Have you seen this thing? I mean I know it is incredibly old but I just saw one for the first time and I was really shocked. I have always thought of myself as a percussive person. I, like everyone else, wanted to play the drums when it came time to pick an instrument in middle school. My teacher, though some arbitrary test to thin the herd, said I was not able to. So I ended up playing saxophone for the next 5 years until I quit it never to touch it again.

So ever since, I have tapped and drummed on everything I can, sometimes to the annoyance of others. I used to play our drummers set during band practice, a real band that is, every time I had the chance. There was something exciting about how primitive it was in nature, but how incredibly complex it easily became. Anyone can bang on a drum, it is pretty easy, but to be a great drummer is incredibly difficult.

So I encounter the hammered dulcimer and it hits me two fold. On one hand it has that percussive element to it. You can strike the strings with a hammer. Pretty simple but watch someone do it quickly and you are dumbfounded. It is also musical though. Drums can’t really stand on their own. You don’t hear many albums with just a kit. They need some music to support them, or really for them to support. Yet the hammered dulcimer can stand on its own while being percussive. It is in the league with steel drums, marimbas, etc. all things I think are fascinating.

I would love to play one and see what it is like. Sadly you have to venture out to find one, most of the good ones come from the mountains, which my wife was very happy to hear. Maybe one of these days when we go to Tennessee or North Carolina, we will have to stop in give one a try.

• BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
• « This will be a quick one…
• » Ugh

• BROWSE / IN music personal
• « This will be a quick one…
• » Ugh