Forum Activity for @strumelia

Lisa C, just a suggestion so that we can all discuss these details without getting mixed up: it helps to list both the string letter notes and the gauges in the same order. It's been mostly accepted to list from low to high with dulcimers... thus you'd write DAd or CGG and the first letter of each of those is assumed to be the low/bass string. But to carry this through consistently, you'd then list string gauges in the same order (low bass string, middle string, melody string). So for example you would write:  .022, .012, .010 for DAd... not in the opposite order that you wrote.  :)

Personally, I would not bother to change string gauges if going back and forth between DAd and CGC. I do understand though that you are talking about 'ideal' gauges here.. so maybe you intend to stay in a tuning and wanting the best gauges just for that tuning. Definitely there are various reasons when one might want to do that!

Lisa C, if you are planning a 1-3-5 tuning in the key of D, then keep in mind the middle string will be an F# (not an F). Also, that middle string will be the F# that's LOWER than your melody string but higher than your bass string. If you try to tune the middle string to the F# that's in the same higher octave as the melody string, (in other words 2.5 steps higher than the high d if you are starting from DAd) then at that VSL you'll likely break the middle string if tuning it to F#4 (4 being the fourth octave on the piano). In a nutshell- use the middle string F# that's lower than the melody string for 1-3-5.

Notes such as E and F or F# are a bit tricky on the dulcimer. They can ride the fence of being in either higher or lower octave which can be confusing. With those 'cusp' notes we should double check that we're not only using the right gauge string, but also that we're not aiming for the wrong octave when we go to tune that string, since it's not always obvious.

Yes it's a cool and fascinating thing!  Glad you brought this up David.
I contacted Seth years ago about his story and the illustrations. He's a very nice fellow.

that is super cool Robin!

Tim is a truly amazing musician no matter what instrument or approach he takes!

Dusty it makes me very happy to hear this wonderful news about your wife's new job.  Yaaaaaaay!! 

What a pretty cherry Ginger Susie!  And the pair together are so complimentary.

Sounds like you did some good research beforehand as to what your preferences and needs are. Good for you!

Enjoy your sweet new bright singing bird. 

Traildad, Fotmd is a social network, which has more various areas of content than a typical php forum, while it's also more searchable with less marketing than most Facebook pages.

Our Forums section is for most general interest discussions, and you can search within the categories there. But say you are particularly into noter playing, or chromatic dulcimer playing, or building, or dulcimer history-  there may be a special interest focus Group for that interest area, where people with a particular passion can hold discussions specifically related to that interest.  Having Groups is a way of keeping in one place discussions and info related to that certain focus area. Think of a Group as a club rather than a forum. In this respect Groups are useful. Imagine a new member looking for help in TablEdit or microphones... they can find that help very quickly in our Technology Group rather than searching all over the site.
But the general Forums area is useful because the subjects are more likely to be of interest to the whole membership ... such as changing strings or identifying a mystery dulcimer or finding tab books. Or, just gabbing about something nice that happened to you yesterday, or what new tune you are working on. 

I hope that helps clarify a little more the difference between Groups (and their discussions) and the site's "Forums" area. FOTMD includes more than discussions and forums. Members have their own profile page with photo galleries, their videos and audio recordings, and events. Additionally, members can browse and search ALL the site's videos in one place, also all the site's photos and audios. Thus, you can go to a member's page to see that member's content and activity, but you can also go see ALL the photos, audios, or videos on the site in one central place by clicking on the top bar links.

When new members join, they are frequently disoriented by the many site areas and functions... and I understand that they might feel frustrated. I wouldn't want to write tutorials on every area and function here- it would simply take me way too long and few would want to slog through it. People tend to be impatient. But if they stick around and click around, they'll get a sense for how things are organized. Time makes things clearer.
I'll be the first to say FOTMD is not perfect by any means. More than anything else, it's meant to simply be an encouraging and safe place for beginner players to get help and make dulcimer friends. 

My curiosity compels me to ask- what forums were you participating in forty years ago?  I'm dying to know! 

Note that the My Posts tab is on the Forums page. Thus, as you correctly guessed, it shows you which Forum discussions you have posted in.

The "Help me learn this song" group is a Group. Groups have their own discussions which are completely separate from our site discussion Forums.  There is no tab that specifically shows you what Group discussions you've been active on, however if you go to a Group that you are a member of, you can see the Group's list of discussions. When you see the 'subscribe' button next to a discussion that is Yellow, you have either posted in that discussion OR you clicked to subscribe to that group discussion. Note that if you post in a Group discussion, you will be automatically subscribed/following it (the button will be yellow to indicate this). You can always click the yellow button to turn OFF your following of that discussion if you no longer want to receive notifications of a new post in that discussion.

Additionally, on your Profile page, there are sections for "All Activity" (all your recent activity, including things you 'liked'), "Latest Group Discussions" (that you have participated in), and "Latest Forum Discussions" (that you have participated in).
The activity sections on your profile page show your activity as opposed to the general site activity of all members seen on the site's Main page.

Hope this helps.

Yes.

For the past six months of being covid era homebodies, we've not eaten out at all, and in fact only even gotten takeout food once, early on. One because we are super cautious, and Two because the restaurants around here are not all that inspiring to us to spend the money. We've been used to cooking at home.

However, today i drove to buy some hardware supplies and as i drove home past Main St I noticed a local Italian place had moved from its dreary old mall location to a new place right on MainSt.  It looked pretty and inviting as I drove by ...and i smelled pizza. (!) So when i got home i looked up online and saw a whole new website had been put up for it, featuring lots of online ordering options and local delivery too.

I decided to splurge and order us some custom pizzas. Brian was really surprised but i was hungry and had a serious hankering for pizza!  I ordered us each a whole pizza with our own favorite toppings, so that we could have it for dinner two nights in a row.  I paid online with a credit card, even the tip. The pizzas arrived quickly and I had her leave them on the porch table.
It was acceptably good pizza and we very much enjoyed the rare luxury of fresh delivery from only a few blocks away. My pizza craving will now be satisfied for a good long while. 

Fascinating dulcimer!  Obviously some care was put into designing it.

I suspect the lower sound holes were originally "f" style sound holes like on violins and cellos. Perhaps the lower parts of the cutout warped out or split off and someone just cut those ears off and neatened up the holes to match. I see that sometimes with sound holes that have curvy cutouts against the grain. 

You can see an example of this here:

Assuming the dulcimer's "zero fret" was positioned in the correct place, I have to ask- did you cut slots deep enough so that the strings rest on the zero fret?  Because if the strings are now higher so that they no longer touch the zero fret, then the intonation might be off on all the frets because you'll have changed the scale but not the fret layout. Sorry, I just had to ask because you can't tell from the photos.

Looks like a decent dulcimer, and the price was certainly right!

Being able to pick out a tune on your instrument is an ability that many folks wish they could develop.  Just saying!   :)

Ken, that's very funny and also clever..   (bff= best friend forever)

But.. wouldn't they have to be F#'s to equal the same number of steps up from the tonic as in DAA? (correct me if i'm wrong).

Traildad, that walnut and spruce with the slightly larger size will sound very mellow and lovely, I suspect.  :D 

I know, right? 

No, I'm not the guy with the kilt...lol! If you look beyond him, closer to the band. I have a black top, short grey hair, and a black skirt with pink spots on it.

Here's an example of a really bog high energy contra dance- at the Saratoga NY Dance Flurry... I've gone to this dance a few times and danced to this band... they are cool. (btw I am not in this video) It's just the two guys playing instruments, but they keep adding snippets of themselves recording them live right there and looping them on top of each other til it sounds really intense.  Watch them work, but then be amazed when at around 1:45 in the video, the camera starts panning out to the dancers in the hall...   That's a major dance.

Just sitting here this evening fondly watching dances and spotting folks I remember in them...  :)

Then lastly, here's one more video of the same venue in Saratoga, from this past February... just before Covid-19 came along and RUINED everything. This one has a more traditional fiddle band playing, but you get the idea of how much fun and high energy it can be... 

Because of Covid-19, the last contra dance i attended was Feb 22 2020. Of course all contra dances have been called off until things are safe again, whenever that will be.  I sure miss contra dancing a whole lot. I used to go 3 or 4 times a month to various dances in different locations within an hour's drive. 

I just came across a youtube video I didn't see before, of a dance in Sheffield MA back in November 2019, it's one of the dances I used to attend regularly. It's held in a lovely old wooden community center, Dewey Hall. This particular dance tends to have quite a few dancers in their teens. It's a small hall, so we have to be a little careful not to bump into others. Most contra dances are from 8-11pm, with a 20 minute snack break in the middle.

I remember this dance, it was not as high energy compared to some other dances I go to. But it's a great mix of young and old and everyone in between. The boy fiddler Zane in the middle is only around 10 years old, and his father is playing guitar. The caller is a very talented musical young lady in her 20s named Maggie. I know many of the dancers by name. All wonderful folks, and I really look forward to the day the dances start up again... everyone will be soooo happy when the in-person dancing resumes!

You can see me here and there in the video on the right side, mostly at 0:47 and again around 1:58.  I have a black top on.

I'm rootin' for you Sandi! 

Today I'll cleanup another area of the veg garden that is kaput for the year- the cucumbers. The tomato plants are mostly brown now, with a few odd stragglers still putting out some plum or cherry tomatoes. But I'll still be planting lettuce and radish seed every couple of weeks 'til mid Oct- they like the cold weather and will usually thrive until early December here in New York. My pepper plants are doing fine too- they seemed pretty frost resistant last year until Thanksgiving or so. I've found it helps to do the Fall veggie garden cleanup a section at a time... easier on me than trying to do it all in a couple of days later on.

I've actually been keeping up with my trampoline/rebounder sessions. It's been over two months now, and I've managed to go from starting out at 5 minute sessions to now 11 minutes, soon to be 12.  I think my current goal is to be able to do a 15 minute session at least 5 days a week. That doesn't sound like a lot, but try doing jumping jacks or jumping rope for 15 minutes straight and you'll quickly see what i mean.   It's hard work! 
I alternate straight bouncing with jumping jacks and jogging on it. When my 11 min are up, I get off and do some stretches and twists to finish up. So far I'm not avoiding it or feeling bored to death. I like that I don't have to spend a lot of time to feel like I've had a workout. I know it's doing me a lot of good... my legs are definitely stronger. I notice I'm going upstairs much more easily, and it seems easier to tie my shoes and do weeding or vacuuming.
I've lost about 4 pounds in the past two months, but I hesitate to attribute it to anything in particular. But far better than slowly continuing to gain, like i was before.

Poppop, that is very cool!  Thanks for joining us here. 

Dusty, I'd say the bride and groom put a lot of thought and consideration into their adapted wedding.  They did a great job and at least for me it would have been more fun than a mansion Las Vegas wedding.  Bingo and paint ballon art and individual food bags!     It does indeed sound memorable.  :D

For what it's worth, Gregg I think you look great with the super short beard!  My husband did the same thing, for the same reason. 

That's right, it's more about the doing of it, not the recording of it.
You did good playing for your friend, Irene. 

Here Traildad: http://www.strothers.com/string_choice.html

(Make sure you are calculating in the right octave.)

Ken's point is  I think: "one size down.. from what?"- because there are all kinds of different gauge sets for dulcimers that people use, and it also depends on the tunings you want to use.

All that said, a .022 for the wound bass and a .014 for the middle string would likely work fine too. But I'd hesitate to put .012 on the melody string and tune it up to high D on a 29" VSL... it would probably be ok, but it'd be pretty tight and therefore not as comfy to play.  .010s would be perfect for melody strings on a 29"er.  :)

It looks totally great!  It has the 6.5 extra fret, btw. I think you'll find that comes in handy.  Don't put too heavy a set of strings on it, considering it's a 29" VSL (vibrating string length).  Maybe .010 for the melody course.

Nate, check out our member @Randy-Adams.  He is well known for building and playing fretless dulcimers . Most of the dulcimers he's made are rectangular boxes, some from cigar boxes.

He has his own unique playing style.  Note that some of his videos include playing on fretted dulcimers too... but particularly check out the fretless videos- they're pretty amazing.

Thanks so much for your helpful input, Dusty!

Don- we're trying to clear up some confusion in your descriptions- otherwise we won't be able to help.

1) you can be "signed in" (logged into the fotmd site, as shown by seeing your name at top right link as Dusty outlined in red.... but unless you have JOINED a Group, you still won't be able to access that particular Group's discussions. Again- see Dusty's red outline showing where to JOIN a GROUP.  When you are in a group and something is inaccessible, do you see the button that either says "Join Group" or "Leave Group"?  If you see it, what does it say...join or leave?

2) we can't confuse discussion Forums with Group discussions. Anyone online (even non site members) can see the discussions in our site Forums.  However, with GROUP discussions, you will not see the whole discussion and will not be able to post in the group unless you have JOINED that group- see Dusty's screenshot.
To clear up what you are referring to- please post here the URL or link of the location that you cannot access. Even if it says no access allowed, please Copy that link address and post here, so I can see where you are when you are having this trouble accessing.

3) additionally, as Dusty asked, I too must ask- when you say you are 'restricted' what does that mean?- are you getting an error message?- if so what does the message say?  Or, if an error message is not popping up, what are you seeing?- a "404 Page not found" page?  Or, just not seeing the replies to a discussion?  What exactly are you seeing, or being told in a message?

4) Have you tried accessing these places on a different device? (a phone, a tablet, a laptop, a desktop)  Try a different device to see if it happens from that device too, so we can know if the issue is only happening on one device you're using.

Please try to respond to these particular questions i've laid out above, so I can try to help you.

Dr. Orthey sounds like a truly amazing man.  I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of your friend, Ken.

Hi Leo!  Sorry to keep you waiting here for a response from me.

Dusty is correct when he said there is no 'approval' needed for images added by members.

There is however a limit of up to 6 images/photos per day to be added. The file size of your images should not be a problem since you describe them as being less than 1MB each.

There is a total limit of 200 images for each member. That's because I have to pay for the server here and if everyone added hundreds of photos I'd have to spend a lot more paying for a larger server to host all those photo albums. For that reason I avoid having FOTMD become an archive to host people's files, music, and photos.
For hundreds of photos, there are good sites that house photos online and then you could simply post a link here so FOTMD members could go see them on your site, as Dusty suggested. I'm sure your photos are wonderful and everyone here would enjoy them immensely!  You should consider uploading all your historic dulcimer photos to a site you control, where you can make certain albums public or private, and organize them as you like. Photobucket or Google Photos comes to mind, but I'm no expert.

I see that you posted a first photo successfully, and it's still there.  As Dusty suggests, you should post another photo or two to see if it works.  I think you have to post one at a time. Maybe once you hit the limit over 6 it aborted the whole group you were trying to upload. Your photos were not removed or restricted, except maybe because you were trying to upload more than 6 in a day. I can at least assure you that nobody deleted them.   :)   Thanks, and happy to have you here with us!

We've seen most of John Sayles' films, including Matewan.

We watched the film on Amazon Prime. Had a laugh because Brian couldn't find it for the longest time until I pointed out that he was searching for "mountain miner" instead of "mountain minor". 

We definitely enjoyed it!  The music was great.  Enjoyed seeing Dan Gellert playing 'old' Charlie... Dan is considered one of the top five current living oldtime musician fiddlers. He's amazing.  Elizabeth LaPrelle's ballad singing was magical.  And the little kid playing young Charlie was wonderful.

I might not ever have noticed this movie- thanks Dusty! 

The limits of geographic distance (and its expenses involved in terms of food, gas, and lodging) don't apply with online festivals and their workshops, so it's a bargain! Many of these online festivals even include communal slots where folks can have fun meeting in a zoom room and getting to know one another during lunch periods and in between workshops and concerts!

People should definitely look into attending various dulcimer online festivals across the country now that distance doesn't limit them!

Thanks for this heads up Dusty. We plan to watch the film tonight!

This reminds me of how singer Ariana Grande got a tattoo on her hand that was Japanese  characters meaning "seven rings" (a title of her newest song at the time).  Unfortunately the Japanese characters were not exactly correct, and the tattoo actually said: "small BBQ grill" in Japanese.  lolol... probably a better tattoo anyway.

We had a nice salad for dinner today, with lettuce, carrots, scallions, peppers, and cucumber- all of that fresh from the garden. I added a few other items we like: cheese, croutons, and pumpkin seeds. I am sure looking forward our first tomatoes, we have lots of big green ones. I'm dreaming about tomato mayonnaise sandwiches.

Hey KenH- very nifty new avatar!

I've been doing my bounce fitness sessions on my rebounder/trampoline for the past ten days now, usually twice a day. I'm am now able to do 8 minute sessions. The first few days, 5 minutes would completely wipe me out. I'm definitely feeling stronger- my legs are stronger already, and I don't get quite as winded even though I'm jumping more. I've lost a couple pounds but that could be water weight so I'll have to wait and see on that. One knee got a little sore when I did some twisting bounces, so I'm avoiding that particular move now and it's helping.
It's really encouraging that I'm seeing obvious progress after only ten days. I'm actually looking forward to it each day.   It's nice to feel energized again!
I got some long resistance bands and having fun experimenting with tying them to the frame to add some arm stretching.

Hats off to you Belinda, for becoming avid hikers with your husband!

I find it interesting how different people get creative in figuring out ways to get their exercise safely during the pandemic. We each gravitate towards types of exercise that suit both our current situation, our comfort level, and our individual personalities.

Magic, I'm needing to see your IP address from the location you usually use and where you are usually seeing this issue happen... so maybe let me know when you are logged in from your normal home location- then I'll get the IP address that I can double-check on about possibly you being blocked from our end.  Thanks!  You can just email me using the "contact site owner" email link at bottom of site to let me know once you're logged in from home.   :)