Post by Dick Glasgow on Jun 21, 2007 7:33:24 GMT 1
Check out Ben Seymour's site on this fascinating old instrument:
Scheitholts
click on image to enlarge!
Here is a quote from the 'The Appalachian Dulcimer'
by Denise Coss
From Scheitholt to Dulcimer
The 1700 to mid-1800's is the "transitional period" for the scheitholt/dulcimer.
During early years of settlement, virtually the only musical instruments on the frontier were fiddles and scheitholts.
With the influence of the fiddle music, it is easy to see why the transition from scheitholt to dulcimer would take place.
With the scheitholt's fretboard being a part of the sound box, it was not conducive to playing the faster fiddle and dance tunes where you had to strum or bow quickly as this type of playing would damage the instrument.
Scheitholts from this time period show damage from this type of playing.
The scheitholt was made for the slower hymns being finger picked and occasionally bowed.
During this transitional period, modifications were being made by raising the fretboard off the sound box.
The fretboard was also hollowed out and sound holes drilled into the top. It was also decided that symmetrically expanding the soundbox and also drilling holes in it would make the instrument resonant even more.
Early dulcimer-like instruments were made in the Valley of Virginia, but did not flourish there. Substantial development took place along the Wilderness Road.
The Appalachian Dulcimer
The 1700 to mid-1800's is the "transitional period" for the scheitholt/dulcimer.
During early years of settlement, virtually the only musical instruments on the frontier were fiddles and scheitholts.
With the influence of the fiddle music, it is easy to see why the transition from scheitholt to dulcimer would take place.
With the scheitholt's fretboard being a part of the sound box, it was not conducive to playing the faster fiddle and dance tunes where you had to strum or bow quickly as this type of playing would damage the instrument.
Scheitholts from this time period show damage from this type of playing.
The scheitholt was made for the slower hymns being finger picked and occasionally bowed.
During this transitional period, modifications were being made by raising the fretboard off the sound box.
The fretboard was also hollowed out and sound holes drilled into the top. It was also decided that symmetrically expanding the soundbox and also drilling holes in it would make the instrument resonant even more.
Early dulcimer-like instruments were made in the Valley of Virginia, but did not flourish there. Substantial development took place along the Wilderness Road.
The Appalachian DulcimerHere's a short extract from: 'Some historical notes on the dulcimer' by Peter Ellertsen
If the dulcimer's early history is shrouded in Appalachian mists, the scheitholt is practically invisible -- at least in this country.
It goes back to the Middle Ages, though. German composer Michael Praetorius included it in a catalog of musical instruments in 1618, but he dismissed it as a ragged peasant's instrument (Lumpeninstrumenta).
In time, however, it evolved into the concert zither. It is related to similar instruments in France, the Low Countries, Norway, Sweden and Iceland, and it probably has Middle Eastern antecedents.
Heidi Mueller, a singer-songwriter and dulcimer artist of German heritage, says she's heard that Johann Sebastian Bach's grandfather may have played a scheitholt.
During the 1700s, the scheitholt was brought to Pennsylvania by German immigrants and down the Shennandoah Valley by their descendants.
Their musical tradition died out during the 19th century, but a collector who interviewed their descendants in 1926 said they often played the instrument with a bow.
One recalled his father playing "generally German hymns, such as were sung in the Mennonite Meeting-house," as well as "Home Sweet Home" in English (Smith, Story 20). But when the Scots-Irish in Virginia got ahold of the scheitholt, they used it for dance music -- and that meant fiddle tunes.
Some historical notes on the dulcimer
It goes back to the Middle Ages, though. German composer Michael Praetorius included it in a catalog of musical instruments in 1618, but he dismissed it as a ragged peasant's instrument (Lumpeninstrumenta).
In time, however, it evolved into the concert zither. It is related to similar instruments in France, the Low Countries, Norway, Sweden and Iceland, and it probably has Middle Eastern antecedents.
Heidi Mueller, a singer-songwriter and dulcimer artist of German heritage, says she's heard that Johann Sebastian Bach's grandfather may have played a scheitholt.
During the 1700s, the scheitholt was brought to Pennsylvania by German immigrants and down the Shennandoah Valley by their descendants.
Their musical tradition died out during the 19th century, but a collector who interviewed their descendants in 1926 said they often played the instrument with a bow.
One recalled his father playing "generally German hymns, such as were sung in the Mennonite Meeting-house," as well as "Home Sweet Home" in English (Smith, Story 20). But when the Scots-Irish in Virginia got ahold of the scheitholt, they used it for dance music -- and that meant fiddle tunes.
Some historical notes on the dulcimer
