HI Gayle, this is my first year as a dulcimer player, I started last May. I felt like I needed to know what each style was about before I would know what I like best. So dabble I have. I enjoy noter style the most these days...but I reserve the right to change my mind at any time :) Although I doubt that will happen. Dabbling is the most fun you can have when learning dulcimer!

Louis, thank you so much for your kind comment!

Dusty....you are a nut!!!...you were misnamed! Poor Half Fret....even half frets need love!! (Not to change the subject, but I'm hoping to hear about your new family arrival shortly) Robin...they haven't got nearly the good taste in music we do...that must be it! Yeehaaaw! :) Geekling...I love the fiddle tunes...they just stick to me. Thanks all for your kind comments!

Nice playing, Cheryl. I'm really impressed with your versatility. You've posted videos in a chording style, a fingerpicking style, a fingerdancing style, and lots of noter/drone stuff. Not too shabby.

Incidentally, not many people know this, butI was named after the "dusty" end of the fretboard. But I got it good. My brother is named Open Strings and my sister is Capo. We also have an Aunt Bridge and Uncle Nut who met while fingerdancing one night and now have fraternal twins named Noter and Drone.And don't even ask about Half Fret. We're not sure if he's related. He keeps showing up at the reunion uninvited.

You've gone and played another cool fiddle tune, Cheryl! If your neighbors cringe, they must be either on right on top of you so can hear something the rest of us can't or they've just not got the cultivated tastes the rest of us have.

John,

Yes, I was assuming you meant common modes....no hypophyrigian (sp?) for anything I can play! :) :) My music training breezed passed modes....I'm sure we had a test on it at one point, but after that the whole idea of modes left my little brain....temporarily. Now I'm just starting to get a grip on the common modes in a practical way rather than in a theoretical floating about in the stratosphere way.

Thank you for that explanation....I understand now. I could start the tune on an open A (DAA) or play up to the far northern (dusty) regions tuned to DAD (starting at A @ 4th fret). Do I have this right?

I'll be very interested to read Intervals 101....more lightbulbs popping on for me I'm sure!! Thank you!!

Cheryl

Hi Cheryl,

I might be overstating it by saying any modal tuning, the commonest tunings would be more correct

As to the higher register, this just means up the dusty end of the fretboard,
The range of the fretboard and the range of the tune allows you to play out of the open fret(low register) or out of the 7th fret(high register). Not so with many tunes.
People generally choose the lower register, as playing up the top just doesn't sound satisfactory on many dulcimers. Not the case with your ET though.

The idea of using gapped scales goes a long way, I'll send you a copy of 'Intervals 101' whidh may help put some order on it all for you.

Just keep playing there's always more to find.

john

Thank you all kindly. John P, I see what you mean by gapped scale...thanks for pointing that out as I would not have realized that it would work in any modal tuning (ding ding...lightbulb came on!)

I'm not sure what you all mean by higher register (John, RN). I just listened and copied the notes that Shelby played and simply parroted that. Is the B part not normally played up the fretboard?? My method of learning this tune is just simple listening so perhaps there is a better way to play this?? These days I'm mostly just listening to various fiddle players that I like then trying to pick out the tune for myself and have no idea if there is a right way or wrong way (or better way?) to play it on the dulcimer. But sure is fun!

Wayne, John, Sam, thank you. I'm truly a student of the noter....I make as many bad sounds with it as I do good sounds...I'm sure my neighbors cringe and plug their ears regularly as the sound from the porch echoes through the cove. Learning from all those here who have come waaaaay before me and I'll be a student probably forever. There is no established method for this kind of playing (like there was for classical guitar where you could follow the yellow brick road) so, I'm just picking my way through it learning from others as I go and enjoying the heck out of the process. Robin, thanks for your generous assessment. Would love to hear you play this on Galax! Hope to have a Galax one of these days to try it out on! To hear you play, I'd have to get up and dance, I'm sure! Nancy, thanks you!!

Nice... good rhythm... interesting use of the higher register. I had to get out the Wylie and see if I could do that one! Keep it up!

You are a great ambassador for the Noter Republic! Nicely done!

Very well played Cheryl :thumb:

What a versatile tune this is, classic gapped scale, lets you play in any modal tuning you happen to be in, (even Aeolian with a 6+). Interesting that you use the higher register, not sure I'd get away with that on mine, but it certainly goes well on that ET.

A couple more verses would have been nice, you're just getting in to the flow when it stops.

john

CJ I do apologize but I got tickled watching you play. The intensity level was just 'waaaay up there'. You, young lady are a caution. Love your playing and your vids are always a treat. You are learning and building a wonderful collection of songs. I think that is another one of the most positive points for me. Between you and Randy (Adams) ((and several others)) history is being preserved here. Fantastic presentation from you and Joy.

Awesome playing Cheryl, and a "Joy "to watch!

That's a wonder sound you have there Cheryl - just magical

I quite regularly find myself playing Angelina Baker (or Angeline the Baker depending on where you see it written) on melody strings tuned to 'd' on my Galax dulcimers. It is nice and bouncy tuned up a little !