Forum Activity for @strumelia

As a child, I played 'cello in school for about 5 years. I worked hard at it and could read music, etc. As a teenager I unsuccessfully dabbled in blues harmonica.Then years passed without playing music.In my 20's I lived in Puerto Rico for 13 years and played the national instrument, the cuatro , in a folkloric cuatro orchestra in the mountains.Years later, I took up the mandolin for a couple of years. Never got particularly good at it.Then I found the lap dulcimer, which 'stuck'. I began playing clawhammer banjo as well, which 'stuck'. I've played these two instruments for years happily.In the past 6 months I've been also taking up some other instruments for fun, and have been enjoying them a whole lot too: the very percussive limberjack/dancingman, the mouth bow, and the bowed psaltery (which I had bought 12 yrs ago but never learned to play until now....guess I wasn't 'ready' for it yet.

John Henry said:

Forgor the pluked psaltry!!!

Pluked? Is that one of those English cuss words? lol!

For what it's worth, I am a passionate noter player and I use double melody strings and I like them very much. Once in a great while the noter might get tripped up by having the pair, but I'm usually moving fast enough for it not to matter. ;D

Party Time coming for 700 !!

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Paul Rappell said:

By the way, I hope our 800 revelers don't get out of hand! Is FotMD a "dry" site?

Anything goes. What happens at FOTMD parties.... stays at FOTMD parties. (hey, why are we still yakkin' on this old 700 member thread? - there's a new thread already for 800!)

Party Time coming for 700 !!

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Michael, there is a glitch right now in the member numbers.We actually have 791 current members. The "see All Members" link only shows 744.I imagine this will be fixed soon by Ning. It's happened before for a day or two.When I go to the Administrator view it shows all 791 members.Somebody should start a new 800 member party thread I suppose...

Party Time coming for 700 !!

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OK, so who's gonna help with the after-party mess ...??

Party Time coming for 700 !!

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Folkfan, I ordered some 'White Wonder' type cucumbers seeds for my garden, very mild and a white color. The seed catalog suggested the following recipe, but I haven't tried it yet! It sounds really good, and I might add a touch of lemon juice:{{{Lebanese style: slice two small White Wonders paper thin. Add 1 cup yogurt, a pinch of salt and chopped mint leaves to taste. Chill for one hour but serve at room temperature.}}}I googled 'Lebanese cucumber yogurt', and here are many other variations: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=Lebanese+cucumber+yogurt&aq=f&aqi=g2&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=caec63d5ff72707a

Party Time coming for 700 !!

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Dick, that video is too funny! She's a good dancer, for sure!Rod, I'm making my healthy non-fat cucumber and yogurt salad right now- gotta balance those cookies and mountain dew somehow. This suggests we actually have a chance to hit 1000 by our first year FOTMD anniversary at the end of July. Wow

Party Time coming for 700 !!

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I would LOVE to be able to dance like those teenage clog dancers in that video- they are so great !I've been going to a contra dance here in town once a month, sort of like square dancing. But hey those teens are just fabulous.

Party Time coming for 700 !!

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Woo-HOOOOO !!!! SEVEN HUNDRED MEMBERS!!!! .....Who'd of ever thunk it?????? ...And congratulations to Kontrapunkt- our 700th member!!!

Party Time coming for 700 !!

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Only one more to go.....

Party Time coming for 700 !!

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My great grandfather who was German used to LOVE his Limburger cheese. But my great grandmother used to make him go down to the basement to eat it. Poor Gros papa!- sitting down there amongst the crocks of pickles and saurkraut, eating his stinky cheese all alone!

Party Time coming for 700 !!

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I'll be going into the stinky cheese room as well! mmmm.....

Party Time coming for 700 !!

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Vicki what a lovely photo! Are those your daffodils?Maybe I'll bring a few bees to the 700th member party, to 'attend to' your daffodils. lol!

Party Time coming for 700 !!

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Bill Davenport said:

Ok, as part of the Kentucky group, I'm bringing Kentucky Fried Chicken and Derby Pie.
And lets not forget who started us on this wonderful journey. Strumelia gets the first piece of pie.

Hey thanx Bill!I'll grab a piece of that pie! :D

I think I'll make a refreshing style Spring salad, with paper thin sliced cucumber, yogurt, salt and pepper, and fresh dill and mint leaves.

Party Time coming for 700 !!

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I think Dana should wring a couple of chicken necks! ;D

Party Time coming for 700 !!

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Coming up soon....FOTMD will reach 700 members.... :D

updated by @strumelia: 08/03/23 02:34:24PM

Rebec

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

I can relate to all your points! Keep in mind that the bridge sholulkd be positioned to give you approx a 12" scale length- this will help p[revent breaking gut strings as well. It's a similar scale to a fiddle. I suggest cello rosin, to be a bit grippier.

Yay!

Rebec

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Yay! I'm thrilled for you!

You should order several replacement gut strings in advance from the fellow I mentioned.

They are expensive, but some are actually twice the length you need, so may wind up giving you two string replacements if you are stingy when winding the peg.

You will be skipping the violin low G string. Order the equivalent of the gut violin e, a, and d strings. Order an extra e because that's the one at highest tension that will more likley break. Order the medium thickness type for each string (he gives choices of light, medium, etc.) Be SURE to check out his offerings in his SALE area- I saved good money that way! His gut strings are higher quality and won't break as easily as the rougher gut strings that come on it.

You will need to rosin the bow quite a bit at first.

If it's hard to hold, try a piece of that rubbery shelf liner stuff- on the part of your body you hold it against.

I strongly advise not tuning it all the way up to fiddle standard, at least for the first week. I keep mine tuned (low to high): CGd instead of DAe. I just read the music and pretend i am tuned higher. After a while you may get good at transposing tunes to better places on your rebec. Try out centering a tune so that the tonic note falls on an open string...that helps me often. i play alone so I don't have to worry so much about what key im in.

Be sure to start with a very very simple tune.

Rebec

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Eileen, there is a Roosebeck soprano rebec just listed on Ebay which has a reduced price due to some cosmetic 'blemish':

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Roosebeck-23-3-String-Rebec-27-Bow-Hard-Cas...

There is also a new soprano unblemished one listed from the same folks i bought mine:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-UNIQUE-EMS-DESIGN-3-STRING-REBEC-GADULK...

Maybe you could contact the seller and ask to see a photo and description of the blemish, I wouldn't think that was an unreasonable request for an item which costs several hundred dollars. It cold be just a couple of scuff marks, which to me wouldn't matter and the discount could cover your shipping mostly. If it's a crack, or glue failure etc, i would pass on it. I would want to know exactly what and how significant the 'blemish' was before buying. Note that you can also make an offer on that auction- so you could maybe offer $260 or $270 and they might go for it.

Rebec

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Eileen, I got a nice hand-picked selection of gut strings from:

http://gamutmusic.squarespace.com/

The thing is, I spent a lot of time researching not only various sorurces for gut strings, but also reserached the exact gauges I would likely need to tune to various notes on my soprano rebec, with its particular scale. When you have ordered and are ready, I can put together a few suggestions of spare strings for you to order. I would say that unless you keep your tuning way lower, you have a good chance of breaking at least your high string when you first tune up your rebec- the gut strings that come on it are not great quality.

Also, the bridge feet are not very well fitted to the top of the instrument- some visible gaps there. I used a very fine sandpaper to gently sand the feet so they conformed better to the instrument top curve....but a real violin luthier would do a much better job than I could. Still, it was an improvement. Aside from those details, I found the rebec pretty sturdy and well made, and has a pleasing sound and feel, though not that loud of course due to the gut strings and no soundpost.

Rebec

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Eileen, this is the one i would recommend buying:

http://www.amazon.com/Rebec-Rosewood-Trim-Hard-Case/dp/B000E2B3NW/r...

But likely it's what you are describing above with high shipping to Canada. Is there a way for you to have it shipped to a friend in the US who is within driving distance of you? Maybe even have it shipped to a business and give them a $30 tip for holding it there for you to come pick up? (then you would have to know how to deal with customs when you return over the border)

Perhaps you could send the seller a message and ask to have the shipping reduced to $100- no harm in asking! They may actually be unaware of how high it is to Canada.

Have you calculated what the shipping would be directly to you if you ordered from EMS in the UK? It might be less!

Rebec

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Eileen, I am not able to fully respond right now, but a couple quick responses, more later:

So you have basically tuned the soprano rebec to what the alto normally is?

So, if I went with the alto rebec, it would be tuned Cgd and it would be basically the same range as the C recorders (give or take an octave) i.e. lowest note C. So with either the soprano or alto rebec I could follow any of the ensemble lines

But it doesn't the matter what key the group is playing in, does it? as long as one learns all the notes, including sharps and flats on the rebec? I THINK I'm beginning to get it!

I too love that medieval sound, and I've learned to LOVE my pear-wood (Huber) soprano recorder ( I never thought I would like the soprano), so maybe you've convinced me to just go with the soprano and tune it down to C.

And yes, let me know where to get the better gut strings. I shall re-start my looking on ebay and amazon. Do you recommend any particular amazon seller or source or are they all the same?

Here are two clips I really like:

Rebec

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

I have to admit that i was actually seeking the high nasally medieval "squeaky" sound you describe- similar to the sound of a medieval shawm. that's why I got the soprano Pakistani Roosebeck one from ebay. Did you know that EMS sells those pakastani ones as well? In fact, that may be the very ones you are looking at, the Alto version on EMS....made in Pakistan Roosebeck brand actually. You can get the SAME soprano one on Amazon or Ebay directly from U.S. dealers much much cheaper than from EMS. EMS also carries rebecs made by other luthiers that are likely better quality but way more expensive.

Did you listen to the youtube clips by that fellow who bought both the Roosebeck soprano and the low Tenor rebecs?- he has wonderful examples of playing both on youtube. That's why i ordered the soprano- because I WANTED that high piercing nasal tone like in his clips. You may not like that, everyone is different! I can certainly understand why you might want a mellower tone as in the alto.

The gut strings that come on the Pakistan/Roosebeck ones (whether bought from Amazon, Ebay, or EMS) are not quality gut strings, and my high string broke (twice) right off the bat when I tried to tune it to high E. I suspect nobody actually tunes them up to high e mostly. I wound up tuning DOWN 1 step and ordering better gut strings from a string maker in the US- I can give you suggestions if you like later. His strings seem way sturdier and smoother. Now I am tuned Cgd (bass to high) rather than DAe, to avoid the high tension and gut breakage. I can do that of course because I'm playing just by myself so it doesn't matter what key I'm actually playing it. I keep in mind my lowest note possible is that low C.

The gut strings means it's a fairly quiet instrument compared to what we are used to in a steel-strung violin.

I am playing it propped on my legs, like a tiny 'cello, and with an underhand bow grip...I find this way easier than contorting my wrist to wrap around the neck and play it like a violin. Also i had a very hard time keeping it from sliding around too much due to the bowl back, when trying to play against my arm like a low positioned fiddle.

Rebec

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Where are you thinking of buying your rebec from?

You know there is also a tenor size rebec made.

Are you able to pick out tunes by ear rather than having to read from paper? That might make it easier if you are able to. Then you could adapt better to what the recorder is doing. The main thing is to find the right key to play together.

Rebec

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Woo-hooooo! Ok...My little soprano rebec arrived today and I love it !

I had some nagging worries about whether it would be even playable, considering it was made in Pakistan and I bought it from a big Ebay re-seller. But it arrived exactly as advertised, in a sturdy overbuilt hard latched case and seems halfway decently made for an entry-level rebec. Three gut strings, and a bow included.

Happily for me, rebecs are tuned in 5ths, just like violins, mandolins, cellos. And since I used to play the cello in middle school and high school for 6 years, this was not totally alien territory for me...though the last time I touched a cello was about FORTY TWO years ago. =8-o

At first I tried holding it in my elbow crook as is suggested for rebecs, but that was incredibly awkward with the bowlback. It just seemed sooo much like a tiny newborn cello to me that I simply propped it between my knees and tried playing it the same way as cellos and bowed dulcimers. Yay!- that felt immediately and totally right to me somehow, with an underhand bow grip. It has a dainty VSL scale length of 12 1/2"....which is 1/2" shorter than Brian's fiddle.

Fooling around on it, I was thrilled to find some of my creaky cello skills still not forgotten, and I somehow knew how to play a few rudimentary melody patterns on it from the start. This was very very different than my jouhikko experience, which has been a very steep learning curve.

I think i am going to take to this little rebec very well! My goal is to play some simple old folk and medieval/renaissance tunes on it.

It feels really, really good to have a bowed instrument again, especially one that I understand and seem to have a little head start on already!

Wheee!

Rebec

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Well, I sold one of my two jouhikkos (to a fellow FOTMD member who was anxious to try one), and I used the money to order an entry-level rebec to try out. I've been wishing I could try out a rebec for years now. I hope the one coming is at least decently playable- we shall see in a few days when it arrives!

I hope to play some medieval and renaissance tunes on it, and perhaps some old hymns or shape-note melodies. I have not figured out how I will hold it yet- folks can variously play it under the chin like a violin, or against the shoulder, chest, or crook of the arm like a fiddler, or even in mini-cello position also like a bowed dulcimer.

Fun!

Rebec

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Ken, sadly, the closest thing I ever to wooden clogs were my old disco platform shoes....and some rubber gardening clogs that gave me blisters. LOL

Rebec

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

I absolutely LOVE the sound of the rebec! (I also love the vielle)Here is my favorite little youtube rebec clip:

Diane in Chicago said:

Thanks for the link, Strumelia. I don't hang around ED much, maybe I should!

Well I'm certainly not trying to shoo you away! LOL! But both FOTMD and ED happen to be great sources of dulcimer information and help. :)

Diane, there is: a recent thread over on Everything Dulcimer forum that has been discussing some of pros and cons of using a double melody string. It might contain some additional nugget of wisdom that would help you in addition to the discussion here. :)I would definitely advise against putting any rosin on your fingers or the fingerboard though. =8-oI assume you are bending notes a lot?- this might entail pushing the strings at an angle, which might well cause the pair to tangle together so to speak.If it were me I would try out playing with a single melody string to play blues. Perhaps just one gauge heavier than the double pair was. Can't hurt to try, but remember, every new takes a little trial period to get used to.

Challenges?

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Yes looks great to me too. You can always do some fine tuning to the group later.Go for it! :)

Challenges?

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Randy Adams said:

fwiw this can be done.

Yes, we tested it earlier in this thread:{{I posted to this discussion and clicked on "Upload file" under the text box for my new post. There, I was able to point to an MP3 file residing on my computer, and it uploaded to the discussion and clicking on it brought up my Quicktime program which played it no problem. You can do that in any post within a group as well. If anyone wants to test that themselves, feel free to test it in a group or here and then delete it after you see if it works ok.So, equally do-able in either a forum or a group. Youtube videos can just be embedded as usual.}}

Challenges?

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It looks pretty good to me!Things might get pretty messy if folks accidentally start posting their songs to the group's comment wall and then others start responding to them. So perhaps it's best if they are guided towards re-posting their clips to the discussion area. The comment wall will get full of questions and unrelated comments anyway. I doubt it will happen often enough to be much trouble.A couple of minor points-{{If you're posting your version of a song that has already been posted, please post it as a comment on the discussion for that song.....If someone else has already posted a "Shady Grove" discussion, post your version of Shady Grove to that discussion.}} -- avoid the suggestion of posting a song as a 'comment' as this might confuse people as to the Comment Wall again. better to just say "please post it in the discussion thread for that song."{{Please post a link to an audio or video clip when you post your song. See the HOW-TO document [ hot-linked ] for information on posting a link to your song. If you have trouble posting a link, please post a question to the comment wall.}} -- I think it'd be ok to 'embed' a youtube video clip in a song discussion as opposed to only posting a link to it. We sort of have to only 'attach files' of audio clips because that's the only way to do it in a discussion thread.One other thing we should keep in mind is that not all of Jean Ritchie's songs are public domain. ;)Ken, it looks good! Kinda funny all our fussing over starting a little FOTMD group. But I'm guessing it'll be rather high traffic.The main difference between the idea of this group and the FOTMD video and music lists already in place (where feedback often gets left by others as it is), is that multiple versions of the same song or tune can be easily compared and enjoyed, and there will be a centralized place for folks to comment on the versions and exchange information on them.Other folks' thoughts on Ken's overview...?

Challenges?

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Yes, of course no voting or judging...eeewww! =8-o ;DWe must realize that once a thread is started for a particular song or tune....then that thread will be there for good and someone new might contribute their new version like a year from now or more! Unless the discussion thread gets 'closed' by a moderator...but I can't really envision a reason for doing that.Another good reason for making it a group rather than just a forum is- the description of what it's all about and instructions on how to go about contributing can be laid out clearly in a big text box right on the group's home page. On a forum you can't really set up a 'forum home page'.

Challenges?

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Strumelia said:

Ok, I just did a test.....

I posted to this discussion and clicked on "Upload file" under the text box for my new post. There, I was able to point to an MP3 file residing on my computer, and it uploaded to the discussion and clicking on it brought up my Quicktime program which played it no problem. You can do that in any post within a group as well. If anyone wants to test that themselves, feel free to test it in a group or here and then delete it after you see if it works ok.So, equally do-able in either a forum or a group. Youtube videos can just be embedded as usual.I like Vicki's "You Call the tune" name- sounds friendly and inviting.We need to keep it all public domain or traditional material though- I would need any copyrighted submissions to be deleted . Pain in the butt I know, but a "You Call the tune" group or forum would tend to accumulate a 'lot' of material over time, and i don't want FOTMD ever shut down for copyright violations.Personally, I think that since there is no technical advantage either way for group or forum....I think a group might be better organized if it had someone guiding it a bit. And it helps if people need to join the group before posting. Ken, I suspect this would quickly become one of the largest groups here on fotmd.I don't really want to have to spend extra time keeping watch for copyright issues there on a daily basis (I already do that on the video and music playlists), so I would ask the group leader/administrator to please make sure the submissions are always public domain.The other thing is that if it's a group, the group leader would need to require that people post a new song as a new discussion thread. Others posting their version of the same song would reply within that discussion, not start another new discussion for their version of the song. And some will post their version to the group's comment wall by accident- they'd have to be guided to post it in the proper song thread. Just some logistical thoughts.More ideas and opinions...?

Challenges?

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Flint Hill said:

One peripheral but significant question is this: Is it possible to obtain a permalink to an individual song that has been posted to FOTMD? The best I have been able to do is to get a permalink to a player showing all of my songs, so someone would have to pop the player and then scroll down to find the song. It would eliminate a lot of potential confusion if it's possible to get a direct link to an individual song.

You are right- that would be a slight issue. There is no way to have a direct link to a tune on FOTMD's Playlists. You *can* have a direct link to a video, but not to a sound clip in anyone's playlist. the best you can do is go to their page and click on the specified tune in their playlist.Ok, I just did a test.....

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Yes, it's great that we've been posting our various thoughts on this.Ken, I would go along with whatever you decide to do here.If you want to make it a new group, i think that might be a nice way to keep it organized.If you want to make it a forum- then I can add a new forum category and each song 'project' could be its own thread I'd think.You decide, and I'll support it. :)

Challenges?

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Randy is that done within a "Sound Off" group, or is "Sound Off" a forum/discussion area?

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Ken I think this is a great idea. :)We'd have to figure out how to best implement it.I would heartily back it if you wanted to start a new FOTMD Group for this.But to avoid it getting confused with Vicki's group "Challenged Players" I'd ask that you name it perhaps "FOTMD Music Challenge" or something to that effect- that should make it clear enough.If you started such a group, as you say you would have to have some sort of control over people just posting challenge after challenge of all their favorite songs. Unfortunately I don't think there is a way for a group creator to review or moderate other group members' posts before they are submitted. So some form of challenge rules would have to be spelled out by the group creator in a text box right on the group's home page. You might want to have a separate group 'discussion thread' for each official challenge. In groups, people sometimes start posting on the group's Comment wall rather than in the appropriate discussion, simply because they don't know any better, so that would be a small issue as well.The other option as opposed to forming a Group is to just keep it as discussions on the main FOTMD forums. This might work if I set up a new FORUM CATEGORY for "FOTMD music challenges", and then folks could set up each challenge as a new discussion. Of course this would mean there'd be a whole bunch of challenges to choose from after a while, with really no control over it to keep it structured. Plus, there'd be a limited text description under that forum that no one would see if they went directly to each challenge discussion from the Latest Activity on the main page. There would be less control in a forum setting than a group setting, but less work as well.More input and ideas from everyone?.....