Hi Stephen, I just listened to your video. Keep it up, I enjoy listening to your thoughts . I am a relative newbie in the dulcimer world. I waited until I was 60 before learning an instrument and when I learned about the dulcimer I wanted to learn to play it. Being in South Eastern Pennsylvania I dont remember ever hearing of a dulcimer. I know humility is a good trait, but there is a little pride in me playing a not so popular instrument which puts me in defense mode. Thanks again, hope to sign up for A to Z lessons sometime.
When I turned on closed captioning, it shows the word he said as “low” so perhaps he means that the volume of the dulcimer cannot hold its own with other instruments?
Stephen I agree that he was way to general with his description. My great grandfather immigrated from Europe in 1895. from Germany where he was a student of the stone carving trade. he was from Ireland, and ran away from an abusive father and ended up in Germany. he came to the US in 1895 and ended up in Coeburn Virginia. he played the Dulcimer as did his son my grandfather. when I was a kid he told me that he learned to play it in Germany. although a little different it was much the same.. He passed away at 112 years old when I was 16. his Son my grand father passed the very next week at 84... I started to play after their deaths..
Interesting to hear both what the video from John and what you said Sttephen. I know there has been lots of references to the schietholt . Steve Eulberg had some references to it in a research paper he mentioned on a dulcimer group. I have been interested in it since mid 1960's and saw many mentions of different dulcimer names back t0 what you mentioned.
I love the mystery of it. I love the deep-down roots of it. I agree that fretted zithers are a basic human means of heart and soul expression. It is a no nonsense instrument, yet is capable of infinite means of expression. I am a dulcimer addict, too, and I really appreciate your diaries!
Wow, very interesting. I went to Cedarville College (Ohio) with Steve Carney (from Brookville, OH) and he took 20 or more really old dulcimers and told his version of the history of the dulcimer. He may be someone for you to compare notes with. One separate trips, he and I saw an old dulcimer in Marrietta OH (first settlement in Ohio) at the museum. The theory was that the instrument was easier to transport than the fiddle on the barges doen the river and also easier to make by putting some frets on a board with some strings. I really love your take on the history. On another note, John Rice Irwin may have left out that Jean Richie also married a photographer and lived in New York City and hung out in Grennich Village with people like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie (according to Molly McCormick), so Jean was part of the folk music scene and didn’t only strum locally in Kentucky. But she is inspirational for collecting many tunes from not only from Appalachia but also Ireland and Scotland. Your Dulcimer Diaries are amazing, I wish I could hit the like button 47 times.
Steve, I think you have it dialed in. Only additional thought is I'm not sure if he is down on the dulcimer for being (in his mind) a recent development, or proud of its Appalachian origin... (again, in his mind). I like the idea that it's very old, widely dispersed and likely invented and reinvented by many different cultures, with their own twists. I used to live in Thailand and they have a very strong folk music culture, with a three string, ukulele like instrument that could be considered a dulcimer of sorts, albeit, using a different musical scale.
I have seen this video before a long time ago. Some of his thoughts of the Dulcimer Annoy me and I don't agree with him. I have been to the museum and it's a wonderful place. The displays on the Dulcimer don't coincide with what he's saying here. I tend to agree with your review of his thoughts and statements. I do think that primarily, the dulcimer was a home instrument. When people could get together and did get together to play music, they brought what they had. Thank you for expressing. What I thought. You know much more than I do on the topic. Also, maybe what bothers you about his statements, are what bothers me. There is so much information and research that contrasts what he is saying. I realize that our beloved instrument isn't a household word, but to some degree, its what I love.
I find this “historian’s“ pomposity a little distasteful. He is arguing a strangely sliced logic. He simply did not have a body of data sufficient to draw conclusions on origin or distribution. I get it Stephen. I felll in love with the sound before I ever saw the instrument. Fifty years ago I followed that sound to a booth at a renaissance fair in California and bought my first dulcimer. I’m still here. 💜
I think you are getting into dulcimer religion now, and that is why you are uncomfortable. This dulcimer prophet preaching his dulcimer sermon, praising his dulcimer messiah, etc, may not match match your dulcimer faith. Just let it go, and follow your own path. You can both be right, as will the rest of us, each going our own way.
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Hi Stephen, I just listened to your video. Keep it up, I enjoy listening to your thoughts . I am a relative newbie in the dulcimer world. I waited until I was 60 before learning an instrument and when I learned about the dulcimer I wanted to learn to play it. Being in South Eastern Pennsylvania I dont remember ever hearing of a dulcimer. I know humility is a good trait, but there is a little pride in me playing a not so popular instrument which puts me in defense mode. Thanks again, hope to sign up for A to Z lessons sometime.
When I turned on closed captioning, it shows the word he said as “low” so perhaps he means that the volume of the dulcimer cannot hold its own with other instruments?
Stephen I agree that he was way to general with his description. My great grandfather immigrated from Europe in 1895. from Germany where he was a student of the stone carving trade. he was from Ireland, and ran away from an abusive father and ended up in Germany. he came to the US in 1895 and ended up in Coeburn Virginia. he played the Dulcimer as did his son my grandfather. when I was a kid he told me that he learned to play it in Germany. although a little different it was much the same.. He passed away at 112 years old when I was 16. his Son my grand father passed the very next week at 84... I started to play after their deaths..
Interesting to hear both what the video from John and what you said Sttephen. I know there has been lots of references to the schietholt . Steve Eulberg had some references to it in a research paper he mentioned on a dulcimer group. I have been interested in it since mid 1960's and saw many mentions of different dulcimer names back t0 what you mentioned.
The Dulcimore has a unique sound. When you hear a traditional piece placed noter/drone you know what it is.
I love the mystery of it. I love the deep-down roots of it. I agree that fretted zithers are a basic human means of heart and soul expression. It is a no nonsense instrument, yet is capable of infinite means of expression. I am a dulcimer addict, too, and I really appreciate your diaries!
Wow, very interesting. I went to Cedarville College (Ohio) with Steve Carney (from Brookville, OH) and he took 20 or more really old dulcimers and told his version of the history of the dulcimer. He may be someone for you to compare notes with. One separate trips, he and I saw an old dulcimer in Marrietta OH (first settlement in Ohio) at the museum. The theory was that the instrument was easier to transport than the fiddle on the barges doen the river and also easier to make by putting some frets on a board with some strings. I really love your take on the history. On another note, John Rice Irwin may have left out that Jean Richie also married a photographer and lived in New York City and hung out in Grennich Village with people like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie (according to Molly McCormick), so Jean was part of the folk music scene and didn’t only strum locally in Kentucky. But she is inspirational for collecting many tunes from not only from Appalachia but also Ireland and Scotland. Your Dulcimer Diaries are amazing, I wish I could hit the like button 47 times.
Steve, I think you have it dialed in. Only additional thought is I'm not sure if he is down on the dulcimer for being (in his mind) a recent development, or proud of its Appalachian origin... (again, in his mind). I like the idea that it's very old, widely dispersed and likely invented and reinvented by many different cultures, with their own twists. I used to live in Thailand and they have a very strong folk music culture, with a three string, ukulele like instrument that could be considered a dulcimer of sorts, albeit, using a different musical scale.
I have seen this video before a long time ago. Some of his thoughts of the Dulcimer Annoy me and I don't agree with him. I have been to the museum and it's a wonderful place. The displays on the Dulcimer don't coincide with what he's saying here. I tend to agree with your review of his thoughts and statements. I do think that primarily, the dulcimer was a home instrument. When people could get together and did get together to play music, they brought what they had. Thank you for expressing. What I thought. You know much more than I do on the topic. Also, maybe what bothers you about his statements, are what bothers me. There is so much information and research that contrasts what he is saying. I realize that our beloved instrument isn't a household word, but to some degree, its what I love.
I find this “historian’s“ pomposity a little distasteful. He is arguing a strangely sliced logic. He simply did not have a body of data sufficient to draw conclusions on origin or distribution. I get it Stephen. I felll in love with the sound before I ever saw the instrument. Fifty years ago I followed that sound to a booth at a renaissance fair in California and bought my first dulcimer. I’m still here. 💜
I think you are getting into dulcimer religion now, and that is why you are uncomfortable. This dulcimer prophet preaching his dulcimer sermon, praising his dulcimer messiah, etc, may not match match your dulcimer faith. Just let it go, and follow your own path. You can both be right, as will the rest of us, each going our own way.