Illuminating the Appalachian dulcimer’s evolution.
By John Hallberg
Little did I think, some five years ago, when starting work on the newly purchased, historic Estes Mill in Sperryville, Virginia, that there would be so many ins and outs. I suppose that is always the case when one takes on a seemingly Herculean task, but a massive building renovation and then assembling one of the largest historic dulcimer collections into the Appalachian Dulcimer Museum seems particularly daunting.
In thinking about various museum exhibits one has to consider that it is impossible to show and tell everything. Of course the first thing to point out to the layperson (not you folks!) is that there is a big difference between hammered and Appalachian dulcimers. Once established that we are talking about the latter, we try to lay out why the scheitholt was the early precursor to the dulcimer. This includes referencing the influx of Germans to both Virginia and Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Germans soon found land expensive near Philadelphia and migrated west and south, down through the Valley of Virginia. While mixing with another major early population, the Scots-Irish, their religious instrument started to take on a new identity. The Scots-Irish preferred fast fiddle-type tunes as opposed to the quiet play for hymns that the scheitholt was used for. It now appears the adaptation for this type of playing was to build a box under the scheitholt to steady it and make it louder.
It is accepted by dulcimer historians that as the scheitholt made its way down the valley from Pennsylvania, it began to change into the instrument we now recognize as the early Virginia dulcimer – boat-shaped or slightly teardrop. As one might imagine, many of these instruments could still reside in the communities or at least the general area where they were produced. These might include early instruments that appear fully-formed into the Virginia style. They might also include those that might be called “transitionals,” i.e. they have features of both the old scheitholt (aka the Pennsylvania German fretted zither) but also some features of the newly emerging American instrument, the Appalachian dulcimer.
A great thing about the new museum’s location in Virginia is that it is within an hour of the Valley of Virginia. This has led to many exploratory trips west and south. For about twenty years I have been seriously collecting dulcimers, lately more with an eye to specializing in these early Virginia examples, as well as transitional instruments.
The section of the museum that portrays the “transitionals” is the most exciting. One can see visible evidence of this change, and the “scheitholt atop a box” theory now appears to be the most plausible and documented way that the early dulcimer formed. Tantalizing questions might come up as to the first location of this transition and how that might have affected the dulcimer’s evolution.
For those of you who do not know this regional history, the Virginia-style (one curve in the body) has been accepted by scholars as predating the Kentucky-style (two curves or hourglass body) dulcimer by up to several decades and has been viewed as more important in the evolution of the dulcimer.
The earliest (1832) documented Virginia type, identified by label, was made in Floyd County, Virginia, by John Scales. A goodly number of early Virginia types that reside in museums or private collections are thought to predate this dulcimer, although none have labels or documentation. Conversely, none of the hourglass types that have been found are known to be that early.
Important research was done by Kimberly Burnette-Dean who looked at estate records in a handful of southwest Virginia counties. She found that only the fiddle was listed more than dulcimers in records between 1800 and 1850. Dulcimers were indeed in Virginia by the first half of the nineteenth century, possibly slightly earlier – the Scales dulcimer is a fully-formed example.
Estate insights
Read and download a copy of Kimberly Burnette-Dean‘s report “The Dulcimer in Southwestern Virginia”:
Her research continues, and she hopes to publish an update some day. Reach her at kimberlyburnette@cox.net and visit her blog, thewheelanddistaff.blogspot.com.
It would be interesting to see if similar estate research in Kentucky would produce any noteworthy results. While it is known that both C. N. Pritchard (West Virginia) and Ed Thomas (Kentucky) produced a prolific amount of hourglass instruments after the Civil War, it is clear at this point that the Virginia dulcimer preceded them. Did some fiddle maker take a Virginia-style single curve dulcimer and copy the fiddle body to make a second curve? As Ralph Lee Smith would have said to questions like this, with a smile, “That’s a secret that’s lost in the mist of the mountains.”
There are other more mundane, although very important, museum decisions still to be made. Decisions on instrument hanging and lighting are, of course, extremely important. We have no instrument cases, but there are barriers so the public may look at dulcimers hung on the walls but not touch them. The curator has access behind these and might take any instrument down for closer inspection. There will be ‘reader walls’ atop the barriers with information on each piece as well as about the dulcimer’s mysterious history.
Other exhibits include: Jean Ritchie, unique dulcimers, women luthiers, luthier spotlight (rotating), and current makers and players. We are obtaining some unique images to supplement our exhibits, but I’ll keep their origin secret for now!
In the archives
I have truly been in the right place at the right time to acquire this historic collection. Some were found because of my location in Virginia, some through the internet, and some through the good graces of my friendships with Ralph Lee Smith and Roddy Moore, two of the top dulcimer folklorists since the 1960s.
It is surreal to look back at this project as it nears completion, more so knowing it involves serious artifacts of America’s musical history. I know many of you are aware of some of this history and I’m excited for you to come experience what we have done here and learn more about it!
I am also excited, but in a different way, when people might come in and say “What’s a dulcimer?” Follow the museum arrows…
The Appalachian Dulcimer Museum is scheduled to open in 2024. Stay tuned for more news!
Hallberg is a dulcimer historian and curator of the soon-to-open Appalachian Dulcimer Museum in Sperryville, Virginia.
