Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions (12 page)

The four strings of Stephen Melton's dulcimer were all tuned to the same pitch, and this was true of Galax dulcimers made and played by members of the Melton family throughout the 20th century. This represented a radical departure from hourglass dulcimer tunings, which typically employed a bass string tuned five tones lower than the matched pitch of the middle and melody strings. It is not known if this feature began with this dulcimer, nor whether Amon's dulcimer, or any other 19th-century Virginia-style dulcimers, were tuned this way.

Typically, the Galax dulcimer is strung with four banjo second strings, or strings of equivalent gauge (.012 inch), which are raised to a pitch of D, three tones higher than the designated A pitch for the strings. The player depressed two of the four strings with a stick or stiff piece of goose quill, with the other two sounding as drones. A stripped turkey quill was used for strumming. The long, carefully prepared quill, often with about an inch of its thin end clipped off, was held by its thicker end, with the thin end to the strings. Use of the long quill permits swifter strumming than is possible if one holds a flexible strummer between index finger and forefinger. The Galax dulcimer with its massive body, played swiftly with a quill with strings set to high pitch and no bass by consequence of having no bass string, produces one of the most wonderful sounds of world folk music.

High Tide: Samuel and Maggie Melton's Family

Between 1892 and 1917, Samuel Melton (Amon's son) and his wife Maggie had 14 children. This family produced dulcimer activity that is unique in American musical history. One virtually needs a scorecard to keep track.

To begin with, Maggie herself played, using a bow, a skill that no subsequent family player acquired. Three of her boys—Jacob, Daniel, and Raymond—made and played dulcimers, Jacob and Raymond being especially active.

Additional players included Jacob's wife, Lina Whittington (1893–1957), one of Virginia's outstanding players. Her sister Myrtle (1901–?), who married Pierce, another of Samuel and Maggie's children, also played, and so did Pierce and Myrtle's daughter Blanche.

Jacob passed his dulcimer-making and -playing skills to his son, Jacob Ray, and to his daughter, Ruth, who married Roscoe Russell; Russell became a fine player, as well, winning the Galax Old Fiddler's Convention dulcimer competition in 1976. The Russells' daughter Bonnie (1960– ) won the Galax competition when she was 14.

The dulcimer makers in the family made a number of instruments, but their output was not large. A few dulcimers were made by Jacob and Daniel prior to World War II. When Jacob and Lina were interviewed in connection with their field recording session for the Library of Congress in 1937, Lina told Alan Lomax that her husband had made six dulcimers. In an interview that was published in the
Galax Gazette
on August 5, 1981, five years before his death, Raymond said that he had made dulcimers for his children and had sold about 30.

Makers of Galax-style dulcimers did not have the access to outside buyers that was enjoyed by Samuel Russell and even more so by the Kentucky makers “Uncle Ed” Thomas and Jethro Amburgey. In addition, Galax-style dulcimers and dulcimer playing represent a narrow tradition with limited musical flexibility. Today, making and playing Galax-style dulcimers has attracted a few happy enthusiasts who play to fascinated audiences, but their numbers remain small.

Jacob Melton (1893–1967)

Jacob Melton was a skilled woodworker who worked as a case fitter for a furniture company in Galax. Figure 4.6 shows Jacob in 1966 in front of his woodworking shop behind his house in Woodlawn, Virginia, with two dulcimers and a homemade banjo. The instrument on his lap has a double bottom. The diamond-shaped pattern of round sound holes on the instrument leaning against the shed was the principal sound hole motif for many of Jacob's instruments. With the instruments made by this generation of Meltons, the overlap of the top and bottom over the sides that had been used by Amon and Stephen Jr. disappears.

It is believed that Jacob showed his two brothers how to make dulcimers. The pattern for his dulcimers appears to be the instrument made by Stephen Jr. No one knows where Jacob got the idea and the pattern for diamond-shaped dulcimers, but Amon's dulcimer is a logical suspect.

Daniel Melton (1905–1977)

Daniel Melton, who was a factory worker, made dulcimers that resemble the instruments made by his brother Raymond. In 1937, Daniel made a diamond-shaped dulcimer as a wedding gift for Raymond and his bride, Oma Myers. Raymond especially liked this instrument and used it at prewar Old Fiddler's Conventions in Galax and for general playing well into the postwar years.

Figure 4.6. Jacob Ray Melton, with two of his dulcimers and a wooden-head banjo. (Photographer unknown)

Daniel made a few dulcimers in the postwar period and was a fine player, but maintained a low public profile. His idea of the best place to play was on a front or back porch, with his brothers, family, and friends. Unlike his brothers, Daniel did not participate in the dulcimer competitions at the Galax Old Fiddler's Convention.

Raymond Melton (1915–1985)

Raymond Melton's first job was at a sawmill, where he worked long enough and saved enough money to build the modest house in Woodlawn, near Hillsville, in which he and his wife, Oma, lived. He next worked in a furniture factory in Galax and then at one point left the mountains for about a year to work in a Ford plant in Cleveland. Finally, from 1957 until his retirement in 1972, he worked at the Radford Arsenal.

There is no certain record that Raymond made any dulcimers before World War II. He probably got started in the 1960s, and most of the instruments that survive were probably made after his 1972 retirement. Although still within the old family tradition, they exhibit great variety and originality. Also, Raymond broke with Virginia's ancient 24- to 26-inch VSL tradition.The VSL of his dulcimers is in the 27- to 28-inch range typical of hourglass dulcimers, and his instruments usually have a 6½ fret that is common in modern folk revival instruments. Figure 4.7 shows Raymond playing one of his dulcimers, with several musician friends.

Figure 4.7. Raymond Melton playing one of his dulcimers with musician friends at a drive-in near Galax, Virginia, 1977. The author is playing the harmonica. (Shizuko Smith)

Raymond Melton was one of Virginia's and the world's greatest traditional players. In an interview in the
Galax Gazette
, Raymond said that he had been playing the dulcimer since he was 16, which would be about 1931. After the war, he played in local bluegrass bands, made a number of recordings with these groups, and performed at many venues both within and beyond the mountains, including the Newport Folk Festival and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. He was the terror of dulcimer contests, filling his living room with ribbons and trophies.

Jacob Ray Melton (1923–2003)

Jacob Ray Melton, son of Jacob and Lina Melton, worked in a Galax furniture factory and was also a truck driver. He learned dulcimer-making from his father and how to play from his mother. Jacob Ray said that, when he was hardly more than four years old, he used to stand behind his mother's chair, to her right, as she played. She placed the quill in his hand, let him strum, and taught him tunes.

Beginning about 1970, Jacob Ray began to make a limited number of instruments. His dulcimers showed great variety in size, shape, and sound hole patterns. Most have a double bottom and old-style wire staple frets. There is no 6½ fret, and the VSL of the instruments falls within the old 24- to 26-inch range.

Because he did not participate in contests and fiddlers' conventions, Jacob Ray's market was limited and his output was small. When I visited him in 1992, he had made only three instruments in the past two years. I encouraged him to increase his activity and arranged for him to accompany me to the Annual Dulcimer Playing Workshop the following year.

Virginia-style playing and Galax-style dulcimers were virtually unknown at the workshop when Jacob Ray came in 1993, and his instruments and his playing created a sensation. He brought eight dulcimers with him and sold all of them off the back of his pickup truck within 15 minutes of his arrival. When he returned in 1995, the workshop presented him with an award for his contribution to the preservation of the traditional arts in America.

Figure 4.8 shows Jacob Ray Melton playing one of his double-bottom dulcimers. When he passed away in 2003, a great family dulcimer-making tradition passed into history.

Figure 4.8. Jacob Ray Melton sitting on his porch in 1977, playing one of his double-bottom dulcimers with a stripped turkey quill. The author is on the left. (Shizuko Smith)

In the spring of 1935, the Galax Moose Lodge, looking for ways to raise money to build a new facility, staged an Old Fiddler's Convention. The event was successful, and the lodge promptly scheduled an expanded convention for October 1935. This event was also successful, and the convention has been held annually ever since, except for the war years of 1943 and 1944. (See appendix D.)

During the period 1935–1942, the Melton family virtually made the Old Fiddler's Convention dulcimer contest their private preserve. First-, second-, or third-place winners in the family included Jacob, Raymond, Lina, Jacob and Lina's daughter Ruth, and Pierce and Myrtle's daughter Blanche. Raymond Melton won first place in 1937, 1939, and 1940, and he may have won first place in 1938, too—the records of the 1938 contest have been lost.

Folk song collectors John A. Lomax, Bess Lomax, and Ruby Terrill attended the 1937 convention and recorded Maggie, Raymond, Jacob, Lina, and Myrtle Melton for the Archive of Folk Song (now the Archive of Folk Culture) of the Library of Congress. The tunes are listed in appendix A.

When the convention was resumed after World War II, the dulcimer contest was dropped and was not reinstated until 1974. Of the five winners in 1974, first place went to Bonnie Russell, second place went to Raymond Melton, and fourth place went to Bonnie's father, Roscoe Russell. The next year, Raymond Melton won first place in the dulcimer contest, playing “Flop Eared Mule,” and also won the award for best performer in the entire convention. Roscoe Russell took first place in 1976, playing “Sugar Hill.”

In 1985, in a large field of contestants that included many players with high expertise in the revolutionary folk revival playing techniques, Raymond Melton again won second place. His winning ability had spanned 48 years. He died less than two months later.

Another person, Velma Nester Musser, was also a winner in the 1930s and again in the 1970s. She won second place in 1937, second place in 1939, and fifth place in 1974. In 1965, several tunes played by Musser were recorded for the Library of Congress; they are listed in appendix A.