No doubt there are past on the history of the dulcimer, but I decided to pass on this bit.

I was reading a book called "The Story of English" by Robert McCrum, et al. The book was written in accompaniment with a BBC series on that topic.

It includes a chapter on the "Scots-Irish," a Protestant group which dwelt in Scotland, then moved (was moved?) to Ireland in the 1600's, then shoved on to New England and was encouraged to choose Pennsuylvania instead. By 1760, Benjamin Franklin estimated that Philadelphia was 1/3 Scots-Irish.

Meanwhile, Germanic peoples from the Rhine Valley, "the Pennsylvania Dutch" had settled in Pennsylvania. Here's where the dulcimer comes in.

"With their love of music and song, the Scots-Irish borrowed the dulcimer from their German neighbors and, for defence against a harsh climate, German-style log cabins."

(They don't say what type of dulcimer they mean, but then, these are TV people, and you can't expect too much from them.)

It would sure be nice to know what music was were being played on those dulcimers before they were taken to Appalachia.