John Blosser - Dulcimer - Musical Instruments - Music/Performing Arts

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Expert Profile: John Blosser

Expertise: All questions pertaining to the playing of mountain dulcimer, acquisition of dulcimers, books, CDs, etc., how to play, how to learn, WHY to play, where to get a good dulcimer, what books are most helpful to beginners, etc.
Teacher/performer: French Creek (Pa.) dulcimer symposium Teacher/performer: Sunshine State Music Camp, 2000 Teacher/Performer -- NGFDA Fall Festival, 2000 Performer - various venues for the past l0 years. Current Florida dulcimer champion, 2000.

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What do you still hope to achieve/learn in this field? Development of a unique style - something I can leave behind for others to pick up and develop even further than I managed to do it. I like to teach -- to pass on the dulcimer, as a means of insuring that the music will never die. I especially like to pass it on to younger players, who have a lifetime of enjoyment and learning in front of them from

What do you like about this subject? Mountain dulcimer is an easy instrument to begin learning -- and complex enough to make its mastery a lifetime, unfulfillable pursuit. It's a mountain whose peak you will never see, but which provides a wonderful climb, every step of the way. Stressed out? Pick up your dulcimer, play for an hour, and ask yourself the same question again. Bet your a

Something controversial or provocative about this subject Controversial? Provocative? About dulcimer? You must be kidding! Oh, the regular players get into wrangling around about the finer points all the time, and sometimes this can get pretty heated, but at the bottom line, a dulcimer get-together is one of the nicest fraternal experiences going! Buncha really good people, dulcimer players, yup!

Something interesting about this subject that others may not know: Dulcimer is a realtively new instrument, and a native American instrument, likely sprung from the Scandinavian/German sheitholt sometime in the mid-to-late 1700s in Appalachia. There are more dulcimer players today than ever before in the instrument's history -- and a host of great dulcimer festivals around the country, year-round, which makes dulcimer the gateway to a great social experience as w

Average Ratings
Prestige Points: 1082
Knowledge	9.84 Best of the best
Clarity of Response	9.94 Best of the best
Timeliness	9.97 Best of the best
Politeness	9.97 Best of the best
Number Of Questions (in Past 24 Hours)		0
Max Questions to be Asked (in 24 Hour period)		15
Total Questions (since joining AllExperts)		63

Recent Reviews from Users

Knowl	Clarity	Time	Politeness	Date
9	10	9	10	08/02/08
10	10	10	10	06/14/08
10	10	10	10	05/15/08
10	10	10	10	03/31/08
10	10	10	10	03/03/08

User Comments

I really appreciate knowing there is a source of expert information on the dulcimer. Thank you very much.
(rebecca on 06/14/08)

I appreciate Johns input very much. I also appreciate his being honest when he doesn't really have an answer or knowledgeable opinion.
(MissPat on 03/03/08)

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Recent Answers from John Blosser

2008-08-02 Std Mcspadden to...: Sorry I took a coupla days to answer this, Paddy, but since I do not own a baritone dulcimer, I decided to check with some players who do -- and some makers -- and the general consensus seems to be that...

2008-07-31 left handed dulcimer McSpadden: Well, a left-handed dulcimer is just a matter of having the nut/bridge slots cut to reverse the string setup as far as I know - suggest you drop a line to McSpadden (URL listed below) and I'll bet they'd...

2008-06-14 various tunings: Nope, you don't need other dulcimers in order to have different tunings - as far as I know, just about any dulcimer can be tuned to just about any tuning. I have a few dulcimers, and have tuned all of...

2008-06-12 Keith Young dulcimers: Hi, Rebecca -- While I don't have a lot of personal knowledge of Keith's dulcimers, (I've played a couple, liked them a lot, but don't know him personally), I do know that their reputation in the dulcimer...

2008-05-09 playing with a group: Very complicated question, Eleanor - lets see if I can give a simplified answer. I take it by "group" you mean a group of different instruments. "Traditional" dulcimer is a diatonic instrument, rather...