Several weeks ago, I was honored to participate in the Cumberland Horizons Heritage Day alongside a local band, The Dulcimores. As I enjoyed the sweet tones from 5 different dulcimers I grew more curious about this uniquely American instrument whose music seems to echo a mountain breeze, trickling brook and singing bird; surely it was created for such a purpose. So I talked with the musicians a little then dug around the web some and wanted to share with you what I’ve learned.

Music is as old as time – it wasn’t by accident that God gave birds those beautiful songs! Genesis 4:21 tells us that just 8 generations from creation, Jubal “…was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.” Today there are a myriad of instruments – many I could not name. And, in fact, I can scarcely pronounce the predecessor of the dulcimer, the German scheitholt.

And then there was the great melting pot known as America…this is where it gets exciting.

So German immigrants brought their scheitholt along with them when they settled in Pennsylvania, alongside the Scottish, the Irish, and those unique Scots-Irish who were somehow a people all their own. The British Isles had no such instrument; The Scotts played their bagpipes, the Irish their fiddles – and as they searched for a home among the rugged Appalachian Mountains they merged the two sounds into an adaptation of something they saw their German neighbors playing.

I can’t help but imagine those early days when immigrants from across Europe flooded the US bring unique languages and cultures. The Germans came speaking a wholly different language that would have completely isolated them into their own communities. The Irish Gaelic and the Scottish Gaelic no doubt came with the immigrants, however after centuries of invasion, landlords and oversight by the English, those coming from Ireland and Scotland probably had that language in common. Yet music knows no border. We have had radio for so many decades and now we have streaming platforms and internet music – it’s hard to imagine not hearing a wide variety of music, hard to picture what it would be like to stand in this strange new land among peoples I might never have imagined and to hear a brand new instrument.

These were unique people that I greatly admire. They had something I’m pretty sure I lack – a drive to find something better, a willingness to take chances and face uncertainties and a work ethic that would allow them to survive extreme difficulties. They also had an ingenuity that allowed them to sing the songs of their ancestors and play the music of their childhood – and they created a brand-new instrument to do it. This instrument would be easy to learn – the dulcimer is said to be one of the quickest to master. The dulcimer was portable, quiet and easily built from materials readily available in the mountains. It is more than uniquely American – it is uniquely Appalachian!