Dulcimer casualty

Subject: Dulcimer casualty
From: Pinetop Slim
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 10:17 AM

Soldier from Boston killed in helicopter crash carried dulcimer
HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- A member of the 101st Airborne Division who was killed in a Black Hawk helicopter crash in Iraq was a woodworker who had made a dulcimer that he carried to Iraq with him and was teaching himself to play, his wife said.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Kyran E. Kennedy, 43, originally from Boston's West Roxbury neighborhood, was among six soldiers killed in the crash Friday on the bank of the Tigris River near Tikrit.
Kathy Kennedy said her husband probably had the dulcimer with him when the Black Hawk crashed. The instrument was important to him and provided a sense of peace in the midst of the war, she said.
The dulcimer is played by striking the metal strings with two small sticks called hammers.
Kennedy, assigned to the 5th Battalion, 101st Aviation Brigade, made the dulcimer at the couple's home on a small farm at Hopkinsville.
"He was a wonderful woodworker,"Kathy Kennedy said Monday from their home.
When she last talked to her husband on the telephone Wednesday, he told her he had received a carrying case she made from black canvas and red flannel for his dulcimer. She made it for his birthday on Oct. 30.
Kyran Kennedy was on a regular rotation between Mosul and Tikrit and wanted to be able to carry the instrument back and forth with him.
Although they grew up in Boston, Kyran and Kathy Kennedy wanted to create a self-sufficient lifestyle and bought their farm after being stationed at Fort Campbell six years ago.
Along with their three children -- Christopher, 11, Katie, 9, and Kevin, 3 -- the couple kept a variety of animals, raised a garden and an orchard, and managed an ambitious beekeeping operation.
Nothing pleased Kyran Kennedy more than pulling weeds from the garden, his wife said.
He absolutely loved this place. We were going to retire in Kentucky,\rdblquote she said.
A funeral mass for Kennedy will be scheduled later at SS. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Hopkinsville. Kennedy, one of 10 children, will be buried at Milton, Mass., a Boston suburb.

Subject: RE: Dulcimer casualty
From: wysiwyg
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 10:23 AM

RIP, where there is music everywhere...

I find it hard to believe he could have been carrying a hammered dulcimer as the item above seems to reflect-- must have been a lap dulcimer surely?

~Susan

Subject: RE: Dulcimer casualty
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 10:31 AM

If only they could all carry such "weapons," on both sides and meet in the middle to play. Wouldn't need any translation.

kat

Subject: RE: Dulcimer casualty
From: wysiwyg
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 11:10 AM

Yes, until someone stopped for a break and they started asking, "what is folk music"? I'm not cracking a joke, exactly-- lamenting that even in a community of musicians (Mudcat), conflict still breaks out.

Still I don't recall people using the instruments themselves as weapons, at Mudgathers, no matter how people may accuse banjo and bodhran players!

~S~

Subject: RE: Dulcimer casualty
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 11:26 AM

Wasn't there a thread about Saddam owning a Banjo ?

Subject: RE: Dulcimer casualty
From: Willie-O
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 01:36 PM

It seems clear from the description that it was a hammered dulcimer--and you have to admire the guy's determination for carting that around in a battlezone. (Unless the description of playing it with hammers was added by a confused journalist or editor). A small one, I guess! It also occurs to me that it would have been a great way to meet Iraqi people. When I was a hammered dulcimer busker, I met a lot of people of different nationalities who would try to set me straight on the name of the instrument--I believe in Iraq they would call it a santur.

The whole wretched business just gets sadder and sadder as the death toll mounts...those are real people getting killed over there.

Subject: RE: Dulcimer casualty
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 03:44 PM

We think the thread about Sadaam had to do with weapons of mass destruction although a banjo could fall into that category.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Dulcimer casualty
From: black walnut
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 04:58 PM

It had to be a lap dulcimer. It had to be.....
Nwes peolpe ofetn gte detials wrogn.

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Dulcimer casualty
From: wlisk
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 03:11 PM

If I had a hammer....I'd hammer out love between my brothers and sisters all over this world. It must have been a hammered dulcimer.

Subject: RE: Dulcimer casualty
From: NH Dave
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 03:46 PM

Playing a Hammered Dulcimer in that region would be one way to try for the Hearts and Minds, as it is similar to local instruments and the folks enjoy this attempt.

Schlepping a heavy instrument around the world is another thing entirely.

Dave

Subject: RE: Dulcimer casualty
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 04:23 PM

Just for the record, the instrument which Kyran Kennedy built and played was in fact a hammered dulcimer.

Subject: RE: Dulcimer casualty
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 09:33 PM

Well, all this back and forth is interesting (NOT), but unless we get some specific details such

"12 + 11, triple strung, dimensions of X by Y"

or other wise, it's about as useful as saying that any vehicle with 4 wheels and a steering wheel is a car....

There are many different types of the instrument (I have one myself), so lots of vague "It is" "It isn't" arguing is pointless. I play mine both with hammers and with the fingers, but it is a bit large to balance on my lap... Called by its maker a "Hammered Dulcimer" - I don't have to use 'hammers' to play it...

Robin

Subject: RE: Dulcimer casualty
From: Susan A-R
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 09:36 PM

Sounds like a song challenge in the making. Too late to be creative but something should happen with this one.

Susan A-R

Subject: RE: Dulcimer casualty
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 14 Nov 03 - 05:05 PM

Foolestroupe, there is a type of instrument known variously as the Appalachian dulcimer, Mountain dulcimer or lap dulcimer, which is a fretted instrument, normally with four strings, which is usually held across the knee to play (although some models can be placed on a table). This instrument is plucked with a plectrum of varying types, or (less commonly) with the fingers and is NOT hammered.

The lap dulcimer is a totally different instrument than the hammered dulcimer, and this was the question over which there was some dubiety, since it would have seemed prima facie that a lap dulcimer would have been a more convenient instrument for a soldier to carry on active duty. Such was not the case, however in this instance. Kyran Kennedy did in fact build and play a hammered dulcimer, not a lap dulcimer.

I hope this has cleared up the confusion.