Encyclopedia Smithsonian: Hammer Dulcimer: History and Playing

By Dan Wilt

Good friend and fellow hammered dulcimer player/worship leader Garrett Viggers tagged me on to this brief history of the hammered dulcimer.

I’ve come across just a few of us who lead worship and instrumental fray from this glorious blend of percussion, strings and rhythmic melody. Myself and great friend Matt Frise have a hammered dulcimer/violin duo called Amicus, partially built around the friendly harmonic spirit of the instrument.

I think it may replace the acoustic guitar in worship – at least it already has in a few of our minds….

Here’s another from Wikipedia.

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Sheltering Mercy: Prayers Inspired by the Psalms

Sheltering Mercy, along with its companion volume, Endless Grace, helps us rediscover the rich treasures of the Psalms—through free-verse prayer renderings of their poems and hymns—as a guide to personal devotion and meditation.

The church has always used the Psalms as part of its prayer life, and they have inspired countless other prayers. This book contains 75 prayers drawn from Psalms 1-75, providing lyrical sketches of what authors Ryan Smith and Dan Wilt have seen, heard, and felt while sojourning in the Psalms. Each prayer is a response to the Psalms written in harmony with Scripture. These prayers help us quiet our hearts before God and welcome us into a safe place amid the storms of life.

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