Since the principal subject of the book is the Appalachian dulcimer, only the overall length and the VSL are provided for scheitholts. These two dimensions, as well as the width and the height of body exclusive of the fretboard, are provided for dulcimers.
For variations in the measurements of instruments that were “copied” from other instruments, see the comments under the Amburgey dulcimer below. In my opinion, the variations in the measurements of the Prichard and Eli Presnell dulcimers that are provided here fall easily within the range of variations that makers were likely to introduce in making “copies.”
As is explained in chapter 5, Amburgey based his instruments on patterns provided by Thomas. The variations in the measurements of these two instruments, notably the greater length of the Thomas, reflect the facts that Thomas’s own instruments showed variations, and that, in the mountains, “copies” were rarely exact.
Appendix C The Ache Scheitholt: A Closer Look
The Ache Scheitholt: A Closer Look
Old scheitholts and dulcimers were generally fretted by ear. A common method was to move the finger down the fret board, plucking the string, until the interval sounded right. The fretboard was marked at that spot, and small holes were drilled to accommodate the staple-style frets. A variant of this method, used by such old-time dulcimer makers as Edd Presnell and Homer Ledford, is described in chapter 7. Alternatively, the fret pattern of another instrument was copied, inaccuracies and all.
As noted in chapter 1, the makers of many old scheitholts and dulcimers did not attempt to provide accurate tones and halftones at the upper end of the scale. After about the 10th to 12th fret in many instruments, the frets revert to approximately equal spacing.
When dulcimer maker Bert Berry of Chesapeake, Virginia, read about the Ache scheitholt in my dulcimer history column in the Dulcimer Players News, he contacted Jeanette Hamner, the owner, and asked if he could visit and measure the instrument carefully for the purpose of making a replica. She readily consented.
As part of his measuring task, Berry checked the spacing of the frets and compared it to the correct measurements for the instrument’s string span. His measurements reveal a common situation with old scheitholts and dulcimers: that the fretting is inaccurate. The errors, however, are not large. Only frets 1, 2, 11, and 12 stray about 5 millimeters or more from fully correct position.
LOOKING AT THE SCALE
The “correct spacing” given above is for a standard dulcimer scale for this instrument’s vibrating string length (the span of the strings from nut to bridge), which is 248 inches. As explained in chapter 1, most traditional dulcimers are fretted in such a fashion that, if one depresses the melody string at the third fret and picks it and then proceeds down the fret board fret by fret to the 10th fret, picking the string at each fret, one will play the major or Ionian-mode scale. We think of it as:
do re mi fa sol la ti do
The major scale has halftones between the third and fourth and between the seventh and eighth tones of the scale. If one begins an eight-note scale at the open string rather than at the third fret, the result is a halftone instead of a whole tone at the seventh note of the scale:
do re mi fa sol la ti-flat do
You can get this effect by playing a scale from G to G on the piano on the white keys only; going up to F-sharp at the seventh tone (as would be done in a major scale) isn’t allowed. As explained in chapter 1, this series with a flatted seventh is the scale of the Mixolydian mode. Well-known old-time tunes that employ the Mixolydian scale include “Old Joe Clark,” “Fire on the Mountain,” and “Darling Cory.”
Now, suppose you would like your instrument to play the major/Ionian scale—do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do—from the open string instead of the third fret. Nothing to it. Ti-flat is the only offender. To get rid of it, just expand the interval between the fifth and sixth frets from a halftone to a whole tone. This will crowd the next interval down to a halftone, as it is between B and C on the piano. Voilà . Starting from the open string, one now gets the Ionian scale, exactly what one is after.
There are a number of old scheitholts and old dulcimers with fret patterns that have been altered in exactly this fashion. See, for example, the scheitholts that are illustrated in figures 14 and 16 in my book The Story of the Dulcimer. The little trick was no secret.
Now, let’s look at the Ache scheitholt. Was it Samuel Ache’s intention that the major scale be played from the open string? The answer, as indicated by the letters for the key of C that are stenciled along the fretboard, is almost certainly yes. Is the instrument fretted so that it will play the major scale from the open string? No. The halftone between the sixth and seventh frets has not been expanded to a full tone, and the ensuing interval crowded down to a halftone. If the player uses the stenciled letters as the guide to his scale, he will get ti-flat at the seventh tone of his scale. In effect, he will be playing in the Mixolydian mode.
What is the rationale of the tale? Did Ache have insufficient understanding of the fretting pattern that was known to him through tradition? Or is there something deeper and less accidental that we no longer know?
Perhaps we could assume that the presence of that pesky ti-flat was just accepted. Old-time dulcimer players were immensely forgiving of tonal irregularities in their scales, and Ache and his bride might have been the same. In addition, many old tunes do not employ the seventh tone of the scale at all. Maybe the idea was to avoid tunes that used it. We could look at it that way. But it’s only a guess.
The reader may have a final question. Doesn’t it make sense for the major/ Ionian scale to start at the open fret? Why does it start at the third fret on the scale of most traditional dulcimers and scheitholts? The answer, or rather answers, reflect some old folk wisdom:
First, if the major scale starts at the third fret, one can carry tunes down to three notes below do, which is where a lot of them go. Think of “Red River Valley,” “My Home’s across the Blue Ridge Mountains,” and a hundred others. On an instrument with do at the open fret, one must play such tunes on the second octave. While this is feasible, it is more difficult because the frets are more closely spaced, and the sound is less appealing.
Second, it turns out that, if the major scale starts at the third fret, it is easier to retune the instrument to play in other musical modes. Ask any dulcimer player.
Appendix D Winners of the Dulcimer Contest
Winners of the Dulcimer Contest, Old Time
Fiddler’s Convention, Galax, Virginia
The information in this appendix is taken from the book The First Forty Years of the Old Fiddler’s Convention, Galax, Virginia, by Herman K. Williams. The book lists the winners of the various contests at the convention from 1935 through 1974 and provides supplementary information. The following should be noted:
Two conventions were held in 1935. The convention in April was a trial run. It turned out to be so successful that a larger-scale effort was immediately planned for October 1935. When this one, too, was successful, the event was established on an annual basis.
The records of the October 1935 convention list the contestant’s place of residence and the song or tune that the contestant played and/or sang. Records of subsequent conventions provide the place of residence only.
The records for the 1938 convention have been lost.
The 1942 convention was shortened to one day because of the wartime restrictions on automobile travel. Only one dulcimer winner was selected that year. No conventions were held during the war years 1943 and 1944.
When the convention was resumed in 1945, the dulcimer contest was dropped. It was not reinstated until 1974, the last year for which the book provides coverage.
Also of interest, a fine early picture of Raymond Melton playing and a number of other musicians watching, captioned, “Showing How to Play Dulcimer: Raymond Melton,” appears on page 16 of Williams’s book.
* * *
April 1935
Ruth Melton, G
alax, Virginia
October 1935
Ruth Melton, Galax, Virginia, “Ebenezer”
Lina Melton, Galax, Virginia, “Walkin’ in My Sleep”
1936
Jacob Melton, Galax, Virginia
Lina Melton, Galax, Virginia
1937
Raymond Melton, Woodlawn, Virginia
Velma Nester (Musser), Dugspur, Virginia
Jacob Melton, Galax, Virginia
1939
Raymond Melton, Woodlawn, Virginia
Velma Musser, Galax, Virginia
Jacob Melton, Galax, Virginia
1940
Raymond Melton, Woodlawn, Virginia
Lina Melton, Woodlawn, Virginia
1941
Blanch Melton, Woodlawn, Virginia
Raymond Melton, Galax, Virginia
Jacob Melton, Galax, Virginia
1942
Blanch Melton, Woodlawn, Virginia
1974
Bonnie Russell, Galax, Virginia
Raymond Melton, Woodlawn, Virginia
Terry W. Burcham, Huntsville, Alabama
Roscoe Russell, Galax, Virginia
Velma Musser, Galax, Virginia
* * *
The book gives Lina Melton’s name incorrectly as Tina in the 1935 and 1940 entries, and Velma Musser’s name is incorrectly spelled “Belva” in the list.
In addition to Raymond Melton’s placing among the 1974 winners, it is impressive to note that Velma Nester Musser was a winner in 1937, 1939, and 1974. Several Library of Congress recordings of her, made in 1965, are listed in appendix A.
A leading Galax-area string band of the 1930s, the Bogtrotters, won the string band contest in October 1935. A member of this band was a second-generation Galax physician, Dr. W. P. Davis, who played the autoharp and also secured engagements for the band. An article on the contest in the October 31, 1935, issue of the Galax Post Herald states, “Dr. W. P. Davis conducted the dulcimer and folk song contests, giving an interesting history of the dulcimer, the oldest of the present musical instruments.” I would give a lot for a record of his comments.
Appendix E Newspaper Story ob Nineveh Presnell and His Dulcimer
Newspaper Story on Nineveh Presnell
and His Dulcimer
The author’s file contains a rather faint photocopy of a newspaper clipping, with a notation stating that it appeared in a Johnson City, Tennessee, newspaper about 1959. The story, which is on Nineveh Presnell and his dulcimer, included a picture of Presnell sitting on his porch and playing his instrument, which unfortunately is much too indistinct in the copy to reproduce.
The caption accompanying the photograph reads, “WHILES AWAY THE TIME—Passing the time on the front porch of his home, N. V. Presnell, 77-year-old retired farmer of Beech Creek section in Watauga County, N.C., plays his 73-year-old dulcimer.”
In addition to its value as a record of Presnell and his playing, the article reflects the low level of general knowledge of the dulcimer at that time. The reporter does not know the difference between a hammered and an Appalachian dulcimer and is clearly puzzled by what he found in Webster’s International Dictionary. The text of the article is as follows:
Unusual Instrument . . . Retired Beech Creek Farmer Kills
Time Playing Dulcimer
Beech Creek, N.C.—No more beautiful, soothing music can be found than that which comes from the dulcimer, if the player is skilled, and the instrument is a good one.
One such skilled person is N. V. Presnell, a 77-year-old retired farmer of Beech Creek. His instrument is a good one made by his father, the late E. T. Presnell, 73 years ago.
Many Hours
Presnell spends many hours playing his dulcimer at his home—the old home of his father and the house in which he was born. The farm on which the house stands has been in the Presnell family for more than 130 years.
The dulcimer owned by Presnell is the oldest instrument of its kind in this section and is believed to be one of the oldest to be found anywhere.
May Be Similar
What a lot of persons are interested in is whether the instrument used by Presnell and others in the mountainous sections of North Carolina and other areas are similar to the ones referred to in the Bible.
About 600 years before Christ, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon set up a great image of gold in the plains of Dura in the province of Babylon. A herald was sent forth to cry aloud to the people: “That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up.”
Three Feet Long
The dulcimers used today are about three feet long and made something like a violin. They have three strings. One string is noted by a stick and all three strings picked with a limber splint. The instrument rests on the player’s knees.
However, Webster’s International Dictionary defines the dulcimer as “an instrument having metallic wires stretched over a trapezoidal sound-board with a compass of two or three octaves. It is played with two light hammers held in hands and from it was derived the idea of the piano action. Used erroneously to translate the Greek symphonia, now thought to have been a kind of bagpipe.”
No Resemblance
Pictures of the dulcimer described in the dictionary differ from the one used by Presnell in that it has no resemblance to a violin. It is flat with the length longer than the width, which is the same from end to end.
Appendix F Ordering Dulcimers from Old-Time Makers
Ordering Dulcimers from Old-Time Makers
Note: This appendix appeared in the original edition of Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions, published in 1997. Since then, Jacob Ray Melton and Homer Ledford have passed away, and Clifford Glenn has retired from dulcimer making. The appendix is retained for historical interest.
* * *
Three dulcimer makers who are described in this book, one each from the Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky traditions, were making and selling dulcimers as of 1997. This circumstance makes it possible to acquire dulcimers with direct roots in each of the traditions. The price of dulcimers made by all three makers is in the $200 to $250 range. Addresses, phone numbers, and other information are provided below.
Virginia
Jacob Ray Melton
Route 3, Box 183
Galax, Virginia 24333
(703) 236-4543
Jacob Ray and his work are described in chapter 3 [new edition, chapter 4]. Jacob Ray has been experiencing health problems, and his output is small, but he is still making instruments. His dulcimers are purely traditional, with no relation to the folk revival other than the use of modern mechanical tuners instead of tuners cut from old guitar and mandolin plates.
Potential buyers should understand that, with Jacob Ray, they are “buying history.” Jacob Ray’s instruments are large, simply constructed by the standards of many modern folk-revival dulcimers, and not highly finished. They are usually fretted with wire staples that run under only two of the four strings. The instruments therefore cannot be chorded in modern folk-revival style. All four strings are intended to be tuned to the same note. Two strings are fretted and two play as drones. These instruments produce the true sound of the old Virginia dulcimer, as if the last 100 years had never been. I believe that anyone with an interest in the history of the dulcimer, should own one of these instruments.
North Carolina
Clifford Glenn
631 Big Branch Road
Sugar Grove, North Carolina 28697
(704) 297-2297
Clifford Glenn and his work are described in chapter 6 [new edition, chapter 7]. Clifford makes fine dulcimers in the traditional North Carolina pattern as descended from Eli Presnell’s 1885 dulcimer. They are beautifully crafted, and are available in various woods and combination of woods. If you want the closest thing to the old tradition, ask for the North Carolina pattern, three strings, without the 6½ fret. If yo
ur heart is a bit more modern, you can order a four-string instrument with a paired melody string, and/or request a 6½ fret and/or request mechanical tuners instead of wooden tuning pegs.
Kentucky
Homer Ledford
125 Sunset Heights
Winchester, Kentucky 40391
(606) 744-3974
Homer Ledford and his work are described in chapter 6 [new edition, chapter 7]. Like Clifford Glenn, Homer Ledford is a superb craftsman who makes a beautiful instrument. As with Clifford, you can order three or four strings, with or without the 6½ fret. Homer makes many kinds of instruments. To order the traditional pattern based on the old Cumberland dulcimer, ask for his YP-1900 model.
Annotated Bibliography
Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions Page 16