The world music scene in the early 1960s was an impactful period when rock ‘n roll and folk music were really launching: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys. Music was thrilling, especially for teenager Greg Cope.

Dr. Greg Cope grew up in Grand Junction and was entering high school during this musical era. He bought his first instrument, a beat-up guitar, from a friend for just $1. Dr. Cope refinished it, taught himself cords and practiced for days on end. This guitar launched his musical journey, along with a desire to explore the possibilities of creating music with non-traditional material.

As his talent progressed, he started to search for an upright string bass, “The Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, and all these other groups had a standup string bass, and I wanted one, too,” he recalls. “They were priced way out of my budget,” he shares, laughing. “Boldly, I thought I could make one myself!”

After much research and frequenting many hardware stores, someone told him about the idea of fiberglass. “I took what I knew from paper-mâché in art class and the idea of a pot-bellied bass,” he says. Using newspaper to form his mold, he used resin and fiberglass cloth to create his very own standup string bass.

“My effort to build the string bass was to play it with a group, the swing choir, but my junior and senior years were so busy working on getting the bass completed that I never got to play in high school,” he reminisces. After graduation, he attended Mesa Junior College(now Colorado Mesa University) to study music.“ I took my finished green, standup string bass to class where my professor was blown away with the creation of it!

Dr. Cope continued to play music and build instruments while in school. He earned an associate’s degree in music and a bachelor’s degree in music education. One January term, he made different instruments: a banjo, a lute(made out of fiberglass) and a sitar. “I wanted to test out different musical concepts and play them to get different sounds and volumes,” explains Dr. Cope. He went on to attain two master’s degrees — one in education and one in music. Then, he completed a Ph.D. in education.

He taught music education for 18 years at CMU and has helped many people learn to play various musical instruments. Dr. Cope enjoys seeing others flourish in the learning process. He continues to make musical inventions with the concept that non-musically inclined individual scan learn to play music. This idea he calls “The Psaltery Principle,” the thought that individual music making is good for the soul, and music should be easily accessible.

“Music has such a positive effect on physical, mental and spiritual aspects of your life,” according to Dr. Cope. “Research has shown the value of your health is improved through creating music. The ‘ultra sounds’ of music and personal expression of music has more of an effect on your body and mind than you realize.”

Throughout the years, Dr. Cope has experimented with a variety of materials to make musical instruments: gourds, fiberglass, wood, metal and plastic. He has built many different kinds of bowed, plucked, strummed and percussion instruments. One of his musical inventions, the psaltery, is an open-stringed instrument where one can learn plucking or strumming patterns that can be transferred straight to the guitar. He has developed instruments that you can make yourself, like the psaltery or the banjo. Dr. Cope offers instrument kits to piece together while learning about their long histories, varied styling sand complex mechanics.

Although the world of musical influence has changed, Dr. Cope continues his passion for designing and developing locally handcrafted instruments. “Regardless of musical talent, there are instruments made for anyone to play,” he says. “I want to make opportunities for people where they can be introduced to easy access music or build their own instrument. Some people may want to learn but don’t know whereto start, and I’d love to help them.

To learn more about making your own musical instrument visit psalteryprinciple.com. To connect with Dr. Cope, email psalteryprinciple@gmail.com.

Originally published in the Spring 2023 issue of Spoke+Blossom.

Making Music With Dr. Greg Cope