Mountain Dulcimer Teacher (USA)

Joe Collins has been playing the dulcimer since 1978. Unaware of the instrument until he was a senior in college, he fell in love with it on the first strum. Since then, he has been an ambassador for the instrument, taking it into places it had never been before. Likewise, the instrument took him to places he had never been. He began competing to improve his playing in 1998 and focused on technique as he developed his unique playing style. In five trips to Winfield to compete in the National Championships, he placed third three times and first in 2007.

His contributions to the dulcimer world include monthly free tabs available on his website for over twenty years, fifteen books of tablature, six CDs, hundreds of workshops, and a program for training dulcimer teachers. He has taught and performed in festivals across the country and composed a good deal of original music for the dulcimer. In the past several years, he has been writing and arranging multi-part pieces and conducting ensemble workshops with those pieces. His love for the instrument has not diminished since he started 47 years ago.

You can read more about Joe on his website https://www.jcdulcimer.com/

We are pleased to welcome Joe as a mountain dulcimer tutor at the Nonsuch Annual Weekend in 2025.