Scots-Irish Music
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The Mountain Dulcimer

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How many folk’s have wondered what that strange lookin’ ‘beastie’ Mark Thompson of the ‘Low Country Boys’ sometimes plays?

Well, I can tell you it’s most commonly called an Appalachian or Mountain Dulcimer, but in some places is also called a Lap Dulcimer or Kentucky Dulcimer.

Some folks are under the impression that the Scotch-Irish were the first to introduce this instrument to the Appalachian region. However, from the evidence below, you will see that it is far more likely to have been originally introduced to the area by German immigrants in it's original European form, which was called a Scheitholt.

What isn't in doubt however, is the fact that when the Scots-Irish did got their hands on this instrument, they quickly made it their own.

 
     
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From Ulster to Appalachia.

The Appalachian dulcimer is widely used in the American old-time music tradition.
The instrument first appeared in the early 1800s from the Scots-Irish in the southern Appalachian Mountains, and is thus also called a mountain dulcimer.
The instrument was based on pre-existing similar European, namely German, instruments.
Soon it acquired a distinctive American flavor.
The instrument became used as a parlor instrument, as its sound volume is well-suited to small home gatherings.

Here’s what they sound like: s3

The tune is ‘The Barlow Knife’ & the player is Butch Ross, who gave classes & played all the way through last year’s 1st Causeway Dulcimer Festival in Bushmills.

You can listen to lots more clips of his playing here: s3

Or you can check out his website here: s3

For a real treat you can watch these videos of Dulcimer players in action: s3

  
     
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Here is a Short History of the Mountain Dulcimer.

"In the Middle Ages music was often played in Europe on an instrument called a Scheitholt, (N.B. Just be careful how you pronounce this name!) which was a 2 or 3 stringed rectangular musical instrument.
However, the predecessors of the Scheitholts were found in the Turkish and Persian area.
The Scheitholt lay horizontally before the musician, either on the knees of the player or on a table.
Sounding the first string on the frets takes place either with a bar or with the individual fingers of the left hand.
The second to fourth strings are not seized, they function thus as a drone.
With the right hand the strings are strummed across, either with the thumb, or more frequently still with the shaft of a feather as with a plectrum.
The first account of this instrument came in 1618, and it was described as a small monochord made of three or four boards, provided at one end with a peg box in which are inserted three or four pegs for tuning the brass strings of the instrument.
It was related to similar instruments in France, the Low Countries, Norway, Sweden and Iceland.
During the 1700s, the scheitholt was brought to Pennsylvania by German immigrants and down the Shennandoah Valley by their descendants.
Their musical tradition died out during the 19th century, but it is said that they often played the instrument with a bow."

 
     
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The Ulster / Appalachian connection

"They often played songs & hymns on their instruments, but when the Scots-Irish in Virginia got a hold of the scheitholt, they used it for dance music and that meant fiddle tunes.
It seems that the only instrumental music that makers and owners of scheitholts during the early days of settlement would hear, was fiddle music, and the fiddle, of course, was the preeminent instrument for the playing of dance music, and dance tunes constituted the major proportion of everything that fiddlers knew and played.
It is believed that the Pennsylvania Germans played slowly, most often with a bow, while the Scots-Irish, who adapted the instrument to their music would rip through fiddle tunes with a turkey quill.
In the 1800s then, the dulcimer was a solo instrument used for playing simple melodies supported by a drone, or accompanying ballads or songs with a drone.
In America then, the music of the Dulcimer comes from Anglo-Celtic roots, but it has its own sound.
In the 1960s they still played their Mt. Dulcimers by strumming with a pick in the right hand, and sounding the notes by sliding a wooden "noter" with the left hand up and down the fretboard.
This created a constant melodious buzz in the background, like the drone of the bagpipes."

  
     
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Mountain Dulcimer or Appalachian Dulcimer, what is this instrument's real name?

"Well, another interesting slant on the Appalachian Dulcimer can be found on the pages of 'The Old Time Music' s3 where they say:

"By far the oldest type of instrument played [in this genre] is the Appalachian Dulcimer, though technically this 'mountain dulcimer' is misnamed: true dulcimers are struck with beaters (thus 'hammered dulcimer' is redundant).

A plucked zither, the Appalachian Dulcimer's basic design is ancient: the legendary Pythagorean Monochord, from whence the rudiments of the diatonic major scale were supposedly derived some 2500 years ago, may have looked similar. The instrument's antiquity belies the fact that it was a relative latecomer to the American South. It didn't come over on the Mayflower or any other ship of British origin. Germans and other Northern Eurpeans apparently brought such instruments in the 19th century, when they were spread via the Pennsylvania side of the Appalachians into the American South. A newcomer as late as the 1890s, the Appalachian Dulcimer's apparently medieval design and penchant for modal tunes disguised the fact that it was, among folk instruments in the South, a new kid on the block"

  
     
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For more information on this instrument, go to: s3

For a list of Mountain Dulcimer makers websites, go to 'Owl Mountain Music': s3

Or check out 'A History of the Mountain Dulcimer' by Lucy M. Long at: s3

Or the 'Causeway Dulcimer Festival' Mountain Dulcimer page: s3

  
     
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s3 Scots-Irish Music - Home Page
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