Smith excels on mountain dulcimer

NEWARK – Steven K. Smith calls himself an instrumentalist on the mountain dulcimer. Instrumentalist may be too ambiguous a word. He’s a pro.

“To the extent I play music and have recordings I sell and I occasionally teach, I am a professional,” he said.

Smith, a Newark resident, prefers to use his middle initial K, by the way, because it distinguishes him, he said, “from the other Steven Smith [from North Carolina] that plays the dulcimer and has a recording out. He’s a past national champion, though, while I'm only a past regional champion.”

That clarified, Smith’s resume confirms his status. It includes winning the dulcimer contest at the 1986 Bob Evans Farm Festival in Rio Grande, Ohio.

His first recording titled "Tunesmith" came out in 1989. He’s played professionally at the Ohio Renaissance Festival near Wilmington since 1992. And last year he taught at the Kentucky Music Week Festival in Bardstown, Kentucky. He also plays at concerts, school programs and nursing homes, among others.

“But,” he added modestly, “it’s also true I would be cold and hungry pretty quick if those were my only sources of income.”

Smith now plays traditional melodies and original compositions, primarily with a Jerry Rockwell three string dulcimer as well as a Rockwell Baritone four string. He likes to say he plays a range of styles from Baroque to the Blues — the old to the contemporary.

“My music stems from the European Classical tradition, Celtic music, English Country Dance Tunes, Jewish and Yiddish folk tunes, and Blues and Jazz inspired pieces as well,” he writes on his web site www.sksmithmusic.com. “About half of the selections on my recordings are original compositions, and there is a sprinkling of free improvisations on them as well.”

At 58, Smith is now a retired mechanical engineer. It was while he was studying for his degree in 1977 that his brother Dave bought a red, white and blue dulcimer at a craft fair. He tells people it was 1983 when he really started “learning, playing, composing and teaching,” but in fact, he owned a dulcimer since 1980.

“I guess you could say that in early '83 I started being a ‘dulcimer player’ instead of a ‘dulcimer owner,’” he said. “When I started playing the dulcimer there wasn’t a whole lot of literature about it. There were a few books but for the most part I was making it up as it went.”

It was about that time he started attending the Columbus Dulcimer Club, which helped him gain experience and confidence. Then in 1984 he attended what he called his first dulcimer event. It was "Dulcimer Doin's" in Germantown, Ohio.

“My set on the open stage that year was my first public performance as a mountain dulcimer player, except for at club meetings,” he said.

Jerry Rockwell was at that performance. Rockwell, from Guysville, Ohio, near Athens, is well known in dulcimer circles. The two built a relationship so Smith soon started to study under Rockwell.

“Steve was uncommonly dedicated,” Rockwell said. “It’s a needle in a haystack to find dulcimer people that have that kind of dedication. He’s a very accomplished player and having him early on as a student is like an enormous gift, really.”

Now, years later, Smith said one of the things he loves about the dulcimer is that it’s “a relatively easy instrument to improvise on, that sort of lends itself to going from improvising to composing.”

As for the future, Smith said, “I suppose it will be more of the same. I now have four recordings, and I intend to put out a companion books for them eventually. In any case, I intend to keep performing, composing and recording as long as I can.”

A bit about the dulcimer...

The dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. There are several variants including the Appalachian dulcimer, which actually may have its origins in Europe.

About the series

Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs — whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs, or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at advocate@newarkadvocate.com or 740-328-8821.