Jen -

Jennifer Olson is a talented multi-instrumentalist. She plays about a dozen stringed instruments (we think – at some point she stopped counting) and several percussion instruments. The first stringed instrument she picked up was the mountain dulcimer, at age 5, and she then moved on to piano lessons and playing violin in the school orchestra. In college she was given her first hammered dulcimer, and began to explore Celtic music. Her first tax return from her first real job after college was spent on a used harp from Dusty Strings, which she taught herself how to play from a video. In 2003, seeking a new musical challenge, she began taking lessons in Middle Eastern music, and shortly afterwards taught herself to play the oud and began performing in several bands. Much of her music experience has been related to playing for dancers – contra dancing, Renaissance dance, and Middle Eastern dance. Jennifer has performed at Salem World Beat Festival, Seattle Folklife Festival, Yakima Folklife Festival, Tumbleweed Music Festival, Jamballah, and many local restaurants, farmers markets, and living history events. She also regularly teaches workshops on the historic music of the Ottoman Empire and on fretted zithers of the European Renaissance, and is working on a project to convert Renaissance and Medieval tunes to mountain dulcimer tablature to make historic music more accessible for the modern beginning musician on a budget.