Practice doesn't make perfect, nor is it supposed to. Practice is about increasing your repertoire of ways to recover from your mistakes.
--Joann Gutin, in Discover magazine
Learn to play Hammered Dulcimer or Piano
with lessons from Carl Thor
COVID-19 Update: I am providing hammered dulcimer and piano lessons online, using the Zoom video conferencing platform. If you would like to begin lessons, please get in touch. In this new environment, geography is not a limiting factor!
The hammered dulcimer is one of the world's oldest musical instruments in current use, dating back several hundred years. It is found in various forms throughout the world, from China to the Middle East, Europe and North America. Many people, upon first hearing the hammered dulcimer, immediately fall in love with its sound and may eventually want to learn to play it. Perhaps you are one of those people. If so, I would be pleased to help you achieve that goal.
I began playing hammered dulcimer in 1990 and have been performing and recording since 1993. I have studied with Steve Schneider, Linda Lowe Thompson, Ken Kolodner, and Cathy Barton. I have taught private lessons and workshops at Artichoke Community Music in Portland since 2001, and have also taught at the annual Dulcimer Rendezvous near Portland, the Northwest Hammered Dulcimer Society's Chatter Creek Festival, and the Prairie Dulcimer Club in Kansas City. I teach group piano for Portland Community College. I have performed with Celtinalia, Talisman, the Portland Megaband, Cascade Crossing, Hands4, Bandwidth, in other groupings, and as a soloist. I have also accompanied several prominent choral groups in performance of music for choir and hammered dulcimer by Malcolm Dalglish. I have studied music theory at Clark College in Vancouver and at Portland Community College. I bring a lifetime of musical experience with piano, bands and choirs to my playing and teaching of the hammered dulcimer and the piano.
If you have never played before, I will help you to get started making music at your first lesson, then help you learn more advanced skills and music theory along the way in future lessons. If you already play, I will help you continue to improve your skills and knowledge. To schedule lessons, please contact me. Together we will get your instrument singing under your hands and work with your learning style to assure musical growth and enjoyment along the way!
I am currently teaching online using the Zoom video conference platform, Thursday and Friday afternoons.
Lessons are $50 for an hour. Please contact me at (360) 904-7190 or 
if you are interested in lessons. I would be happy
to answer any questions you may have.
