I searched for the article here but didn't find. I'm probably not entering the right search criteria to narrow it down. I have a pdf of the article that Wally talks about if any one is interested. PM me with your email address and I'll send it to you. The file is too large to post here. Maybe that's why I didn't find it. Something to note about Seeger's article is that in photos from the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA, he identifies them as Pennsylvania zitters.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

updated by @ken-longfield: 01/27/26 12:05:34AM

I had not found the Charles Seeger article before, even though it is posted on FOTMD. Perhaps it is new here.

To me, there are some interesting side issues. It barely references the Ritchie family, although it does have a photo of Jean, and mentions her husband George Pickow's instruments, not disclosing that his shop was Brooklyn, NY and his connection to Appalachia was Jean.

According to Jean Ritchie's books, Charles Seeger had collected songs at the Balis Ritchie home when she was a child. At that time there was a dulcimer in the home, and Balis was more willing to play it than to sing. Didn't Seeger ask Balis about the instrument, or did he distrust what he was told?

I believe that at the time the paper was written, Jean was in New York, playing on the radio with Woodie Guthrie and Leadbelly. She surely was crossing paths with Pete's dad.

Seeger collected a tune at Arthurdale, WV while Eleanor Roosevelt was holding a square dance there. The fiddler was from the area I pass through daily, and was well known here back in the 1960s and 70s. As best I remember, Seeger put in the the Smithsonian Collection and it was recorded by the New Lost City Ramblers as "collected by Charles Seeger," not crediting the fiddler. 

I can't put 100% faith in what he wrote about Appalachian Dulcimer history.

I just received word that the article is posted to this website. https://dulcimerhistory.com/2026/01/24/lets-bury-the-term-scheitholt/ Check it out there if you like.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

updated by @ken-longfield: 01/26/26 07:00:04PM

You're welcome, Strumelia and thank you for the compliment.

Ken, it's beautiful!  Thank you for sharing this.

--
Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990

Here is the article that was to appear in Dulcimer Players News. Originally it was scheduled for November, 2025 but postponed until February, 2026. I heard that the "Traditons" themed issue in which it was to appear is now postponed until May, 2026. I have also included a bibliography for the article.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I created a thread about this in the Groups area, but I have the feeling that not too many people explore the Groups section. So I am recreating it here in hopes that more folks will see it.

In 1619 Michael Praetorius published the second volume of Syntagma Musicum . In it tried to list all of the instruments known in his world. He described the instruments and included illustrations of some of them. One plate included an illustration of an instrument he called a scheitholt. I remarked to my daughter and her husband that I have never seen a scheitholt. I looked all over the internet for one and found many instruments called scheitholts, but none fit the description provided by Praetorius. They challenged me to make one. After a couple of months of research I was able to put together specifications to build one. A helpful site at a German museum gave numbers for length, width, height, VSL, and number of frets. I contributed a little imagination in creating the sound hole rosette and the peg head. Here is a photo of the recently created scheitholt. I, along with some assistance from Ken Hulme, wrote an article on why we should not apply the term "scheitholt" to all those PA German zitters or hummels that are misnamed here in the USA. 

updated by @ken-longfield: 01/26/26 07:37:54PM