
Bill Dempsey
Bill Dempsey: “I started playing trombone when I was 9
years old. I did my first professional gig when I was in Jr.
High. I started teaching in 1973. I built my first dulcimer
in 1976. My main influences are Jean Ritchie and Richard
Farina. I play 4 equidistant string dulcimer. I'm a
singer/multi-instrumentalist. The dulcimer has helped me
maintain and find peace and serenity while teaching
beginning band, violin & recorder to 3rd, 4th, & 5th
graders.” Bill is now retired from a long career as a
full-time public school music teacher. Bill continues an
active performing and private teaching schedule. He teaches
online and from his home in San Juan Capistrano, CA. An avid
surfer, he has a deep and abiding love of the sea and sea
music of all kinds.
CLASS:
Bill will talk about Jean Ritchie and Richard Farina and
perform some of their songs. He plays with 4 equidistant
strings and a capo and will demonstrate why that is perfect
for the player, like himself, who loves to sing with the
dulcimer.
www.billdempseymusic.net

Leo Kretzner
Leo Kretzner Leo Kretzner – Tradition Meets Innovation
Leo and the mountain dulcimer met in 1975, and neither has
been the same ever since. He has been a major innovator of
the instrument, spanning from Celtic jigs and reels to blues
and rock, and from Appalachian to contemporary, with guitar
and vocals added to the mix.
Leo has performed and taught for over forty years at folk
festivals and coffee houses all over the country. He is
working on a new album, Mixed Colors/Art of the 4-String
Dulcimer, out by Fall 2022. His other albums are Dulcimer
Fair (’77), Pigtown Fling (’79), Bold Orion (’84), and
Not-So-Still-Life (’90).
CLASS:
Half performance and half workshop focusing on playing 3-4
songs with 4 separate strings in 2 tunings: DADD and GDGD.
leokretz@gmail.com

Joellen Lapidus
Joellen Lapidus is one of the pioneers of contemporary
mountain dulcimer playing, songwriting, and building. She
blends Appalachian, Indian, Arabic, jazz, classical, and pop
musical styles to give the mountain dulcimer a new range of
rhythmic, melodic, and tuning possibilities. As a dulcimer
maker, her work influenced many of the dulcimer builders of
the 70's and 80's. Her instruments were known for their
innovative shapes, exquisite sound hole and peghead inlay
work. She introduced the dulcimer to Joni Mitchell and made
three instruments for her between 1968 and 1976. She has
also made instruments for David Crosby, Jackson Browne,
Wendy Waldman, Garth Hudson and Harry Stiles.
She is a gifted teacher and is the author of the 2nd edition
of her classic dulcimer instruction book “LAPIDUS ON
DULCIMER 2". She has recorded 2 CDs, “Joellen Lapidus Live
in Concert” and “Dulcimer Music For the Pelican Ballet”.
You can view her work and reach her at www.lapidusmusic.com
CLASS:
Joellen’s hour will be a performance of traditional and
original tunes in her eclectic rhythmic style and commentary
on the variety of tunings and techniques that make up her
unique way of playing.
https://lapidusmusic.com

Sarah Morgan
Sarah Kate Morgan started her musical journey at 7 years
old when she was introduced to old-time music through a
dulcimer that her grandfather built. From there, she has
gone on to develop a uniquely intricate and virtuosic style
inspired by the traditional Appalachian music she grew up
with in rural East Tennessee. At 18, Sarah placed 1st at the
2012 National Mountain Dulcimer Championships held in
Winfield, KS. She recently graduated from Morehead State
University in eastern Kentucky with degrees in Traditional
Music, Appalachian Studies, and Arts Administration. Sarah
Kate also performs as a regular member of the Michelle
Canning Band, has recorded many albums, calls square dances,
attempts to quilt and grow things in her garden, and works
at the Hindman Settlement School in eastern Kentucky as the
Traditional Arts Education Director.
CLASS:
Intermediate/Advanced Workshop: Learn the fiddle tune,
"Goodbye My Honey I’m Gone". This is a really weird,
crooked, and fun tune in the unusual key of Gm, from the
playing of Eastern Kentucky fiddler, George Lee Hawkins.
Tuning: CGC Capo needed. You can hear the tune at:
https://www.slippery-hill.com/content/goodbye-my-honey-im-gone
sarahmorganmusic@gmail.com

Kevin Roth
Kevin Roth entered the dulcimer scene in 1974 and
quickly became known as one of the innovators of dulcimer
music. From 1974-1978 he recorded a dozen albums for
Folkways Records and then formed his own label now numbering
a total of forty-nine albums to his discography. In 2020
Kevin introduced ‘Dulcimeditation’ to the dulcimer world,
and now teaches this form of playing along with his personal
life-coaching career.
CLASS:
“I’ll be playing a mixture of old and new instrumentals and
songs in unusual tunings for the 1st half and then
introducing Dulcimeditation and how it works for the 2nd
half.”
www.kevinroth.org
www.kevinrothmusic.com

Cyntia Smith
Cyntia
Smith is an internationally known fretted dulcimer artist,
vocalist, composer, and arranger of Renaissance and British
Isles traditional music. Cyntia recorded and co-produced
five critically acclaimed albums with Ruth Barrett between
1980 and 1993. She is one of the pioneers in the development
of chord-melody classical fingerpicking style and has been
teaching the dulcimer and performing since 1979.
With luthier Dale Foye, she helped develop and build the
Aeolus classical dulcimer, a hybrid of the Spanish classical
guitar and the mountain dulcimer, and added her unique sound
hole carvings and custom abalone inlays to many Aeolus
dulcimers and to Mr. Foye’s guitars.
Cyntia co-founded the Southern California Dulcimer Heritage
and the Harvest Festival of Dulcimers, and served as the
artistic director from 1995 to 2006. Cyntia has been an
instructor and performer at numerous festivals across the
country, and continues to compose and teach the dulcimer.
Her debut solo album, Soul Tending, features her original
songs and instrumentals interwoven with guitar, percussion,
flute, and cello. Cyntia can be contacted, and her physical
and digital CD albums are available on her website:
www.cyntiasmith.com
CLASS:
“I'll be doing a concert using both diatonic and chromatic
Aeolus dulcimers of mostly my original compositions and
arrangements, plus pieces by other composers. I'll also talk
about my techniques, too.”