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Luthier Homer Ledford coined the word dulcitar as a portmanteau of dulcimer and guitar, building his first model of the instrument around 1971. [1] One of Ledford's dulcitars was accepted into the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution, as well as displayed in a traveling exhibit on American craftsmanship. [2]
With only three or four strings and a simple diatonic fret pattern, the Appalachian dulcimer is generally regarded as one of the easiest string instruments to learn. The traditional way to play the instrument is to lay it flat on the lap and pluck or strum the strings with the right hand, while fretting with the left.
Jeff Buckley played a dulcimer in his song Dream Brother featured on his record Grace, released in 1994. Joe Perry recorded with a dulcimer on Aerosmith's Get a Grip album (1993). The group Little Big Town used the dulcimer on their second album, The Road to Here. Rob McMaken of Dromedary plays the dulcimer in gypsy styles.
I've been a little free with the terms like "fifth" etc. In the traditional sense, these were probably perfect fifths, i.e. "beatless" fifths, and the fret pattern was likely set for just intonation. Modern instruments are usually built with an equal tempered scale, so the fifth is a couple of cents off of the perfect 2/3 ratio of frequencies.
Spence began playing the hammered dulcimer after hearing Howie Mitchell at the 1969 Fox Hollow Festival in Petersburgh, New York. He made his first dulcimer following a plan in Mitchell's book. The only hammered dulcimer recordings available at the time were by Mitchell and another player, Chet Parker on the Folkways label. Spence developed his ...
Performance styles vary, but the instrument may be played either one note at a time, with the instrument held with one hand and bowed with the other, as in instruments of the violin family, or it may be laid down and played with a bow in each hand, in a style reminiscent of the closely related hammered dulcimer. Some players will also hold two ...
Fretwork is an interlaced decorative design that is either carved in low relief on a solid background, or cut out with a fretsaw, coping saw, jigsaw or scroll saw.Most fretwork patterns are geometric in design.
Russell Cook is a hammered dulcimer builder and player from Oklahoma, United States. [1] Russell won first place in the 1981 Walnut Valley National Hammered Dulcimer Championship held in Winfield, Kansas. Cook built his first dulcimer in 1979, and has gone on to build hammered dulcimers. He originally operated under the name Wood 'N Strings.