Read Online Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions by Ralph Lee Smith - Free Book Online Page B

seminary’s first principal and first instructor. Hall remained at his post through the 1820s, then returned to Philadelphia. In The New Purchase , Hall fictionalized names (even his own), wrote in a highly flowery style, and no doubt added fictional touches. The book is nevertheless an immense repository of factual information and detail and a leading document of early Indiana history.
    Bloomington’s first blacksmith was a man named Austin W. Seward, whom Hall calls “Vulcanus Allheart.” Hall devoted several pages to Allheart, who was originally from Virginia. Allheart loved music and took flute lessons from Hall. More significantly, “Allheart also played the dulcimer, a monotone instrument shaped like an Aeolian harp, and done with a plectrum on wire strings.” Hall notes that Allheart’s hands “were nearly as hard as cast iron; but this, while no small advantage in fingering the iron strings of the dulcimer, or in playing on the sonorous anvil, was a serious disadvantage in flute-playing.”
    To the best of my knowledge, this is the earliest printed reference to the dulcimer that we possess.
WHAT DID EARLY DULCIMERS LOOK LIKE?
    These pre–Civil War records, while of immense value, do not tell us what the earliest dulcimers looked like. The instrument made by John Scales in 1832 is a fully developed dulcimer of the single-bout style, specimens of which can be seen at nearly any craft fair today. It seems most unlikely that Scales’s was the first one ever made. Its origins probably go back to the early years of the 19th century or possibly earlier.
    Other instruments that look as if they are transitional between the scheitholt and the dulcimer exist, as well. Even the specimens of these that we possess probably do not date back to the beginning, but they may reflect early types.
    The dulcimer might be viewed as a “scheitholt mounted on a soundbox,” with the scheitholt becoming the fret-board of the new instrument. Figure 3.5 shows a “headless” scheitholt with damaged top, which came from Woodstock, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley along the path of the Wagon Road. It is listed and described as A20 in Allen Smith’s Catalogue of Pre-Revival Appalachian Dulcimers. The instrument has no scroll, but rather a rounded head block and a similar tail block. Four hand-forged vertical iron tuners were inserted into the head block, of which one survives.
    Figure 3.6 shows a headless dulcimer that Josie Wiseman purchased at an auction in Radford, Montgomery County, southwestern Virginia. As with the Woodstock scheitholt, this instrument has a rounded head block, rather than a scroll, and a tail block. Both blocks, however, are affixed to the ends of the soundbox rather than the ends of the fretboard. Four vertical iron tuning pins are inserted into the head block. The fretboard could be seen as the body of a narrow scheitholt, without a scroll.
    Wiseman, an indefatigable auction hound, had already made a spectacular find at an auction in Pewee Valley, Kentucky, on a summer day in 1986. That instrument is illustrated in figure 3.7. She knew exactly what she was seeing when she encountered it among the items being offered for sale.
    Another person bid against her and raised the price to more than Wiseman wanted to pay, but he was wasting his time. Wiseman rushed home with her prize and called me.
“Ralph,” she said, “I’ve found one!”
“What did you find?” I asked.

    Figure 3.5. “Headless” scheitholt with broken top, from Woodstock, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. (Gary Putnam)

    Figure 3.6. “Headless” dulcimer purchased at auction in southwestern Virginia. (Josie Wiseman)
    â€œA scheitholt mounted on top of a sound box!”
I was nearly speechless. I finally said, “Where is it?”
“It’s here!” she cried. “I bought it at an auction. It’s mine!”

A totally unexpected epilogue