Art Form: hammered dulcimer playing and founder of the Original Dulcimer Players Club

Location(s): Sears (Osceola County)

Elgia Hickok

Elgia Hickok playing the hammered dulcimer

Elgia “Elgie” Hickok (1894-1967) was a hammered dulcimer player and primary founder of the Original Dulcimer Players Club (ODPC). He was a farmer by trade, working during World War I and II as a precision and tool grinder. He took up the dulcimer at age 9 after hearing his father playing. While the instrument lost popularity in the public sphere over the course of his life, he never lost his enthusiasm (1). When faced with the decline of the instrument he loved, he founded a club to celebrate its heritage in his home state of Michigan. Though his dulcimer playing was noteworthy (he eventually performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964 alongside Chet Parker), it was his spirit as a community organizer that made him stand out.

The founding of the ODPC in 1963 saw Elgia as its first president and was the first organization of its kind in the nation to feature this instrument. Local newspaper reports indicated that the first gathering of the ODPC took place on Sept. 28, 1963 at the Barryton Community Hall. Significantly, that first meeting included a public jam that, like the ODPC FunFest ten years later, was open to all: “anyone having a dulcimer, whether he can play it or not” was encouraged to join in.

Elgia Hickok’s efforts to create a club for hammered dulcimers can be accurately said to provide the impetus for a revival of this and other traditional art forms in northwest Michigan, across the state, and around the country. His central role in founding the ODPC in 1963 has been acknowledged by folklore researchers like Nancy Groce (2) as providing the spark for the revival of the instrument and its repertoire. It shaped the musical culture of Evart, Michigan, and the surrounding area, as well as traditional instrumental culture around the state. As the influence of the organization grew and the popularity of its namesake festival spread, thousands of musicians and their families from around the world have benefited from the existence of the ODPC. Indeed, the ODPC “FunFest” has evolved to become one of the biggest hammered dulcimer festivals in the world. the ODPC has nurtured the shared culture of traditional music and the inclusive practice of public jamming in Michigan. And the organization and the festival would not have existed without the efforts of Elgia Hickok.

(1) Paul Gifford. The Hammered Dulcimer: A History. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2001.

(2) Nancy Groce, The Hammered Dulcimer in America. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983.

- Dave Langdon and Micah Ling, 2019