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[Dulcimer Player News article]

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2007
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2006
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2005
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2004
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2003
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2002
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PattyFest - An Old-Time Music Festival
in Honor of Patty Looman

by Jeff Fedan

Reproduced by permission from Dulcimer Player News,
Volume 29, No. 4, pp. 28-29, 2004.


Photo of Patty Looman

What can be done for a person who for at least two decades has spent all of her time teaching mountain and hammered dulcimer to students all over the east coast - without charging for lessons? In fact, refusing any sort of payment for lessons, and teaching out of passion. A person who thinks nothing of getting in her car and traveling long distances to give lessons to students several states away. A person who has dedicated her life to the teaching of old-time music and the culture of northern West Virginia and other areas. How can you repay a person such as this for the gift of music? For her encouragement, patience, and friendship?

I am one of the lucky many who has been a student with Patty Looman for several years. I came home one birthday to find that my wife had given me a hammered dulcimer. For years I'd been mesmerized by the sound of the instrument at music festivals and crafts shows, saying, "I'd love to know how to play that instrument." Luckily, my wife, Kathy, heard me say this. What's more, she had somehow found out about Patty and arranged lessons. This instrument changed my life. Patty changed my life. My story is not unique. Patty has had this effect on dozens of her students. How can one express gratitude to one who has given so selflessly to so many students for so many years?

While attending a church picnic a couple of years ago at Camp Muffly, a 4-H camp nestled in the rolling hills located just south of Morgantown, WV, a vision came to me. The camp has a pastoral setting adorned with many log cabins, each with a porch, and several other shelters and covered areas. What a lovely place for an old-time music festival, I thought. One held in Patty's honor. This is how we could appropriately express our appreciation to Patty - er, have our sweet revenge! PattyFest 2002 was born! When I first mentioned this idea to Patty, she was immediately reluctant because she is humble to a fault, and never seeks celebrity or acclaim. We told her that we were going to have the festival with her or without her, and that she might as well come to it. No, she could not help organize it! She eventually acquiesced, because she realized that the festival would be an event that would draw her students and friends together for a day of music and bliss. However, even now she refers to it as "The Fest."

Therefore, last June 14th the second annual PattyFest (PattyFest 2003) was held at Camp Muffly. This was not a dulcimer festival per se - although many mountain and hammered dulcimer players were appropriately in attendance - but an old-time music festival. Patty's musical influence has gone beyond our favorite two instruments, and she is revered by fiddlers, mandolin, banjo and guitar players alike. An open-stage, at which musicians of all ages played twenty-minute solo and group stints, ran from 11 am until 7:30 pm. Workshops were held for hammered dulcimer, guitar, banjo, gospel singing, bodhran, spoons, mountain dulcimer, fiddle, whistle, mandolin, and autoharp. The day concluded with an old-time square dance.

PattyFest 2003 was organized by yours truly and his wife, Kathy, Judy Snedeker, Phil Allender and Jan Woodward. The latter four did yeoman's work. The festival was run entirely by volunteers, some 39 of them, including the workshop instructors. The instructors gave freely of their time, which is fitting since Patty doesn't ask for payment for lessons. And so, the tradition Patty started is preserved. What's important here is that the music will continue to be passed on. What is that worth?

A special feature of PattyFest 2003 was the food that was served. There are many dishes that are traditionally associated with northern Appalachia, and we worked hard to make these available all in one place. Had you come to PattyFest 2003, you would have had a chance to savor ramps, fried green tomatoes, soup beans and cornbread, and old-fashioned ammonia cookies. And you could have washed it down with either sarsaparilla or sassafras tea. Betty Hilling, the Camp's cook, worked her magic on these dishes. Were you still hungry after partaking of this repast, then a piece of one of Betty's famous homemade pies would have put you over the brink. Ironically, we got as many compliments about the food as we did the music.

In order to publicize PattyFest 2003 and, heck, for the sheer fun of it, about ten of us had the opportunity to appear on Joe Dobbs' "Music from the Mountains" on West Virginia Public Radio. Joe and his producer, George Walker, were able to condense about two and a half hours of "pickin' (and hammerin') and a grinnin'" into a respectable one hour-long show. The Editor of this fine magazine claims to have heard the broadcast. You'll have to ask Maddie if it was any good!

Now, about Patty herself. Patty was born in Mannington, WV 78 years ago (she is proud of her age), obtained a degree in education with majors in drama, speech and music, and taught high school in Michigan until her retirement in 1982. She had been exposed to the hammered dulcimer in the 1940's, and knew a West Virginia hammered dulcimer titan, Russell Fluharty, while young in life. She apparently became hooked on the hammered dulcimer in the 1960's due to the influence of another major West Virginia player, Worley Gardner. These two musicians have probably influenced her repertoire and playing style more than any others. Patty has been a champion of the old-time music of northern West Virginia, her favorite type of music for hammered and mountain dulcimer. There is no question but that her rhythmic and harmonic technical proficiency has far surpassed that of Russell and Worley. Her repertoire seems limitless; there may be no tunes she doesn't know and can't immediately recall and play. Patty is regularly sought after to perform at festivals, clinics and other venues throughout West Virginia and surrounding states, and adheres to a mind-boggling daily schedule that would be intolerable to most people half her age. Danny Williams, a fine mountain dulcimer player in his own right, has written extensively about Patty in Goldenseal, a magazine about West Virginia traditional life (goldenseal@wvculture.org) in which archive articles about Russell and Worley may also be found.

There were several workshop leaders who taught more than one class at PattyFest 2003. One of them was Patty!

PattyFest 2004 is coming. So many tunes...so little time...


Jeff Fedan, Masontown, WV    pattyfest@frontiernet.net

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