Need help on historical use of the MD!!

[Old Goat]

This is both a challenge and request to the forum about history and information:
1. Problem:
a. I do some re-enacting in the Civil War era as a civilian, not so much a hard core re-enactor, but more a entertainer and educator about the mountain dulcimer.
b. Keith Young made me a wonderful recreation of an 1800 Virginia dulcimer that I play.
c. I do my best to stay as accurate to the time period as I can, however the problem with any event is being able to document the use/style/etc. of the mountain dulcimer during the mid 1800’s.
2. Request: I need any input, documentation, oral history, or leads on where I can find information to document and or discuss some of the questions/concerns of the re-enacting community concerning:
a. Availability:
i. This is not so much of a problem. There are many documented MD’s back into the early 1800’s. I know they were not a common instrument but they were certainly available to a person that came out of the countryside to join the civil war either north or south.
1. Probably more so of a civilian that was not bound to the limitations of a soldier as to what he could own, carry, or pack.
ii. However:
1. The following comments, written by period music researcher Jon Isaacson, have been excerpted from The Watchdog (vol. 1, no. 4, and vol. 3, no. 2), this concerns his comment that “In speaking of stringed instruments as used today, there are three "problem children," which should be avoided by reenactors. These are guitars, dulcimers, and mandolins.”
a. During the 19th Century, the dulcimer looked nothing like the so-called "mountain" or "hammered" dulcimers popularized during the 1960s folk revolution. In addition, their use in the mid-19th century seems to be confined to very small areas of Pennsylvania, and even old Appalachian musicians will tell you they didn't know about dulcimers until the early 20th century. The dulcimer was considered to be a "feminine" instrument, certainly not an instrument to be found commonly in military camps being played by men.
2. In regards to the “feminine” quote, I am not so sure. I seem to recall that Jean Ritchie made several references to male relatives that played the MD’s. Men made most dulcimers and those that swapped (and the few that actually traveled about peddling them) would certainly have to know how to play them.
b. Strings: Any thoughts?
i. Most would say to use gut strings or (for reproduction of sound) nylon classical guitar strings.
ii. Metal strings are a maybe, they were certainly used in many other instruments of the time and could be bought, scavenged from those instruments. Metal would be harder to come by, but for a person on the move they would have the advantage of lasting longer.
c. Picks:
i. I use a variety of picks from fingers, feather, leather, and cane. I also use cellulose picks in a brown turtle shell pattern. Turtle shell picks were being made as early at 1800. They would not have been common by any means but they if you are a traveler moving about and making contact with many other people and instruments you certainly would have the opportunity to trade or swap. I use the cellulose reproductions due to cost and quasi-legal problems of using turtle shell.
3. What I would like to hear from the forum historians is any lead to documenting any/all of the above. I know this is often difficult, the amount that is not know about life in the 1800’s is staggering. Re-enactors are limited to only what can be proven by photograph/writing/and sometimes oral history. So much of the day-to-day life simply was not interesting enough to write down, assuming someone present could write it down. And then you have to take out what was written and lost.

[kwl]

Paul, you ask some good questions. I suggest you look in the thread on History of Dulcimers and Songs. You should find some answers in those discussions. Perhaps you could copy your post here and post it in that thread.

[Todd G.]

...their use in the mid-19th century seems to be confined to very small areas of Pennsylvania, and even old Appalachian musicians will tell you they didn't know about dulcimers until the early 20th century.

The dulcimer was considered to be a "feminine" instrument, certainly not an instrument to be found commonly in military camps being played by men.

During the 19th Century, the dulcimer looked nothing like the so-called "mountain" or "hammered" dulcimers popularized during the 1960s folk revolution.

Most would say to use gut strings or (for reproduction of sound) nylon classical guitar strings.

Where did that guy come up with those assertions?

I am not a dulcimer historian, but David Schnaufer was. This is from the McSpadden website:

A Brief History of the Appalachian Dulcimer
David Schnaufer
Adj. Assoc. Professor of Dulcimer
Vanderbilt University, 2003

The dulcet tones and harmonious drones of the Appalachian dulcimer have been an important part of American music for over three hundred years. It is classified as an diatonically fretted �zither� � a �zither� being an instrument with strings stretched across a box from end to end and having no neck as do guitars and violins. Autoharps and hammered dulcimers are also zithers. �Diatonic� means that the instrument plays the eight tones of the major scale: do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do like the white keys of the piano. Though it does not contain all the �chromatic� notes of the twelve tone scale found on pianos and guitars, it can be tuned to harmonize with nearly all Western folk music.

The earliest depiction of this type of instrument is found in a fresco from 1560 in the Church of Rynkeby on the Danish island of Fyn. An angel musician is seen plucking the strings of straight sided zither with her fingers. This beam like form spread throughout northern Europe and it is the Germanic variant called a �Scheitholt� that arrived in America probably in the early eighteenth century. These instruments have two sets of strings � one set to play the melody and the other to provide a continuous drone like a bagpipe. They generally had from eight to ten strings and were either plucked or played with a bow. This type of instrument was common over much of Europe with the exception of the British Isles.

The Appalachian dulcimer was forged in the melting pot of the wagon roads and river routes of the frontier. The Scots and Irish settlers could hear the drone of the pipes in this sturdy and easily constructed zither and the English found it to be an appropriate accompaniment to their ballads and laments. They reduced the number of strings to just three or four, as wire was a precious commodity in the wilderness, and added a raised fingerboard to allow the playing of quick jigs and reels with a plectrum. By reducing the strings the instrument became more adaptable to more types of music within this theater. Unlike other instruments that have a distinct evolution to their present form, the dulcimer is still being reinvented all the time. The shapes and sounds vary widely throughout the region. The Shenandoah Valley has a tradition of teardrop or boat shaped dulcimers played with a turkey quill for a pick. Kentucky is known for its delicate hourglass shaped three string instrument, and Tennessee is home to a large rectangular dulcimer that was known as a �music box�. West Virginia, with its early German settlers and isolated regions has the most widely variegated traditions. There is also much cross-pollination, with North Carolina dulcimers sharing distinct West Virginia shapes and fretting ideas.

Most of the dulcimers of hundreds years ago were made of poplar which was readily available, easy to work, and not subject to warping with temperature and humidity extremes. Some few were made of walnut, cherry and maple. These woods have been most common in the twentieth century. Though there are a few examples of commercial makers in the late nineteenth century, for the most part dulcimers were made by individuals supplying their families and close neighbors. The settlement schools and folk revivals of the 1930s and 40s kept the dulcimer visible until Jean Ritchie left Viper, Kentucky in the fifties and brought the dulcimer to the world stage with her music and literature. Since the sixties, the Appalachian dulcimer has staked a claim in the American orchestra of rock, pop, jazz, country, blues and classical and is now more popular than ever. Its sweet voice will be heard for centuries to come because it�s the sound of the ground we walk on.

For further reading:

* Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions; Ralph Lee Smith, Scarecrow Press, 1997
* The Story of the Dulcimer; Ralph Lee Smith, Crying Creek Publication
* Play of a Fiddle � Traditional Music, Dance, and Folklore in West Virginia;
* Gerald Milnes, University Press of Kentucky, 1999
* All That Is Native and Fine; David Whisnant, University of North
* Carolina Press, 1983
* The Dulcimer Book; Jean Ritchie, Oak Publication, 1974
* Dulcimer People; Jean Ritchie, Oak Publication
* A Catalogue of Pre Revival Appalachian Dulcimers; L. Allen Smith,
* University of Missouri Press, 1983
* Plucked Dulcimers & Zithers; Wim Bosmans, Brussels Musical Instrument
* Museum, 2001

[Todd G.]

This is from another website (http://home.usit.net/~sandyc/cosshistory.html):

Tear Drop Dulcimer or Virginia Dulcimer
The different styles of dulcimer each have a different history. One specimen of the teardrop or Virginia style has been dated as early as 1832. Many of these specimens have been found in southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee and some in North Carolina just below the southwest Virginia border, with a slight overflow from southwest Virginia to West Virginia. This style was probably developed in southwest Virginia since more old instruments were found there and then disseminated to the adjoining neighbor states. The teardrop is still a popular style even today.

The Hourglass Dulcimer
As with the Virginia style dulcimer, the beginnings of the hourglass are somewhat obscure. What is clear is that this style instrument centers in West Virginia and Kentucky rather than Virginia and Tennessee. J. Ed Thomas, born 1850 and died 1933, is the first Cumberland maker of the hourglass dulcimer. He started making them in 1871 and would peddle them off a mule cart. He dated each instrument and the oldest one found so far is 1897. Unfortunately, no one ever inquired as to how or where he learned to make them. Mr. Thomas also had connections with the settlement schools. Towards the end of the 1800's and beginning 1900's the settlement schools and craft movements brought the dulcimer to the attention of outsiders.

The Galax Dulcimer
The Galax dulcimer is a large-bodied dulcimer that evolved in the general vicinity of Galax, Virginia, around the end of the 19th century. Its body was wider than most dulcimers and more of an oval shape. It is also mounted on a piece of wood, in effect having its own table. This resonates the sound very well. What is interesting about this dulcimer is not only the shape unique, but the method of playing. All four strings are tuned to the same note. The player uses a noter on the first two strings and strums with a stripped turkey quill at the narrow end of the fretboard. It is played in either Ionian or Mixolydian modes without retuning. Making and playing of these instruments continues to be a living tradition in Galax, Virginia. With the romanticized view of the dulcimer as emblematic of the Appalachian culture, mountain residents preserved the dulcimer and discouraged any further development of the instrument. Since the 1950's the dulcimer has entered folk music, and later pop and country music mainstream. With its sweet melody and easy playability, there is no doubt this delightful instrument will continue to grow in popularity and enjoy a place in American's hearts.

Tennessee Music Box
There is another dulcimer that was made in the southern middle Tennessee area that should not be overlooked. Called the "music box" by the people who made them over 100 years ago, these folk instruments were made from materials at hand. A majority have been found in Giles, Lawrence, Wayne and Perry counties. Family histories date these boxes between 1870-1940. The majority being made early in that time period.

That Jon Isaacson guy seems to have his facts mixed-up or he just doesn't like dulcimers. The German scheitholt was confined to Pennsylvania prior to the opening of the Wilderness Road (into the Appalachian region) in 1769. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries the mountain dulcimer developed from the scheitholt through the contributions of all the Appalachian settlers (German, English, Scots-Irish, French, etc.). There were mountain dulcimers throughout the Appalachian region in the 19th century (as early as the Civil War period), and they did resemble the ones we play today. According to Schnaufer, early dulcimers used metal wire for strings. Jean Ritchie's father, Balis Ritchie, played the mountain dulcimer, and he was born in 1870. In fact, he forbade his kids from messing with HIS dulcimer (but Jean did anyway). I assume Jean Ritchie's father was not feminine.

[Lisa -S.H.]

The dulcimer was not considered a 'feminine' instrument- back in the late 1800's and early 1900's most dulcimer makers were men and men were players quite commonly, if not possibly even more than women. The whole hooey-bologna about the shape of the hourglass instrument being based on a woman's shape is hokey recent invention as well. Look at fiddles for hourglass sound acoustic inspiration.
Swedish hummles often have to one rounded bout or a combination of flat/round sides....were they then based on a one-hipped woman?

Picks.... bone, leather, wood, fingers, and feather quills would all be appropriate.

[KenH]

Issason has pretty much been de-bunked by serious researchers.

Dulcimers were NEVER common.

Metal strings are a GIVEN - as far as we know, no dulcimer was ever strung with gut.

Events and the way of life in the 1840s to 1880 is readily discernable if you're willing to read the newspaper. For years i've been tracing the biography of an innovative steamboat captain name U.B. Scott. He was born in 1827 near what would become Ironton, OH on the Ohio River, and died in Portland, Oregon in 1913. I've read every daily/weekly issue of the newspapers along the Ohio R. from about 1840 to 1873 when he left, and from 1873 to 1913 in Oregon and Washington. Most of his experiments and exploits are documented in the "River News" or "On the Waterfront" columns, and you learn a lot about life from the rest of the stories too. These newspapers are available from your local public library or Interlibrary loan or history center, on microfilm or microfiche; and readers are usually available.

[dingoII]

If I recall at one point looking up my family history, I ran across something on a ship capitan, from the 1700's, there was a copy of his journal, living in the colonies, and a part where somebody pulled out there dulcimer and played.

As a fact deep in the ED dulcimer history, there is a link to this.

[Lisa -S.H.]

If I recall at one point looking up my family history, I ran across something on a ship capitan, from the 1700's, there was a copy of his journal, living in the colonies, and a part where somebody pulled out there dulcimer and played.

As a fact deep in the ED dulcimer history, there is a link to this.

Yes but I believe more hammered dulcimers were being played than mountain dulcimers in those days, and they were called 'dulcimers'....so unless there was clarification in the reference, it could well have been a hammered dulcimer.

[Robin T]

Paul,
Here is a Google book link to Gerald Milnes's Play of a Fiddle: Traditional music, dance, and folklore in West Virginia:

http://books.google.com/books?id=eVR4bq ... q=&f=false

Chapter 11, titled "Hog Harps, Waterswivels, and Fence Scorpions" might be of benefit. Page 140 of the chapter is not included in the Google listing so if you can get your hands on a copy, I think you'd enjoy the reading.

all good wishes,
Robin T

[MaryLautzenheiser]

Here is one of the best resources for the American mountain dulcimer:

A catalogue of pre-revival dulcimers by L.Allen Smith
Published: Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1983
ISBN: 0826203760

LC classification: ML461 .S64 1983
Dewey: 787'.942 19

L. Allen Smith documents and measures the instruments he found, and attempts to date them where possible. Jean Ritchie, who is an ethnomusicologist herself, as well as a folklorist's dream source, wrote a foreword explaining why she thinks it should be called a *mountain* dulcimer (the LOC classifiers used to call it a Kentucky dulcimer).

It covers regional shapes and their distribution in this country, and a whole raft of front/back/side views, string lengths and configurations etc, and as much of a provenance and dating as was available for each instrument. The instruments are pre-revival (pre-1940) and in a way they have to speak for themselves.

The instruments in the book came from several collections, among them Ohio's own Ann Grimes' many historical dulcimers. (Ann, a folksinger and dulcimer player, lived in Granville for many years, and passed away in her 90s several years ago at Oberlin. I remember meeting her when she and Jerry R. judged several playing contests together in the mid 1980s).

To me the most noticeable features of the dulcimers in the book are: 1. the incredible variations in sophisticated and unsophisticated woodwork-- from primitive straight-sided shapes to the more difficult to build hourglass; 2. wildly varying fret and string configurations (3 or more strings, fretted under just one, two, or all strings); 3. provenance-- how few instruments were identified firmly with a maker, place and date. No example is over 200 years old-- the American mountain dulcimer is a young instrument.

Sorry for running on. This is such a good reference book, but it's out of print. We discovered some years ago in Columbus, and always take them along to concerts and exhibits for people to see. There is such a lot to be learned, even from the silent photos, about how they made music.

Mary
http://www.jcrmusic.com

[Todd G.]

I wonder if there were any German-American Civil War soldiers who would have been familiar with the scheitholt or scheitholt/dulcimer transition instrument (essentially a mountain dulcimer)? Maybe those things would have been occasionally found on the outskirts of Civil War encampments where there such soldiers.

[Old Goat]

Have I ever mentioned how much I love this forum. Instead of spending most of the winter in researching a topic, I got most of my answers and leads in less than a day. I found a copy of "A catalogue of pre-revival dulcimers by L.Allen Smith" on line for sale and ordered it. It sounds just to good not to have for a reference. I loved the book on the fiddle, I will try to find that one in a library. I also looked around on line and found a company that makes picks from cow hoofs, so I ordered some to try out. ... mmmm so if I put one of those in my mouth to hold it a moment is that hoof in mouth disease?