Front Porch Players bring dulcimer music to Southeast Missouri

Patti House strikes the strings of her hammered dulcimer as she plays with other members of the Front Porch Players on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 at her home in Cape Girardeau.

Photo by Aaron Eisenhauer

Marvin Glueck of Oran, Missouri, fell in love with the dulcimer when he first heard one being played in Branson, Missouri, while on his honeymoon in 1980. It was then that he decided to learn to play.

“Being a newlywed, I didn’t have a lot of money, so I thought, ‘I’ll just build one of my own,’” he recalls. “I have to prove to myself that I can’t do it. I think people defeat themselves from the very beginning with [a] negative thought pattern. If you want to do something, you’ll make time for it and get ‘er done.”

And so he did. He ordered plans, the wire and the special maple wood and did his research. Then says he “just started sawing.” His previous woodworking experience came in handy. Having played the trumpet in high school, he was familiar with music, so used books to teach himself how to play. After years of teaching himself, he found out about workshops in Mountain View, Arkansas, and attended those for formal training.

Now, he plays with the Southeast Missouri dulcimer group called the Front Porch Players. He enjoys playing with a group of musicians “because it builds up that confidence.”

The group formed around 2011, when Glueck, fellow members Janelle and Ken Burch, Patti House and two other members who have since moved away from Southeast Missouri met at a dulcimer workshop in Cape Girardeau led by the renowned dulcimer builder-player Rick Thum. Later on, Linda Hodges joined the group to learn to play the dulcimer after hearing a video of the Front Porch Players online and spending a few practices with them as a listener. The group has played at Fort D on Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day, as well as at a local hospital, nursing homes, riverfront, Crisp Museum, Red House Interpretive Center and the Christmas Country Church Tour. They’ve also played on the square in Perryville, Missouri.

“It’s really neat when we all play together because we all have our own just little bit of difference [in the way we play,] but it all seems to blend,” says Janelle, who lives in Sikeston, Missouri. “We all learn from each other, too, because everybody picks up different things.”

Marvin Glueck strikes the strings of his hammer dulcimer as he plays with other members of the Front Porch Players on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 at the home of Patti House in Cape Girardeau.

Photo by Aaron Eisenhauer

The dulcimer, Janelle says, is like a piano keyboard that’s been cut apart and boxed into a square shape. Glueck adds that the strings are arranged in different keys on each section of the dulcimer and that unlike the piano, the sharps are automatically on the strings in the key the player is playing in, rather than the player having to know to use a different key theirself for an accidental, like on the piano. Hodges adds that on the dulcimer, the lower octaves are on the right hand side of the instrument, and the higher octaves are on the left hand side, unlike on the piano.

The group plays church and Irish songs, as well as Civil War and fiddle tunes. They memorize their music and have a large repertoire of songs. All of the members play hammer dulcimers, which can cost anywhere from $500 to upwards of $5,000 new; of course, they can be purchased less expensively if they are used. The members say each dulcimer has its own sound, which is also affected by the type of hammers used to play it.

Janelle Burch sorts through sheets of song chords as she practices with other members of the Front Porch Players on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 at the home of Patti House in Cape Girardeau.

Photo by Aaron Eisenhauer

Since he made his own first dulcimer, Glueck has purchased a customized dulcimer that he now plays on. It includes details carved into the wood of the Franciscan tau cross to commemorate Glueck’s status as a secular Franciscan and a cross with the words “memento mori,” or “remember death,” which Glueck says is “just kind of a reminder: behave now. ‘Cause the time will come.” His love and skill for the instrument shows: within the written music, he often improvises and embellishes the music with riffs around on the dulcimer, music that he creates from his own mind as he plays.

Hodges says she has learned a lot of what she knows about playing the dulcimer from Glueck, who enjoys teaching others how to play.

“I just like the sound of it,” Hodges says. “And I like the group. It’s like I made new friends.”

Glueck agrees and encourages anyone who wants to learn to play the dulcimer to give it a try. It’s an endeavor he will personally continue to pursue to get better at.

“I just enjoy the music, and it keeps your brain going and your mind young and all that. It’s just fun to be out socially with it,” he says. “It’s not very hard to learn, but it takes a lifetime to master.”

Want to learn to play the dulcimer?

Dulcimers can be purchased at Music Folk Saint Louis, a music store located in Webster Groves, Missouri, as well as online, where many used dulcimers can be found. There are many video tutorials on YouTube that teach the dulcimer to all skill levels. In addition, the Front Porch Players can be messaged on their Facebook page, Front Porch Players, for more information.

The most important aspect of learning to play?

“Don’t give up,” says Front Porch Players member Patti House.