Forum Activity for @strumelia

Jan that sounds so nice.  :)

Funny how much everyone has in common in various ways...  In new york city as a child on Bleecker street, we had no fans or AC so as little kids in the sweltering heat of Summer we would secretly take our pillows and a towel and sleep outside on the iron fire escape.  That was our 'back porch'.  This was six flights up (no elevator btw).. so you can imagine how startling that was to wake up in the morning all sleepy and look down.      lolol  krazy kid stuff...

Yeah the new porch is going to change things a lot for about 8 months of the year.  Our house is pretty small- we have no dining room and only a small table for 4 in the kitchen to eat.  So when we have family or friends over we have to move the living room coffee table to the side and open up a folding table there to eat.  And our existing porch is only 7 feet wide so again, you can barely jam 4 people around a little table to eat.  It'll be so nice to fit our 3 grown children and their spouses and us all (8) together on the porch when they visit!- at least between April and October or so.

I'm pretty good about growing alfalfa sprouts in the kitchen in quart mason jars all winter.  I keep a constant supply going for us, and boy they sure taste wonderful when they are absolutely fresh as opposed to store bought sprouts. It's easy, you just have to remember to rinse them once or twice a day while they're growing.  Since I keep the jars in the dish drainer next to the sink, it's not hard to do. The sprouts are our biggest source of fresh greens all winter.  It's great to be able to pile them generously on meals or sandwiches.

But now... it's Spring!  I've been doing a lot with the beehives and thus kind of neglecting my vegetable garden so far.  Today I finally pushed myself to get half the veg garden rows hoed up and planted with some onions, a few cabbages, and a whole lot of various tiny lettuce babies I bought in flats.  Boston lettuce, romaine, and leaf lettuce  -all those in both bronze/red and green-  and some iceberg.  Still three weeks away from planting tomato plants, which I'm pretty big on too.

There's nothing quite like the nice Spring feeling of pressing little green babies into the freshly hoed earth, with earthworms popping up here and there and bees humming by.      I like this time of year for the garden far better than battling the weeds at mid Summer...

The nice thing about vegetable gardens is that you get a little pleasant exercise outdoors while also producing healthy stuff to eat.  A win-win situation!

Well, fast forward to Spring and yes , we've got the new 14 foot square back kitchen screened porch lined up, in the works!  The workmen are set to start tearing down the old porch in a couple of weeks, and once they start it shouldn't take more than 3 weeks to finish up.  I can't WAIT!!!    

This is going to be a major upgrade to our at home lifestyle.  I am envisioning sitting out there enjoying Summer salads, playing music, sipping ice tea in the shade while overlooking the beehives and the veggie garden, lanterns and crickets in the evenings (and screened, so no mosquitoes!)... 

Hi Dulcidude,  let me try to explain what you are seeing...

1) to see the list of Groups that you are a member of, as Dan said hover over your link name at very top of site and you'll get a drop-down menu which can take you to "Groups I Belong To".

2) on FOTMD, almost all Groups have been created by the site owner (me).  Thus, if you go to my page and click that TAB called Groups, you'll see a large list of groups that I created.  If you go to most other members pages, you won't even see a TAB called groups becuase they didn't create any groups.

You DO however, still see the (empty) Groups TAB on your OWN page, and your list will be empty when you click it.  BUT other memebrs when they go to your page will NOT see a Groups TAB there at all.

So, if you are a regular member (not admin)... you will always see the Groups TAB on your page, but the list will be empty if you did not create (and therefore own) any groups.  You will NOT see a Groups Tab on other peopel's pages unless they have indeed created one or more Groups.  You will see the tab on Dusty Turtle's page, because he has created one or more groups...and on my page.  You will NOT see a Groups TAB on other people's pages if they have not created any groups (in turn, they will see the empty tab on their own pages, but not on yours)

Here I have logged in as a regular (test) member and this is what other regular members see when they're on your page:

 tabs.jpg - 274KB

May Brian rest in peace.  I'm glad he enjoyed his friends here while he was able.  Having friends with which to share your joy of music is a powerful thing.  Thanks Jan.

Just my two cents but I think if two players are playing noter/drone style duets, it would be good if one or both of them knows how to lighten up on the drone strumming a little- perhaps a lighter touch or only intermittent full drone string strums.  Otherwise it's going to be a pretty big 'wall o' drone'.

I don't have a book of noter duets, nor do I know of one.  But here's one (free) noter style duet tab I wrote for The Blackest Crow, if that helps get you started:

https://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2009/05/blackest-crow.html

Ken has given a good overview.

I'd like to add this- when i've gotten 'beginner' instruments of any kind and then later on purchased higher end examples,  I sometimes keep the beginner one and start calling it my 'travel dulcimer' (travel banjo, etc).  It becomes an instrument i can take anywhere without worrying about it as much as I'd worry about my more expensive instrument.

Your 'beginner dulcimer' can eventually graduate to being your wonderful  'travel dulcimer'...and it will no longer have to suffer any stigma!  

The 1.5 fret should be just slightly closer to the 2 fret than to the 1 fret...because the space between note steps get closer together slowly as you go towards the bridge.  Looking at your photo, the luthier at the string shop was absolutely right- someone did a poor job installing that 1.5 fret -it's not in the right place at all.  Plus in the side view it looks like they may have made two attempts with a fret saw.  To reinstall that fret in the right place will also require some repair of the fretboard cut(s) where the current fret is removed. 

After clicking on the 'hamburger' mobile menu icon, when you see the dropdown links appear...if you then click on the dropdown link of your NAME, it will take you to your profile page.  Remember, you'll click on your profile page TABS- the Video Tab, to see your videos.  To add a new vid, when on that same video profile page (of YOUR videos), click on the Plus "+" button to add a new video.

JH- This is only for when you are on your iPad Tablet:   when on FOTMD look for this icon in upper corner and click on it to show the links menu:

Cynthia, don't you agree that they might have also included this photo of John Henry?...    heh heh

A new iPad??   My oh my, you are more up to date than I now, JH!        Be aware that I've set the site so that tablets use the typical smartphone 'hamburger' style dropdown menu to save screen space.  Look for the funny square button in upper left and when you click on it, all the site links will show in a dropdown column on the left.

I'm hoping that somehow it's made sure JohnHenry receives two physical copies of that DPN issue?- one for himself and one for his son...maybe his grandson too?  A wonderful family heirloom to be passed down to future generations!  

Careful, he's wielding a knife!   

Big congratulations to dear John Henry Crocker   

Greg, so true!   One would hope that a maker would allow sufficient width of a staple fret to accommodate either string, if it were built intended to service a pair of strings.  But you're right- in our non-perfect world it's a point to watch for when choosing which melody string to remove.

I agree!  For noter playing , keep the melody string on that is closest to you and the edge of the fret board.  

Omg Ken- great idea!  

That's quite a bit of playing.  If you push the strings sideways while fretting, it does dig in more too.

Pro players i suspect get their frets worked on somewhat regularly every few years.

I'm no pro, but I have banjos with frets I probably ought to replace...dug my way down.  ;)

Oh Robert that's exciting that you nailed the fingering on your recorder after many months of not playing!  You deserve to be proud.  Would love to hear/see you play it sometime!  The sound of recorders is so rich and beautiful.  I agree, a Bb instrument is a wonderful range.  And yeah I hear you on the C minor tunes...yummy!

Wow, I'm relieved that my first pennywhistle class (of a series of 6) isn't until tomorrow night which means the snowy roads will be pretty well all cleared by then.  If it was tonight they might have had to re-schedule.  Looking forward to it although the first class will likely be a little too easy for me since I've been playing for 7 months already.  It'll be fun anyway though!  

Yesterday evening during the snowstorm Brian and I played music in the living room.  His played his fiddle tuned to Bb flat, and I played my low Bb whistle in harmony to the melodies which he played.  It worked out really nicely and was so enjoyable!   Still finding my way around the notes and lots of mistakes, but mostly sounds pretty...wheee!  It's great to be able to choose what kind of instrument I want to play on a given day.  Most go along just fine with Brian on the fiddle.  He's a 'one instrument' kind of fellow..I'm way more fickle.  

Great posts, Dusty and Brian!!  This helps to explain a whole lot.

I find it fascinating that for dulcimers, any discussion about playing in a different key really sort of has to go into tunings/capos and available fret intervals/notes.

Paula can you tell us about a  particular workshop moment of inspiration  that opened a door in your personal musical life? That's really what I was after in this thread.  

" Tell us about the single LIVE workshop or music lesson that was the most musically inspiring to you in your music life.  Could be on any instrument- but tell us about how that teacher's in-person lesson or workshop made a big impression, opened a door to your progress, or inspired your music playing in some profound way."

But with the capo on fret 4, you won't have the same pattern of whole/half steps to use as you have in DAd...so how can you use the same chord fingerings as you do in DAd?  Won't you have to learn new chord fingerings anyway?

Great photo, Sam!

I think our bees are still about a week away from bringing in pollen of any kind yet...we have temps in the 30s this week and inches of snow predicted still!

Here's a cool website that shows pollen color charts by season:

http://eversweetapiaries.com/pollencharts.htm

I've lost 3 of my 5 hives this winter.  Sadly, that's not terribly unusual for folks these days.  It's hard for the bees (and other beneficial pollinators) to survive and stay strong.  I'm just hoping my remaining 2 hives make it through til Spring because it's a whole lot easier to recover my hive numbers starting from 2 than from 1.

I tend to agree with Rob- tuning to EAA would make it much easier to play in A.  Cross-tuned fiddlers do the same kind of thing.

Good info Dusty, thanks!

So, I guess a capo at 4th enables one to play some tunes in A but not others, while needing to get the G# on the middle string. I think chords would be a bit of a bear to work around, and the lack of G# on the melody string would really bum me out.  

Dusty, if you capo on the 4th, you also won't have the G# available on the melody and bass strings- you'll only have a G natural on those outer strings- it'd be like not having the 6.5 fret.

(Kitchen Girl and Road to L. both sound more like minor, not major tunes to me?- with no sharps?)

You can capo on 3 to get the key of G successfully IF you have the 6.5 fret because that gives you your needed C#.  But unless I've missed something obvious, capoing to 4 won't give you the right whole/half steps to play in A major.

Dulcimers have certain whole/half fret placements that mean you can't just move a capo up and down to get any key you want- unless it's a chromatically fretted instrument like a guitar, banjo, or a chromatic dulcimer.

I'm not understanding how that's going to work on DAd tuning.  Are you planning to make chords on all your strings, or just pick out the melody on one string?  
How do you plan to make the needed I,IV,V chords in A major on a DAd tuned dulcimer?
And if you capo on 4 to get to the key of A, you won't have the needed G# on the melody and bass strings.

Have you addressed how you all will tune and/or capo your dulcimers in order to play in the key of A major?

Tell us about the single LIVE workshop or music lesson that was the most musically inspiring to you in your music life.  Could be on any instrument- but tell us about how that teacher's in-person lesson or workshop made a big impression, opened a door to your progress, or inspired your music playing in some profound way.

I signed up for a series of 6 classes that will start on March 16...  Taught by NY folk musician George Ward.  I'm looking forward to that!

It's now about seven months since I started playing the penny whistle, and I'm still really enjoying it!

Lately I've been playing in the key of Bb on my lower plastic whistle- trying to play harmony parts to Brian's fiddling tune melodies on his 'Bb fiddle'.  That sounds kind of pretty when I can get harmony passages right.  Still working hard at it, as it's not easy for me!  Maybe in a few weeks I'll be able to record a little video of that without tons of mistakes...(one or two mistakes is always acceptable in my view.)  

I threw together a new social fun site for anyone who plays tin whistle and is interested in joining:

http://pennywhistleclub.com/

You guys crack me up!  

Dusty that dancing guy always reminds me of the Young Frankenstein movie with Frankie dancing in a tuxedo... 

Our thanks to Teri West for her creative dulcimer smiley!

Lexi- give a big pat to Smiley for us... he's a special feller for sure!  

I admit I'm particularly fond of these smileys:

                  ... lolol!

Yeah I can see how DropC tuning would be good for singing and backup !

More ways to see it:

If you are tuning to DAd, it'd be from low to high :  D3, A3, d4.

https://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-notes-do-i-tune-my-strings-to.html

I think it was member @hugssandi

I'm reading a knitting pattern for knitting a pink hat.  Haven't picked up my needles in about 10 years(!) and I got inspired.  I'm really enjoying taking it up again for a few minutes of relaxation here and there.  Love the act of carefully making something with my hands again.  I'm finding it's like riding a bike- I need to review the instructions for certain things, but it's coming back to me very quickly.  
I'm realizing they now have a million online youtube videos for knitters.   The internet didn't even exist when i first learned to knit almost 30 yrs ago.  (!)  Yay!   

Hi D-  if you don't use the 1.5 fret, then you'd not likely use its 'mate' that's one octave higher (the 8.5 fret).

The reason we don't often see such extra frets mentioned in tab is this- the reason for adding them is to enable you to play in a different mode and key without re-tuning.  90% of tabs seem to be written for DAd or DAA tuning... both of which can be played without using the 1.5 or 8.5 frets.  Bluesy tunes might use them more often though.

I find the 1.5 and 8.5 frets are handy for me when playing in fiddle tune sessions. One example of where I find it useful is if fiddlers switch to a modal-y sounding tune in the same key and then switch back to a major-y sounding tune in the same key, without much of a pause.  Since I don't use capos either, those two extra frets give me more options in weird fiddle session situations.  But for folks who play typical pop and/or traditional folk tunes mostly from tab, they might rarely run into instances that call for a 1.5/8.5 fret.

I thought it would be interesting to hear about the songs we were taught when we were very little, in kindergarten through the first few years of grade school, like up to the age of around 10.  
Did certain songs 'stick' with you through your life in meaningful ways?  
What were YOUR early impressions and experience in learning songs as a small child in school?