Hammered Dulcimer

The dulcimer came to Europe from the Perso-Arabic sphere around the 12th century. It is a percussion instrument consisting of a shallow box with about 10 strings of different lengths stretched across it. The strings are fixed by nails at one end and at the other end by twisted round pegs. Each string was a different length, providing each with its own tune. The Slavs play is with wooden sticks or small hammers, which are struck against the strings - the hammered dulcimer. The Italians plucked the strings with a plectrum - a psaltery.

(Photos courtesy of Jim Hill at website Lark in the Morning - see credits

You may want to visit the following outside of Virtual Renaissance:

Hammered Dulcimer Page
http://www.rtpnet.org/~gotwals/hd/dulcimer.html
Contains information on the hammered dulcimer including learning how to play it, purchasing one, music resources, bands, societies, recordings, history, and internet as well as other resources.

 

How to build a simple Hammered-Dulcimer (12 doubled strings)

http://edcen.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/dulc.htm

From the Straits of Mackinac in northern Michican comes Dennis Havlena's instructions on how to build a hammered dulcimer for very little money and time from materials that are easy to get. There are also directions (including a photo) on how to "Build a conduit-tubing dulcimer"

at http://edcen.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/dulcimer.htm

 

The Kitchen Musician Dulcimer Site

http://members.aol.com/kitchiegal/index.html

A wealth of information on the dulcimer, its history, music, and resources. Download musical scores along with midi sections from their pages. Read articles on period music. See period photos and hear recordings of period music.

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References:

Baines, Anthony. European & American Musical Instruments. Viking Press, New York, 1966.

 

Buchner, Dr. Alexander (translated by Iris Urwin). Musical Instruments Through the Ages. Batchworth Press Limited, London, England, 1961.

Haas, Karl. Inside Music: How to understand, listen to, and enjoy good music. Doubleday, New York, 1984. ISBN: 0-385-18536-7

 

Hill, Jim. "Lark in the Morning". http://www.larkinam.com/ (20 June 1996)

 

Hindley, Geoffrey (ed.). The Larousse Encyclopedia of Music. Excalibur Books, New York, 1982.

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