Forum Activity for @paul-rappell

Show Us Your Pets!

OFF TOPIC discussions

Well, Shelby, a.k.a. Schlubby, turned 16 in April - and died in May. She was skinny enough and basically just wasted away. She passed in the Mrs.' arms. We knew she was a tiny cat, but it;s been confirmed, comparing her with the two we replaced her with toward the end of the summer. They're huge by comparison, and house wreckers! They are from the same litter. The one with the Manx tail is Bobbi (which makes sense, bob tail). The one with the very soft fur is Charmin (which makes sense in a weird way). At feeding time, the two squeak like mice. But they run around the house like a herd of buffalo, and jump up on everything! They want to cling to the Mrs., and dig their nails in. Then they lie down where you trip over them. I really appreciate our Schlubby time so much more!

Our cats have never been let outdoors. We have fox, coyotes, fishers, and who knows what else. Bears and cougars are farther north - we're by the St. Lawrence River, right near Lake Ontario. But at least we don't have rattlesnakes (my sympathies, Salt Springs). For that I appreciate being here in southeastern Ontario. 

Show Us Your Pets!

OFF TOPIC discussions

"This'll do. Please don't close it."

Show Us Your Pets!

OFF TOPIC discussions

Shelby (a.k.a. Schlubby) and Angus got along. Or, I should say, Schlubby tolerated Angus. She was known to swat him from time to time. In our household the smaller pets ruled. We had a very small bunny, Abby, who jumped up onto the back of a sofa and bit Schlubby on the stomach. He chomped down and held on when she jumped off. The cats gave that little bun a wide berth.

Show Us Your Pets!

OFF TOPIC discussions

Little Shelby, a.k.a. Schlubby, turned 15 on the Ides of March. She's doing fairly well in spite of hyperthyroidism. She's on a salt-free diet, which means fewer treats. She's skinny enough as it is. Her behaviour changed after Angus died. She's acting much more needy now, and often calls out when we're out of sight. Still, she has always had a great attitude and cooperates when anything, such as cutting her nails or being checked by the vet, needs to be done.

Show Us Your Pets!

OFF TOPIC discussions

The late Angus had a special harness that attached to a short belt that attached to the seatbelt. It's not just the dog escaping, it's the possibility of the dog flying around the car in the event of a crash.

Show Us Your Pets!

OFF TOPIC discussions

Sad news. The other Tuesday (4 June) we had our Sheltie, Angus, put down. He developed cancer in the late summer of 2016. The next spring his right front leg was amputated. He coped well with that, but tore the ACL in his right rear leg, was operated on and had a pretty good recovery, but then he tore the left rear ACL. Recovery from that wasn't so good. He limped and didn't walk much. We had carpets covering most of the hardwood floors to keep him from slipping and falling. Then, this spring, he developed a hacking cough. We took him in to be put down several weeks ago, but they diagnosed it as bronchitis. But, despite the meds, the cough wouldn't go away. Finally, the Mrs. couldn't stand to see him in pain/discomfort any more. It was a quick, painless death, and he's not suffering now.

When I was in the hospital in September, a fellow patient asked how long Angus had had his cancer. When I told him it was two years (at that time) he, a veterinarian, was amazed. He said most dogs last six months. When Angus was first diagnosed, our vets said that it was a very aggressive cancer and they weren't sure he'd last the six months. Angus was always eager to please, but, when it came to his survival, he was one tough dog. Even with his bad legs, he still tried to herd the squirrels.

What's your favorite mournful, spooky, or lonesome song to play?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

"The Week Before Easter" which I picked up from the first Robin and Barry Dransfield album, The Rout of the Blues, which I got in 1971. I started working on it when I got my dulcimer in 1974. It's about unrequited love - what else? The last Verse goes (here's the beginning and ending), "Go dig me my grave ... and that's the best way to forget her."

Wow! Lots of multi-takented people here!

I play the instruments in the photo (I didn't say I play them well ). They are:

banjo (two five-strings: bluegrass and clawhammer [1910 Orpheum]types), mandolin, autoharp, dulcimer, and guitar (one of a couple of L'Arrivee six-strings). Not taken to the jam were electrics (Gibby six [LPC]and twelve [ES 335]), bass (Hofner Beatle), tenor banjo, lap steel, pennywhistles ( really can't play them ), and various percussion instruments. My most recent acquisition was a bohdran. I may eventually learn to play it and drive the wife, dog, and cat totally crazy.

I gave the 1929 Martin to our daughter. I've been through a bunch of other instruments, mostly acoustic and electric guitars, plus some banjos - given away, traded, or stolen.

I had the best job, too - teaching school, so I was able to use them in the classroom (even the elctrics), a lot! Even conducted choirs and brought folk musicians into the school.

Show us your sound holes!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

The trillium is Ontario's provincial flower. This 1974 Oskar Graf is the only dulcimer I've ever owned. It has an extremely thin cedar top, which has been smashed in and repairedtwice. I replaced the handmade friction tuners and the ebony dowel that held the string loops(until itsnapped in two).It still sounds great. Oskar hasn't made dulcimers in many years. He's in demand as a guitar maker now. A few years ago I brought the dulcimer to Oskar's presentation at the guitar symposium at Queen's University here in Kingston. It was a surprise not only to him, but to a number of attendees who didn't know what it was.

800!?!!

OFF TOPIC discussions

Travis Rodgers said:

I was reading a couple articles about favorite pizza toppings around the world, and found that Shrimp and Pineapple is the favorite topping in Australia. I tried it, and it's actually pretty good, so I'll bring that.

Our daughter, Gabriela, likes shrimp and bacon pizza.If you bring another, make it tomato, green pepper, and onion, please.

800!?!!

OFF TOPIC discussions

Shall we reprisethe stinky cheese?We need the roomsto contain the fumes.Who're the snackerswho'll bring the crackers?(Some home-baked breadmay do instead.)

What kind of tailpiece do you have? If it's an adjustable one that hangs out over the head, like a Kirschner, Presto, or clamshell, you might first want to try adjusting the angle. Lower/tighter (closer to the head) will give a brighter tone, and looser should make for a softer sound. I can do that on one banjo (clamshell tailpiece), not the other (old Elite tailpiece ca. 1910).Have you stuffed anything behind the head, inside the banjo? I get rid of overtones and dampen the sound by packing material (lately a fleece sunglasses bag, rolled up) between the dowel stick and the head.Splitting heads (skin) was too much of a hassle for me. Now I only use synthetic.I'd always go for the simplest possible solution first.

Started with guitar (currently a couple of steel strings), then electric (currently 6- and 12-string), electric bass guitar, banjo (clawhammer, sort of gave up on bluegrass for the time being), mandolin, autoharp, and, oh yes, Appalachian dulcimer. Attempted pennywhistle but saving my lungs for the bicycle (and, off topic, what great riding weather lately!).Hmmmm. As a kid, I wanted to play violin and drums (!). Is banjo in between (one of them is fretless)?

Party Time coming for 700 !!

OFF TOPIC discussions

John Henry said:

Good morning Paul, read your notes on Swansea. Wondered if there is direct historical link with ours?
my regards, JohnH

Ontario is full of British place names - London, Perth, Brighton, Inverary, Windsor, Scarborough, York, to name but a few. Sawnsea was originally called the village of Windermere. I have no idea why they changed it (maybe someone came from there). In the early 1900s the rowdy railroad workers would have too much alcohol and get into fights, so they made it a "dry" town. Swansea includes High Park, a huge park in the which had coyotes (in the middle of Toronto!) when I was there. Swansea/West Toronto ("The Junction" - a former railroad town) was the last neighbourhood in Toronto to be dry. It went wet after a referendum in the early nineties. I suppose it wouldn't have made a such good place for a "party for 800" before the vote.By the way, I hope our 800 revelers don't get out of hand! Is FotMD a "dry" site?

Party Time coming for 700 !!

OFF TOPIC discussions

John Henry said:

So, party time again soon, looks as if I will have to take a trip over to Swansea.

JohnH

I suppose I could make a trip to Swansea, too - Swansea, former village, now a part of central Toronto, and my old neighbourhood!With good timing, we'll be able to celebrate 800 by the FIRST of July, Canada's birthday! We can raise a glass to Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada's first Prime Minister, who raised many (very, very many) a glass himself during his lifetime. Here in Kingston, you can see all the places Sir John A. lived, slept, ate, practised law, and got drunk.Although it seems as though we may reach the number earlier. Maybe we need to check other countries' birthdays.

Party Time coming for 700 !!

OFF TOPIC discussions

Not to get competitive with stinky cheese, but I could bring some Oka cheese, made by the monks at Oka near Montreal, which just might empty the room! On second thought, maybe we can put it in its own room.Paul John Henry said:

I will bring a whole 'Stinking Bishop' cheese from Gloucestershire.
JohnH

Party Time coming for 700 !!

OFF TOPIC discussions

Ly's Fire Ribs from the Chez Piggy cook book.Noreen's cherry cheesecake.My thin pancakes with Ontario or Quebec maple syrup (lots of anioxidants).Root beer from the Kingston Brewing Company (those who wish can have Dragon's Breath Pale Ale from the KBC or something from the Church Key Brewery in Campbellford, in an old church). Put it off until Christmas and we can add Noreen's frothy homemade egg nog.Recommend wearing a belt with several extra buckle holes.Who's bringing the Alka Seltzer?After dinner music could include: Green Corn", "Alice's Restaurant", and "The Vegetable Dance". Gourd banjos allowed.

Do You Have A Favorite Irish Song?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

"Down by the Sally Garden", an old standby.

Do You Have A Favorite Irish Song?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Rats! Then it's not my new favourite "Irish song"! It's still good, though. John Shaw said:

"John of Dreams" was written by the English songwriter Bill Caddick. It has been taken up by a lot of people, including quite a number of Irish singers (Christy Moore, for one). Bill inadvertently borrowed most of the opening musical phrase from Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique"!

Do You Have A Favorite Irish Song?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Well, I have a new favourite Irish song. I have it on a 1998 compilation CD called Songs from the Heart - A collection of Irish Ballads. It's "John of Dreams" performed (perhaps written?) by Mick Moloney. It had completely slipped by me until recently, when I put the CD on for the first time in years and this one really hit. Anyone else know it?Pair it with Kate Rusby's "Old Man Time" for a couple of moving tunes from the British Isles.

Do You Have A Favorite Irish Song?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Thanks for this. It's a terrific song!There are other versions there, too. I also enjoyed the one from the Highland Sessions, also with Mary Black.Makes you want to learn Gaelic!Paul folkfan said:

I meant to add a YouTube, but don't know how to embed it, so here's the site

How many dulcimers do you own... lets see the lists..

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

If you flip the list, I win!Just one: 1974 Oskar Graf. Cherry, cedar top.Oskar hasn't made dulcimers in years (decades). He makes high-end custom guitars now. Glad I got the dulcimer when I did. A few years ago he gave a talk on guitar making at Queen's University. I brought the dulcimer to "remind" him. Lots of people didn't even know what it was.

cats & songs

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I nearly went catatonic trying to think of a cat song - what a catastrophe!If lions count, then Bruce Cockburn's "Wondering Where the Lions Are" is one.If you want a "shared" song, Henry Thomas (by John Sebastian, recorded on Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful) has the line "Dig the dog the cat dragged in"!That song from Lady and the Tramp went: "We are Siamese if you please. We are Siamese if you don't please. We are former residents of Siam, and there is no finer cat than I am." I disagree. Our two, Schrodinger (named after a nuclear physicist) and Shelby (a.k.a. Schlubby), would say that grey polydactils are best.

dogs & songs

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I mentioned this one on the cat post: "Henry Thomas" by John Sebastian, from the late 1966 album "Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful".My cat - dragged in - through the door - one fine mornOn its back - ears hungForty pounds of feet and tongue.Ooh wee, my dear Henry, dig the dog the cat dragged in.Can't fight - won't bite - has bugs - eats rugsSmells flowers - sleeps hoursGrowing like a dinosaur.There's a slide whistle solo. Go figure!(The late Zal Yanovsky, lead guitarist for the Spoonful, and quite likely the slide whistle player, moved to Kingston and opened a great gourmet restaurant, Chez Piggy, which is now run by his daughter, as well as Pan Chancho Bakery, both in historic buildings. Zal was quite the character in this town.)

Any banjo players out there?

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Well, that's great! I came upon your post shortly after putting down the banjo.

I had a brief discussion with a musician, talking about fiddle (and banjo)tunes and their names and so on. This was on Friday the 3rd of June, after the rehearsal for our daughter's wedding (which, obviously, was on Saturday the 4th). The musician was the piper. The wedding was in Strathcona park in Ottawa (since no banjos were played, I'll give a write-up in The Drifting Thread). If you ever come across a banjo tab for "The Clumsy Lovers", please forward it.

Any banjo players out there?

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

I'm spending soooo much time on the banjo lately. Really, I should be sounding soooooooooooooooooooo much better, but I'm not.

On the 6th I celebrated my birthday by going to Toronto by myself and wandering around. Bought the great strawberry Danish at Bread & Roses, visited my old school and surprised a bunch of teaching colleagues, went downtown, and visited the Twelfth Fret. Unfortunately, they didn't have a head that would fit my old Orpheum. They did, however, have a fair selection of banjos which I took the time to try out. I started out on an 1890's Cole, and then tried the newer ones: Vegas, Gold Tone, Wildwood, and a terrific Nechville Atlas with a twelve-inch pot. I found the newer banjos easier to play, with slightly wider string spacing.

I took the Orpheum back in for its third repair of the year, some work on the peghead. It will be a couple of weeks waiting its turn in the shop. I'm thinking of relegating it to two-finger picking, but I have to save up for a new open-back. Maybe I'll try one of the "kits" that Bill Rickard puts together. The bonus is that he's just north of Toronto.

This Friday was our second jam of the new year. I raced up to Sunbury only to realize I'd left my music and instrument stands at home. I dumped the guitar, banjo, and mandolin and flew back home. I made it back with time to spare, which surprised some people. Marge signed me in second, my usual spot, and I did "Keep on the Sunny Side" and "Down the Road", both for the first time. Another singer said, when it was her turn, that I'd taken her song, so she had to choose another. Second time around I did "Pancho and Lefty", and I got a third turn and closed the evening's activities with "Goodnight Irene". A couple got up from the audience and joined in at my mic, while other musicians took the rest of the mics.

When Lorne, our steel player, had his first turn, he took so long trying to figure out his second song that I said, "Hurry up, or we'll get the hook!" And when Les thanked the audience for not running out on him during his numbers, I said, "It's cold out!" He replied, "I'll get you for that!"

Our fiddler surprised my with a banjo CD he'd burned just for me.

Well, gotta start gettin' ready for Friday's jam. So far I've narrowed it down to "Pack up Your Sorrows" (guitar), "Hard Times Come Again No More" (banjo), "Chased Old Satan" (banjo), and "So Long - It's Been Good to Know You" (maybe guitar, maybe banjo, maybe ...). But I've been working on "If I Needed You" by Townes Van Zandt, and I played a Ry Cooder CD (Into the Purple Valley) in the car when we went to breakfast this morning (and on the way back, with a newly purchasedantique table), so the list could change drastically by Friday evening.

Oh (said he, already having given waaay too much information for one post), bicycles and banjos (and other instruments) do mix. I've reserved the Portsmouth tavern for a Thursday evening in February for a Kingston Velo Club jam session. Exact date not set yet, but all cyclists (and non-cyclists) would be welcome.

Any banjo players out there?

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Paul Certo said:

BHO members are fiercely loyal to their chosen brand of banjo, if you keep in mind two things.
One,that most have at least a fairly good case of BAS. Banjo Acquisition Syndrome is rampant.
And two, a great number have changed heads, bridges and tone rings, sometimes even resonators,hoops and necks trying to change the sound of the banjo they're so loyal to. In some advanced cases of Banjo tinker-itis, only the case is original. But, there are worse things a person could be doing. I intend to build a gourd banjo, mostly for use at Historical Reenactments. Or maybe Histerical ones. Not until I change all the woodwork in my living room. Mrs. Wanda thinks that should take priority. Since I don't pull sheets with my Reenactment friends, I'm inclined to let the Mrs. prioritize my projects. She sang & played ukulele on a couple songs tonight with me, in front of several people. It was her first time out of the house with her uke. Not exactly a gig, but I was thrilled. Nothing like having a jam partner in the house with me.
Paul

I joined BHO, too (partly from my experience here on FOTMD). It's a good source of advice - and you'll get loads of it!Noreen doesn't play, but in January she played host(ess) for a jam session - she cooked up a feast for the players. In fact, the jam was her idea. Years ago when we used to go to friends' places to make music, she'd fall asleep on the chesterfield, right beside me as I was playing banjo with fingerpicks. I guess that's a form of dedication!If I had the money I suppose I'd have BAS, but it's easy not to have it when you don't, um, have it. I have no allegiance to any particular brand/maker, except my long gone Neufeld, which was eminently playable and sounded clear and clean. That's what may, some day, get me to buy another banjo - first, it has to have string spacing that's wide enough, and it has to have a tone that I like, not what people say I should have.Then again, maybe I do have a form of BAS. I have the bluegrass banjo I got to replace the Neufeld. then I got the Orpheum to replace the fact that the bluegrass banjo didn't really replace the Neufeld (because the Neufeld was a frailer). I bought a basic wooden fretless even before I got the Neufeld, and someone gave me a cheap tenor - these two need repairs to become playable. Two other banjos were given to me but went missing from my school - an old Imperial tenor (with a painting on the head of three black jazz musicians) and an old Slingerland banjo uke. And there was my first, really cheap, banjo, now departed. My list of "the ones that got away" is huge.Tinker with my banjos? Only in the most basic ways - bridge and head. It would be a sacrilege to change the Orpheum, which is a hundred years old - although I did some simple artwork on the replacement head (wonder why we don't see more of that). However, the case is brand new.

Any banjo players out there?

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Last month I went back to Toronto for the Bicycle Show, but my first stop was The Twelfth Fret, where I bought the first decent case for the Orpheum. Of course, I took a few banjos off the wall and tried them. The fretless was fun, and another banjo for $1800 was okay. But there was one that I took down because it looked old. In fact, it was. It was an old Windsor. Know the feeling - that as soon as you've hit the very first note, this one is for real? That's what I got out of this one. The sound was crisp and clear and just sang to me. And it was the cheapest one I checked out. If I'd had the money I would have bought it on the spot, no questions, no problem. Too bad. Add it to the long list of "the ones that got away". Maybe some day the banjo fairy will leave one on my doorstep.Tone is subjective (if you'e not brainwashed into wanting a sound that some people say you should have). It's taken me all these years to appreciate the sound of my old Orpheum, and now I'm trying to work with it, not against it. Of course, the fact that I'm really working at it and finding real progress has a lot to do with it, too!

Any banjo players out there?

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Paul Certo said:

I play banjo, also. I started with guitar in '66, banjo in '68. But after starting to learn dulcimer in '90,I really got more interested in banjo again after hearing clawhammer players playing with dulcimer players. The combination just feels right to me.
Paul

It's never too late to start over!Different combinations of instruments have appealed to me, too, Paul. Back in the seventies I thought that Appalachian dulcimer and synthesizer would make a great combination. Go figure.Kate and Anna McGarrigle used a variety of instrumental mixes, even dual clawhammer on "Excursion a Venise" in concert (you can find it on YouTube), with Kate and sister Jane. The Transatlantic Sessions (lots of it on YouTube) feature a variety of North American and British Isles instrumental combinations. Banjo and dulcimer sounds like a great mix. A friend once gave me "The Best of Just Friends", a dulcimer CD by George Haggerty from Vermont, and it's filled with combinations: dulcimer with guitar, tin whistle, concertina, fiddle, bodhran, banjo, mandolin. The Fuzzy Mountain String Band had dulcimer in among all those fiddles and banjos.Hmmm ... How about banjo, dulcimer, and Northumbrian smallpipes?Messing with the banjo could be the musical equivalent of working on your bicycle. The Orpheum has been "tweaked" lately with head tightening and replacing the bridge with the one that came with the banjo when first purchased. If the sound needs to be "plunkified", stuffing something between the head and dowel stick works well. The old metal mute also completely changes the tone.

Any banjo players out there?

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

I know this is really late, but ...There are some very impressive banjos - and players, of course - posting here. (As a recent member I just got to see this thread.)I've been an on again, off again beginner since the early seventies. I unfortunately got rid of the best bajo I ever owned, built by Jake Neufeld here in Ontario in the late seventies. I had a couple of frailing lessons at the long-gone Toronto Folklore Centre (where I bought the banjo), from Kate Murphy. I wanted soemthing louder and went to a resonator model which I had spruced up at the Folklore Centre, with inlay work by Tony Duggan-Smith. It's the heaviest banjo I've ever picked up - put it on the end of the see-saw with an elephant at the other end and it'll hold its own!Shortly thereafter I picked up an Orpheum Number One, also at the Folklore Centre. (All Orpheums are dated 1915, because they can't trace the serial numbers.)Part (or most) of my inspiration came from being a volunteer at the Mariposa Folk Festival through the seventies and early eighties and seeing lots of great banjo players, from Pete Seeger (no autographs) to old-time players - even lightning-fast bluegrassers.Toronto isn't the Centre of the Universe for clawhammer (although some Torontonians think T.O. is the Centre of the Universe, period), although I found out that a couple of Hogtowners have won categories in the Appalachian String Band Festival.I recently dug out my Orpheum and started practising "for real", using tunes from old Oak Publications books: Clawhammer Banjo, Melodic Clawhammer Banjo, and Old Time Mountain Banjo. I've been looking at video clips on line and have downloaded loads of tabs. Another inspiration has been the banjo demos by Don Zepp, playing tunes on the banjos he sells. After watching him, I was able to work out a version of the "A" part of St. Anne's Reel, which I couldn't see in any of the tabs. Now to get it right!As usual, everyone's three steps ahead of me on sources of instruction. It pays to check all over this site!

My Instrument Acquisition Disorder is no longer Obsessive Compulsive, so now it's just IAD. You can't be OC when you don't have the cash! You must be on your guard, though. Yesterday we were at an antique store in Bath when the woman said there was a music store across the street. I crossed over to find the most disorganized, untidy store I'd ever seen. But, when I was about to go, the man opened an old box to show me a much older banjo mandolin inside. I had to back out quickly - it would have been a great project.My OCIAD days resulted in so many guitars, banjos, and so forth (including amps and a P.A. system)that one time when I set up for a concert, one of the band members walked in and said, "Is there a sale?" And that was just the stuff I'd brought for the show. I culled mostly by giving or trading away. My daughter now owns my 1929 Martin. Some stuff got stolen.Then there are "the ones that got away" - stuff I passed up, like the banjo-mandolin yesterday, and the old Gibson mand-cello I should have bought, and the Grit Laskin twelve-string. I had the cash in my pocket, but I wanted to hear it played along with a six-string, and the guy said he was busy. He was reading the newspaper. I walked out.My first pennywhistle was a Clarke's (still have it). I'm down to a couple of Generations (silver Bb and D) that haven't escaped, and my old copy of The Pennywhistle Book. In the mid-eighties my grade sixes, many of whom were in Instrumental Music, got hooked on whistles when I brought some in and showed them (I still can't play for beans). So I made periodic trips downtown to a music store where I'd pick up a few and the kids would pay me for them. At least they had something they could actually own, and they were learning the basics on flutes, clarinets, and other band instruments. That was the best class I ever had, not just for the music.I, too, have other things - a couple of Kalimbas (plus one made from a gourd), a turtle shell banjo, one-piece wooden spoons from a woodworking shop east of Quebec City, a tambourine, a couple of washboards. That's the stuff you can leave lying around at a party or jam session so that everyone can get involved.

How did you first discover the mountain dulcimer?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

CD said:

Nah. But I get a little green with envy because he won't let me play his and it is green.

Paul Rappell said:

CD, is it a little green dulcimer?

Green is the new black.

How did you first discover the mountain dulcimer?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

CD, is it a little green dulcimer?

How did you first discover the mountain dulcimer?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I knew about the Appalachian dulcimer long before I ever saw a "live" one. In September 1965 I was in third year university at Loyola in Montreal, my home town. A friend dragged me to a meeting of the Folk Music Society, which wasn't a meeting but hanging around singing. Within a week I'd bought a guitar. Over the Christmas break I found a copy of Sing Out!/i>i> in a local store. (For you fans of esoterica, it was the January 1965 issue which said January 1964 on the cover - I still have it.) Inside is an advertisement for "The Jeffreys' dulcimer", with a photo of a good looking hourglass instrument. "It is the easiest of all stringed musical instruments to learn to play. Many can learn to play a familiar tune within five to twenty minutes."That's all I knew, however. I got caught up in rock music (it was a great time for it!) and was attracted by electric guitars.In 1971 I was a volunteer with the Mariposa Folk Festival and saw Jean Ritchie perform. By then I'd known about her, and had seen a dulcimer, made by Tam Kearney, at Fiddler's Green. Some hammered dulcimer player was mocking it and its little rubber feet. But I was upgrading my guitar inventory, and even bought a cheap banjo.Finally,in 1974, an Oskar Graf dulcimer, hanging on the wall of the Toronto Folklore Centre, called out, "Buy me!" I did ( I could afford the $150), and It's still the only dulcimer I've ever owned. One of the first projects, at the insistence of a friend (and at his house) was the fabrication of a hard-shell case, with wood, masonite, glue, screws, foam, hardware, and vinyl covering. It's a bit crude, but very strong, somewhat heavy, quite protective, and still in use. I purchased Jean Ritchie's book, and later In Search of the Wild Dulcimer. Both those books have since gone missing. I still can't figure out what all that "Dorolydian, Mixylonian, Iorian" stuff is all about. For years I played in "Torontonian" mode, and currently in "Kingstonian".A very short time later I bought a fretless banjo by Oskar Graf. He now makes high-end guitars and, I suppose, has a long waiting list. His dulcimer has been through some trials. Once one of my students put his hand through the thin top. I got fed up and finally replaced the friction pegs with tuners. The tiny ebony dowel that held the strings in place snapped; I just happened to have a piece of metal the same size and shape.A few years ago I made the ten kilometre walk into Kingston (where we currently live, outside of town) on a damp February day to attend Oskar Graf's presentation on lutherie at the Queen's University guitar festival. When it was over, and people gathered around to ask questions, I got out the dulcimer and showed it to him. He was somewhat impressed (definitely surprised); people around were more so, as they didn't know what it was! I was pleased to finally meet the man who'd made my instrument over thirty years before.Currently the dulcimer is at a friend's house. Cary, a member of our cycling club, wanted to try it to see if he'd like to take up dulcimer. Well, he has now ordered a dulcimer of his own, and before long the "the Oskar" will be back home.P.S. When Cary e-mailed me and said he'd ordered a dulcimer, I replied, "Gotta jam sometime." He wrote back, "Now there are words to strike fear into the heart of someone who's been learning an instrument for all of a month now!"