r/Dulcimer

TL;DR Older beginners, what are your expectations? What level of accomplishment do you expect?

Here's the blah, blah blah...

I'm a retiree, pushing 80, but want to make music. Too old to master piano. A.I. suggested the dulcimer as "even easier than a ukelele". It seems a lot of Boomers have taken up the instrument, possibly because it harkens back to the folk revival of the 1960s.

I'm uncertain of my goals. I'd like to hear from others. Piano players are "pianists". They have mastered the 88 keys, read music, The dulcimer players I've met aren't "dulcimerists", i.e. masters of the instrument per se, reading music, learned in music theory. The instrument is very "folk" e.i. of the people. You don't learn the instrument, but rather, songs. And you learn those by imitation and repetition.

I've got 5 years left, maybe ten if I'm careful with my health, what do I want to accomplish? Just to play a few songs? Like people who can sit down at the piano and play chopstix or "Heart and Soul". That doesn't make you a piano player. Yet, something similar seems to make one a dulcimer player. But to me, it makes me feel like i'm not serious, just a dilittante.

Just ramblin' here. I'm curious about other Boomers' expectations. Your thoughts?

I really wanna take up the tradition of hand making dulcimers, but I have no wood working experience and I'm struggling to find some decent learning material. Any advice? I've played music all my life and I'm pretty sure I could figure out almost anything with enough time