Lehigh Valley Folk Music Society
Instruments
Appalachian (Lap) Dulcimer

The Appalachian Dulcimer, also known as the "mountain", "lap" or "fretted" dulcimer is a more modern instrument which was born in the Appalachian mountains with some ancestral ties to earlier German, French and Scandinavian instruments. Appalachian dulcimers typically contain 3 to 5 strings tuned to the 1st and 5th notes on the diatonic scale of a particular key. Thus, dulcimers produce a characteristic soft-sounding but bright droning sound. The dulcimer is played typically by picking or strumming the the strings with the fingers or with a flat pick while a slide is used to depress the stings up and down different frets to create melodic accompaniment in a diatonic scale. In recent years, the Appalachian dulcimer has undergone a revolution in both construction and playing styles and many clubs and dulcimer festivals have sprung up all over the nation.

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