(dulcimer strumming) - I'm Ross Sutter, and I make my living as an artist, a musician.

And about half my work is doing residencies in schools, teaching music, instrument building, and singing games.

And the other half is performing.

I've specialized in Irish and Scottish music for a lot of my career.

And for the last 15 years, I've specialized in Swedish music, which is the music of my heritage.

All my grandparents came from Sweden to America.

(dulcimer strumming continues) The dulcimer, when I first started playing it, I really came to it not so much as a Swedish instrument but just as more of an American instrument, really, from the southeastern part of the country.

There were some artists in the '60s that were touring around and playing the instrument, and there was a resurgence in interest in it.

And when I worked in a shop years later, that interest was still there.

I started playing it, and I had no idea that there was a connection to Sweden.

I just liked the instrument.

This is the Appalachian mountain dulcimer.

It's related to instruments in Norway and Sweden.

We have the hummel in Sweden.

And in Norway, we have the langeleik.

And the main thing that connects them is a diatonic scale.

(dulcimer plucking) Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, no sharps or flats.

This is an instrument I started playing when I was working in a shop in Minneapolis called Here Incorporated.

I really connected with this instrument.

And I was looking for an instrument I could build with kids, and so I started building one-stringed dulcimers.

(easygoing music) (students chattering) We're gonna start building, but before we do, let's see if we can name some of the parts of the instrument.

Traditional music has given me a very unique way to work in schools, something that I can bring to supplement what the regular music teachers and the classroom teachers are doing.

I love exploring the science of sound and music and math, and how that's connected to all this stuff.

Up in the air.

(dulcimer strumming) On your box.

You see why we put 'em with the boxes?

Went through a lot of different rough versions of this.

So even though it's an instrument for kids, it's quality materials that are used.

But now probably the most important part, the slivers like to live right on the corner.

So I want you (sandpapers rasping) to sand the corner and the back.

I've been doing this project for 26 years now, and I estimate we've made at least 26,000 of these one-stringed dulcimers.

Kids, look, look.

There's a little gap right along the top.

What you're going to do is take your pen, I'm gonna borrow your pencil there, sorry.

And you're gonna make a little up and down mark, go (vocalizes).

I do not get bored with repeating lessons.

I find it's exciting to see the small differences between schools, and that just adds to the depth of those lessons that I do.

And I just feel really lucky to be in Minnesota where there's great support for artists.

Two, one, two, ready, go.

(dulcimers strumming) (playful music) Great job, you learn so fast.

- Oh, the students love it so much.

It's like their own instrument, and they take ownership in it because they have made the project.

This is one of those timeless projects.

High school kids will wander through the building for things, and they'll stop and they'll say, "I still have my dulcimer.

"I still play my dulcimer sometimes."

I think it would be great if everybody could create their own music at some point in their lives.

(dulcimers plucking) - What's important to me is that as many students as possible in the classroom have success.

And what's important about this project is I found that it doesn't matter if you're from a rural area, a suburban area, or an urban area.

This project works, and kids learn how to play it.

- The one-stringed dulcimer they build here seems like such a simple instrument.

It's just one string.

You know, you just kinda think it wouldn't take much, but the skill that's needed to be able to press one finger and pluck the string or know where your finger goes and how to create the best sound, it's a really more complex instrument than it initially appears.

- Start.

Change.

(dulcimers plucking) - [Allysa] It's such a wonderful relationship we've fostered over the years, and he has really grown to be such a loved person in our community.

- I won't ask my teacher.

- [Students] I won't ask my teacher.

- Or Mr. Sutter.

- [Students] Or Mr. Sutter.

- Where does the gap go?

- [Students] Where does the gap go?

- Because I know where the gap goes.

- [Students] Because I know where the gap goes.

- It goes in the goo.

♪ Doo doo ba doo doo doo - Now, you're getting it.

♪ Doo ba doo doo - They get to take it home at the end.

And a lot of 'em will say, even before Mr. Sutter came, like, "My sister, my brother has one at home," so they've been practicing on those.

And Mr. Sutter encourages them to bring in their sibling's dulcimers if they need a tuneup or anything, so that they could have a little family band at home.

(hammer rapping) (students chatting) (dulcimers strumming) ♪ La la la la la la la - On Friday, we will take our dulcimers in the morning and go down to our local care center and play for the residents there.

And then, in the afternoon, we'll perform for the elementary.

So they get up on stage in our auditorium, and they perform in front of the school, which is really exciting for them and scary for some of them too.

(dulcimers strumming) (relaxed music) - I love working with kids because this dulcimer project I do, I see them, every kid in the room succeeds.

And to see how excited they get about that music.

And I think that's the real core of what I'm trying to do when I'm in schools is I wanna connect with every kid if possible.

- In just one week, they go from not ever having touched this instrument to being able to play songs they know.

And that just increases their confidence in all different areas.

Music and art is an outlet for so many kids that otherwise wouldn't get to experience a way to express themselves.

You know, math and reading is not everybody's strong suit.

And so I think giving everybody a wide variety of choices, including the arts, is really, really essential.

- [Ross] Good, anybody have a particular story about the decoration on your box that you could tell?

- I have.

It's an album from Taylor Swift.

This says "Fearless."

- Lots of Taylor Swift going on in the classroom.

- Yeah, I had a football game today, so I did like big football.

- I'm still working on this side, but I kinda, I like the outdoors, so I was gonna put some coloring right here for a little outdoor scene.

- I think I would sit there for two hours and try and decide what I'm gonna put on the box.

Well, we better practice our "Boil 'em Cabbage Down."

Do you remember that one?

Ready, go?

♪ Dan dan dan dan ding ding (dulcimers plucking) 10 years into the project of making these dulcimers, someone said to me that, "Well, I'm not surprised "you're making one-stringed dulcimers "or an instrument like that.

"In Sweden, your great-grandfather played "a one-stringed instrument."

He played a particular instrument called the psalmodicon, which is a one-stringed instrument that was used in the churches before they had organs.

And when the fiddles had been basically banned from the churches, 'cause it was for dancing, he played the psalmodicon and used it to teach the hymns to people.

This is the instrument I was given when I was in Sweden this summer, and it is a psalmodicon.

And the people that gave it to me on Solleron that worked in the church there believed this might be the instrument that was played by my great-grandfather there.

The psalmodicon, instead of having a diatonic scale, it has a chromatic scale.

(psalmodicon plucking) You have all the sharps and flats.

So thereby, it's a more difficult instrument to play.

Now, to simplify it, they use what they call transition sticks.

And they put numbers on the stick.

These are very faint.

They're so faint, I can't even use them to play.

But you lay the stick on top and suddenly you have numbers that you can play.

(psalmodicon plucking) Now, this psalmodicon is very old.

We think it's probably at least 150 years old and needs a lot of repair, so I'm going to have some work done on it.

It has a beautiful old bow.

It doesn't have the horse hair on it right now, but to adjust it and tighten it, you don't have a screw system.

You just pull on the frog to tighten the horse hair, and then you hook it onto one of these little bumps here.

And that's how you keep the horse hair tight.

And then, you play the instrument like so.

You can also pluck it.

(soft music) When I think of my Swedish heritage and the music, I feel very authentic doing that music.

I like to think of it as it's a living tradition that even people who aren't of Swedish or Scandinavian heritage can enjoy.

(soft music continues) (enthralling music) (enthralling music continues) - [Narrator] "Postcards" is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the Citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies.

Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota, on the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a year-round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails, and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information at explorealex.com.

A better future starts now.

West Central Initiative empowers communities with resources, funding, and support for a thriving region, more at wcif.org.

(calm ambient music)