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Hammered Dulcimer
There are two rows of bridges, the one to the left holds the bass strings, while the right hand bridge splits the treble strings in to fifths with the lower note to the right and the higher to the left. The player stands or sits in front of the longest side.
Hammered Dulcimer - lots of strings trapezium shaped
Appalachian dulcimer - 3 to 6 strings hourglass shaped
The range of the dulcimer is up to 3 octaves usually from D to D''' on a 29 course instrument. This gives the diatonic keys of A, D, G and C. Our smallest instrument with 17 courses has a range from G to A'', limiting the player to the keys of D and G.
It is particularly apparent in the dulcimer tradition in England that the old players cared little about the source of things they played. They played what they liked - not restricting themselves to traditional material.
There appears to be a dying tradition around the Birmingham area of playing this dulcimer as a plucked instrument - the repertoire not traditional, but tunes from musicals, easy listening etc.
History
Closely related to the Hungarian cymbalom, German/Swiss hackbrett, Iraqi and Iranian santir (probably the origin of all of these), Indian santoor, Korean yangum and Chinese yang qin.Choosing
There are two types of dulcimer - don't get them confused they're completely different!!!Hammered Dulcimer - lots of strings trapezium shaped
Appalachian dulcimer - 3 to 6 strings hourglass shaped
Tunings and Fingerings
The Hammered dulcimer is a diatonic instrument, and the scales available go round the circle of 5ths. The diatonic scale is played by hitting the first 4 strings on the bass side, then switching to the first 4 on the treble side for the next 4 notes of the scale. If the lowest scale is A starting with the first course, then the D scale will start on the 4th course (the 4th note of the A scale), again using the first 4 notes on the bass (right) then switching to the treble (left) side. And so on with the scale of G, C and maybe even F.The range of the dulcimer is up to 3 octaves usually from D to D''' on a 29 course instrument. This gives the diatonic keys of A, D, G and C. Our smallest instrument with 17 courses has a range from G to A'', limiting the player to the keys of D and G.
Musical Styles
It had a strong tradition in East Anglia especially. It is also quite strong in American music having been used in immigrant ethnic music and old time. There are different tuning systems. "All The Tunes That Ever There Were" is an excellent source of info.It is particularly apparent in the dulcimer tradition in England that the old players cared little about the source of things they played. They played what they liked - not restricting themselves to traditional material.
There appears to be a dying tradition around the Birmingham area of playing this dulcimer as a plucked instrument - the repertoire not traditional, but tunes from musicals, easy listening etc.