East Anglia has been the home of the dulcimer for as far back as anyone can remember and research is pushing the earliest records here further back in time.

Richard bought his London-made 1885 Ihlee and Sankey instrument in 1986, the year in which the great virtuoso, Billy Bennington, died. Indeed, it was listening to him that led him to look for one in the first place. Richard has learnt to play in the traditional style, his main influences being Billy Bennington, Billy Cooper and Reg Reeder.

Richard Blake is among a very small number who still use the traditional tuning, which is considered to be one of the most versatile dulcimer tunings in the world. It allows chordal and harmonic accompaniment in the home key of G and its close relatives. It also facilitates playing in the keys of c,d,f,a and bflat with very little trouble, not to mention the relative minor keys and modes. With 21 bridges it has a range of three octaves. There are not many other small tabletop dulcimers in the world that can boast all this. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.