Sources of Sound

Derek Graziano, Owner of "Sources of Sound"

-Luthier, Lapidarist, Musician, and Healer

 

"I've always loved building things. I think I knew I wanted to build one (hammered dulcimer) as soon as I saw one."

 

"Symmetry and spatial awareness have always been part of my consciousness."

 

      In high school, math came easy. Engineering and problem solving courses were part of Derek's curriculum, and skills that just seemed second nature. All the while, an intuitive and creative energy was growing.

      Derek followed that intuition when he dropped out of college in the first week and bought a guitar with part of his reimbursement. He went with his cousin Chris to House of Guitars in Rochester, NY and bought his first acoustic guitar, which set Derek on a musical journey, that continues still. He says that very shortly after starting to play the guitar, he was very "touched by music."

 

"I began and ended everyday with that guitar."

 

      Derek's cousin Chris passed on some guitar knowledge, and his friend Dave taught him some drum rudiments; Derek began practicing beats on a drum pad. This self-training expanded to learning to play drum kit, even playing drums in an experimental band.

      All the while that Derek was developing his musical talents, his design and engineering capabilites were ready to bubble over. Derek studied welding and fabrication at a tech school in southwest PA. He worked in that field for a short while, but knew that he was destined for something else. 

       Derek's heart brought him back to Rochester in 2005. Derek and his girlfriend Laura frequented an Ethiopian buffet. One day while eating there, they noticed a flier for an upcoming performance. A man would be playing a 'hammered dulcimer' (let's call it 'HD')  This was something neither of them had heard of, and Derek knew, without a doubt, that he would want one of these instruments. And so, they attended the performance: Nate Hanks, on hammered dulcimer (HD). 

        It was such a moving performance. Derek wept with the emotion that Nate's music and the instrument evoked. After the first song, he was at Nate's side, asking about the HD. During the course of conversation, Derek learned that the HD Nate was performing on was brand new, and that he owned another one that he was actually trying to sell. This was a moment when Derek's life path changed dramatically.

        Nate offered to rent his old HD to Derek, giving him a chance to play it and decide if he would really want it. There was really no doubt though, this instrument was for Derek. After a month of listening to Nate's 'Malcolm Dalglish' tapes and playing with the HD, Derek met up with Nate and played a bit of what he had come up with. Nate was impressed, and immediately inspired to tell Derek that he needed to just take the HD and start sharing his music with the world. With pure generosity, he told Derek to just send him payments as he could for this beautiful, epic instrument.  

 

"This dulcimer needs you, and you need this dulcimer."  -Nate Hanks

 

      Over the next 6 months, Derek composed several songs on the HD, mostly while living in Greensburg, PA. In 2007, while playing music in front of a coffeeshop in downtown, a kind fellow named Chuck offered to record Derek's compositions in his basement studio. Shortly after recording 'The Epic Quest,' Derek and Laura quit their jobs, packed camping gear and instruments in their car, and began traveling the United States.

       Spiritual intuition inspired them to go, and there seemed to be a subconscious urgency to spread the music widely. Derek played the HD at farmers markets, on street corners, at bars and coffeeshops, from Flagstaff AZ, to Portland OR, to Madison, WI. All the while that they were spreading the music, the couple gained a deep connection to Earth. Derek and Laura lived in the National Forest for most of that summer-long journey, cooking meals on a fire and sleeping in the embrace of the majestic forest. This is an important part of the story; a time of blossoming creativity and connecting with the purpose. And the whole time, within his creative thoughts, Derek was dreaming of building hammered dulcimers.

       Summer 2008 was when Derek and Laura were drawn to Asheville, NC. They lived in the forest again, and while out there connecting with nature, Derek stumbled upon a revelation. He saw a beautiful stone in the ground, and started picking at the dirt around it. He proceeded to pull a big chunk of quartz out of the ground. He had an immediate thought:

 

"I wonder if I can make a bridge for an instrument out of gemstone?"

 

         That thought remained with Derek, and later came to fruition, but other things needed to happen first. He sought out a teacher, a master-builder of hammered dulcimers, Jerry Read Smith, who owns 'Song of the Wood' in Black Mountain, NC. Jerry had learned from Malcolm Dalglish, a HD player and builder who had been great musical inspiration for Derek. When Derek inquired about a job, Jerry made a suggestion: for Derek to help with a landscaping job on his property. Depending on how that went, Jerry would consider giving him a position in his workshop. Derek performed jobs such as setting stone stairs in a hillside, laying gravel pathways, and setting up a lighting system. After 2 weeks and completing this project, Jerry invited Derek into his workshop, and got him sanding and finishing hammered dulcimers and bowed psalteries. 

          Derek was priviliged to witness these masterpiece HDs, and was always dreaming of building one of his own. His design was gradually formulating in his mind. He was thinking of different tuning layouts, of incorporating chromatic notes. He also questioned the tonal quality coming through plastic or brass bridge caps, believing there must be a better material to use. The idea of gemstone bridge caps was hovering, and near-ready to become manifest. 

          After a year working in Jerry's shop, Derek and Laura moved back to PA, and got married in August 2009. Over the next year they did more traveling and living in the forest; down to the Florida panhandle, and then back to western NC, where they lived on a friend's pristine and expansive mountaintop property for the summer. After an autumn sojourn in northern California, the couple headed back to Florida, and began residing/working on an organic farm in a small town, Sopchoppy. Crescent Moon Farms is where they got to know an amazing man, farmer and ex-sailor, Jack Simmons. It is also where Derek built his first hammered dulcimer.

        Before becoming an organic farmer, Jack Simmons lived and sailed in the Virgin Islands for 25 years. During that time, he reclaimed various exotic hardwoods from home and boat renovation sites. Jack generously offered these beautiful woods to Derek, and the woodworking tools at hand, to build a hammered dulcimer. 

        Years of mental notes came spilling from Derek's mind, through his hands, and into the wood at hand, and a dream was created. He created each and every part of his HD with the deepest healing intention. He designed symbolic rosettes; one near the bass end with a crescent moon and morning star made of sodalite gemstone, as well as a rosette of yellowheart on the treble end, glowing and sculpted into the sacred geometry of the sun. Derek would put on the classical station in the workshop, and leave it playing while he wasn't there, believing those vibrations would be of positive effect. And he sanded a Reiki symbol around the sound hole on the back of the hammered dulcimer, the "Cho Ku Rei" which translates as "Place the Power of the Universe Here." 

           As he was building his HD, Derek made a serendipitous connection with a lapidarist named Rod. (A lapidarist is an expert in precious stones and the art or techniques used in cutting them.) Rod allowed Derek the use of his lapidary tools and gave him tutorial on shaping gemstones. Derek walked away with dozens of beautiful bridge caps made of jade, rose quartz, and amethyst gemstones. With leftover pieces of each stone (including sodalite from the rosette) he made a wire-wrapped pendant, with the intention of wearing it whenever playing the HD, to be connected on that energetic, healing level with the music. 

            Derek could not stop with just one hammered dulcimer. He moved back to western NC and named his business 'Sources of Sound.' Within 2 years, he built 5 other hammered dulcimers of various sizes. One has a linear chromatic tuning, and glows with beautiful petrified wood bridge caps. Another glistens with amethyst bridge caps, and the owner's name engraved in the damper bars. For the other HDs, Derek used hardwood (ebony and hardrock maple) for the bridge caps.  

          Derek is now making custom-fit bridges for guitars, and he envisions/intends fitting gemstones on many other instruments.        

          Gemstone bridges enhance the tonal quality of a musical instrument. Crystals, having a harder density than plastic/wood, allow more frequencies to be projected through the sound box of the instrument, giving each note a fuller depth. The crystals help the instrument sustain notes much longer, and on fretted instruments, the ability to play harmonics is increased.

          Gemstone bridges amplify the healing vibrations of the music. Derek intends to spread this concept far and wide. The aesthetic appeal of the gemstone is one thing, but if musicians and sound healers can utilize these beautiful tools of the Earth, all of our lives will be transformed and strengthened.

           

"Crystals are connected to the Mothership Earth. Being connected through the music in this way can do a lot of good."

 

            Using sound and music towards healing is a powerful approach to bringing balance; balance of our physical, emotional, and spiritual bodies, balance of our Earth, and balance of all of the Universe, all of Creation. Subtle vibrations through gemstones will heighten the healing energy, and help dispel many blockages. 

           Derek is striving to take the healing aspect of gemstones and music as far as he can. He is formulating designs for various intricate, healing-focused creations, including chakra-hammered dulcimers. He really never knows what's coming, as he intuitively creates the next dream that arises.

 

" I have blueprints, but don't actually need them."

 

           Please check back, as the story dives deeper!

 

 

Other interesting tidbits:

 

 ~ In '08-'09 Derek handcrafted a djembe (African drum) especially for his wife, Laura. He hand-carved it from a chunk of cherry wood. He even blacksmithed a couple of tools to hack out the inner pulp of this log. Derek carved meaningful symbology into the drum; a crescent moon and water, and a scorpion depicting Laura's astrological connection. This project is a wonderful example of the personal intention Derek pours into his creations.

 

~Also in 2009, Derek built an instrument of his imagination, which he termed the "S.O.S." a.k.a. "Science of Sound." This instrument is undergoing design modifications in Derek's mind, and will resurrect someday soon, complete with gemstones.

          

 ~Derek is constructing his first chlavichord, which will feature modifications to the standard design. The bridges, of course, will be made of gemstone.