, but I'm a little fuzzy on the details w/o looking it up.)Dick

John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry

OFF TOPIC discussions

... was 150 years ago today (well, tonight), if anyone cares.I mentioned this yesterday on the (Ning) Minstrel Banjo forum, and the only responders so far are a couple of yahoos who think I'm trying to honor the memory of a terrorist. I'm not, OK? It was a watershed event, it happened 150 years ago, and I'm pointing that out. So, dress up and do your 1859 thing. Starting in just a couple of years, it will be the 150th anniversary of some Civil War event, most all the time -- for four years. Think of the gig possibilities.Dick
updated by @razyn: 01/13/19 05:09:18PM

I just made a twelve string guitar

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

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

I just made a twelve string guitar

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Well actually I started it in 2002, but got distracted... these things are a lot of trouble to make, and after I got the basic box made I put it away for a looong time. It was supposed to be a Christmas present for my elder son, then 33. This summer I decided it was time to get off the dime and finish it; so for over a month, unbeknownst to him, I've been doing stuff like drilling the holes for the tuners (trouble), cutting out the pearl and inlaying my hummingbird maker's mark (trouble), sanding out all the little scorch marks left by the hot bearing on the router that cut the channels for the binding (trouble), putting on three coats of sealer and six coats of varnish (lotta trouble -- and I couldn't do it in the air conditioned house, because my wife gets migraines from the fumes), gluing on the bridge (scary trouble), fitting the 12 little boxwood bridge pins (easy, but tedious), fitting the saddle and nut, and filing 12 notches in the nut (trouble), setting and gluing in the neck (more scary trouble), and stringing it up. You never really know if the action and intonation are OK until you do this -- and it's the last step. I strung it late Saturday night. Then I had to file and recrown two frets (they were done in 2002) -- but other than that, it was fine.Today we are going to Roanoke to give it to him on his 40th birthday. He totally doesn't know it -- we cooked it up with his wife. She's taking him to a restaurant out of town, and (surprise) we'll be sitting in the restaurant. And sometime during dinner I'll remember that I had this out in the car. Basically, it's a Martin D-12-28 (it began with wood from their shop), only a lot more handmade.

Dick
updated by @razyn: 06/11/15 07:21:53AM

I followed the exhibit link, and the page that played it had a link to a very nicely done video tribute to Homer Ledford, that I hadn't seen. The counter only shows 58 views -- which doesn't seem right, if it's been up since May 14th. Anyway, I recommend this:

Dick

Bowing a dulcimer

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Richard Graham said:

... 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

Bowing a dulcimer

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

razyn said:

Psalmodikons were also bowed, and still are

Here'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

Bowing a dulcimer

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Diane said:

There are less than 100 of those floating around the US... Most of them seem to be below the Mason Dixon line

I 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