Beginning Hammered Dulcimer

Princess Harris, a former National Hammered Dulcimer champion, has taught and performed throughout the Midwest for the past 20 years.  Besides being an outstanding solo player in the traditional style, Princess has also achieved much recognition for her wonderful melodic plucking of the strings, giving delicate yet full dimension to the instrument’s capabilities.  While performing at such festivals as The Winter Festival of Acoustic Music in Dallas, the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Ks.,  and the Jubilee of Acoustic Music in Kansas City, she has demonstrated not only her ability as a lead player, but has also show her mastery and musical sense as a backup player, an all too rare role for the hammered dulcimer.  As a solo artist and ensemble player, Princess Harris shares her love for the hammered dulcimer and for the music with audiences of all ages

I have been playing hammered dulcimer since 1976, when I first heard Bill Spence's first recording and immediately fell in love with the instrument.  My father, Claude Barton, made the first few instruments I played and I taught myself how to play, in a "by ear" fashion. I was one of the very first individuals to introduce the hammered dulcimer to the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield KS. Over the years my husband Dave Para and I have played numerous concerts across the United States and in Europe, always featuring the hammered dulcimer as a large part of our performances. I have taught in numerous workshops in festivals across the country, and have taught in week long workshops in KY, MO and in WV. Dave and I have produced over twelve recordings , all including hammered dulcimer. We perform frequently on steamboats such as the "Delta Queen" and the "American Queen" and passengers are always interested in the dulcimer in particular, so we feel we are helping to "spread the gospel" of this wonderful instrument.
 

Advanced Hammered Dulcimer

Mark Alan Wade lives in Columbus, OH with his dog, Beast. By day he makes a living playing and teaching trumpet, but he has a secret life outside the university playing dulcimer. It’s hard to believe that behind his goofy grin he is a college trumpet instructor at Denison University. Mark is currently completing his Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in trumpet performance at The Ohio State University where he serves as a graduate teaching assistant to the trumpet studio. He has toured Austria, Slovakia and Hungary as principal trumpet of the Classical Music Festival Orchestra and Brass Quintet of Eisenstadt, Austria. On different occasions in the United States, he has entertained notables including: Presidents George Bush Sr., William Clinton, Ross Perot, and the former U.S. Secretary of Defense, William S. Cohen. Despite all this trumpet playing, Mark is very down to earth and loves playing and teaching the hammered dulcimer with players of all levels!
A former National Hammered Dulcimer Champion, Mark is a recurring columnist for the Dulcimer Players News journal. He has personally released six CDs and a popular method book for hammered dulcimer. His most recent solo classical hammered dulcimer CD, Serenade, has achieved rave reviews since its release in 2006. His students include the 2004 and 2007 National Hammered Dulcimer Champions. More information can be found at www.markalanwade.com.

Maureen Sellers comes to us from New Albany, IN. For the last seventeen years Maureen has taught and performed in more than twenty states. Covering both the how-to and the history of the dulcimer, she brings a down-to-earth approach to the amateur musician. Utilizing the wonderful drones of the dulcimer, Maureen plays traditional music from the Appalachian and Ozark Mountains. Maureen approaches both her workshops and performances with a warmth and sense of humor that make the students and audience feel at ease. She creates a comfortable and creative atmosphere for learning.
Maureen has written eleven books of tablature for the Appalachian dulcimer. She has performed on ABC-TV in Lexington and Louisville, KY. She has played on National Public Radio and for the Best of Kentucky Elderhostels. Maureen has also participated in a CD by Macmillan, McGraw-Hill featuring instruments of the world. She has recorded on Great Players of the Mountain Dulcimer and Live! At Delci-more Festival. Due out in November, Maureen can be heard on the latest Christmas Masters of the Mountain Dulcimer CD.

Intermediate Mountain Dulcimer
"Smile-inducing, toe-tapping, thought-provoking folkgrass" is how
reviewers describe award-winning instrumentalist and songwriter Steve
Eulberg's music. He weaves together age-old songs and tunes with new
melodies and contemporary lyrics accompanied by dulcimers and more.

"I live for the aha! experiences that people have and am dedicated to
helping people enjoy their musical explorations on dulcimers and share
them with others." Students respond enthusiastically to his engaging
style and warm sense of humor, making him in demand as a welcome addition
to festivals across the US.

He has won several awards in the national mountain dulcimer contest at
Winfield, and several times been a finalist in the national hammered
dulcimer contest as well. His music has been included in the Masters of
the Mountain Dulcimer Compilations (#2 and #3) and Great Players of the
Mountain Dulcimer, and has been featured on PBS' RoadTrip Nation, United
Airlines Inflight Audio and NPR.

His most recent recording, "a piece of it all" was on the first Grammy
Ballot in the Best Contemporary Folk/Americana category and one track,
"war is sweet (to those who never taste it)" topped the Top 40 Independent
Country Charts reported by The Music Review in New York in September.

The setting of a dulcimer festival is a perfect venue for his engaging
brand of traditional folk and contemporary Americana and he has enjoyed
his opportunities to share music with the folks at the Heritage Dulcimer
Camp over the past 10 years.

Bonnie is a teacher, performer, recording artist, builder, contest winner, and international musical ambassador with her dulcimers. She was an influential part of the renaissance of the mountain dulcimer in the early '70s when she began building instruments considered by many to be among the best available. With her teaching and performing she launched many a new dulcimer player into the bliss of the dulcimer world. She has produced, recorded, authored and distributed seven recordings and six books pertaining to the dulcimers. Every summer, Bonnie organizes the Moons and Tunes wilderness river trips in which everyone is invited to bring musical instruments or voices and join in camp fire music on one of the great rivers of the Colorado Plateau in Utah and Colorado. When not playing the dulcimer, Bonnie teaches and performs African marimba music. The spring of 2007 found Bonnie playing both dulcimer and marimba in Botswana, Africa. You can read stories of her Africa travels, as well as learn about her instruments, recordings, teaching, etc., on her web site, www.BonnieCarol.com.