Menucha Mountain Dulcimer Festival – 9th Annual

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Full Festival Costs 2018

Registration for the 2018 festival will open in fall of 2017.

Cancellation Policy 

If 90+ days out, canceling a registration results in a full refund minus a $50 handling fee.

If 46-90 days out, 65% refund.

If 30-45 days out, 50% refund.

If fewer than 30 days out, there is no refund available.

Payment Plan Option 

You may choose to divide the cost across several months, depending upon how far in advance you are registering. Options will automatically appear in the online registration process. The cost is only $5 per month.

Karen Mueller

Karen Mueller is one of the top autoharp and mountain dulcimer players performing today. Her exciting and innovative performing style, featuring Appalachian, Celtic and contemporary music, has been applauded by critics and audiences from LA to Boston. Bluegrass Unlimited magazine has said “Karen Mueller’s touch, timing and taste make her a true virtuoso. Her talent and clarity…deserve a wide audience.”

Karen Mueller bridges many mountain dulcimer traditions to formulate her own dynamic style. She started playing the dulcimer in 1979 by learning the innovative tunes on the Pacific Rim Dulcimer Project record, featuring Neal Hellman, Force & d’Ossche, and Bonnie Carol. From there she began adding traditional Appalachian and Celtic music to her repertoire, and developed her own arrangements of these styles as well as pop, jazz, and original material. Her techniques range from rhythmic flatpicking and strumming to sensitive fingerpicking. Karen grew up in Winfield, KS, home of the Walnut Valley Festival, and was introduced to the dulcimer and autoharp there. She has been a finalist in the National Mountain Dulcimer competition, and first-place winner in autoharp, both at Winfield in the mid-1980s.

Today she is a full-time performer and instructor, and has travelled throughout the US and England teaching at major workshops and festivals. Karen has released six solo recordings and several instruction books, including “Favorite Dulcimer Arrangements,” and is featured on two volumes of the “Masters of the Mountain Dulcimer” CD series. She is an active teacher of private lessons, school classes and residencies, and also performs with Irish singer Katie McMahon, the original lead singer from Riverdance. In demand as a multi-instrumentalist, she plays and teaches guitar, mandolin, ukulele and Irish bouzouki in addition to dulcimer and autoharp. A skilled and experienced instructor, Karen is able to work effectively with all levels of students, from new players to advanced. She has also performed the challenging Blackberry Winter dulcimer concerto twice with Minnesota orchestras.

http://karenmueller.com/about/

Aaron O’Rourke

Aaron O’Rourke began teaching and performing on mountain dulcimer at the age of 16. In a short period of time, Aaron became one of the headlining names at dulcimer camps and traditional music events across the country including Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamp, WCU’s Dulcimer Week, Augusta Heritage Center’s Traditional Music Week, Kentucky Music Week, The Florida Folk Festival and more.

In 2010, Aaron won the National Mountain Dulcimer Competition held at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS. Aaron is also a past winner in the Florida Old-time music competition and the Southeastern Regional Dulcimer Contest in Mountain View, AR.

Aaron has released three solo albums and two albums as front man of the Aaron O’Rourke Trio. His latest recording, appropriately titled, “Unaccompanied,” features all solo tracks on mountain dulcimer, banjammer (a banjo/dulcimer hybrid), and fingerstyle guitar. The album pulls heavily from influences in classical, jazz and traditional fiddle tunes, while at the same time making forays into the raw energy reminiscent of Aaron’s early days in a punk band.

To date, Aaron has authored 20 instructional books for mountain dulcimer covering a diverse range of technique and repertoire. In addition to teaching at camps and festivals, Aaron is a regular contributor of video lessons to dulcimerschool.com

https://www.aaronorourke.com/

https://www.patreon.com/aaronorourke

Janita Baker

of Blue Lion Instruments, has been playing mountain dulcimer for over 30 years. Through her recordings, books and appearances at festivals and workshops across the United States she has become well-known for her teaching skills and Blue Lion Dulcimers, which she builds with her husband Robert.

As a solo performer, Janita also presents her audiences with a wide range of musical experiences including classical, traditional, delta and country blues, ragtime, swing and original instrumental pieces. A gifted story teller, Janita delights her listeners with a warm and personal sharing of her music and introduces to her audience and her students the incredible complexity, variety and beauty of the mountain dulcimer.

More about Janita Baker.

Workshop Descriptions

Workshop descriptions are in the works. We’ll post them as soon as we are able!

Dulcimer Player Descriptions