Benjamin Barker

A teenager from Wilkesboro, NC, took home second place in his first hammer dulcimer contest at Winfield. Benjamin Barker is a high school student who, thanks to dual enrollment opportunities, will graduate with an associate’s degree in business from Wilkes Community College in May, along with is high school degree. He plans to go to Berkley to study music and arrangement upon graduation. Barker is a student of Joshua Messick, who suggested that he enter the hammer dulcimer contest in Winfield this year. Barker has played piano since age five, and picked up the harp a couple of years ago. He said he appreciates the fact that the hammer dulcimer is treated the same as the other instruments at Winfield. He returned home with the second-place trophy, $125, and a Cloud Nine Model 18/17/9 Hammer Dulcimer provided by Michael C. Allen with Cloud Nine Musical Instruments in Ostrander, OH.