In the Classroom

For educators

A whole classroom playing music on day one.

The Boondocker Trailhead is a diatonic dulcimer guitar: the frets are laid out to a scale, so the notes a student lands on sound right together. That's the “you can't play a wrong note” part — a room full of beginners can strum together in the first period, not the third week. It's affordable enough to buy in sets, tough enough to live in a classroom, and it opens onto the ukulele and guitar rather than being a dead end.

Talk to MattMeet the Trailhead
Built for the classroom — sized for small hands, tuned for first success.

Boondocker Trailhead

Built for the classroom — sized for small hands, tuned for first success.

Short scale for smaller hands, a tough body that survives carts and closets, and a diatonic layout so a whole group can strum together from the first period — not after weeks of wrong notes.

Meet the Trailhead

Why the Trailhead works in schools

  • You can't play a wrong note

    Diatonic fretting means every fretted note sits in the scale. Beginners get a win on day one instead of wrestling chromatic complexity first.

  • Three courses, not six

    Three courses, tuned like a mountain dulcimer (with the high course doubled for volume and body). Fewer strings to track than a six-string guitar — less for beginners to fight while they learn to strum and fret together.

  • A path, not a dead end

    The skills transfer. Students who start on Trailhead move onto ukulele and guitar with a real foundation — not a toy they outgrow and abandon.

  • Built for class sets

    Affordable enough to buy in quantity. Tough enough for a cart between classrooms. We help with purchase orders and class-set quotes.
Build it, then play it — already in schools and university programs.

DIY Dulcimer Kits

Build it, then play it — already in schools and university programs.

Students assemble, finish, and then play an instrument they made themselves. We've already shipped kits into private schools and universities — a natural partner to Trailhead class sets when you want a build unit in the program.

Shop DIY kits

DIY Dulcimer Kits for schools

  • Build, then play

    Students assemble and finish their own instrument, then learn to play it. They can personalize the look — stain, paint, or leave the wood natural — so the instrument feels like theirs before the first lesson.

  • Already in private schools & universities

    DIY kits have sold into private-school and university programs. We help with class-set quotes and purchase orders for build units of any size.

  • Pairs with Trailhead

    Use kits for a build unit, Trailheads for a ready-to-play class set — or both. Same diatonic idea, two ways into the program.
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Ordering

How schools buy

Class sets & quotes

Tell us how many players and which instrument (Trailhead, DIY kit, or a mix). We'll send a quote you can put in front of a purchase committee.

Purchase orders

We accept school and district purchase orders. Matt will walk you through the paperwork.

Sample instruments

Want a Trailhead or kit in hand before you commit to a set? Ask — we'll figure out the right next step for your program.

Get in touch

Talk to Matt

Matthew White, Jaromin Music Education Rep

Music Education Rep · Orchestra director · 2026 Golden Apple Award winner

Matthew White is our Music Education Rep and a working middle-school orchestra director at Scullen Middle School in Naperville, Illinois. A string player and music-education innovator, he designs student-centered programs that mix tradition with electric and global ensembles, and he helps schools land on the right Trailheads, DIY kits, class-set pricing, and paperwork (purchase orders included).

In 2026 he received the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching - one of ten Illinois educators chosen from nearly 600 nominees, and Indian Prairie District 204's first winner in over twenty years. Tell him what you're teaching and how many players you have.