Katie Moritz

2013 National Hammered Dulcimer Champion, Katie Moritz is a musician and teacher hailing from the Chicagoland area in Northern Illinois. She’s been playing music ever since she could remember, starting piano as a very small child and playing the tuba through school. Her taste in music is geared towards more eclectic sounds and it wasn’t till she started playing the hammered dulcimer that she found her authentic musical “voice”. The unique instrument was able to seamlessly sew together Katie’s love of traditional music from around the world, 1940’s jazz standards, Broadway musicals, bluegrass, and pop.

While studying under an Illinois hammered dulcimer master, Bill Robinson, Katie has been awarded 7 consecutive folk arts apprenticeship grants with the Illinois Arts Council (partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.) She has spent over a decade studying traditional music and is dedicated to teaching and continuing a traditional style of playing. At the same time, she has also spent most of her life learning and playing music in scholarly settings, which has influenced her dulcimer playing to encompass an uncommon blend of old and new. This edge has led her to receive various recognitions including placing 1st in the Mid-East and Southern regional contests, and the National Hammered Dulcimer Championship. In 2019 Katie even became a finalist in the National Mountain Dulcimer Championship.

Katie holds a Master's degree in Design & Media and an Associate's degree in Music Performance. She has taught and performed at many festivals and gatherings around the United States. Along with the hammered dulcimer, Katie is a multi-instrumentalist who plays mountain dulcimer, 'ukulele, steel pan, guitar, and more.

Currently, Katie’s dulcimer playing can be heard on a Duet CD called Kaleidoscope, which is available for
sale on this website.


				Katie Moritz's Workshops
			Back
			Patterns that Fuel Creativity (Beginner & Up) Learn fun and easy patterns that can help you develop musical intuition with creative expression, dynamics, hand independence, chord notes, and more! We will start small and build on each pattern to demonstrate how much these patterns can grow with you as you increase your skills.
		Add Cromatics to Anything (Intermediate & Up) In this workshop we will learn how to jazz up your playing by adding chromatic runs to the tunes that are already in your repertoire. I'll provide a collection of examples from excerpts of the most popular fiddle tunes and more.
	Arranging Songs from Musicals (Intermediate & Up) Dive into arranging music from Broadway. In this workshop, you will learn a step-by-step process outlining where to start, how to find the most usable notation, and how you can transpose pieces into dulcimer-friendly keys. A couple popular songs from musicals will be used as examples.
2013 National Hammered Dulcimer Champion, Katie Moritz is a musician and teacher hailing from the Chicagoland area in Northern Illinois. She’s been playing music ever since she could remember, starting piano as a very small child and playing the tuba through school. Her taste in music is geared towards more eclectic sounds and it wasn’t till she started playing the hammered dulcimer that she found her authentic musical “voice”. The unique instrument was able to seamlessly sew together Katie’s love of traditional music from around the world, 1940’s jazz standards, Broadway musicals, bluegrass, and pop. While studying under an Illinois hammered dulcimer master, Bill Robinson, Katie has been awarded 7 consecutive folk arts apprenticeship grants with the Illinois Arts Council (partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.) She has spent over a decade studying traditional music and is dedicated to teaching and continuing a traditional style of playing. At the same time, she has also spent most of her life learning and playing music in scholarly settings, which has influenced her dulcimer playing to encompass an uncommon blend of old and new. This edge has led her to receive various recognitions including placing 1st in the Mid-East and Southern regional contests, and the National Hammered Dulcimer Championship. In 2019 Katie even became a finalist in the National *Mountain* Dulcimer Championship. Katie holds a Master's degree in Design & Media and an Associate's degree in Music Performance. She has taught and performed at many festivals and gatherings around the United States. Along with the hammered dulcimer, Katie is a multi-instrumentalist who plays mountain dulcimer, 'ukulele, steel pan, guitar, and more. Currently, Katie’s dulcimer playing can be heard on a Duet CD called Kaleidoscope, which is available for sale on this website.