Richard Ash's Bio and Workshop Descriptions

Richard Ash - Performer, Instructor

and Retreat Sponsor

Richard is the owner of Folkcraft Instruments, which is one of the oldest and most respected musical instrument manufacturers in the country. Folkcraft makes a variety of stringed and fretted instruments, including Appalachian dulcimer,hammered dulcimer, bowed psaltery, kantele, dulcilele, and ukulele.

Richard is a teacher, and holds a music education degree from The Ohio State University. Formerly a school band director, now he's an active dulcimer instructor.

Richard is also the organizer of three music festivals: The Dulcimer Gathering (for hammered dulcimer players); Indiana Dulcimer Festival (for Appalachian dulcimer players); and Midwest Uke Fest (for ukulele players).

And finally, Richard is a performer. You can hear him playing the dulcimer at events all over the country. From NAMM shows to dulcimer festivals, old-time music events to demonstration concerts in the Folkcraft concert hall, he's performed pretty much everywhere.

Workshop Descriptions


Popular Songs That Are In The Public Domain, 2016 Edition - All new songs for this installment of "popular songs"! Songs from the Beach Boys, The Beatles, and more. Songs that are in the public domain. If you took "Popular Songs" from Richard in the past, then you know how much fun it is. The 2016 "Popular Songs" class has new songs, new lyrics, new fun!

Copyrights For Musicians - Is it okay to make photocopies from a dulcimer tab book, and share the copies with your club? Do you know? How about making a CD? Do you have to pay for the rights to use the music? Who gets the money? We'll cover all kinds of pertinent (to musicians) information about copyright law. We'll debunk some of the myths, and give you some peace of mind.

Murder Ballads, Volume 1 - Here's an entire class of "the boy and the girl went to the river, but the boy came back alone" songs. We might include a few variations - things like "two girls went to the river, and one came back alone", or "a boy and a girl went to the well/mine shaft/forest..." You get the idea. Fun songs, and a huge part of the folk music tradition.