Elko Daily Free Press from Elko, Nevada • 26

1 8 FREE PRESS EXTRA, Elko, Nevada Tuesday, August 9, 1994 Appalachian mountain dulcimer a collector's item By Rudy Abramson National Geographic For AP Special Features BEREA. Ky Experts think it originated in Germany during the Middle Ages and found its way to France. Holland and Scandinavia centuries before European immigrants brought it to America in the 17th century. In Germany it was called the in Sweden, the "hummer; in Norway, the "langeleik." Today, across the United States and much of the world, it is best known as the Appalachian mountain dulcimer. One of the simplest of all stringed musical instruments, it has changed remarkably little from early versions.

It is a form of zither, with hand plucked strings. "For people who have never tried ing played now than at any other time in history, says folklorist Loyal Jones, former director of the college's Appalachian Center. Preserved and embellished by mountain woodcarvers and artisans, Appalachian dulcimers are now mass-produced, assembled from kits and sold in craft centers and tourist stops from the North Carolina mountains to California. Young hostelers carry them, plastered with stickers commemorating their world travels. Homer Ledford of Winchester, Ky considered to be one of the greatest living dulcimer makers, has shipped instruments from his basement shop to customers in Europe, Africa and Australia.

A performer as well as a craftsman, he has played traditional mountain music in concerts as far from home as Ireland and Japan. Warren May and a few assistants fashion more than 600 handmade dulcimers a year. Since 1977, they have made nearly 8,000 instruments, many bearing May's personal trademark sound holes shaped like hummingbirds. He has made "church dulcimers" with wide bodies to produce more volume, and "courting dulcimers," a variant with two fret boards that achieved some popularity during the 19th century because it allowed courting couples to rub knees as they faced each other plucking the strings. Because dulcimers are now a staple at fairs promoting Appalachian crafts, the notion has spread that people most often buy them as decorations.

Jones says he has indeed observed fine dulcimers, covered with dust, hanging on den walls. But May says he believes that most customers willing to put down $275 for one of his walnut or cherry dulcimers do so because they want to learn to play it "I believe people have an innate desire to make some kind of music, either to compensate for their voice or to complement it," he tells National Geographic Introduced to Appalachia early in the westward migration of European immigrants, the dulcimer invigorated both religious music and mountain folk tunes. It was no longer a European instrument, but an American derivative. Made from a large variety of hardwoods, it was crafted in several basic shapes hourglass, violin, teardrop and lute and in various sizes and depths. The Appalachian dulcimer is not to play anything, or people who have oeen frustrated in attempts to learn other instruments, it is by far the easiest stringed instrument to play," says Warren May, a dulcimer maker here.

"It is their easiest shot at making enjoyable music," says May, whose woodworking shop on the square at Berea College has become a favorite tourist attraction in the town offi cially designated as Kentucky's folk-arts capital. "I can have them picking up melodies in just a few minutes." With the rise of the recording industry and the popularity of more authoritative instruments such as the guitar, banjo, mandolin and fiddle, the plaintive, unimposing dulcimer nearly disappeared in the 1930s and "40s. It has since made a robust recover)' More dulcimers are probably be sfd ikiMkf ME SALE LOOK AT THESE USED CAR VALUES! eh ABB NH17 WL BUY '009 Stock 4CT18 1985 CHEVY BLAZER S-10 3988 39 mo. La wf.1 fnm m4 Its. Mir let lit Lft (Ml lfct I MM.

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In European folk music, it has several names in the Alps, the in Hungary, the in Romania, the in Greece, the "santouri" The mountain dulcimer was perfected by woodworkers such as JE. Thomas, who began making the instruments in Bath, Ky, in 1871. By the time he died in 1933, he had made more than 1,000 dulcimers. He is credited not only with creating the finest Appalachian dulcimers but with standardizing designs and heavily influencing today's masters. Nevertheless, by the time Thomas died, the mountain dulcimer was on its way to becoming an anachronism.

It was resuscitated by a folk revival in the 1950s, notably by Jean Ritchie of Viper, who took the dulcimer to the concert stage and the recording studio. Ritchie and other performers made the dulcimer a solo instrument for haunting and lyrical renditions of old mountain ballads. In the hands of professional musicians, it continued to evolve. Strings were added and frets were extended, increasing both its versatility and complexity. Reluctantly, traditional dulcimer makers such as Homer Ledford have gone along with functional changes while clinging to their art.

Offended by the price markups that craft shops put on his dulcimers, Ledford now makes instruments only for individual customers. He prefers to make them from well-aged wood that he finds in old buildings. This past spring, he began work on his dulcimer, made of yellow poplar from a 150-yearold church that was being torn down. From such material, Ledford says, will one day come sweeter music. Woodrow Wilson's car on display STAUNTON, Va.

(AP) Yeah, the portrait of Woodrow Wilson negotiating the World War I peace treaty at Versailles is pretty interesting. But to really know the 28th president, you must know his car. a 1919 Pierce-Arrow limousine delivered to him 75 years ago this month and displayed at his birthplace museum. Richard D. Robertson, an antique auto enthusiast and former museum trustee, knows every detail of the black limo.

He directed a mechanical overhaul that got the car running again. A new exhibit at the museum, "Under the Hood," focuses on the history of the car and the $55,000 restoration. Back on July 8, 1919, a crowd of about 100,000 gathered at Union Station in Washington at midnight to welcome Wilson home from Paris. A White House chauffeur met the president and his wife and ushered them into the Pierce-Arrow, one of about 200 made that vear and priced at $9,250. There was a hard top and a convertible top.

silk curtains and shades, carriage lights and silver-plated bud vases in the rear section. First lady Edith Wilson had the bud vases removed because she thought they were too effeminate for the president. Wilson had a push-button installed so he could send directions to his driver. One buzz was the order to stop, two to go left and three to go right. "There is a basic simplicity to the car the upholstery, color, design that sort of bespeaks the man," Robertson said.

"Pleasing and proud, but its simplicity is the mark of its greatness. "It's not loaded with a bunch of doodads. Wilson was a conservative sort of person. He wanted things nice but not gaudy." Five of Wilson's buddies from his Princeton University days knew he loved the car and driving was a favorite pastime. So they pitched in to raise the $3,000 needed to buy the vehicle from the government and gave it to Wilson when he left office in 1921.

By then he was debilitated by a stroke, and a daily ride around Rock Creek Park along the Potomac River and down to Mount Vernon was part of his routine. His driver, George Howard, told interviewers that Wilson was leery of speed and would only let him go 25 mph. One of the former president's favorite activities was watching Washington Senators games at the old Griffith Stadium. According to the museum brochure, the owner of the Senators at the time, Clark Griffith, said Wilson "was a sick man, so he'd remain in the limousine, parked along the right field line. We'd reserve a catcher to sit on the front fender and ward off line drives." Howard drove the Wilson family in the funeral procession after Wilson died in 1924.

Robertson said that modern presidential cars, with bulletproof windows and frames and high-technology communications, became too expensive for presidents to buy after leaving office. "It is one of a few presidential cars that exist today," Robertson said. "As such, it is a piece of memorabilia for everybody." mr. I 1111 ock 5PN27 1995 DODGE NEON 1994 JEEP WRANGLER 1991 COLT VISTA 4X4 $7988 69mo. IMiwUi fnm wtt Im Ml I Mia Md I Vale.

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