What are these instruments?
If you answered Hog Fiddle, Lap Dulcimer, Music Box, Mountain Zither, or Harmony Box you’d be right. But the most common name is the Appalachian Dulcimer which refers to the mountainous region in Eastern North America they hail from.
Very few historical records of the dulcimer’s origin exist but experts believe the transitional versions began in the early 1700s. These transitional varieties had components of other Western European instruments but are considered the beginnings of a new variant.
Musicians and instrument builders who had some experience with violins but didn’t have the tools or time in their new pioneer-living homes, started experimenting and these mountain dulcimers were the result.
The essential components of the instruments are hollow, wooden soundboxes with strings that are plucked. Soundholes or f-holes are employed on the top for projection. The “neck” is a raised fingerboard that is fretted. These frets are spaced and measured to play a diatonic scale. The strings attach to the bottom of the instrument and are then strung to the scrolled headstock were the tuning pegs are housed. Between where the strings attach and where the neck starts, there’s a gap called the strum hollow where the player uses fingers, a plectrum or a beater to engage the strings.
There are a lot of variations on the Appalachian Dulcimer but most are 3, 4, 5 or 6 stringed, and arranged in either three or four courses but many possible string arrangements exist.
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