616-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 22, 1994 Two Recreate Sounds From Bygone Days GAIL STROCK Mifflin Co. Correspondent BELLEVILLE (Mifflin Co.) When our forefathers fled persecu tion, they forged the Atlantic yearning to set foot on the Ameri can soil of freedom. People from France, Holland, Ireland, England, and Germany brought what they could to survive seeds, scythes, hammers, and hoes, their cultures, customs, languages, and music. America’s melting pot looked more like a good hearty stew Filled with ingredients each rich in their own flavor. ' But through time, flavors blend and the search for a direct line back to our ancestors becomes less dis- tinct. The same is true for music. The words of the Old World English ballads, which were brought to America, soon lost their meaning for the common man surviving the harsh elements ot Appalachia. But the music survived. And the instru ments adapted. Sights and sounds from bygone days rest against the old shop wall, like Appalachian dulcimers, mountain banjos, and old wagon wheels. Summer and porch sitting are two luxuries to look for ward to after a blustery winter. Rev. Ken Longfield (left) and * Glenn Selfrldge, both of Reedsvllle, Mifflin County, spend some free moments making music on Appalachian dul cimers ones they made themselves. In Appalachia, folks sang their songs on instrument whose ances tors came from the Old World. African slaves brought stringed gourd instruments an early ren dition of the Appalachian banjo. The German “scheitholt,” possibly the dulcimer’s ancestor, appealed to the large Scotch-Irish settle ments in Appalachia because of its bagpipe sound. They took the rec tangular-shaped instrument and added curved sides, usually tear drop or hourglass shaped, and add ed a fret board. For a while, the tree-covered hills and hollows of Appalachia muffled the coming sound of modernization and folks met on their porch to visit and sing. When “progress” Finally fingered its way back through the valleys, the dulci mer, unique to Appalachia, was set aside and ceased to evolve. Today, two men from Reeds villc, Mifflin County, have picked up the dulcimer again. Upon their laps lay an instrument they enjoy for its soft-spoken sound and his tory. But Glenn Selfridge and Rev. Ken Longfield, take their interest one step further they make their own instruments. “I’ve always been interested in folk music. My first real encounter with the dulcimer was the summer 1 worked at Shenandoah National Park,” Ken reflects, “A woman was playing it and I thought it’d be fun. That was the beginning.” Since then, Ken has made VA dulcimers, each producing a unique sound. His first dulcimer, with Rosewood back and sides, a walnut fingerboard and sitka spruce top remains his favorite be cause of its resonance. Other dulci mers arc made from marine-grade mahogany, imported from Hol land, and a wlanut laminate. Now he is making one out of American chestnut from the Maitland Church of the Brethren, which was tom down. To purchase these exotic woods, Ken has had the good fortune of finding two music supply stores, one in Baltimore and the other in New York. “1 was visiting Albert Constantine and Sons in New York. They carried a dulcimer in their catalog for a while then dis continued it. I had been looking around the store and didn’t sec anything, but walking out the door, I looked down and saw a box of dulcimer pieces. So I found two sides, a back and top, and a fret board. 1 took the pieces to the counter and had the guy ring it up and I think it was $4.32. Later on I wondered why I didn’t buy the whole box! So I probably built this dulcimer for under $l5 maybe even under $10.” Glenn remembers hearing Ken speak about dulcimers at church. His interest grew after playing a friend’s dulcimer. Then at Christ mas, his wife Dolores gave him a dulcimer kit. The kil served as a good guide and Glenn wcnl on to make six more dulcimers “from scratch,” five from walnut, one from “wor my” chestnut. “I have at least 60 hours in on the first one. Maybe less on the others,” Glenn esti mates. While scanning the catalogs for strings and metal parts they couldn’t make themselves, both Glenn and Ken discovered other Appalachian instruments. Glenn saw plans for the original Moun tain Banjo in a Foxfire book. Start ing from scratch again, he created out of wood, the smaller, more compact relative of the modem banjo. Ken made a courting dulcimer. “That’s a dulcimer that has two fret boards and two people sit knee to knee and play it. In the mountains, when a young man was courting a young woman at her home, the fa ther could give them the dulcimer to sit on the front porch and play. As long as he heard music, there was no cause to go out and see what was going on,” Ken laughs. As for making other instru ments, Ken has already started what he calls an autoharp-like in strument since Auloharp is a regis tered trademark. Both, though, laugh a little self-consciously at thinking big. Glenn would like to make a concert harp and calls it a “big undertakin.” Ken wants to make a harpsichord, but it is not a “compact instrument to carry around!” No mailer whal ihc instrument, ihc best reward after making one is playing it. “I never really had a book,” Glenn remarks. “I just sort _ It* ..«n time slows to an old-fashioned leisurely pace. Rev. Ken Longfleld, right, reaches for his favorite dulcimer to pick a tune with fellow woodworker Glenn Selfridge. Here, Selfridge is playing the mountain banjo he made of picked it up on my own.” or “Boil That Cabbage Down.” Whether learning from a book Ken and Glenn re-erdhte insiru or playing by ear, both Ken and ments reminiscent of a simple li fc- Glcnn like to share at arts festivals style that is almost gone. But or other gatherings their favorite sometimes they pick up thcirdulci songs: “Go Tell Aunt Nancy,” mcrs and head for the porch, to “Amazing Grace,” “Rollin’ In My piek a few songs, to fellowship, to Sweet Baby’s Arms,” “You Arc harmonize, or sometimes simply My Sunshine,” “Oh Danny Boy,” — lO enjoy. Weight Management Classes YORK (York Co.) Probably the most popular New Year’s resolution is to lose those extra pounds. You can take the first step to permanent weight loss by enrolling in Penn State Coopera tive Extension’s “My New Weigh of Life” management program. This program developed by nutri tion specialists at Penn State Uni versity, is based on the most cur rent research into theories of obes ity, weight loss, and relapse management. The 12-week program emphas izes permanent lifestyle changes you decide to make to reach and maintain desired weight. Mondays Feb. 28 through May 16 - 1:00-3:00 p.m. - Adams Electric Building on Route 616 just south of Route 30 or 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Penn State Free Home-Related Programs Offered WEST CHESTER (Chester Co.) Dr. Robert J. Thee, Penn (610) 696-3500, 7:30-9:30 p.m. State Extension agent for housing “Refinancing Your Home and environment, has planned Mortgage" is scheduled for Janu several free Wednesday evening ary 26; “Lead Poisoning Preven programs to be offered at Chester don" is scheduled for February County Extension, Government 16; and “Inspecting the Home Services Center, Suite 370, 601 Electrical System" is scheduled Westtown Road, West Chester for February 23. Cooperative Extension, 112 Pleas ant Acres Road, York, Pa. Tuesdays March 1 through May 17 - 7:00-9:00 p.m. - Spring Grove Sr. High School (please register through Spring Grove Adults Education Program, Hanover & Jackson St., Spring Grove, PA 17362 Phone: Nancy Curtis, 225-5711). Thursdays March 3 through May 19 - 7:00-9:00 p.m. - North ern High School (please register through Northern Adult Education Program, 149 S. Baltimore Street, Dillsburg, PA 17019 Phone: 432-8691 ext. 279). Advanced registration is required. Call Penn State Cooperative Extension at (717) 757-9657 for a registration brochure.
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