What is the Appalachian dulcimer?
The Appalachian Dulcimer (also called Mountain Dulcimer) is a fretted zither in the family of chordophones that descends from the German instrument Scheitholt and is suspected to have evolved around the area of (now) Blacksburg Virginia along the Great Wagon Road (into NC and Tenn) and the Wilderness Road (into Ky) from Pennsylvania some time in the 19th century. It’s not related directly to the Hammered Dulcimer.
What makes it a zither (as opposed to a lute) is that the strings extend the length of the soundbox without an extension like a guitar or violin neck. It’s a “fretted zither” because the finger board has frets or wires that help the player shorten the string length in order to play specific pitches.
Most mountain dulcimers, unlike other fretted instruments such as the guitar, are tuned to a diatonic or modal scale (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, …., similar to just the white keys on the piano) instead of a chromatic scale (able to play every note similar to the black and white keys of a piano). This makes it very easy to learn and to play simple songs on but limits the versatility of the instrument since it’s not easily capable of all possible notes without retuning.
The traditional variety had 3 or 4 strings. Melody was played on one string while the other two were left to drone – sometimes called ‘melody and drone’ or ‘Galax’ style. Very often the string was depressed using a noter (a small piece of wood or quill) instead of the fingers. More modern players use all sorts of fingerings along multiple strings just as guitar players fret chords.
It is a parlor music instrument intended for accompanying singing or for quiet music in the home most common at a time when we didn’t have recordings and radio yet and people entertained themselves and friends at home with live music. Though is is associated with Appalachia, it’s also known into the Carolina Piedmont and westward into the Ozarks.
You can see and hear some examples at http://www.mcspaddendulcimers.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1
You can see many good examples on YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mountain+dulcimer&aq=f
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