Chords for History of the Dulcimer and Jean Ritchie
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99.65 bpm
Chords used:
Ab
A
G
B
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
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The dulcimer, as far as musical instruments in southern Appalachia and probably all of the eastern part of the United States,
is in a category, I think, by itself.
It's an instrument that was played by itself.
It had a low sound and I just never heard, except on very rare occasions,
the dulcimer was never played with other instruments, number one.
Number two, I guess the proper name may be the mountain dulcimer,
because there were other instruments called dulcimers going back to biblical times.
But it was not used much even in southern Appalachia.
If you take five counties near us, Anderson County, Rhone County, Morgan County, and ten counties,
in all of the collecting, I've never found a single one in this general area from here south toward Chattanooga.
Now in southwest Virginia, you found quite a few, in fact more there than most anywhere,
and in eastern Kentucky and in western North Carolina.
So most of the people in this region, fifty years ago or when I was growing up,
you could go up and down the road asking for a dulcimer or doing research on it,
you could go to fifty houses and nobody would have even heard of one.
I mean it was a strange word.
And the question of how it became introduced is still up for some speculation,
but it was a late instrument [Ab] in our area.
Probably almost none turned up before the Civil War.
The person that popularized the dulcimer more than anyone else, I think,
was a lady by the name of Jean Ritchie, and she lived in eastern Kentucky.
A place called Viper, not too far from Hazard, I guess.
She was one of fourteen or fifteen children, [A] and why did she pick up the dulcimer
and where did she hear about it?
There was an old lady up the hollow from there by the name of Hall,
and they had a dulcimer, and some person in that community had made it,
and I [Ab] think that's where Jean first heard it,
and then she started playing.
It was a terribly isolated [G] place, and then she went to New York and started recording,
[B] and I think if it had not been for Jean Ritchie,
nobody would have known about the dulcimer.
So it was very sporadic in its distribution,
and not one, as I say, in certain spots you would find them.
[N]
There's a gentleman by the name of Smith, and they've written books on him,
and they can look, and I can to a certain extent, at a dulcimer
and tell where it was made, the shape and the configuration and all.
In middle, in lower, this is an exception to what I was saying a while ago about where you found them,
in lower middle Tennessee, they had a rectangular instrument that they called a dulcimer,
and some people referred to them as scantlins,
but every one of those that I've ever seen came from Giles County and Pulaski and South,
but the question as to who introduced them and exactly when is pretty much a mystery, I think.
But it was a late instrument, and it was not widespread.
is in a category, I think, by itself.
It's an instrument that was played by itself.
It had a low sound and I just never heard, except on very rare occasions,
the dulcimer was never played with other instruments, number one.
Number two, I guess the proper name may be the mountain dulcimer,
because there were other instruments called dulcimers going back to biblical times.
But it was not used much even in southern Appalachia.
If you take five counties near us, Anderson County, Rhone County, Morgan County, and ten counties,
in all of the collecting, I've never found a single one in this general area from here south toward Chattanooga.
Now in southwest Virginia, you found quite a few, in fact more there than most anywhere,
and in eastern Kentucky and in western North Carolina.
So most of the people in this region, fifty years ago or when I was growing up,
you could go up and down the road asking for a dulcimer or doing research on it,
you could go to fifty houses and nobody would have even heard of one.
I mean it was a strange word.
And the question of how it became introduced is still up for some speculation,
but it was a late instrument [Ab] in our area.
Probably almost none turned up before the Civil War.
The person that popularized the dulcimer more than anyone else, I think,
was a lady by the name of Jean Ritchie, and she lived in eastern Kentucky.
A place called Viper, not too far from Hazard, I guess.
She was one of fourteen or fifteen children, [A] and why did she pick up the dulcimer
and where did she hear about it?
There was an old lady up the hollow from there by the name of Hall,
and they had a dulcimer, and some person in that community had made it,
and I [Ab] think that's where Jean first heard it,
and then she started playing.
It was a terribly isolated [G] place, and then she went to New York and started recording,
[B] and I think if it had not been for Jean Ritchie,
nobody would have known about the dulcimer.
So it was very sporadic in its distribution,
and not one, as I say, in certain spots you would find them.
[N]
There's a gentleman by the name of Smith, and they've written books on him,
and they can look, and I can to a certain extent, at a dulcimer
and tell where it was made, the shape and the configuration and all.
In middle, in lower, this is an exception to what I was saying a while ago about where you found them,
in lower middle Tennessee, they had a rectangular instrument that they called a dulcimer,
and some people referred to them as scantlins,
but every one of those that I've ever seen came from Giles County and Pulaski and South,
but the question as to who introduced them and exactly when is pretty much a mystery, I think.
But it was a late instrument, and it was not widespread.
Key:
Ab
A
G
B
Ab
A
G
B
The dulcimer, as far as musical instruments in southern Appalachia and probably all of the eastern part of the United States, _
is in a category, I think, by itself.
It's an instrument that was played by itself.
It had a low _ sound and I just never heard, except on very rare occasions,
the dulcimer was never played with other instruments, number one.
Number two, I guess the proper name may be the mountain dulcimer,
because there were other instruments called dulcimers going back to biblical times.
_ _ _ But it was not used much even in southern Appalachia.
_ If you take five counties _ near us, Anderson County, Rhone County, Morgan County, and ten counties,
in all of the collecting, I've never found a single one in this general area from here south toward Chattanooga.
Now in southwest Virginia, you found quite a few, in fact more there than most anywhere,
and in eastern Kentucky and in western North Carolina. _
So _ _ most of the people in this region, _ fifty years ago or when I was growing up,
you could go up and down the road asking for a dulcimer or doing research on it,
you could go to fifty houses and nobody would have even heard of one.
I mean it was a strange word. _
And the question of how it became introduced is still up for some speculation,
but it was a late instrument [Ab] in our area.
_ Probably almost none turned up before the Civil War.
The person that popularized the dulcimer more than anyone else, I think,
was a lady by the name of Jean Ritchie, and she lived in eastern Kentucky.
A place called Viper, not too far from Hazard, I guess.
She was one of fourteen or fifteen children, [A] and why did she pick up the dulcimer
and where did she hear about it?
There was an old lady up the hollow from there by the name of Hall,
and they had a dulcimer, and some person in that community had made it,
and I [Ab] think that's where Jean first heard it,
and then she started playing.
It was a terribly isolated [G] place, and then she went to New York and started recording,
[B] and I think if it had not been for Jean Ritchie,
nobody would have known about the dulcimer.
So it was very sporadic in its distribution,
and _ not one, as I say, in certain spots you would find them. _ _ _
_ [N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
There's a _ _ _ _ _ gentleman by the name of Smith, and they've written books on him,
and they _ can look, and I can to a certain extent, at a dulcimer
and tell where it was made, the shape and the configuration and all.
In middle, in lower, _ this is an exception to what I was saying a while ago about where you found them,
in lower middle Tennessee, they had a rectangular instrument that they called a dulcimer,
and some people referred to them as scantlins,
but every one of those that I've ever seen came from Giles County and Pulaski and South,
but _ the _ _ question as to who introduced them and exactly when is pretty much a mystery, I think.
But it was a late instrument, and it was not widespread.
is in a category, I think, by itself.
It's an instrument that was played by itself.
It had a low _ sound and I just never heard, except on very rare occasions,
the dulcimer was never played with other instruments, number one.
Number two, I guess the proper name may be the mountain dulcimer,
because there were other instruments called dulcimers going back to biblical times.
_ _ _ But it was not used much even in southern Appalachia.
_ If you take five counties _ near us, Anderson County, Rhone County, Morgan County, and ten counties,
in all of the collecting, I've never found a single one in this general area from here south toward Chattanooga.
Now in southwest Virginia, you found quite a few, in fact more there than most anywhere,
and in eastern Kentucky and in western North Carolina. _
So _ _ most of the people in this region, _ fifty years ago or when I was growing up,
you could go up and down the road asking for a dulcimer or doing research on it,
you could go to fifty houses and nobody would have even heard of one.
I mean it was a strange word. _
And the question of how it became introduced is still up for some speculation,
but it was a late instrument [Ab] in our area.
_ Probably almost none turned up before the Civil War.
The person that popularized the dulcimer more than anyone else, I think,
was a lady by the name of Jean Ritchie, and she lived in eastern Kentucky.
A place called Viper, not too far from Hazard, I guess.
She was one of fourteen or fifteen children, [A] and why did she pick up the dulcimer
and where did she hear about it?
There was an old lady up the hollow from there by the name of Hall,
and they had a dulcimer, and some person in that community had made it,
and I [Ab] think that's where Jean first heard it,
and then she started playing.
It was a terribly isolated [G] place, and then she went to New York and started recording,
[B] and I think if it had not been for Jean Ritchie,
nobody would have known about the dulcimer.
So it was very sporadic in its distribution,
and _ not one, as I say, in certain spots you would find them. _ _ _
_ [N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
There's a _ _ _ _ _ gentleman by the name of Smith, and they've written books on him,
and they _ can look, and I can to a certain extent, at a dulcimer
and tell where it was made, the shape and the configuration and all.
In middle, in lower, _ this is an exception to what I was saying a while ago about where you found them,
in lower middle Tennessee, they had a rectangular instrument that they called a dulcimer,
and some people referred to them as scantlins,
but every one of those that I've ever seen came from Giles County and Pulaski and South,
but _ the _ _ question as to who introduced them and exactly when is pretty much a mystery, I think.
But it was a late instrument, and it was not widespread.