“Music is a treasure and a love and a delight. It clears people’s souls and lifts them high.”

― David Rodigan

From the walkway in front of her patron’s shop, Lady Victoria entertains passersby with bright and energetic music from an odd trapezoidal shaped box with strings she hits with two delicately shaped hammer shaped wooden sticks. The unfamiliar instrument produces a sound not quite like a piano, not quite like a harp, and not quite like a guitar. Each tap of the hammers brings more visitors to a standstill. At a quick listen, it sounds like traditional folk or Celtic music. Or is it something else? But wait, is that a modern song? Or a traditional song?

As her hands direct and wave the hammers, her eyes seek out and make contact with the people around her instrument. At the recognition of a piece of modern music, she winks at her audience. Her gaze compels her growing audience to move in closer as they watch her sending the hammers flying across the box hitting strings in an intricate dance. Clearly, she loves working the crowd and excels at reaching and including the distant audience as well as the audience within feet of her music stand. She wears bright colors and a generously brimmed and beribboned hat, adding visual harmony to the notes jumping off the strings of the hammered dulcimer. Victoria’s delight and passion works as it enchants her audience, bringing them deeper into her musical space. 

The modern piano’s roots are found in the strings of the hammered dulcimer, a unique instrument which originated from Persia and made its way to Europe in the hands of the Moors or returning Crusaders. Both traditional folk music and classical musicians played the dulcimer and it’s a mainstay instrument in Celtic music traditions. From the early 1700s to the late 1800s, dulcimers were very popular in North America; one could purchase the instrument from the either the Montgomery Wards or Sears and Roebuck catalogs until they stopped selling them in 1906. Now, very few people outside of renaissance festivals and the Celtic music scene can say that they have heard or seen a hammered dulcimer in action.

That’s where Lady Victoria steps up and brings her hammers down. She’s committed to keeping the instrument and Celtic and early music alive and in front of audiences. Recognizing that today’s listener might not want to hear only traditional tunes, she adds modern music to her live set lists. She’s convinced that the merging of traditional instruments and modern music will continue to revive interest in this amazing instrument. 

Lady Victoria started learning the hammered dulcimer over ten years ago, inspired by cassette tapes of musician Kate Price and live performances of Jim Lilliquist, who she saw playing at the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire in Gainesville, Florida. A bored 18-year-old with little to do on her summer break, Victoria taught herself the hammered dulcimer. Now, she’s spent nearly the last ten years as one of only a handful of professional touring hammered dulcimer musicians. She loves what she does and sees no reason to look for anything else. Before she made the transition to full time musician, she worked in Information Technology doing secretarial work and spent time working the house concert scene. 

Her single, Butterfly Lofi, represents her first foray into combining non-traditional synth “chill beats” with a traditional Celtic song as part of her plan to reach more listeners and gather more followers for the dulcimer. Victoria worries less about doing music the way it’s always been done and focuses on the spirit of folk music being a part of the lives of ordinary people. She hopes her music gets in front of younger TikTok users because she believes that today’s anxious kids could get a little 20 second piece of happy folk music moment as an anxiety antidote.  Outside of Celtic music, Lady Victoria enjoys techno artists Basshunter, Eiffel65, and Tiesto. As an introvert, she recharges her energy in the company of her computer and video games. She currently co-hosts RenTalks, a podcast about the Renaissance festival industry. 

When asked about her dream goal, she responds that she wants to keep the music of this amazing instrument alive and in front of people. In order to move that dream forward, she works with an instrument maker to provide quality affordable dulcimers to anyone, even those with no musical talent or background, desiring to learn traditional Celtic music. With the rise of YouTube and virtual learning, there are enough free resources to keep the new learner busy for months, if not years. Unlike the piano, the violin, or most musical instruments, the hammered dulcimer’s structure and tools make it highly accessible to all body types and abilities. All one needs is two hands, the hammers, and maybe a stand for the dulcimer itself. Making pretty musical sounds comes quickly to the learner (unlike this writer’s attempt at learning to play the violin on a lark).

For readers interested in a new musical journey with an easy entry into making music that sounds good, consider the quality hammered dulcimers offered for sale by Lady Victoria at the modest price of $500.  

She advises any musician at whatever their level to play with others as much as possible. “Music,” she said, “is meant to be shared with other people.” One of her favorite moments as a festival performer occurred when she was a part of the group of musicians that played opening gate music at one of the shows. Despite the stress of van life on the road which requires constant playing van Tetris with her belongings, Victoria loves the connectedness and the community of festival performers. She stays busy and booked year round. Her upcoming schedule can be found on her website or on her socials.

She loves bringing folk music to the modern audience because it encourages people to move, communicate, and dance without the commercialization so prevalent in the world today. With her absolute passion for the hammered dulcimer and her heart in Celtic music, Victoria Van Arnam carries that odd wooden stringed box to new eyes and ears every single performance keeping a traditional instrument alive in the ears of a modern digital world. 

Follow The Lady Victoria and her hammered dulcimer antics: TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or find her at www.TheLadyVictoria.com 

cover photo by Tyler Jones

Angela Lorio has been successfully living in both the 21st and 16th centuries since the mid 90’s. She has been a successful and award-winning educator for close to 30 years, teaching science at ALPHA Academy during the week, and educating the crowds at the Texas Renaissance Festival from the back of Sampson the Warhorse on the weekends. In her spare time, Angela writes, draws, sews, and follows her own Jedi path to light.