How Hammers Work on a Dulcimer

Video Transcript

Hi! I’m Tim Van Egmond here on behalf of expertvillage.com and I am talking about the musical instrument called the hammered dulcimer. You can find out more about me at www.timvanegmond.com. I want to talk a bit about the hammers which the instrument gets its name from. These are the instruments that Nicholas Blanton, the hammers rather and the different kinds of coatings you can put on the hammer can give it a different sound. This is moleskin that you can pick up from the pharmacy. You know Dr. Scholls. It is self adhesive so it mutes the kind of bear wood sound a bit but it still gives you a nice sharp sound which is good for fast running tunes. Now there are also different materials you can use to vary the sound. Sometimes people put leather of various thicknesses and weights on their hammers with contact cement. This is piano felt. I made these hammers a long time ago and they give you a nice muted sound that is good for slow airs like. And some people make hammers that have an oval at the top and they have perhaps some thin leather on one side and some felt on the other so that they can change while you are playing and flip the hammers over your hands. Historically hammers were made out of all kinds of materials and it is interesting. You can experiment if you make them yourself or if you find people who are creative, who makes the hammers. They used to be made from the ____ corsets ____ in women corsets. The bamboo tines of bamboo rakes for raking leaves. Paul Van Arsdale a wonderful player in New York State made his hammers with hacksaw blades with a little square of sugar pine glued on to the end. So that is just a range of the possibilities.

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