Author: Brittany B. Joachim
A familiar sound through the Appalachian region, the dulcimer came to the mountains on the backs and wagons of those leaving Western Europe. While the museum houses various instruments found in Western North Carolina, this dulcimer holds a special place as it was crafted by Edsel Martin, whose talents as a musician and wood carver took him to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
Dulcimer comes from the Latin word “dulce” and the Greek “melos” which means “sweet song”. One can trace dulcimer's history to the Middle-East Biblical era, as a version of one is mentioned in the book of Daniel at the court of King Nebuchadnezzar. As people brought it north and eventually across the Atlantic, the version commonly seen today combines a style from the English and the Germans. Because of its size, transporting dulcimers to and throughout America proved easier than other instruments for English and German people in the early days of colonization. Eventually, the dulcimer found a home with those Europeans who lived in the Appalachian Mountains. During the twentieth century, the instrument was almost forgotten with the rise of ordering from catalogs and the growing popularity of bluegrass, a genre not fully suited for the sound of the dulcimer. The folk revival of the 1960s brought the dulcimer back to the public.
The 1960s folk revival attracted both scholars and music fans. At this time, Black Mountain resident Edsel Martin honed his musical and carving craft. Martin grew up in a family of musicians and music makers. His father built instruments and taught Martin. In 1965, he designed a dulcimer which was presented to Lady Bird Johnson. In 1968, he was personally asked to participate in the Festival of American Folklife in Washington, D.C. While he made pieces for well-known people and institutions, he also made them for personal friends and family. This dulcimer was given as a gift to some friends, who passed it down to their son and later, the son’s wife. Both the instrument and its maker express Western North Carolina history and a larger global history.
Sources:
Armstrong, Randall. “The Adaptable Appalachian Dulcimer”. Music Educators Journal. 66.6
February 1980. Accessed on 05 January 2018.
Krause, Bonnie. “The Martins of Western North Carolina: A Family of Carvers and Musicians”.
Southern Highland Craft Guild Blog. Accessed on 05 January 2018.
Mountain Gateway Museum. Artifact notes for Edsel Martin Dulcimer. Old Fort, NC, 05
January 2018.