Bursting with wit, wonder, and musical invention, Malcolm Dalglish weaves together a kaleidoscopic world of mime, rhyme, clownery, story ballads, and irresistible rhythmic play, where spoons become instruments, tools, and even martial arts, bones and body percussion become mnemonic adventures, and true stories that “really could have happened” unfold.
Whether crafting full-length ceremonial works celebrating the natural world, collaborating with choirs across the country, or inspiring students and educators in residencies and workshops, Dalglish leaves audiences with a renewed reverence for words, music, community, and the boundless creative spark that keeps singing.
Click each link to expand your horizons and explore Malcolm’s oeuvre!
Malcolm Dalglish gave, in my opinion, the most imaginative and entertaining performance I’ve seen for young children. He allowed their imaginations to soar toward levels of enjoyment that inspired me as a teacher. He is truly a magical performer.
Alana Dunn
Wayside Elementary
Potomac, Maryland
An extravaganza of mime, rhyme, rhythm, and song, intriguing story ballads, fast paced clownery, goofy mnemonic devices for learning body percussion and the playing of bones, earfuls of rhythmic verse, handfuls of fundamentals on spoons as percussion, spoons in the construction of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, spoons as martial art, anecdotal instructions on how one might hold onto the inspiration of new musical ideas while facing down the fearsome advances of neighborhood attack dogs… All of this is interspersed with original hammer dulcimer music. The Wild, Wild, Word Show leaves audiences with a new appreciation for the making of music and the music of words.
The children were spellbound!
Trish Fraker
Music teacher
Herndon, Virginia
Hey Mister! You do that frog face again, I’ll give you FOUR BUCKS!
Fifth grade girl
Burnsville Elementary
Braxton County, West Virginia
This was outstanding. I didn’t want him to stop!
Cindy Adams
Webster Elementary
Tempe, Arizona
He’s funnier than Jim Carrey!
4th grader
Phoenix, Arizona
The best program we have ever had in our school!
John Miller
Principal
Jasper, Indiana
The best program I’ve seen in my thirty year career!
Russell Maki
Community Program Specialist
Chisolm, Minnesota
Malcolm Dalglish’s musicianship exemplifies the expansive range of the new acoustic sound. Technically brilliant and eminently open-minded, he is the first major artist to successfully merge the traditions of the hammer dulcimer with the sounds and concepts of today’s global village.
Andy Cirzan
Ravinia Festival (Chicago)
Malcolm Dalglish’s show goes to that ageless part of the brain, the imagination. “True stories that really could have happened…” are interwoven with the sounds of “two mallets dancing on a sea of strings.” The compositions and playing techniques brought together on the hammer dulcimer Dalglish has built for himself are just as inventive as the stories he tells. The dulcimer pieces have many sections, at times emphasizing mystical rhythmic textures available on this ancient international instrument, other times voicing the simple lyricism of an old folk hymn or melody. The oldest form of the dulcimer, the santur, was played by the poets and storytellers of Mesopotamia in 2000 BC. With Dalglish, a contemporary form of this performance comes alive once again in a captivating show of rhyme, rhythm, story and song. Dalglish occasionally appears with percussionists Glen Velez or N. Scott Robinson, who have similar approaches to their instruments.
The tonal nuances and dynamic range he elicited from the instrument were simply brilliant.
Austin Chronicle
Malcolm Dalglish wrapped a black cloak around his shoulders and the Woodstock Opera House audience around his finger.
The Northwest Herald
A master of the Hammer Dulcimer.
Billboard
Dalglish’s dulcimer sounds are both incomparable and indescribable, like moonbeams on a classical harp.
San Francisco Examiner
A consummate master of the hammer dulcimer.. He can make the instrument sing like a harpsichord, synthesizer, piano, mandolin, and banjo, then coax sounds from it that simply defy description.”
Pulse Magazine
In September 1997, the Ooolites came together as a studio ensemble to record two CDs of Dalglish folk choir music, Hymnody of Earth and Pleasure. The Ooolites were born. From those beginnings, the Ooolites have gone on to become one of the most dynamic performing ensembles in the explosive music scene of Bloomington Indiana, with featured appearances at the Lotus World Music Festival and the Bloomington Early Music Festival. The membership includes nationally renowned singers and dancers as well as those who are still in school. They’ve all grown up in folk music and dance worlds with diverse areas of expertise ranging from percussive forms of dance like clogging and tap, old time American fiddle and dance music to early American and European sacred music, African and Balkan music and dance, and original contemporary a cappella music. Their performances, the product of fun and chaotic rehearsals, are held together by group movement, animated theatrics and sheer enthusiasm for the music.
Forget Shenandoah. This is more like folk Mozart meets Bobby McFerrin. These young singers redefine our concept of ‘youth choir’.
Bloomington Voice
Dalglish is wondrously adept at envisioning what vocal polyphony can do, and very sensitive to the poetry he’s dealing with. I’ve heard him as a solo folksinger, but these choral compositions, revealing mystic gifts and sonorities unavailable to the soloist, send shivers up my spine.
Dr. Austin Caswell
Professor of Musicology
Indiana University School of Music
A ceremony of songs that celebrate the grace of our natural surroundings, extolling a reverence for trees, birds, and the balance of fields and woods. Written for mixed voices, hammer dulcimer, and percussion, this full length work featuring the poetry of Kentucky farmer Wendell Berry also makes use of some Shaker as well as early American hymn melodies. Other choir collaborations are possible. Malcolm appears as guest composer, soloist, and accompanist with choirs featuring his works. There are over fifty published choral pieces with his unique use of the folk idiom.
Highly evocative… sparkling and pensive arrangements… The voices underscored and illuminated Wendell Berry’s reflections on the power, grace, holiness and fragility of nature… the ensemble received a well earned standing ovation.
Washington Post
A wonderful collaboration combining the evocative hammer dulcimer and the alluring sound of these young voices… simultaneously entertaining and enlightening.
Dick Van Kleeck
Kentucky Center for the Arts
As guest composer, accompanist, and teacher, Malcolm Dalglish has been a popular choice for appearances and residencies in schools, communities, singing camps, and music educator conferences throughout the land.
You need to see this man in action and hear his music to believe this is true… In rapid succession he moves fluently between being composer, actor, comedian, clown, singer, dancer, storyteller, spoons, and dulcimer virtuoso. I have witnessed him in front of youngsters 2 to 18 and their attention is fixed on his every move and sound. Music education has never been more fun!
Mary Goetze
Associate Professor of Music Education
Indiana University School of Music
A modern day pied piper of children’s choir music!
Henry Leck, Director
Indianapolis Children’s Choir
Malcolm Dalglish will take what you know about music and put you in the passenger seat on a journey to places you never thought you could go.
Brian Blattman
Ninth grader