Kendra started off our conversation by telling me a little about herself and how she got into dulcimer playing:
My name is Kendra Ward and I live on my 265+ acre farm in rural southeastern Ohio Appalachia. I am the third generation to own this wonderful farm and we raise cattle. My husband Bob Bence is my blessing, not only in farming but in music!!
I am a third generation dulcimer player. My grandmother, Lillie, was given a dulcimer in the 1890’s, which I have.
My family had a jam session every Saturday night. Everyone played some instrument. We played a lot of bluegrass so I hear that in my playing. We just played.
Steve: Are you still actively learning new stuff? What tunes are you currently playing or learning? How would you describe the type of music that you play?
Kendra: I am always wanting to learn new tunes! My style is so different because I never learned from another dulcimer player! I just made it up as my ear heard it. Example: when I was six my uncle Woody wanted to learn to play...he was a pastor. I made up a series of 1,2,3 etc notes which corresponds to the fretboard of the instrument to help him learn to play. Little did I know that I had developed tab...Lololol..at 6 years old!! Lolololol
People do not understand how fun and awesome it is to just jam all over the instrument as back up, harmony, and improvisation! The instrument is simply not thought of in that way.
My noter is an old fashioned clothespin and my pick is a long flexible metal corset stave. There is no pick noise with the metal stave on the metal strings. Dad also was a fiddle player (I have his fiddles too...) and he never liked pick noise so that’s what he used and I learned with.
Kendra: There are festivals around but not enough for traditional players which I am...everyone wants (to play) DAD but we need to understand the tradition of DAA...or GDD...or whatever key you are playing in. The instrument was retuned to the key or mode like banjos were tuned. Modern players do not want to retune. They do not understand the beauty of the original instrument. The 6.5 fret was added to make it more like a guitar. To me, my opinion, the 6.5 fret changes the original instrument.
I am a third generation dulcimer player. My grandmother, Lillie, was given a dulcimer in the 1890’s, which I have.
Lillie Ward
Steve: that's wonderful!
Kendra: She was a dulcimer player and banjo player...I have her banjo as well. She played clawhammer style.
My father, Kenneth, was an amazing dulcimer and fiddle player. When he was 16 he built his first dulcimer with only a pocket knife. That was in 1925. I have that instrument as well. He played dulcimer his entire life and had a band for many years.
My father, Kenneth, was an amazing dulcimer and fiddle player. When he was 16 he built his first dulcimer with only a pocket knife. That was in 1925. I have that instrument as well. He played dulcimer his entire life and had a band for many years.
Kenneth Ward with the dulcimer he made in 1925 when he was 16 years old
He taught my mom to play and built a courting dulcimer in 1975 for them to play. I grew up with that courting dulcimer which my husband, Bob, and I now play.
Kenneth and Martha Ward with their courting dulcimer
Steve: what a family history - amazing. Can we get a photo of you and Bob with that dulcimer? (Yes, we can - that's the photo at the top of this conversation!)
Kendra: Just as a side note, my mom was in a nursing home before she passed from Alzheimer’s. Bob and I would visit and we would take the courting dulcimer there so we could play music with her. Her last good day we played music...mom and me on the courting dulcimer and Bob on guitar. She finally said she was tired and asked Bob to play the chords, with her strumming...I played the melody. All three of us played together on the instrument. One of my most precious memories ever.
Kendra: I guess I was four years old...I started playing then. I don’t remember learning to play...I just played. My first song I learned to play was a hymn called the Unclouded Day...Dad wanted me to learn “One Little Two Little Three Little Indians”...lol...
Kendra: Just as a side note, my mom was in a nursing home before she passed from Alzheimer’s. Bob and I would visit and we would take the courting dulcimer there so we could play music with her. Her last good day we played music...mom and me on the courting dulcimer and Bob on guitar. She finally said she was tired and asked Bob to play the chords, with her strumming...I played the melody. All three of us played together on the instrument. One of my most precious memories ever.
Steve: How did you learn to play? What tunes were in your initial repertoire?
Kendra: I guess I was four years old...I started playing then. I don’t remember learning to play...I just played. My first song I learned to play was a hymn called the Unclouded Day...Dad wanted me to learn “One Little Two Little Three Little Indians”...lol...
My family had a jam session every Saturday night. Everyone played some instrument. We played a lot of bluegrass so I hear that in my playing. We just played.
Steve: Are you still actively learning new stuff? What tunes are you currently playing or learning? How would you describe the type of music that you play?
Kendra: I am always wanting to learn new tunes! My style is so different because I never learned from another dulcimer player! I just made it up as my ear heard it. Example: when I was six my uncle Woody wanted to learn to play...he was a pastor. I made up a series of 1,2,3 etc notes which corresponds to the fretboard of the instrument to help him learn to play. Little did I know that I had developed tab...Lololol..at 6 years old!! Lolololol
Steve: a tutor and a tab writer at 6!!!
Kendra: 😁😁
Steve: Do you play mainly (or only) in one tuning? Which tuning(s)?
Kendra: I play mainly in DAA, noter style. My family did not play DAA but GDD. We played in the key of G...G was the banjo key. G is a wonderful sound on the dulcimer!!! I love it!
Steve: do you fret the melody string(s) only or form harmonies/chords by fretting the middle string too. I assume the traditional style is to just fret the melody string(s)?
Kendra: I play with a noter and use just the first two melody strings. My dad tuned mom's side of the courting dulcimer to GBD, an open chord, and dad always played melody and mom played chords. That’s how Bob and I still play it today in their honour, plus it sounds very cool! Growing up I never saw any other players much and was not aware of the chord/melody style of today. Ionian was how we tuned and (we) retuned to play minors.
When dad and I played together, dad played melody, I played backup and harmony (noter style). Mom would join with another dulcimer or accordion playing the chords.
Kendra: 😁😁
Steve: Do you play mainly (or only) in one tuning? Which tuning(s)?
Kendra: I play mainly in DAA, noter style. My family did not play DAA but GDD. We played in the key of G...G was the banjo key. G is a wonderful sound on the dulcimer!!! I love it!
Steve: do you fret the melody string(s) only or form harmonies/chords by fretting the middle string too. I assume the traditional style is to just fret the melody string(s)?
Kendra: I play with a noter and use just the first two melody strings. My dad tuned mom's side of the courting dulcimer to GBD, an open chord, and dad always played melody and mom played chords. That’s how Bob and I still play it today in their honour, plus it sounds very cool! Growing up I never saw any other players much and was not aware of the chord/melody style of today. Ionian was how we tuned and (we) retuned to play minors.
When dad and I played together, dad played melody, I played backup and harmony (noter style). Mom would join with another dulcimer or accordion playing the chords.
Kendra and Dad
My noter is an old fashioned clothespin and my pick is a long flexible metal corset stave. There is no pick noise with the metal stave on the metal strings. Dad also was a fiddle player (I have his fiddles too...) and he never liked pick noise so that’s what he used and I learned with.
Steve: Do you play with others - i.e. other MD players or mixed instrument groups? Are you a performer (for fun or paid?). Do you teach?
Kendra: I love to play with others! DAA and DAD can be played together. I am a full time performer/teacher. I have been for 35/40 years.
Kendra: I love to play with others! DAA and DAD can be played together. I am a full time performer/teacher. I have been for 35/40 years.
Steve: Just checked out your website. Have you taught in the UK before?
Kendra: We have made a couple of trips playing the folk club circuit. It’s been way too long!! I have not specifically taught classes but I would love to visit again and share with others. It’s much easier in this new age of the internet to connect with other players. We almost came to the Scotland dulcimer festival which was a week ago, but couldn’t quite make it work out.
Bob had distant relatives who lived in Bath and we went there to do some busking. It was always very successful there...lol...
Steve: What is the music scene like in your locality? Where do you play (i.e. at home, friends houses, pub, coffee shop, etc)? Are there many other MD players near you?
Kendra: We have made a couple of trips playing the folk club circuit. It’s been way too long!! I have not specifically taught classes but I would love to visit again and share with others. It’s much easier in this new age of the internet to connect with other players. We almost came to the Scotland dulcimer festival which was a week ago, but couldn’t quite make it work out.
Bob had distant relatives who lived in Bath and we went there to do some busking. It was always very successful there...lol...
Steve: What is the music scene like in your locality? Where do you play (i.e. at home, friends houses, pub, coffee shop, etc)? Are there many other MD players near you?
Kendra: There are festivals around but not enough for traditional players which I am...everyone wants (to play) DAD but we need to understand the tradition of DAA...or GDD...or whatever key you are playing in. The instrument was retuned to the key or mode like banjos were tuned. Modern players do not want to retune. They do not understand the beauty of the original instrument. The 6.5 fret was added to make it more like a guitar. To me, my opinion, the 6.5 fret changes the original instrument.
Steve: I am afraid I am mainly in the DAD camp but I do appreciate what you are saying. Dan Evans, over here in the UK, is a great advocate for DAA.
I recently had a dulcimer made with 1.5 and 8.5 frets too, but it kind of does my head in - almost as much as the original diatonic tuning did when switching from chromnatic instruments (I play mandolin and guitar). I guess those extra frets are sacrilege to you!
Kendra: To each his own when playing. I’m all for that. I just do not want the traditional style to be lost and forgotten about. So many people today only play and teach in DAD and never anything else and I have come across a few people here and there who actually put DAA down. That makes me sad because it’s so much a part of me.
As a mandolin and guitar player, I bet you strum out first...lol...I can’t strum out for the life of me! Bob strums out and I think most people coming from another instrument first strum out. That’s just natural. I strum in and always have. Bob laughs at me if I try to strum out first! Haha.
Neither way is better or worse than the other, they are just different. I just bring it up because it’s interesting to me...
Steve: A lot of MD players seem to collect instruments. Do you wish to admit to Dulcimer Acquisition Syndrome :<) ? Please describe your favourite (or only) instrument.
Kendra: Oh my goodness!! Lololol...
I have too many instruments to pick just one!! Of course I love my family instruments! I love my Jim Good carved sycamore instrument tuned to Bb...I sing mostly in Bb or A so I tune my instruments to my voice.
I love my Clemmer! I love my Warren May! I love my McSpaddens!
Oh my goodness...each dulcimer I have is special in so many ways. I prefer the ones that I can play noter style, but I love all the ones I have. I think I have more than 50 mountain dulcimers...family instruments plus...
Kendra: To each his own when playing. I’m all for that. I just do not want the traditional style to be lost and forgotten about. So many people today only play and teach in DAD and never anything else and I have come across a few people here and there who actually put DAA down. That makes me sad because it’s so much a part of me.
As a mandolin and guitar player, I bet you strum out first...lol...I can’t strum out for the life of me! Bob strums out and I think most people coming from another instrument first strum out. That’s just natural. I strum in and always have. Bob laughs at me if I try to strum out first! Haha.
Neither way is better or worse than the other, they are just different. I just bring it up because it’s interesting to me...
Steve: A lot of MD players seem to collect instruments. Do you wish to admit to Dulcimer Acquisition Syndrome :<) ? Please describe your favourite (or only) instrument.
Kendra: Oh my goodness!! Lololol...
I have too many instruments to pick just one!! Of course I love my family instruments! I love my Jim Good carved sycamore instrument tuned to Bb...I sing mostly in Bb or A so I tune my instruments to my voice.
I love my Clemmer! I love my Warren May! I love my McSpaddens!
Oh my goodness...each dulcimer I have is special in so many ways. I prefer the ones that I can play noter style, but I love all the ones I have. I think I have more than 50 mountain dulcimers...family instruments plus...
Steve: you could set up your own dulcimer museum. I bet you love them all.
Kendra: I do love them all! I have a Blue Lion and Folkcraft tuned to DAD which I try to play finger chord style...not well...they are my favorite for that. I have 2 Galax instruments...I’m going to assume you are familiar with the Galax style, but if not let me know. I have a neat solid walnut instrument dad had made for me as a child...he had a tabletop saved that was my great great grandmothers table and had it made from it, and that’s special to me. I have many other special ones too.
Also...I came along late...my parents were married 20 years before they had me and dad was 54 years old. My perspective on life and playing is a generation late. That’s why I am more connected to the “old”. All my instruments are willed to the Anne Grimes dulcimer collection at the Smithsonian.
Just a note...I did not know the term dulcimer until the 1970’s...we called our dulcimer a Dulcerine...
Kendra: I do love them all! I have a Blue Lion and Folkcraft tuned to DAD which I try to play finger chord style...not well...they are my favorite for that. I have 2 Galax instruments...I’m going to assume you are familiar with the Galax style, but if not let me know. I have a neat solid walnut instrument dad had made for me as a child...he had a tabletop saved that was my great great grandmothers table and had it made from it, and that’s special to me. I have many other special ones too.
Also...I came along late...my parents were married 20 years before they had me and dad was 54 years old. My perspective on life and playing is a generation late. That’s why I am more connected to the “old”. All my instruments are willed to the Anne Grimes dulcimer collection at the Smithsonian.
Just a note...I did not know the term dulcimer until the 1970’s...we called our dulcimer a Dulcerine...
Steve: I have never heard that word before. Is that what it is commonly called all over Appalachia?
Kendra: No, I think that name was only in our little pocket where we lived. It was more commonly called a dulcemore in the mountains. Not sure where dulcimer came from...
Thanks so much for the interview!!
Kendra: No, I think that name was only in our little pocket where we lived. It was more commonly called a dulcemore in the mountains. Not sure where dulcimer came from...
Thanks so much for the interview!!
Steve: thank you Kendra!
You can find out more about Kendra Ward and Bob Bence's activities on their website: https://www.dulcimertimes.com/
Thank you for this informative interview. I've had the good fortune to hear Bob and Kendra perform at festivals in michigan.
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