Dulcimer Musicians & Teachers
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY:
Father & daughter duo Wayne Emery + Carrie Pasma are the force behind western Marion County’s Appalachian & old-time music revival. Wayne Emery was introduced to the mountain (lap) dulcimer through a teacher at Elgin, where he taught for decades — she innocently brought one to the school’s teacher’s lounge. Flash-forward several years later, and Wayne had become a part of one of North-Central Ohio’s leading dulcimer orchestras, and traveled the country playing, performing, & building fellowship at Appalachian & old-time festivals across the region. He even met his wife — a fellow dulcimer player — through this pivotal dulcimer choir; together, the group released several albums.
The children Wayne Emery & his wife raised grew up on the dulcimers — literally. Daughter Carrie Pasma remembers falling asleep inside her parents’ soft-cover dulcimer cases at the endless jam sessions, festivals, and workshops their parents would drag them to as they helped build the Midwest’s old-time music revival. Summer after summer, the family would travel to perform, especially, at Kentucky Music Week — an important festival in the maintenance of old-time musical traditions.
At home, at the family’s hometown of Prospect, Wayne Emery began to get so many calls to teach the dulcimer to his friends & neighbors & fellow church-goers that he suddenly found himself an unusual sort of bandleader: in charge of a dulcimer orchestra at his local church! The dulcimer orchestra has had such an impact in Prospect & in the local church community that, to this day, Wayne’s church offers two morning services: a traditional worship service, and a dulcimer service!
Wayne Emery’s daughter, Carrie Pasma — now of La Rue, Ohio — didn’t always start out embracing the old-time music tradition. Despite growing up at dulcimer conventions & old time jams across the region, she went away to college & did other things with her life … until Wayne won a beginner’s hammered dulcimer for her at an old-time music gathering. Soon — although she was just learning to play herself — Carrie began getting requests from kids at her church, and in her home-schooling community, to learn the majestic hammered dulcimer. So, she began learning — and teaching.
Now, the accomplished Marion County father & daughter dulcimer duo have performed together across the region; and Carrie has come full circle with her family’s old-time music legacy in a powerful way: by being invited to join the staff at the prestigious Kentucky Music Week as their hammered dulcimer instructor.
Wayne & Carrie are true exemplars of a homegrown, community-nurtured Marion County folk music tradition, and we are so lucky to have them in our county!
SHOP // ADDRESS:
Contact the Marion Voices Folklife + Oral History Project to reach Wayne or Carrie with inquiries about private or group lessons, workshops, performances, or for information about their regional North-Central Ohio Dulcimer Club Meet-Up & Jams!
SERVICES:
Musical Performance; Lessons; Workshops
GENRES:
Folk Musics — Dulcimer; Hammered Dulcimer; Old-Time Music
PROJECT MEDIA:
PHOTO GALLERY:
