See this...
I play it now. Wait, no, I own it now. I did strum on it for a bit but it's horribly out of tune and the instructions on tuning it that came in the case aren't clear, so I'll work on that via YouTube this weekend.
I'm hoping you all have heard of a dulcimer. Probably the more common for sound recognition would be the hammered dulcimer because it's so distinct, but I consider the plucked, or mountain, dulcimer to be more folksy and "of the mountains" and I'm uber excited to own this.
You see, once upon a time I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do after college. I knew I wanted to go on to do some graduate work but wasn't sure in what area I wanted to study. Music History was an option on my list and I had it narrowed down to Music of Latin and Central America or music of the Appalachians - or bluegrass/mountain/Hillbilly (yes, I said Hillbilly - but I also capitalized it) music. I've veered off of that path of study, but still love the folksy music. Maybe I'll get a banjo next? We'll see.
I shall leave you with some rockin' videos featuring this fun new addition to my collection:
7 comments:
Ooooh, lovely instrument! Yours is just gorgeous. And the videos were great, too. Who would have thought that so much could be done with one person and just a few strings??
(Love that ending to "Dueling Banjos.")
I can't even get mine tuned well - I've got a long ways to go before I'm playing these songs, but I'll get there... eventually :)
you know, if you could find Lego models of musical instruments, you'd have an easier go of things in the organization world. ;)
No idea what that thing is, but I love the sound! and I love the sound of a banjo too, so I'd support you in that second choice. :)
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I have so always wanted a dulcimer. ;) Although I want a hammered dulcimer rather than a mountain dulcimer ... Maybe we could play together someday through Skype or something. (Ha, ha...) If I, like, get off my butt and buy mine.
Where did you get yours? I have no clue where I'm even going to look when I finally bite the bullet. (I think I've been avoiding it partly because once I start collecting stringed instruments, there will be no stopping me. If I limit myself to wind instruments, well, at least there's a limit of some kind. ;))
I inherited mine - but it seems as though Branson, MO is a good place to start on a dulcimer search :) You know, that place is full of mountain music.
Heh - I was going to ask if you got that from the closet upstairs. I was hoping someone would take it. Gramma didn't use it much.
@Silver - Dusty Strings makes and sells some of the best hammered dulcimers in the U.S. And from what I understand they also resell previously owned models as well.
http://www.dustystrings.com/instrumentbuilding/tabid/74/Default.aspx
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