My favorite is John Stinson's # 2 
But I just found the words to Harrison Town and I am currently mesmerized by that tune too. :)
Best wishes,
Mary Z. Cox
Believe it or not--I've actually "done over" my biggest musical do over--and found it's never too late to do it over. :)
When I was younger, I mistakenly felt that you could only have one good banjo or one good dulcimer at a time.
I wish now that I had just gone ahead and bought every banjo or dulcimer that appealed to me, brought it home, played it, enjoyed it, and just laughed about all the fun it is to just buy any old instrument you want and not feel guilty.
I used to feel that I didn't deserve a bunch of beautiful instruments--but now I don't feel that way anymore. Instrument builders don't build them for folks as rewards--they build them for folks who will play them and enjoy them. :)
And yes--it's wonderful to have the instruments you really want to play.
The other thing that I have "done over" is that it is okay to just let an instrument "go" to someone else. I've sold and given away and traded perfectly good instruments because sometimes it just seems that the new person and that instrument are right for each other now. And it isn't painful and I've never felt any regret.
That "do over" started with a man who just called me up and told me he had been wanting to buy my old bass for over 30 years and it was never for sale and he was wondering if I might finally sell it to him. I almost said no just on a reflex--but stopped--and glanced over at that bass--standing in a corner--with a light coat of dust--and it looked kind of sad--so I said "okay--why not?" I gave him a fair price--he came and got that bass the next day--took it directly to a job in a chicken wire bar--they looked so happy together and I never missed it once!
Best wishes,
Mary Z. Cox
Robin,
You can still sing--but you have to approach it as another instrument. I recently heard Joan Baez on NPR and she said that although she was able to "just sing" and sound wonderful when she was young--as she has got older--she has a voice coach and does voice exercises everyday just to be able to maintain some pitch, tone, and volume.
If professional singers have to do all this to keep up their voices--regular singers most definitely would also have to exercise and train to keep up their voices too. :)
Best wishes,
Mary Z. Cox
Robin Thompson said:
As a teenager I sang a lot and have sung very little as an adult. I wish I would've kept singing because it's fun and I can read music for singing. My ear for singing is no longer good. I go flat a lot, doggone it.
PS-(I can't sight read for playing dulcimer-- either mountain or bowed. Wish I could. Though I am glad I can play by ear.)
Lots of different music sounds good on the mountain dulcimer. I've found that because folks tend to tune it with drone strings--it actually sounds very nice in duets with fiddles. You can favor the bass string when the fiddle goes high, and favor the treble strings when the fiddle growls low. :)
Very fun.
Best wishes,
Mary Z. Cox
Best wishes,Mary Z. Cox
Enjoy your posts Best wishes,Mary Z. Cox www.maryzcox.com
My family keeps me so busy making quilts and quilted grocery bags that I have never made anything for my mountain dulcimers. I just got this brand new awesome sewing machine--maybe I'll try something--after I finish my niece's wedding quilt. :)
Best wishes,
Mary Z. Cox
ps. My family likes my music a lot--but they go really crazy over the quilts. :)
You go girl. 
Best wishes,Mary Z. Cox www.maryzcox.com
If I could keep only one mountain dulcimer, I would keep my Dorogi D Model dulcimer. Built by Chautauqua County, NY luthier Dennis Dorogi. The D Model is a one-of-a-kind. Incredible sound, perfect intonation and a beautiful wood sculpture.
I have several Dorogi dulcimers - all exhibit fine craftsmanship and all are built to Mr Dorogi's exacting standards.
Michael Vickey
www.goodfornuthin.com
This is the Kurt Simmerman Spanish Curly cedar front with figured mahogany on the back. :)My dulcimers do not really have names--I just call them by maker and or wood.For some unexplainable reason I think of the Blue Lion dulcimer with the rose inlay, the lady with the checkered past, and the swan dulcimer as female, and all the others as male except for the Galax dulcimer which has a name "LiL Tater" and it looks like a big sweet potato--and has the personality of a basset hound. :) Bob Lewis said:
1. Kurt Simmerman concert goncala alves2. Kurt Simmerman concert Spanish curly cedar and figured mahogany3. Kurt Simmerman concert sassafras and walnut4. Blue Lion rosewood and red cedar5. Blue Lion 6 string Robert Force6. Ben Seymour cherry Galax7. Unidentified with carved swan head8. Bob Cox (John Huron model) sassafras and cherry9. Ron Ewing dulcimette walnut and vintage wine vat10 The lady with the checkered past (Ron Cook--walnut and maple checkerboard--carved lady's head)11. McSpadden cherry and spruceon order12. Bill Taylor courting dulcimer TBA13. Paul Conrad Timbre TBAI will probably try to keep this right at thirteen as that is a lucky and positive number of dulcimers to have in one household to maintain instrument stability in the universe. If I sell one--I would have to cut back to 8 and if I buy a new one--I'd have to add on until I had 21. I try to maintain stability and harmony in my instrument numbers as transitions tend to be chaotic. :)
Best wishes,Mary Z. Cox www.maryzcox.com
All my other banjos that have gut or nylagut strings are low tuned on big thick strings--so this is going to sound quite different--but very warm and interesting. 
Mary your banjo playing is a delight. I especially like The Wind that Shakes the Barley. Is there anywhere I can get the TAB for that tune?
Hello,Yes--I've played banjo since I was 12 years old and my Grandad was also a professional banjoist.If you'd like to know more about me and my banjo music, please visit my website. :) maryzcox.com I do usually play at least a couple mountain dulcimer tunes in concert and evidently I play my mountain dulcimer so much in the old time string band style that folks have come up to inquire "What is the difference between a banjo and a mountain dulcimer? They sound so much alike when you play them. " :)
Let's start a wave for Lisa.
