The Mountain or Appalachian dulcimer is generally considered a true American musical instrument, developed in the Appalachian Mountains in the early to mid 1800's. It remained fairly obscure until the early 1960's when a renewed interest in folk music revived interest also in the dulcimer. Today the popularity continues to grow.
Technically speaking, the mountain dulcimer belongs to the family of the plucked zither. It should not be confused with the hammered dulcimer, a trapezoidal-shaped, multi-stringed percussion instrument belonging to the psaltry family. The dulcimer mentioned in the King James version of the Bible probably refers to the hammered dulcimer. An appropriate name, dulcimer, means sweet song, coming from the Latin dulce for sweet, and the Greek melos for song or sound.
Historically the dulcimer evolved from other instruments from the "old" countries. From Germany the scheitholt was played with a noter run over the melody string. This concept spread to France where it became the Epinette des Vosges, an instrument still played there today. Later it showed up in Sweden as the humle, in Norway as the langeleik, in Iceland as the langspil, and in Holland where it became the Hommel. For a comprehensive history of the Mountain Dulcimer, Dulcimer players and Dulcimer builders, CLICK

James "Jim" Houser
1939-2007
See a tribute to Jim At this link

The Pittsburg club celebrated their 10th Anniversary on August 4, 2007. See some of the activities AT THIS LINK

The Pittsburg chapter of the Northeast Texas Dulcimer Chorus meets on the first Saturday of each month in the Pilgrim Bank Community Room in Pittsburg, TX. Normally beginners are in one class and intermediate/advanced are in another class from 9:00 A. M. until 10:00 A. M., then all meet together for jam session from 10:00 A. M. until 12 noon.

The Texarkana chapter of the Northeast Texas Dulcimer Chorus has suspended meetings until someone volunteers to be coordinator and scheduler.

logo

A new dulcimer club has been organized and will meet
the 4th Saturday of each month from 10:00 a. m. until noon at:
First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall - DeKalb, TX.
For directions to the church go to: This Page

Click on the bullets for these links:

There IS life after the club meetings even though the dulcimer playing hasn't stopped.
With dulcimer players, it's PLAY DULCIMER - EAT - PLAY DULCIMER
For pictures of the club in action -
To read about how the clubs got started -
Pictures of typical club meetings -
SEE DEBBIE PORTER's home page. She was instrumental in organizing the club. Visit her web site for information on concerts and workshops.

The club will play for YOU
The club often plays for organizations, churches and businesses. If you would like for the club to play for your organization, church or business, send e-mail to:
Pittsburg Chapter Janice Marsh

		Dulcimer tablature More dulcimer tablature
At this site you can get just about any information about dulcimers that you might want. There is also a discussion group where information is shared. Visit it!	For an 8" by 10" print of the club logo for $6.00/postage paid, contact Walter. big-train@att.net	Here are a couple of sites where you can get tablature on hundreds of songs, many of them in multiple tunings. The tab is free for your personal use and for use and distribution by dulcimer clubs.

Thanks to folks who have visited this page since 07/18/2000

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