To most Americans, the hammered dulcimer is a new and unfamiliar instrument. Even people who know much about American music often confuse the hammered dulcimer with the three- or four-stringed ...

MOUNT DORA — For Ruth Harnden, no musical note can what’s emitted from one of America’s earliest musical instruments — the mountain or Appalachian dulcimer. “It produces a sweet, easy, acoustic sound, ...

Paul Babcock considers himself lazy. That might explain why the Long Beach resident still isn’t proficient in playing the dulcimer, despite being introduced to the instrument nearly six years ago.