11. Dulcimers and Equipment

Dulcimers and Dulcimer Learning

This is the autobiographical and slightly technical bit of the website, on my personal struggles and progress with different kinds of dulcimers, hammers, stands etc.

If you are a new or aspiring dulcimer player you might find some of this helpful and informative, but if you are more interested in the music it might be better to skip this bit and move back on to the earlier musical pages.

Please keep in mind that this is a personal view - others may well take a completely different stance on the pros and cons of the dulcimers, hammers etc. that I describe below or indeed the whole dulcimer learning process as this may take place outside East Kent!

After quite a few years playing the dulcimer, I have concluded that the most important thing is to gain a firm sense of how you want your playing to sound - to have some sort of musical goal or objective. This is not so straightforward as it may seem. If not already apparent, my aspirations lie towards the most effective use of the dulcimer in English traditional music and song accompaniment, but precisely what this may be is something that (for me) has evolved greatly with experience and time. If you want to use the dulcimer in popular music, jazz, classical music or some other musical category you may find some of my preconceptions inappropriate, but I hope that they may be on interest just the same.

The 'Road to Damascus' Moment

I should start by explaining that I had been playing traditional and modern folk music (English, Irish and American) for most of my life, on various instruments (guitar, five-string banjo, English concertina, melodeon and mouth organ). However, the strong desire to take up the dulcimer firmly seized me early in 2008. Maybe, I had been listening to some recordings by the longstanding traditional stars of the instrument (Billy Cooper, Billy Bennington or Jimmy Cooper) or perhaps the later performers (Bill Spence, Jim Couza, Sue Harris or Chris Coe). Whatever or whoever it was that pushed me beyond 'the point of no return' I am not entirely sure, but I became completely captivated by the sound of the dulcimer and the need to learn the instrument took precedence exclusion of other kinds of music-making. The difficulty was knowing where to start; how to obtain the right kind of dulcimer; and how to go about learning to play it. The pages that follow recount some of my experiences.

Please note that there are a number of sub pages under Dulcimers and Accessories.

11/A. My First Dulcimer

11/B. My Second Dulcimer

11/C. My Third Dulcimer

11/D. My Fourth Dulcimer

11/E. My Fifth Dulcimer

11/F. Hammers

11/G. Stands

11/H. Self Accompaniment

11/I. Amplification

Link to 11/A. My First Dulcimer

For links to other pages, use the drop down menu at the top right of the page.

Please feel free to email me at bill.howarth54@gmail.com with any comments on the website.