Bowed dulcimer explained

The bowed dulcimer is a musical instrument. Designed in the style of the Appalachian dulcimer (a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings), it is either a standard instrument played with a violin bow, or a purpose-built dulcimer designed around bow playing. The purpose-designed instrument is described as resembling a hybrid between a dulcimer and a cello or viola da gamba.^[1]

Bowing as a technique of playing the standard dulcimer has some historical roots;^[2] L. Allen Smith feature several examples in his historical survey A Catalogue of Pre-Revival Appalachian Dulcimers (1983).

The more modern purpose-built version of the instrument was developed by Kenneth Bloom of Pilot Mountain, North Carolina in the late 1990s.^[1]

Further reading

• Book: Mark Biggs. Complete Dulcimer Handbook. 5 November 2003. Mel Bay Publications. 978-1-61065-456-2. 91–., section on bowing technique

External links

• "BowedDulcimer.com" at boweddulcimer.org (Ambiguous: "BowedDulcimer.com" is the title, but the domain is not redirected to there.)

Notes and References

1. Book: Margaret S. Barrett. Sandra L. Stauffer. Narrative Soundings: An Anthology of Narrative Inquiry in Music Education. 28 February 2012. Springer Science & Business Media. 978-94-007-0698-9. 89–.
2. Book: John Rice Irwin. Musical Instruments of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. 1983. Schiffer Pub.. 978-0-916838-80-5. 64.