These are the wonderful instructors who will be teaching during the 2024 Dutchland Dulcimer Mini Gathering!
Bill Collins
Bill Collins has been playing, teaching, and learning about the Appalachian dulcimer for over 25 years. In his performing and teaching, he focuses on the dulcet qualities inherent in the dulcimer and expanding the repertoire of music played on it. He has conducted more than 130 dulcimer workshops at festivals in nine states and has taught week-long sessions at Augusta Spring Dulcimer Week and Shenandoah University.
Bill has written six books of dulcimer arrangements: two collections of Shaker tunes (one co-written with Nina Zanetti), O’Carolan tunes, Irish jigs, Icelandic folk tunes, and a potpourri of advanced arrangements. He has composed over twenty pieces for the instrument, several of which are featured on a CD entitled The Sum of the Parts, a recording of dulcimer solos and duets performed by Bill and 2008 National Mountain Dulcimer Champion Nina Zanetti.
Butch Ross
“Now I know what a dulcimer is supposed to sound like” —Jake Shimabukuro
Butch Ross has been gleefully smashing disparate genres of music together for over ten years. Using the mountain dulcimer as a prism, he has used the instrument to conquer everything from Bach to the
Beatles to Radiohead (and everything in between).
His restless musical curiosity and virtuosity, coupled with his innate ability to break complex concepts into understandable ideas, have made him an in-demand teacher and performer at many folk and dulcimer festivals both in the States and abroad.
He also plays guitar and Ukulele and is a regular contributor to the Dulcimer Players News.