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JULIA MONTGOMERY
STREET
The Appalachian, mountain, or
plucked dulcimer — the adjectives are
interchangeable — is not the same in¬
strument as one called by that name in
the Bible (Daniel 3:5). Nor is it the
trapezoidal harp-like forerunner of the
piano, as described and pictured in
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. The
mountain dulcimer, dulcemore. dulcy-
more (according to who is naming it)
seems to be an entirely homogeneous
and unique handmade creation, dis¬
tinct from any other stringed musical
instrument. It may outwardly resem¬
ble a thin, elongated violin, but there
the relationship ends.
The mountain dulcimer with two to
eight strings, most commonly three, big
tuning pegs, fretted fingerboard and
"Chief ol the dulcimer maker* in our North Carolina mountain*" Edd Preinell
ot Wotouga County.
The Mountain Dulcimer
It belongs to the Southern Appnlaeli-
ian Mountains, and nouliere else.
curved neck, has been known and cher¬
ished for generations throughout the
Southern Appalachians and nowhere
else, but its origin and development
have never been satisfactorily ex¬
plained. That it is a native Ameri¬
can musical instrument, indeed the
only one aside from Indian rattles and
drums, is not often disputed, because
no researcher has yet proved other¬
wise.
White pioneers who trudged up the
steep slopes of the Blue Ridge, the
Smokies and the Cumbcrlands, in the
Nalive of Concord and wife of a Winston-
Salem pediatrician, the author of this article
is best known for her novels for young read¬
ers. all of them using North Carolina folk
material* in one way or another: Fiddler’s
Fancy (1955), Moccasin Tracks (1958).
Drovers Gold (1961). I) aide's Whale
(1963). and other*. She is the co-author of
North Carolina Parade (1966).
THE STATE. July 1. 1967
1 700s and early 1 800s, were tough as
whang leather, and. when time al¬
lowed. frolicsome as spring colts. They
did an unbelievable amount of back
straining labor in toppling virgin tim¬
ber with felling axes as their only tool,
trimming the fallen trees into logs, rais¬
ing cabins and barns and establishing
homeplaces on the heights. But work
as they did, the early landbreakers
loved to play, and their play usually
took the form of song and dance.
Naturally, a singing or a play-party
called for music.
Pioneers Played It
The favored music for “gaysome"
flying feet and whirling calico skirts
was made by the nimble fingers of a
fiddler on a homemade fiddle; but for
solitary singer or intimate family
songfest. the preferred accompaniment
was the melody of the sweet-singing,
plaintive dulcimer. The tune-box was
generally "swept" by a girl or woman,
but constructed either by the man of
the family or handed down from
Grand-sir or Great-Grand-sir. copied
from some unknown ancient instrument
or perhaps just made up.
Of course there arc theories as to
the origin of the mountain dulcimer,
but when all have been examined, it
scents that only the name itself is de¬
rived front any other specific set of
strings.
Alan H. Raton, whose Handicralis
of the Southern Highlands (Russell
Sage Foundation. 1 *>37 ) is an exhaus¬
tive study of mountain crafts, including
musical instruments, suggests that the
first dulcimer in the American high¬
lands of the South could have been an
attempt to recreate the Pennsylvania
or German zither. Or. he says, it could
have been a crudely fashioned model
of some dimly remembered musical in¬
strument from England. Ireland or
Scotland, homelands of the forbears of
the early settlers. His final conclusion,
however, is that the dulcimer is an
original creation.
Eaton thinks that some long-ago iso¬
lated homesteader in the hills felt an
urge for a musical accompaniment to
his singing, and as is the way of those
who "must make-do, or do without.”
fashioned an instrument for himself
and, finding it sweet, as was the dulci¬
mer in the Bible, called it a dulcimer.
His neighbors copied it according to
their own ideas, their friends did like-
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