I had a wonderful time at Fox Valley--not just doing the CSC showcase on Mon. (with harmony help from my "round-mates") but also getting to do the Dulcimer Workshop, flanked by the premier trad. dulcimer duo in the Midwest, Donna & Dan Benkert on my left and probably the best modern dulcimerist-songwriter alive, David Massengill, on my right. Wow! We got to demonstrate tips and tricks and snippets of songs from each of our very different styles, do a full song apiece (I chose "Talking to the Vines" as a way of demonstrating how I turn a guitar part into an effective dulcimer part) AND jam and collaborate on three tunes! Many of you came up afterward and asked me some more questions about the Mt. Dulcimer, and I had to go back to the CSC tent and mind the store before I could answer all of you. Q. I've never played an instrument before, and I don't read music. Can I learn mt. dulcimer? A. Sure--because it's fretted diatonically (no "accidental" sharps or flats) and tuned to a particular scale, there are no truly "wrong" notes and, armed with a lesson on where the notes are and maybe a few simple chords, it's a really short learning curve. And there's plenty of room for you to eventually push the envelope and truly shine....I'm not there yet but I'm trying. Q. Can I jam with other instruments? A. Yup! And do as much of it as you can! Q. Where can I learn more and buy a dulcimer? A. Your local music store, if it caters to folk musicians (the types of instruments in the window and CDs and books inside are a dead giveaway). Ask if you're not sure. If you don't have such a store near you, go to www.everythingdulcimer.com, which has all kinds of links for vendors, builders, instructors, books and recordings (listening & instruction), etc. You might luck out and find a nice one at a dulcimer or folk festival or even a craft or renaissance fair. (I even saw a vendor at Epcot, and he had good stuff). Try before you buy if at all possible. Q. How much should I expect to pay? A. You can, with a little research, get a reliable, decently-built, playable and fairly good-sounding dulcimer for as little as $100, though it may not be anything fancy and may not have the finest materials and fit & finish. Insist on all-solid woods--even at that price point you needn't settle for plywood--and stable, easily tuned tuning pegs (geared, not friction, unless you are a violinist, know how to use them and they're top-quality). $200 and up should get you above student-level, and $300-400 and up will give you entry into the simpler of the pro-level dulcimers. You can spend more if you want, but unless you are truly committed, start a little less expensively and then trade up or add to your arsenal. (One thing I think is essential, even on the plainest dulcimers, is a "6th-1/2 fret," which you can recognize by a pattern of 3 equal spaces in the middle of the fingerboard. In olden times, when all scales and chords were strictly limited to the mode in which the dulcimer was tuned, that fret was not there--this resulted in a flatted seventh, which is typical of a modal sound, if a scale is started on an open string. Without it, unless you are tuned to Ionian mode, you won't have the option of playing a standard do-re-mi major scale with a regular seventh, especially when starting on an open string). If you are buying a dulcimer on eBay, make sure you can see it in the photo. If it doesn't appear clearly, it probably isn't there. You can have a luthier put one in, but why incur the extra expense and hassle? Of course, in an ideal universe, you wouldn't buy without trying--if you must buy one online or from a catalog, make sure you get return privileges. Q. What was that little blue rug on your lap and how come none of the others used one? A. I call it my "little Appalachian rubber shmatta," but it's really a piece of Rubbermaid mesh shelf liner. (DON'T spend $5-10 on a "dulcimer pad;" go to a discount store--even some dollar stores--and get a roll of the stuff. Mine came from a $4 roll from Target, and cost about 50 cents. Line your shelves with the rest of the roll). Massengill stands up to play--he suspends his dulcimer from his shoulders, and because he fingerpicks using very short strokes, can steady it with the heel of his hand. (I stand up too--but I lay the rubber liner across a folding keyboard stand). The Benkerts sometimes use straps, and though they sometimes strum, they use shorter strokes and the dulcimer stays steady. I use a lot of sweeping strums because I started as a rhythm guitarist and I play primarily to accompany my voice and other instruments; therefore, I need to keep it in place. Q. What's the difference between a Mountain and an Appalachian dulcimer? A. The name. Q. OK, so how does it differ from a hammered dulcimer? A. 30 years ago, when you said "dulcimer," it was assumed you were referring to a mountain dulcimer. Nowadays, there seem to be many more hammer players than mountain players. Both are zithers, both are tuned diatonically, and both are associated with folk (especially Appalachian mountain) music. But the mt. dulcimer is considered a "plucked, fretted zither" because it has frets (those metal bars across the fingerboard over which the strings pass) and you "pluck" (strum or pick) it. The hammer dulcimer has many more strings, strung in pairs or "courses," and you learn where the notes are by stringing patterns. It's shaped like a trapezoid, and you actually hit the strings with hammers--little wooden mallets with rubber or leather pads. It's a steeper learning curve. Many, like the Benkerts or Maddie McNeil, play both kinds of dulcimer. I don't. (I'm a klutz and am in awe of hammer players). Other kinds of plucked zithers are autoharps, psalteries and even arcane hybrids like the antique Pianolin and Ukelin. Q. How come David's dulcimers had three single strings each, the Benkerts had four (one pair and two singles) and yours had six (three doubled pairs)? And why did your two sound different from each other? A. Most of mine are like the Benkerts', actually. I went with the six-stringers at Fox Valley to be different, and besides the fact that one's a standard-tuned and the other a baritone (different woods, too), the baritone has octave pairs on both the bass & middle strings, whereas on the standard-tuned, only the bass pair is in octaves--the others are unisons. I brought the bari in order to demonstrate a particular song. Actually, the only difference in stringing between the Benkerts' (and my usual) 4-stringers and David's is that he removed the second treble string. At home I also have a 3-string bass (tuned an octave below the std.), a 4-string bari, and a 4-string soprano (tuned an octave above the bari). Between the std., the bari & the soprano, I can tune to every key without breaking strings or having them feel loose and sound "sour." Q. Can you put a pickup on them? A. Sure. In, on, whatever, wherever. I get the best results from an undersaddle transducer (factory-installed), run into a preamp/EQ box of the same brand. (Most of mine use LR Baggs pickups, so a Baggs box works well with them; my Blue Lion Model IIW 4-stringer has a Fishman Matrix, so I run that into a Fishman Pro EQ box). You *can* get a cheaper, easier-to-install-and-remove stick-on pickup (like a Shadow, Hot Spot, or Barcus-Berry), but I find they sometimes fall off when you plug and unplug; and because they pick up vibrations not from the strings vibrating against the saddle and bridge but from the top itself, any noises from anything touching or brushing against the instrument will be amplified. I actually have a solidbody electric dulcimer (made in Louisiana before Katrina) with a single-coil magnetic pickup (like an electric guitar) that picks up the vibrations of the strings above the polepieces (sensors) of the pickup itself. It's great for unusual stuff like running the signal through effects, but it hums around fluorescent and neon lights or poorly grounded power and is more of a novelty. I rarely play it because it doesn't sound like a dulcimer except for the tuning and drones. Q. How are they tuned? A. Like most modern players, I tune in Mixolydian mode (going from bass to middle to trebles, low to high, I-V-I (an octave above the bass--in the key of D, which is most commonly used in that tuning, D-A-octave D). The oldest tuning is "Ionian," which is I-V-V (or D-A-A, with middles and trebles exactly the same pitch). David uses what he calls a "reverse Mixolydian," or V-I-I (A-D-D) and plays his melodies as chords using the two outer strings. Joni Mitchell taught herself dulcimer without benefit of instruction, like she did with guitar, and likewise arrived at her own tuning. But it turns out it's an ancient Virginia tuning called "Galax," after that area of the state, and it is all three (or four) strings tuned to the same pitch. (I haven't tried it yet, because most of her stuff works in Mixolydian, but I intend to give it a go one of these days on "All I Really Want'). There are other tunings I don't use but intend to try. Possibilities are endless. Q. You mentioned you most often adapt guitar songs to dulcimer. Do you play it like a guitar? Or instead of a guitar when you can't find a guitar? A. No way!!! It's that combination of modal tuning and drone string(s), as well as the size and shape of the instrument that make it so unique and appealing. When I want the actual sound of a guitar, I play guitar. I love the dulcimer's sound, and play it on its own terms. When I play it with a guitar, it's to add its own dimension to the mix. THE DULCIMER IS NOT A GUITAR!