The Appalachian Dulcimer's History by Ralph Lee Smith

The Southern Appalachian Mountains are full of secrets,and the history of the Appalachian Dulcimer is one of them.The instrument arrived into the light of the 20th century virtually without a written record. It's traditional dissemination was principally confined to the Appalachian mountain area of some four or five states. Unlike other stringed instruments that were popular in the mountains,you couldn't buy a dulcimer from the Sears&Roebuck catalog or in stores.There was no printed music and there were no instuction manuals.Most makers of the dulcimer made only one,or a few.Prior to World War II,only two or three mountain craftsmen made dulcimers in sufficient quantity for anything like regular resale.

As to where the instrument came from,if you asked old-timers,you were likely to get one of two answers. One answer was "Didn't come from nowhere-it was borned in these hills!"Another answer was,"My great-great granddaddy brought one of those things over from England,long ago."

We'll deal with the second answer first.To the surprise of many persons,and contrary to what one could reasonablyexpect,research has failed to turn up any specimen of an instrument in the British Isles that could be an ancestor of the Appalacian Dulcimer.

As for the "borned in these hills" hypothesis,one's instinct suggests that as well-developed an instrument as the dulcimer is, it's probably not the first one of it's kind that has ever been seen in the world. But if not England,then where could it have come from?And how? To solve the puzzle,we will look first at one of the dulcimer's most distinctuve features,then we will look at what has turned up in Appalachia.

                                              A  Scale Playing Instrument

The 6 1/2 fret and other extra frets in the fretboards of modern dulcimers are rarely found in traditional dulcimers. The fret pattern of an old time Appalachian dulcimer consists of a series of large intervals--whole tones--interspersed at various shorter places with shorter intervals--half-tones. This is called diatonic fretting,as opposed to the chromatic fretting of instruments such as guitars and mandolins.Diatonically fretted instruments are designed to play sure scales without intervening "accidentals".The dulcimer is the only fretted instrument in widespread use in America today taht is diatonically fretted. This feature will prove to be a key in the lock of the mountains' secret.

                                     The Kentucky Style Dulcimer

Let's take it just like it happened.In the beginning years of the 20th centruy, a number of settlement schools and church supported schools were established in the Cumberland mountains of Kentucky to provide a good education for mountain children.  Teachers at these schools tended to be well educated persons, mostly women, from New York and New England.  They quickly encountered the dulcimer, which was different from anything they had ever seen back home or in college. Traditional Cumberland Mountain dulcimers have an hourglass shaped body, three strings, a hollow at the foot of the fret board to allow for the action of a playing switch, and usually, heart shaped sound holes- that is , the general appearance that the world has come to associate with the word "dulcimer".  As to age, the style seems to have arisen in the Cumberlands shortly after the Civil War. J. Edward "Uncle Ed" Thomas (1850-1933) , the grand old dulcimer maker of the Cumberlands, is reported to have made his first instrument about 1870.  However, this lead, fascinating as it is, fades into the mist before the mist before we arrive at the beginning.

                                   The West Virginia/North Carolina Style

 Travelers discovered that the Kentucky dulcimer has a kissing cousin in Both W. Va. and western North Carolina--"the same...but different".Old-time dulcimers from these areas have larger bodies,and the shape of the body runs in long,reverse curve from the head to the upper bout. The Glenn family of Beech Mountain,N.C.,makers of dulcimers for more than 100 years,have a reliable record that an instrument of this type entered the Beech Mountain area in 1886,perhaps from West Virginia.As with Cumberland dulcimers,this style fades out as we move back toward the Civil War--not far enough to give us ultimate answers.

                                   The Virginia Style

The traditional dulcimer style of southwestern Virginia is notably different from either of these types.Old-time Virginia dulcimers have boat-shaped bodies and hollowed-out fret board into which several holes are drilled. Many have a decorative tailpiece in the shape of an open or closed D. There is no strum hollow at the foot of the fretboard;as a result,many Virginia dulcimers display significant damage from the action of the playing switch.Heart-shaped soundholesare never encountered in older specimens.Instead, the soundholes are F-shaped or consist of patterns of small round holes. Some of these instruments have three strings and some four.The earliest specimens pre-date the Civil War. One bears the date 1832! This is intriguing! The beginning couldn't be much farther back.

                                              The Shadowy Stranger

Now comes the real oddity. In addition to these three styles,a type of instrument can be found scattered throughout Appalachia that has straight sides, and no raised and centered fretboard of the type that is a defining feature of dulcimers.  Instead, the series of frets is applied directly to the top, along the straight edge that faces the player. These  instruments can have anywhere from two to nine strings  In many specimens, the, strings are anchored by vertical iron tuning pins, often hand forged.  Most instruments of this style give every appearance of being notably old.

Unlike the dulcimer, their range of dissemination runs from Appalachia right up the ShenandoahValley into eastern Pennsylvania - the "Pennsylvania Dutch Country".  Up there, it is called a "scheiholt".  The scheiholt comes from Germany where it and similar instruments of Northern Europe date back to late medieval or early Renaissance times.   It was brought to Pennsylvania by German settlers.  Several known American specimens bear dates earlier than 1800.

  Scheiholts are diatonically fretted, and a majority of American scheiholts have fret patterns that are identical to that of most old time dulcimers!  With both instruments, if you start at the third fret on the meoldy string and run down the fret pattern tone by tone, you will produce the major scale.  Alternatively, some old scheiholts and some old dulcimers are fretted in such a fashion as to produce the major scale from the open fret.

   Tennessee Music Box (Upper Cumberland region)  

   A Scheiltholt in the Mount Airy Museum,Mount Airy,N.C. (Ca. 1930's)

   A Langeleik from Norway. Norwegian origin circa late 1800's.

   An Epinette des Vosges from northern France,via Sweden.

   May 1st issue(1917) of Vogue magazine shows a model with an hourglass shaped mountain dulcimer.

   The modern dulcimer comes in varying shapes as seen in this photo.

   Hummel instrument is Swedish and related to the Norwegian Langeleik.