Known best in the folk music world, the mountain dulcimer is becoming more and more popular. This unique, string instrument has been around for hundreds of years and has been through several transformations.
History
Ralph Lee Smith and L. Alan Smith, dulcimer enthusiasts, studied and analyzed the older dulcimers to piece together the instrument's history. Their research uncovered the development of the dulcimer and identifies three periods: transitional (1700 to mid-1800's), pre-revival or traditional (mid-1800's to 1940), and revival or contemporary (after 1940).
The dulcimer entered the urban northeast folk music revival scene in the 1950's, largely due to Jean Ritchie, a musician who performed and recorded on the dulcimer. She also published the first major instruction book in 1963. As time passed, solo musicians and bands performed with the dulcimer to national and international audiences, increasing its popularity.
Size, Shape, and Set-up
Today, the dulcimer is usually 30 to 35 inches long, with the width varying according to the shape of the sound-box. There are many variants in design, as you can see on the EnSoul Music Designs page.
Roosebeck Mountain Dulcimers are offered in several shapes, including: hourglass, European box, teardrop, and cutaway.
Traditionally, mountain dulcimers had three, equally spaced, strings: a melody string, a middle string, and a bass string. Later developments created a 4-string or 5-string dulcimer by changing the string spacing and doubling the melody string. Doubling the melody string created greater volume to the melody line. Contemporary dulcimers, such as ours, include extra notches on the nut to allow more personalized string patterns. The inside doubled melody string can be removed completely to revert to the traditional 3-string set-up. The inside melody string and the middle string can both be moved over one notch to create an equal spacing between all four strings.
The frets on earlier dulcimers were placed under only the first two strings, but most dulcimers made after 1940 have frets extending the full width of the fingerboard, allowing wider ranges for melody lines and chords on the other strings.
Shop Roosebeck Mountain Dulcimers now!
How to Play
Connor explains the different types of mountain dulcimers and gives a quick tutorial on how to play!
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