Edna Ritchie of Viper, Kentucky

Mountain dulcimer is a North American lap-played fretted zither associated with the Appalachian region of the United States. It features a diatonic fretboard (often with added "6½" and sometimes "1½" frets), two or more drone strings, and a modal sound that suits ballads, hymns, and dance tunes. Traditionally tuned to modal tunings such as DAA (Ionian) or DAD (Mixolydian), it is strummed or flatpicked while resting on the player’s lap. Older styles use a small wooden stick (noter) to stop the melody string while drones ring; contemporary approaches add fingerstyle, chord–melody, and cross-string drones. The instrument’s airy resonance and pentatonic/modal vocabulary give it a distinctively nostalgic, intimate tone that adapts well to old-time music, Celtic airs, waltzes, and modern arrangements.