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Peggy Carter

Peggy Carter is a teacher and performer living in Houston Texas. She hails originally from Florida where she earned a degree in Music from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. She taught public school music in Florida, North Carolina and Texas where she recently retired as Head Choral Director in Houston, Texas and from teaching Continuing Education at Houston Community College and North Harris Community College.

Here are some of Peggy's accomplishments:

1) Won the 1994 Texas State Hammer Dulcimer Championship, and the 1996 Southern Regional Competition.
2) Selected for the touring roster of both the Texas Commission for the Arts and Young Audiences of Houston.
3) As a soloist or with her string band, Texas Bound, she brings audiences an exciting program of fiddle tunes, planxtys, jigs, reels, hornpipes, polkas, gospel and Classical Music.
4) She's Toured frequently since 1995, and performed across the USA and abroad.
5)She has been on the program at the Texas Music Educators Convention and the Florida Music Teachers Convention presenting workshops for music teachers on using the dulcimer in the General Music classroom.
6) She is frequently invited to perform and accompany at schools, craft shows and festivals in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas, and has performed throughout Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina, California, Idaho and Florida.
7) In 2000 she made a performance tour to Ireland and since that time she has done over 100 performances every year at venues that include:
• The Ozark Folk Center in Mt. View, AR
• The Houston Rodeo
• The Houston Summer Acoustic Music Festival (SAMFest)
• The Texas Folk Life Festival in San Antonio
• The Texas State Arts and Crafts Fair in Kerrville, TX
• The Ranching Heritage Festivals in Kingsville, and Refugio, TX
• The Dickens-On-The-Strand Victorian Christmas festival in Galveston, • Shindig-On-The-Green in Asheville, NC
• The Missouri Valley Old Time Music Festival in Iowa
• Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO
• The Mission Beach Galleria in San Diego, CA
• The Bonner County Fair in Sandpoint, ID
• The Hill Country Acoustic Music Camp in Kerrville, TX.

For eight years Peggy, with Texas Bound, provided live music for the Country Peddler Craft Shows in Texas and Louisiana. She organized and directs Strings and Things, a folk orchestra which performs regularly at local folk festivals, churches, retirement centers and community events.

In 1993 Peggy & her husband, Chuck, founded HAAMS (Houston Area Acoustic Music Society) to promote and teach folk music and acoustic instrumental music. From 1995 to 2004, they produced SAMFest (Summer Acoustic Music Festival) held annually in Houston. SAMFest became one of the most successful dulcimer and acoustic music festivals in the country.

Peggy has produced four CDs and numerous books and arrangements for hammer dulcimer, Mt. dulcimer and acoustic ensembles.

The Hammer Dulcimer As a Solo Instrument

The hammer dulcimer is often associated with traditional music and is frequently heard at folk festivals accompanying traditional dancing and in Irish sessions. Classical music, however, is not beyond the limits of the dulcimer, and because of the dulcimer's uniqueness, it is frequently used for weddings, private parties, open-houses, art galleries, and other functions at which elegant music is desired.

The history of the hammer dulcimer remains a mystery, but musicologists agree that it has been around since ancient times, and that it appears in slightly different forms in many countries throughout the world.

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