“Lord of all, to thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise. ”
— Folliott S. Pierpoint “For the Beauty of the Earth”
About
Katelyn Baas (pronounced bahs) believes strongly that the purpose of music is to bring glory to God as well as to comfort, uplift, and bless his children. This passion inspires her to strive for excellence and encourage others to pursue music despite the challenges. She released her debut hammered dulcimer album, The Way of the Cross Leads Home, in 2020 and has performed and instructed at the Evart Funfest and the Midland Folk Music Festival. Listeners describe her music as the kind that touches people where nothing else can. With extensive training in music theory, she continues to hone her skills in orchestration and arranging and has released several music books, including Learn the Guitar through Hymns. Her desire is to bring life, light, and beauty into a dark world, pointing people to the true source of that life, light, and beauty—Jesus Christ.
Katelyn’s newest project is Unto Us a Child is Born, an album of Christmas arrangements for hammered dulcimer and guitar, which she released in November 2022. Her previous album has recently become available for streaming on a variety of platforms.
A native of northern Michigan, Katelyn received her first guitar at the age of eleven and fell in love with the hammered dulcimer six years later while attending a workshop at the Evart Funfest. Ever since then, she has been exploring music projects of all kinds in her mission to bless and encourage others with God’s promises.
About the Hammered Dulcimer
A frequent question when playing hammered dulcimer is “What in the world is that thing?” The hammered dulcimer has a long history and goes by different names in different countries. This trapezoid-shaped instrument (on the right in the picture above) is played by striking the strings with wooden mallets called hammers. The notes are strung in pairs similar to the tuning of the mandolin. This type of dulcimer is always referred to as a “hammered dulcimer,” which distinguishes it from the “mountain dulcimer,” an hourglass-shaped instrument with four strings played by strumming.
Watch the hammered dulcimer in action at the Evart FunFest:
