The Piano Dulcimer represents a great, new concept in the dulcimer world—an affordable and simple way to bring the unique sound of the dulcimer into any keyboard player's realm, whether it is in a church, a band, a recording or composer's studio, at home, or around the campfire. Invented by long-time hammered dulcimer designer and builder Sam Rizzetta and based on the piano keyboard, it is a compact, fully chromatic instrument.
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| Piano dulcimer scale |
The tuning pattern uses half-step intervals across the bridge. Each course of strings crosses two markers on the top of the bridge. White marks the naturals or C scale, and black marks the sharps and flats—just like on a piano. To play a C scale, just follow the white markers up the instrument. Once you learn the pattern for any scale it's easy to change keys, since all the scales follow the same pattern or a mirror pattern. The sharps and flats are where you'd expect to find them, next to the naturals.
We make two models of piano dulcimer: the 2½ octave PD30, with a laminated soundboard and back and an entry-level price, and the 3½ octave PD40, with solid mahogany soundboard and back.
Keyboard players who love the sound of the dulcimer but who’ve never related to its traditional fifth-interval tuning will feel at home with the piano dulcimer. It’s also a fun approach to playing chromatically that offers existing dulcimer players new possibilities for tunes and techniques. Lightning-fast chromatic runs have never been easier or more intuitive to play on a dulcimer.
Well-known dulcimer player Madeline MacNeil has written an instructional book called Playing the Piano Dulcimer.