Val and Brian- wonderful sentiments and thoughts- they really hit home and are so true.
John Henry, I plan to get in a little epinette practice this afternoon- after I work on some machinery valve drawings for a few hours (um, gotta make a living too!). It's an exciting new challenge for me, since I think I need to develop a new method of 'attack' more in keeping with its epinette-ish charms. 
Wayne Anderson said:
It is a lovely instrument, Lisa, and am sure that Sheba even gave it two paws up.
Wayne, Sheba wants nothing to do with it! lol!
I've been experimenting today, and it's obvious that this little charmer needs a lighter touch than my usual heavy handed Galax-ish power-strums, which might send it flying across the room... 
So I've decided to try to re-learn a bit of finger-picking again- which I have not done since about 15 years ago...!!
I'm very glad now that I took a one hour class in beginner fingerpicking a year and a half ago from Nina Zanetti who was teaching at a local dulcimer fest I went to. That one class, along with my old Sue Carpenter fingerpicking book, and FlintHill's Travis-picking videos here on fotmd, will surely help me re-learn this skill that I have forgotten long ago. I dug out my old fingerpicks that were stored away for years.
This will be FUN!! And challenging...so don't expect any immediate videos until I get at least a very simple beginner tune under my belt. It will take a little time...I have to relearn all the moves and it will take a couple weeks at least I'm sure. But I'm determined to do it, partly because I have seen how beautifully John Henry played this instrument.
But I just love love love this sweet little music box!
Yes John Henry is indeed a very special man.
I did indeed wait until Christmas morning to open the package! It was a real surprise because the shipping tube looked like it might contain a mouth bow or a violin bow or something- there is NO WAY an epinette could have fit into a cardboard shipping tube that slender....and yet it did! Even now I would never imagine it could fit back into that tube. I was totally amazed.
Benjamin- yes, I do feel very blessed in so many ways...and very grateful too.
Bobby, you are just plain naughty. Brian would have known, and of course I would have known! 
Bobby Ratliff said:
Congrats to you! John.......... that was mighty kind of ya!
But I have to say............ I wouldn't have waited! I woulda opened that package! I mean......... who woulda known?
Well I just have to relate the extra special Christmas gift I received this morning...
About 10 days ago a Mystery Package arrived in the mail for me, a long thin sturdy mailing tube with no return address except for a rather cryptic customs stamp and the name "Musical Novelties Company". It also had a warning to not open til Dec 25th, so I just had to wait, wondering.
Finally Christmas morning arrived today!
The generosity and thoughtfulness that went into this gift is overwhelming. I'm still not quite sure it's really real! I hope I will be able to do it justice.
Fotmd member John Henry sent me an epinette des Vosges that he made. !!
He remembered how I had talked of wanting to get an epinette a year or so back, and he knew I admired his skills in both making and playing his own epinettes. How incredibly kind and sweet of him to send such a wonderful gift. It's hard to express how delighted, amazed, and humbled I feel. But I know I will enjoy learning to play some simple folk tunes and hymns on it, and it is already cherished. I will definitely post a video of my humble attempts on it in a week or two once I get used to playing it...though I cannot hope to play it as skillfully as John Henry has in his videos! But I'll play it in my own way as best I can! 
It's so dainty , I've never played such a pretty little dulcimer-thing before!
Despite it's diminutive size, it has a very resonant bright voice- it really really makes me think of sleigh bells jingling through the cold sparkling crisp snow. So festive and cheerful! I feel like i'm in a Dickens story, receiving such a lovely gift. So unexpected.
John Henry, I just don't have adequate words to thank you for this precious instrument.
Here is our kitty Sheba and also myself getting to know our beautiful new epinette des Vosges this Christmas morning 2011!:
Here are some of John Henry's videos of him playing the epinettes he makes, he plays them so very beautifully, who could not succumb to their charms? :
http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/video/a-french-waltz
http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/video/good-king-wencelas-1-12-2011-wmv
http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/video/mingulay-boat-song-1
http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/video/the-gloucestershire-wassail
http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/video/trial-run
http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/video/bouree-caree-de-st-chartier
Vivian, that's very exciting- congratulations! Maybe you can get a jaw harp, limberjack, or harmonica to keep you busy and distracted during the wait. I highly recommend such diversions!
Every Christmas day I envision Rod playing his dulcimers and sharing his knowledge and wonderful enthusiasm with others. 'Deputy Mo', we will always remember you so fondly!
Dave, thank you so much for posting this wonderful tribute thread. What a beautiful tune you play for him.
Many of us have been thinking of Rod these past few days especially. He poured so much love into 'the family' here on fotmd. I feel like "Depity Mo" will be watching over our site of Friends tomorrow on Christmas day, with his silver bullet in his pocket... just in case.
I actually went to a concert of Aubrey and Elwood's a couple of weeks ago (very fortunate that they were playing only 30 minutes away!) and I bought yet another limberjack from her for my limberjack 'collection' of about a dozen.
They are such fun... especially when everyone at the jam is playing in a key that you don't want to touch with a ten foot pole!....lol! Just take out yer little dancing man and watch the fun begin.
Ben, it's challenging to play in a large group with lots of different instruments, especially when there are singer-songwriter guitar players singing songs in different keys every time. Diane had some particularly useful advice I think.
I play more often in old-time fiddle jams with banjos and that makes a big difference- they stay in one key for a good half hour or an hour or sometimes even longer. That gives plenty of time to retune when a key change is announced. Even then, i like to bring two dulcimers- one for C and D, the other for G and A. They fit in a double dulcimer gigbag.
Occasionally we go to places where I know it's going to be really difficult for me to play along, for one reason or another. That's when I bring a limberjack and it's always fun to 'play' ...and just about everyone likes limberjacks.
Yes Dana, but you would also be in different modes by using a capo- you'd be in E minor with the capo on 1, and you'd be in A Dorian (another minor-sounding mode) if you capo on 4. So if the jam is playing in the 'normal' key of A (not in A minor for example), you can't just slap a capo on the 4th fret and play along in A- you'd sound too minor, your fret pattern would be laid out for Dorian mode there at the 4th fret. Same thing happens when you put the capo on fret 1 for key of E- it will be E aeolian, a minor sound. That may clash badly with (chromatic) guitar players capoed to E and playing in a major sound.
The capo solution works well for going to G by capoing DAd on the 3rd fret- only because you were likely playing in ionian from DAd anyway, by using the 6.5 fret for most tunes. Placing the capo on 3 again produces the ionian mode, for G. So there is no noticeable mode change in that instance.
David that is a great unicorn! I love the weathered white paint and the mop hair. 
Here is my horse limberjack, which was already constructed but unpainted wood. I just added a few painted details, to give him a saddle, white face and legs, and a face... and made him look like a palomino:
My palomino looks a bit chunkier and less graceful than your unicorn- maybe he's better built for cow-punching!
Limberjacks rule!
David, maybe you can get your wife interested in playing the bones as well- it's a natural for anyone who already plays tambourine. I have some bones and can play them in a simple way- they are incredible fun once you get the first simple 'triplet thing' going...not that hard really.
Tambourines were very common in the minstrel era, along with banjos and rhythm bones. I kinda play my banjo a little like a tambourine sometimes anyway, rappin' on the head... so fun .
Bob I love this little story. I wish you could take a photo of your old box full of harmonicas and show it to us!
I have a couple of my harmonicas from 20 years ago, but sadly I think i lost my original two harmonicas I had as a teenagers, which would have been over 40 yrs old now. I always liked fooling around with harmonicas, but never got very good at it.
But I agree, it's always good to keep a little harmonica in your pocket- like carrying around a microscopic church organ!
I keep a set of rhythm bones and a limberjack in my instrument case when I go to music gatherings- like a harmonica they are very portable, and sometimes it's just the thing!
Yay! Flint is stopping by! 
It's October. The days are growing shorter, leaves are falling, pumpkin's on the vine, and the chilly winds are kickin' up, so....
Of all the sad, lonesome, spooky, mournful, ominous, plaintive, or mysterious songs and tunes that get played on dulcimers....which is your favorite one, and why?
(Limiting answers to between 1-3 songs at most will keep it more interesting- I'm not really looking for people to post long lists of all the ones they like- just tell us your real favorites!)
Whit, glad to hear you enjoy those dulcimers and play them every day.
As for your equal-tempered friends- I like to tell my Brian this: "I'm really glad you're not perfect, 'cause if you were you'd make me look bad!"
Whit Whitfield said:
P.S.-Most ofmy friends don't notice we are not quite in tune, but one are two lately have mentioned it which led to to my question.
Whit, those two luthiers are experts in placing frets at the proper intervals. Both have built dulcimers using 'Just temerament' for placing the frets, as Ken said- which means they were designed to sound best when not played chord style, and when tuned in ionian mode, which for the key of D would be DAA, not DAd. Try playing retuning them to DAA, and then play them using a noter and fretting the melody string(s) only- then tell us if they sound out of tune that way.
If they sound nice that way, then that's official- they'd be 'just temperament'-fretted dulcimers. you could sell them as 'traditional' just-tempered dulcimers and buy a dulcimer that is better suited for you. There are folks out there who'd like buying a just-tempered traditional dulcimer, and I think it'd be a better solution than sending them to have all their frets pulled and a new fingerboard installed with equal-tempered fret placement. Dulcimers by those two makers are sought after so you'd get a fair price I'm sure- with which you could buy a real nice custom new dulcimer made just the way you'd like it! :)
I love it when I struggle for an hour or so with playing some tricky thing, and I just can't for the life of me seem to make it click or get my fingers to do something....and then I go to bed and the next day as if by magic i can play it right off the bat. I like to think I got sprinkled with fairy dust while I was sleeping.
(but then there are also times when I go to bed and then still can't play it the next day... D'OH !!!) 
Thanna, don't be discouraged. It looks like you perhaps just don't fit in with that group.
All it takes is to find ONE other player who likes the same kinds of tunes you do and is open to both of you exploring and learning while playing and having fun together. Could be another dulcimer player, a fiddler, a banjo player, guitar, mandolin, whatever. Just someone who wants to work together at a beginner level on some tunes in common, without being judgemental. Maybe your teacher can help further now in this new situation.
As for the club....you already have a dulcimer teacher, one who apparently has some confidence in your abilities. Don't give up how you like to play. Perhaps that club should clarify their purpose and goals.
Yes, I have seen that happen a few times- where a new jammer starts their own tune at a slow pace which is the only way they can play it, and some hotshot starts speeding it up until the beginner simply has to drop out. How rude is that?!
So yes one thing is to ask the newcomer if they have a tune they'd like to play, and to make a point of saying they should play it at their own comfortable pace.
It's always nice to ask the newcomer if they have any favorite tunes they'd like to play.
We often hear about jam etiquette in terms of what we should do if we are trying to join and fit in with a jam, but what about looking at it from the other side?
I thought I'd toss this out there for folks to share their own ideas...
When you're playing in a jam or session, and a new hesitant person approaches, what things do you do to make them feel comfortable and welcome?
What if they are a beginner player and are having a little trouble keeping up with everyone else- what things might you do to help them out in some way?
On the flip side- what kinds of things would tend to discourage a new person and make their initial jamming experiences unsuccessful?
You're all more fun than a barrel of monkeys! :)
Happy 2nd birthday to us all!!
Yes Robin the beater/straw does 'work the same way'- except that fiddles are designed to be either bowed or plucked (pizzicato) to make a strong sound- they have such small sound boxes and short string lengths. I don't think you can get enough volume and oomph by only beating straws on the fiddle without bowing as well. But with a dulcimer/zither/hammerdulcimer you can! Thus for fiddlesticks on a fiddle you really need two people.
BUT- some fiddle players can get a good effect with bouncing their bow in a percussive way as though it was a beater- but if you watch them they are actually drawing the bow a little while they are bouncing, so they can get the strings to sound. If they did it without a hair bow, with just a stick, I wonder how much effective tone and sound they could get. --I'm assuming we are talking about actually sounding the fretted notes and melodies, rather than just tapping a stick on the soundbox with no notes like a drum rhythm.
On a dulcimer, this is called beating straws or using a striker . Obviously on the fiddle it's called 'fiddlesticks' or beating straws. Can't really call it fiddlesticks on a dulcimer though. It's a very old and traditional technique for both fiddles and dulcimer/zithers. I have enjoyed watching Bruce Greene & Loy McWhirter doing it with fiddle in their concerts.
On fiddle, you need someone fretting notes and bowing , while someone else beats with either one or two straws. On a mtn dulcimer or other zither-like instrument, it's not bowed so you don't need a 2nd person- the person playing can fret with one hand and beat one or two straws or use the striker with the right hand instead of a pick. Some folks use broom straws or chopsticks, or either bamboo or steel thin knitting needles.
Here's my favorite example of using a striker on a 'zither/dulcimer-type instrument'- this one is being used on an epinette:
Here's a classic fiddlesticks example:
Uh oh, i guess i;m in trouble now.
John Henry said:
Oh Strumelia, you fickle fing !!!
There's me thinking that you loved the mt'n dulcimer !
JohnH
Robin,
As you know, I've been working on that Eriksen banjo version of Sugar Baby (also see the other threads here on FOTMD re: Red Rocking Chair/Sugar babe). He uses an old tuning which is nice. Karen Dalton did a nice banjo version of Red Rocking Chair as well.
I'm glad you are exploring the wonderful uniqueness that is ...banjo. It's a lifelong love affair.
Your banjo playing is really sounding good Robin. Most people take several years to get to where you are now. You must be getting help from Rick!
Most old-time players consider Clarence Ashley's banjo/singing version to be 'the gold standard', but of course it's good to have your own version in the end.
That banjo you are playing has a really nice tone.
Robin, that dropthumb teaching video is very well done- I'm glad you found it, he gives great advice and it's very clear!
He's an excellent teacher.
Paul what you said about Pete Seeger is fascinating. I found the very same thing to be true for me- that learning/teaching dropthumb later on in one's playing is not ideal.
Robin- try watching/listening to Doc Boggs on banjo- it's pretty inspiring and yummy. I have a friend who learned nylon-strung fretless playing by listening to his playing and she sounds fabulous . Wish I could play like her!
