Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions - (American Folk Music and Musicians) 2nd Edition by Ralph Lee Smith (Paperback)

About the Book

This book describes the recovery of the Appalachian dulcimer's lost history, tracing the dulcimer's roots in a German instrument, the scheitholt; describing the early history of the scheitholt and the dulcimer in America, and outlining the development of distinctive dulcimer s...

Book Synopsis

This book describes the recovery of the Appalachian dulcimer's lost history, tracing the dulcimer's roots in a German instrument, the scheitholt; describing the early history of the scheitholt and the dulcimer in America, and outlining the development of distinctive dulcimer styles in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky. This fully revised and expanded edition provides additional information about the instrument's history before the Civil War and discusses traditions and types that are still being discovered and documented.

Review Quotes

A complete and thorough book that reveals little-known facts about the dulcimer's origins on the early Appalachian frontier and its design traditions. A good choice for libraries with strong music/ethnomusicology collections.

Smith's research...has been extensive and generally well documented, and his book will be a useful resource for anyone interested in the dulcimer, Appalachian history, or folk music in general.

About the Author

Ralph Lee Smith is a leading authority on the history of the Appalachian dulcimer and is a performer and teacher of traditional American folk music. He is the author of Folk Songs of Old Virginia (2009) and Greenwich Village: The Happy Folk Singing Days, 1950s and 1960s (2008).