Saturday, October 23, 1999
Music evokes Ky.'s past
Dulcimer club plays the old tunes
BY KRISTINA GOETZ
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT WRIGHT — It was a jam session, but one unlike any other in Northern Kentucky.
One was on the fiddle, two on the mandolin and another on guitar. To round out the sound, about 30 played the mountain dulcimer.
Songs like My Old Kentucky Home, Liza on the Train and East Virginia rang out in the TANK office building in Fort Wright on Thursday night. Some sang along. Others closed their eyes and listened to the melody.
“I picture the fog going up the mountains and the music going up through the pine trees,” said Diana Vest, a club member from Verona, describing the sound.
“It's a sound that brings you closer to God.”
These are all members of the Hills of Kentucky Dulcimer Club, a group that start ed in 1992 with 10 musicians and has grown to more than 90 with ages ranging from 13 to 84.
They meet on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at the TANK building.
Harold Marsh, 69, of Verona, has been a member for about four years. Although he's played the mandolin since he was 9, he didn't start playing the dulcimer until he joined the group. He then built his own.
“I like music,” he said, adding that he doesn't read music. He listens, strums out the tune and then memorizes it.
Sharon Eggemeier, who helped found the group, said when they started, it was their intention to teach one another. Now the group has a beginners session, and an intermediate/beginner session before the group gets together to jam.
Members also share the history of the wooden instrument, which sometimes has four strings, but more traditionally three.
The fretted Appalachian dulcimer has been handed down by the people of the southern Appalachian mountains. The oldest direct ancestor of the Appalachian dulcimer is the German Scheitholt, a diatonically fretted zither from the 1400s, Ms. Eggemeier said.
“In the 1800s, fellows used to give their bride-to-be a dulcimer,” she said. “And the heart sound holes were very traditional for that. The hearts, of course, mean love.”
Jean Ritchie of Viper, Ky., began the revival of the dulcimer in the 1950s. She brought it from the mountains to colleges and radio stations.
“Kentuckians really feel she is responsible for the revival of the dulcimer,” Ms. Eggemeier said.
The hippies kept the trend going through the 1960s.
The best thing about playing the dulcimer is its unique sound. It's hard to describe, members said. Some believe it's something like a sweet guitar, others a harp. Still others, a soft fiddle. It's the kind of music that predates Bill Monroe and his bluegrass.
“A little boy once told me it sounds like the clippers when you get your hair cut,” said Steve Seifert, 26, of Nashville, Tenn., an honorary member of the club. Mr. Seifert has a CD featuring dulcimer music.
Janet Lucas, club president, said members never say no to performing.
They've played at the Appalachian Festival at Old Coney Island in Cincinnati and also at Elderhostels hosted by Northern Kentucky University. They played at this year's Tall Stacks '99 festival.
The group also makes trips to local nursing homes, festivals, meetings and schools to entertain and educate people about the music made by dulcimers and other traditional mountain instruments.
Dues are $20 per year, which covers the cost of packets full of songs given to each new member.
For more information, call Ms. Lucas at 485-7189.
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