Twice a week, the melodic tones of instruments can be heard at either Chota Recreation Center or Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church.

The Mountain Echoes Dulcimer Club has endured nearly two decades in Tellico Village, attracting anyone interested in gathering to play.

“I emphasize to everybody that we’re recreational players,” Ben D’Ooge, club leader, said. “We’re just doing this for fun. It’s not to take it too seriously and don’t worry about the mistakes. We play gigs for fun, no money involved or anything.”


Members are preparing for appearances later this year at an Oak Ridge church, Click Funeral Home in Tellico Village and for Taking Off Pounds Sensibly, D’Ooge said.

“It is a dulcimer club, so dulcimer is the key instrument around, but we welcome any other mainly acoustic instruments — although sometimes we’ll do electronic amplification,” D’Ooge said. “One of our members has what’s called a micro-bass — it’s like a bass ukulele — but it’s such a quiet instrument by itself you have to run it through an amplifier in order (to hear it well). ... We’ve had, of course, guitar players. We’ve had a couple of violin players with us, the auto harp.”

“We have an auto harp that plays when she’s in town,” Kathie Garzony, club member, added.

Although music is key for members, D’Ooge said socialization is just as important.

“Everybody is interested in music, but we’re also very good friends,” D’Ooge said. “... We’re just playing, again, for the fun of it. We have songs that were in the group when I started that Donna (Hitchens, club founder) had introduced and then I’ve been introducing songs to the group that we either picked up at workshops and have been given permission to share, or things that I picked up here or there. If you stay playing the same old songs, people get bored after a while.”

The club tries to keep the music fresh and is open for new songs.

“A good example of it, mostly input is from what I gather, I’m actively always looking for music and there’s a couple of online sources — nationally known dulcimer teachers, instructors, performers, recording artists put out monthly newsletters and they usually include free tabs on it,” D’Ooge said. “I always pick one of those off and we introduce them every month.”

The club was forced to halt in-person meetings as the world first navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic, but twice-weekly gatherings resumed in the spring.

“As I recall, we kind of made a decision to say, ‘OK, once everybody’s been vaccinated or has had the opportunity to be vaccinated, then we would come back,’ and we left it up to individual discretion,” Pat McLarnan, club member, said. “If people were comfortable with it, we played with masks for a while and eventually we abandoned that.”

Chairs are still spread out during sessions.

Meeting turnout varies weekly, with some as high as 10 or 15.

“Some people find Fridays are the only time they can meet, some on only Tuesdays,” D’Ooge said. “A few people do the twice-a-week.”

McLarnan came Friday to play guitar. He and his wife, Karen, joined the group about four years ago after moving from Ohio. Although Pat continues to play guitar, Karen bought a dulcimer to learn.

“I think you’d find that with most members of the group that they did not play a dulcimer before they moved into the area,” he said. “We’re all retirees for the most part.”

That’s the case for Garzony, who has attended meetings for about 15 years.

“First of all, I love music,” Garzony said. “Second of all, the people in the dulcimer community are so loving, friendly, compassionate.”

The club meets 1:30-3:30 p.m. Tuesdays at Chota Recreation Center and 1-3 p.m. Fridays at Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church.