> I read somewhere on the net that a hammered dulcimer is not to be confused with an Appalachian dulcimer. I know mine is the latter, but how is a hammered dulcimer different? Does it have little wooden hammers like a piano? Or is it just pounded into shape with a hammer?

Our old church purchased a hammered dulcimer shortly before we moved away. I knew a fellow in college who played a dulcimer, and I assume it was the type that you have... he held it in his lap while he played it with his fingers, or possibly a pick.

The hammered dulcimer is much, much larger. It rests on a stand and has something like thirty strings? I never counted them. And yes, it's played with two hand-held wooden hammers. You can wrap the ends of the hammers in tape or felt to give the notes a different quality.

The summer before I got married, I went on a one-day tour of Boston with my wife-to-be and her brother, and in Faniuel Hall we saw a street performer playing the hammered dulcimer. I bought one of her CDs, and it is still to this day one of my favorites.