Folk music and folklore filled the air Thursday night in Watkins Auditorium.

The UTM Department of Visual and Theater Arts hosted the Sharon Dulcimer Orchestra in which a crowd of faculty, students, and Weakley County residents nearly filled the ground floor seats of the auditorium. The music was up-tempo and easy to sing along with, which was expected of the audience.

Prentice Ary founded the group in 2002. Ary is also the conductor, a guitarist and main singer of the group. When asked how he got this all started, he said,”After being retired, I needed something to do, so I started pluckin’ the guitar.”

Ary said that the idea came when he and a group of seniors visited the mountains and bought dulcimers and were inspired to start the group. All the musicians live in the Northwest Tennessee area and some own local shops or work in the area.

Musician J. Preston Prather said that more than 80 percent of the musicians did not even know how to play an instrument until about two to four years ago whenever they entered the group. They all came to Sharon, Tenn., throughout the year to practice together. The concert is performed every year in the middle of November at UTM.

There were 30 musicians, mostly playing dulcimers, who played about 30 different folk songs. Before each song was played, Walter Haden and Prather gave some history behind the song. These folklorists spoke of why the song was written or information about the composer or piece of music about to be played.

The orchestra did not just play songs from the past 200 years; they had some more recent songs from the past 50 years that the whole audience was able to appreciate. They covered songs by The Carter Family, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, John Denver, and Rascal Flatts. Children were encouraged to play the simpler instruments laid out across the floor just in front of the stage. The young children had smiles on their faces as they played with the orchestra through every song.

Some UTM students were incorporated into the program as well. Six dancers from a dance and arts class synchronized dances to go along with a few of the songs. The children joined in with the dancers, and as the music went on, more and more adults were compelled to dance also.

The night was filled with laughter, applause, and good music which seemed to remind everyone of their heritage.

“We’re just a group of singers, and we’re not quittin’ yet.” said Ary.

The orchestra is scheduled to come back next year on November 15, 2007 to play for the local folk song fans and they made some fans this year that will be sure to come back for more.