Didn't know what a hammered dulcimer was until now (listened to some youtubes). Beautiful music! Makes me think a little of Enya. Is it hard to learn and are classes long and expensive? And what about the dulcimer itself, is it an expensive instrument? I imagine it would be hard to find one. Hope you enjoy it, maybe share a tune or two. Good luck getting to your happy place!
Hi, the one I have was a gift to me (I know, amazing) and it was found used on Craigslist for $250. It's made by the Dusty Strings company in Seattle, Wa. They go for about $650 new. I got instructional DVDs from a master player, John McCutcheon and they are great. I did find a teacher who is an hour and a half away so I have had one lesson in person. But I'm taking my time, having fun with it. It is a little hard for me to learn to read music again, but it isn't hard to bang out a simple pretty tune. I like that it isn't too strenuous physically. One can sit with it partly on your lap, and the hammers are light so it doesn't hurt my fistula arm. Hey, just trying to bring a little light and joy into these challenging (health wise) times. Thanks!
Thank you Lis for sharing your talents ! I too had to look up dulcimer on YouTube. It sounds so heavenly. The YouTube video I saw was by a couple in Tennessee who make dulcimers by hand from locally sourced woods. Below I copied some quotes on the effect of the vibrations of music from altered-state.net. So to all you talented musicians, thank you for transforming chaos to harmony!
Red Auerbach
" Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
Joachim-Ernst Berendt, The World is Sound
" At the root of all power and motion, there is music and rhythm, the play of patterned frequencies against the matrix of time. We know that every particle in the physical universe takes its characteristics from the pitch and pattern and overtones of its particular frequencies, its singing. Before we make music, music makes us"
William Congreve, The Mourning Bride Act 1
" Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak."
Pat Conroy
" Without music, life is a journey through a desert."
Leonardo daVinci
" Do you know that our soul is composed of harmony?"
Robert Fripp
" Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence."
Mitchell Gaynor, M.D., Sounds of Healing
" You can look at disease as a form of disharmony. And there's no organ system in the body that's not affected by sound and music and vibration."
Hafiz (Persian Sufi poet)
" Many say that life entered the human body by the help of music, but the truth is that life itself is music."
The Hathors
" Within the sound of your voice are the keys to innumerable worlds."
Victor Hugo
" Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."
Aldous Huxley
" After silence, that which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible is music."
Billy Joel
" I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from everyone loves music."
Hazrat Inayat Khan, Mysticism of Sound
" A person does not hear sound only through the ears; he hears sound through every pore of his body. It permeates the entire being, and according to its particular influence either slows or quickens the rhythm of the blood circulation; it either wakens or soothes the nervous system. It arouses a person to greater passions or it calms him by bringing him peace. According to the sound and its influence a certain effect is produced. Sound becomes visible in the form of radiance. This shows that the same energy which goes into the form of sound before being visible is absorbed by the physical body. In that way the physical body recuperates and becomes charged with new magnetism."
Hazrat Inayat Khan, Mysticism of Sound
" Life is a symphony, and the action of every person in this life is the playing of his particular part in the music."
Hazrat Inayat Khan, Mysticism of Sound
" Love produces harmony and harmony creates beauty. Therefore the chief motto in life is 'Love, harmony and beauty'. Love in all things and beings the beloved God, in harmony with all in the right understanding, and beautify your life by observing the beauty within and without. By love, harmony and beauty you must turn the whole of life into a single vision of divine glory."
Katharine Le Mée, The Benedictine Gift to Music
" There is a song reaching the whole earth, wroght from patience, love and prayer. Neither violent nor assertive, it is peace begetting peace, love made manifest. Listen to it with the ear of your heart; let it go deep within. Open to the sound, to the holy words, to the life of which it sings."
Geoffrey Latham
" Music is the vernacular of the human soul."
George Leonard
" At the root of all power and motion, there is music and rhythm, the play of patterned frequencies against the matrix of time, Before we make music, music makes us."
Hal A. Lingerman
" Just as certain selections of music will nourish the physical body and your emotional layer, so other musical works will bring greater health to your mind."
Yehudi Menuhin
" Music is a therapy.It is a communication far more powerful than words, far more immediate, far more efficient."
Balfour M. Mount (Canadian Professor)
" Music has touched the human soul across all boundaries of time, space, and genre....Perhaps, in its vibratory nature, music opens us to a greater appreciation of our essential connectedness to the cosmos, our oneness with all that is."
Plato
" Rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul."
Plato
" Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other in the integration of the human being because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the Soul on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the Soul of him who is rightly educated truly graceful."
Red Auerbach
" Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
Joachim-Ernst Berendt, The World is Sound
" At the root of all power and motion, there is music and rhythm, the play of patterned frequencies against the matrix of time. We know that every particle in the physical universe takes its characteristics from the pitch and pattern and overtones of its particular frequencies, its singing. Before we make music, music makes us."
Don G. Campbell, The Roar of Silence
" To enter into the initiation of sound, of vibration and mindfulness, is to take a giant step toward consciously knowing the soul. There are hundreds of accurate models for this great journey inward. Each requires belief and discipline as well as the will to allow the inner and outer worlds to relate. Listening, learning, study, and practice are important tools. But we need the courage to enter into ourselves with the great respect and mystery that combines the faith of a child, the abandon of a mystic, and the true wisdom of an old shaman."
Edgar Cayce (1928), There Is A River by Thomas Sugrue
" The human body is made up of electronic vibrations, with each atom and element of the body, each organ and organism, having its electronic unit of vibration necessary for the sustenance of, and equilibrium in, that particular organism. Each unit, then, being a cell or a unit of life in itself has the capacity of reproducing itself by the first law as is known of reproduction-division. When a force in any organ or element of the body becomes deficient in its ability to reproduce that equilibrium necessary for the sustenance of physical existence and its reproduction becomes deficient in electronic energy. This may come by injury or by disease, received by external forces. It may come from internal forces through lack of eliminations produced in the system or by other agencies to meet its requirements in the body."
William Congreve, The Mourning Bride Act 1
" Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak."
Pat Conroy
" Without music, life is a journey through a desert."
Leonardo daVinci
" Do you know that our soul is composed of harmony?"
Olivea Dewhurst-Maddock, Sound Therapy
" Healing relies on an openness to the whole; a willingness to relinquish whatever frustrates or delays -- mistaken ideas, negative feelings, poor diet, inadvisable lifestyle -- and to accept a wider spectrum of responses with new ideas, experience, and priorities. Healing is communication; and music, in its universal nature, is total communication. In the deepest mysteries of music are the inspirations, the pathways, and the healing which lead to one-ness and unity."
Robert Fripp
" Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence."
Mitchell Gaynor, M.D., Sounds of Healing
" You can look at disease as a form of disharmony. And there's no organ system in the body that's not affected by sound and music and vibration."
Hafiz (Persian Sufi poet)
" Many say that life entered the human body by the help of music, but the truth is that life itself is music."
The Hathors
" Within the sound of your voice are the keys to innumerable worlds."
Victor Hugo
" Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."
Aldous Huxley
" After silence, that which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible is music."
Billy Joel
" I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from everyone loves music."
Hazrat Inayat Khan, Mysticism of Sound
" A person does not hear sound only through the ears; he hears sound through every pore of his body. It permeates the entire being, and according to its particular influence either slows or quickens the rhythm of the blood circulation; it either wakens or soothes the nervous system. It arouses a person to greater passions or it calms him by bringing him peace. According to the sound and its influence a certain effect is produced. Sound becomes visible in the form of radiance. This shows that the same energy which goes into the form of sound before being visible is absorbed by the physical body. In that way the physical body recuperates and becomes charged with new magnetism."
Hazrat Inayat Khan, Mysticism of Sound
" Life is a symphony, and the action of every person in this life is the playing of his particular part in the music."
Hazrat Inayat Khan, Mysticism of Sound
" Love produces harmony and harmony creates beauty. Therefore the chief motto in life is 'Love, harmony and beauty'. Love in all things and beings the beloved God, in harmony with all in the right understanding, and beautify your life by observing the beauty within and without. By love, harmony and beauty you must turn the whole of life into a single vision of divine glory."
Katharine Le Mée, The Benedictine Gift to Music
" There is a song reaching the whole earth, wroght from patience, love and prayer. Neither violent nor assertive, it is peace begetting peace, love made manifest. Listen to it with the ear of your heart; let it go deep within. Open to the sound, to the holy words, to the life of which it sings."
Geoffrey Latham
" Music is the vernacular of the human soul."
George Leonard
" At the root of all power and motion, there is music and rhythm, the play of patterned frequencies against the matrix of time, Before we make music, music makes us."
Hal A. Lingerman
" Just as certain selections of music will nourish the physical body and your emotional layer, so other musical works will bring greater health to your mind."
Yehudi Menuhin
" Music is a therapy.It is a communication far more powerful than words, far more immediate, far more efficient."
Balfour M. Mount (Canadian Professor)
" Music has touched the human soul across all boundaries of time, space, and genre....Perhaps, in its vibratory nature, music opens us to a greater appreciation of our essential connectedness to the cosmos, our oneness with all that is."
Plato
" Rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul."
Plato
" Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other in the integration of the human being because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the Soul on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the Soul of him who is rightly educated truly graceful."
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