John Rea was a

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more trad ...

player from

Glenarm Glenarm () is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies on the North Channel coast north of the town of Larne and the village of Ballygalley, and south of the village of Carnlough. It is situated in the civil parish of Tickmacrevan a ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Born in 1915 (some sources say 1922), John was the youngest of ten children. His six older brothers were all taught to play the

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

by his father. However, as he was too small, his father had a dulcimer made by John's brother Alexander (a carpenter), using a borrowed dulcimer as a pattern, and that became John's instrument. This instrument was in turn used as the pattern for many other instruments made for other local people. In contrast to the wooden hammers generally employed by today's players, John used hammers made of thick steel wire, wound with wool; he made these himself from old bicycle spokes. His repertoire consisted mostly of traditional

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

tunes, though with a significant Scottish influence (he also played a number of strathspeys, which he referred to as "highlands"). His father taught him a number of

jigs The jig ( ga, port, gd, port-cruinn) is a form of lively folk dance in compound metre, as well as the accompanying dance tune. It is most associated with Irish music and dance. It first gained popularity in 16th-century Ireland and parts of ...

by the 18th-century composer Walker "Piper" Jackson (from the townland of Lisdaun, parish of Ballingarry, Aughrim,

County Limerick "Remember Limerick" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Munster , subdivision ...

). Rea appeared on stage with the well-known group,

The Chieftains The Chieftains are a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous wi ...

. John Rea died on 15 November 1983.

Discography

* John Rea & Sean McAloon, ''Drops Of Brandy'',

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12TS287, 1976 * John Rea, ''Traditional Music On The Hammer Dulcimer'', Topic 12TS373, 1979 * John Rea, ''The Irish Hammered Dulcimer'', Ossian OSS83, 1993 (cassette reissue of Topic 12TS373) * Various artists, ''Irish Traditional Music'', Temple COMD2079, 2000 (compilation culled from three Topic releases, including 12TS287 and 12TS373) In 2009 ''The Belfast Hornpipe/The Rights Of Man'' from ''Traditional Music On the Hammer Dulcimer'' was included in Topic Records 70 year anniversary boxed set ''

Three Score and Ten ''Three Score and Ten: A Voice to the People'' is a multi-CD box set album issued by Topic Records in 2009 to celebrate 70 years as an independent British record label. The album consists of a hardback book containing the seven CDs and a paper ...

'' as track twenty three on the third CD.

References

*Liner notes for ''Drops of Brandy'' and ''Traditional Music On The Hammer Dulcimer'' *Gifford, Paul M. (2001), ''The Hammered Dulcimer: A History'', The Scarecrow Press, Inc. . *Vallely, Fintan (1999), ''The Companion to Irish Traditional Music'', New York University Press. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Rea, John Rea, John Rea, John Rea, John Year of birth uncertain 1983 deaths People from Glenarm