((PKG)) MAKING APPALACHIAN SOUND
((TRT: 08:52))
((Topic Banner: Making Appalachian Sound)
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: June Soh))
((Map: Townsend, Tennessee))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub character: 1 female))
((NATS/Music playing))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
There’s just something about a Appalachian dulcimer instrument…sound is so peaceful and calming. The word dulcimer actually means sweet song. So, when I play one, I feel pretty peaceful about it too. It's really…the music affects you.
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
I am Mike Clemmer. I have a shop here in Townsend, Tennessee. I play the dulcimer and I build the dulcimers. This is one of them that I made. We're right next to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It’s one of the most beautiful countryside in the whole world and the rivers, the mountains, the wildlife. And I just can't think of a better place to be than just right here.
((NATS/Music playing))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
The Appalachian dulcimers, this particular type, this was invented in this area because of the memories that the settlers had when they came to this area, when they came over the mountains. You have the do-re-mi of the scale.
((NATS/Music playing))
And that scale is what, basically this is why it's an American instrument. The do-re-mi is, in Europe, a little different. They have different scales.
((NATS))
((NATS: Mike Clemmer))
This is my workshop where I build my dulcimers.
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
This is my headstock that goes on the dulcimer. And I've already got this cut out and approximately sanded out. And now I am going to do the carving that I do on top of the headstock.
((NATS))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
And I like to keep everything handmade.
((NATS))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
I actually started building dulcimers in 1976, as a hobby to start with. And I realized that I really like this. So, in 1996, we started our shop there in Townsend. I didn't know anything about business
((Photo Courtesy: Wood-N-Strings Dulcimer Shop))
and neither had my wife. We just had about 50 dollars and two credit cards, and that's how we started. We were amazed how people would come to us and really respond to the instrument and to us. It was a lot of fun.
((NATS))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
These are just butterflies and leaves you can have, but it's the amount of hole it’s opened that makes the sound. I can have one great big hole or I can have several small holes. But the total volume of the opening is what I have to deal with.
((NATS))
Now, this is just a burning tool.
((NATS))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
What you need to make a good Appalachian dulcimer is good wood. I like to have wood that comes from Appalachia if you want to make an Appalachian dulcimer. This is wormy chestnut and it's very dry. You have to cure it for a while.
((NATS))
I have built approximately 5,000 instruments just in the last 25, 30 years.
((NATS))
I've got my dulcimers, as far as I know, on almost every continent.
((NATS))
This is a Ban-Jammer that I invented.
This is a hybrid between a dulcimer, like made like this, and a banjo, which is made like this. So, you get the ease of playing of a dulcimer but the sound of a banjo.
((NATS/Music playing))
And it’s just one of those kinds of sounds that just makes you smile.
((NATS/Music playing, car driving))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
Oh, I like Townsend. It’s a very quaint, small town. Everybody knows everybody except for the newcomers, and we try to get along with them too.
((NATS))
It’s not a bad drive to work every morning, is it?
((NATS/Music playing))
((NATS: Customer))
So, what’s the rest of it made out of?
((NATS: Mike Clemmer))
Walnut.
((NATS: Customer))
The sides and the back.
((NATS: Mike Clemmer))
Yes, all walnut.
((NATS: Customer))
Walnut’s nice.
((NATS: Customer))
That’s beautiful.
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
And this is one of my Tennessee Sweeties, which is a smaller dulcimer. This is one that we started putting together because we were taking a trip or two, and we had to get it in an airplane. And this, in its case, would fit in the overhead compartment of an airplane. And that’s what we did this for. We still wanted one that sounded good, and that’s what we couldn’t find anywhere, so.
((NATS/Music playing))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
The Pickin’ Porch is something that we've had at our shop for a long time, for twenty years. It’s a little stage behind our building on the river. And we'd have get-togethers,
((Photo Courtesy: Wood-N-Strings Dulcimer Shop))
and the guests would start playing, and it was just a free concert, that thing we did every Saturday. And about when the COVID started happening and coming around, people were a little afraid to come out and gather. So, we just stopped it.
((NATS/Music playing))
There's a lot of times that I just get out on the Pickin’ Porch and play by myself just because it’s just a very peaceful place to be and I enjoy it.
((NATS))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
We're just getting ready to go to the jam. We go down here whether it’s raining or shining or, as long as it’s not flooding, we usually go. And it’s just a good time to get with a bunch of folks and just have a good time playing music. This is in Townsend. We are doing it every Monday. Here we are.
((NATS/Music playing))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
It's sort of a free thing that anybody wants to be there, and that's what keeps it fresh. We don't know who all is going to be there at any given Monday. And it's a lot of fun that way.
((NATS/Music playing))
((Darlene Brazil
Visitor))
It's absolutely beautiful to see young people and old people playing together, to pass down what they know, their music, their musical instruments throughout the Appalachian Mountains. The mountain dulcimer is a gorgeous instrument.
((NATS/Music playing))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
Sometimes, when the mood is right and the weather is right, we come up to the mountains and play a little bit. We’re going to stop here on the sightsees to get a good view of what our place looks like, what God's beauty is up here.
((NATS: Connie Clemmer, Mike Clemmer’s wife))
Isn’t this beautiful?
((NATS: Mike Clemmer))
Yeah. We’ll see if we can play some music.
((NAT/Music playing))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
I love people, I love music, and I love woodwork. And it’s like God took all that and put it all together and made me a dulcimer player and maker. And I just really enjoy that.
((NATS/Music Playing))
