Hammered Dulcimer player Phyllis Brown was drawn to music even as a small child, when she would sit for hours picking out tunes and chords on her grandfather’s organ. She carried a harmonica in her pocket while other girls carried lip gloss. From that she graduated to band (clarinet and oboe), jazz band (vibes and vocalist), and chorus, meanwhile teaching herself to play the guitar, at the age of 14. At 16, she began studying voice under George Bitzas at the University of Tennessee, and continued that education after high school at Tennessee Technological University, with a major in Music Education.
Phyllis waltzed into the dulcimer world in 1998, when her father, Fred Woods, built her first hammered dulcimer as a Christmas present. She has since upgraded several times, and has settled on the Dusty Strings 550. Phyllis quickly found this to be her passion in life, and began teaching hammered dulcimer lessons in 2003, making it her sole income in February of 2010.
Phyllis has always enjoyed teaching others what she has learned, and has performed at numerous venues, ranging from city and county folk festivals, Old Time Festivals, weddings, fundraisers, Christmas celebrations, and church services and special events. She won the championship Hammered Dulcimer competition at the Smithville Fiddler's Jamboree in Smithville, TN in 2002.
“I think people tend to perceive playing the Hammered Dulcimer as something that is very difficult to do, when in fact, it’s not hard. It’s all a series of patterns, which anyone with even a half-decent memory can rely on to provide their own embellishments to their melodies. We can all play someone else’s arrangements. I prefer to teach how to create your own lovely and interesting arrangements.”
