Tina Gugeler - Teacher (Hammered Dulcimer and Bodhrán)

Meet music teacher Tina Gugeler! She teaches hammered dulcimer and bodhrán. Tina was musical from an early age and always playing around with different instruments. She’s had minimal formal musical training (a year of piano which taught her to read notes and a music theory class), so Tina is mostly self-taught. Her musical focus changed in 1985 when she first “saw someone playing the hammered dulcimer and I just had to learn how to play that!” So, she bought an instrument and taught herself to play. 

While she’s an accomplished musician (and has even won some awards - first place in the hammered dulcimer competition at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS in 2000 and 2015), playing music isn’t Tina’s only talent - “I was a registered nurse for almost 30 years and have dabbled in many hobbies (art, photography, polymer clay, weaving, flying, diving), but music has been my constant activity.”

Tina began teaching hammered dulcimer after moving from Ketchikan, AK to Denver around 1992. Currently she teaches students of all ages (mostly adults) the hammered dulcimer and bodhrán at the Center for Musical Arts in Lafayette, CO, and at the Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp and Colorado Dulcimer Festival. 

Tina enjoys the thrill of seeing her students “get excited about the instrument, like I did when I first started learning.” She also believes taking music lessons is a smart thing to do - “People should take lessons to learn some basics on the instrument, then it’s up to the individual’s desire if they need more lessons or can continue on their own. A lot depends on their motivation.”

Some of Tina’s favorite music to listen to goes back to “what I first learned on the hammered dulcimer, which was Celtic and New England fiddle tunes for dances. My first repertoire book was ‘The Fiddler’s Fakebook’, which had lots of good fiddle tunes in it from Celtic, French Canadian, New England, old-time tunes and more”. She also enjoys playing oldies from the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s on the hammered dulcimer.

Interested in taking lessons or learning more about Tina? Feel free to contact her at 303-249-6331 or tgugeler@yahoo.com