Articles by Instrument Archives - Page 2 of 3

Val Cortoni is a hammered dulcimer player and teacher in France. Image courtesy of Val Cortoni.

France: Video series combines software to help beginners visualize tunes

By Fiona Potts | Val Cortoni is a hammered dulcimer player and instructor who lives in France, where the hammered dulcimer is called the tympanon. This name inspired the title of the video series "Tympanim," which he started publishing on YouTube in October 2022...

Use the Measure Tool to select and copy notes from the notation staff to the tab staff. Finale automatically assigns the fret numbers. Screenshot courtesy of Geoff Black.

Finesse with Finale

By Geoff Black | Tips for using this heavyweight music notation software for mountain dulcimer tab...

The church of St Peter and St Paul in Olney, England, where John Newton, author of "Amazing Grace" was curate. Photo by Dan Evans.

England: 250 years of ‘Amazing Grace’

By Dan Evans | The words to “Amazing Grace” were written by John Newton in the small market town of Olney in north Buckinghamshire, England, where I have lived with my wife Mary for the past 28 years...

Franco-Ontarian Marc Mathieu at the Gilles Gagnon Welcome Centre's moose statue in Hearst, Ontario, the "Moose Capital of Canada." Photo courtesy of Marc Mathieu.

Canada: Traditional French-Canadian music and song

By Marc Mathieu | Blended musical traditions perfectly suited to the mountain dulcimer. Traditional folk music and song, regardless of cultural origin, are ...

Decoration on the Walnut Valley Festival competition stage. A cowboy hat, two hands, and a guitar cartoon.

Kansas: Congratulations!

By Fiona Potts | Winners of the 2023 Walnut Valley Festival National Championships for Hammered and Mountain Dulcimer.

Album Review: Baas’ ‘Unto Us a Child is Born’

By Pam Bowman | What a pleasure it is to be the person who has the privilege to clue you in to this wonderful new recording for the Christmas season!

Book Review: Wade’s ‘15 MORE Minutes a Day’

By Fiona Potts | The title of Dr. Mark Alan Wade’s new hammered dulcimer book caught my eye...

Martin Oesterle (left) and Brian Bohlman (right) at the Dulcimer Shop in Germany. Photo by Brian Bohlman.

Germany: Revival and evolution

By Brian Bohlman | Connecting to the mountain dulcimer’s German roots while expanding its horizons. While traveling in Germany...

Backyard Music founder David Cross with the cardboard instrument kits the company has become so well known for. Photo courtesy of David Magnuson.

Make music in your own backyard

Cardboard dulcimer kit builder David Magnuson of Backyard Music gets thousands of instruments to children.

Dulcimer virtuoso David Schnaufer with two Bonnie Carol dulcimers in front of an old building in Wall Street, Colorado. Photo by Bonnie Carol, late 1970s.

Dulcimers for David

Dulcimers for David is a program that provides instruments to children who want to learn to play mountain dulcimer in memory of David Schnaufer.