Forum Activity for @lois-sprengnether-keel

I once wrote here about "First language", meaning in this case instrument training, influencing you.  In my case it was piano and I am indeed chained to sheet music.  Ionian tuning has let me develop my ear a bit, but ear training and (at least in my instrument playing) memory is a gift, or at least a skill, I don't possess.  I can play something over and over and maybe do most of it without looking while the piece is actively being worked on for performance, but if I come back to it after some time later, I couldn't begin to play it without working on it.  It may take me less time the second time, but it's not like singing if I know the words.  

I sometimes say I'm "math impaired" as numbers don't stay with me.  I believe this is somehow part of my brain linkage.  Perhaps it can be developed, but I've never been able to do it.  This is why I say I'm not a musician.

FWIW my memory works pretty much the same way.  I exercise it like crazy with theatre, but once I finish a show I couldn't begin to give you the lines without reviewing them.  It's also why, as a librarian, I gave great service taking people to the numbers on the shelf, because I don't remember them very well.

Marsha, I saw this happen recently with my husband at our folklore group.  I do understand as I've felt intimidated by them because there's some darned good musicians in the group.  He can play banjo in the background at my Civil War programs and earn raves.  I also stop him being in the background to have him play the melody of "Old Rosin the Beau" for my singing the Civil War abolition song "Roll on the Liberty Ball" and later a bit of it for "Lincoln and Liberty, Too."  He knows the song and does it well. 

We had a theme of Cities for our folklore group's song swap and he wanted to sing and play it for the song "Denver."   It's to that same tune and he can do it in his sleep.  He blew it, not just a little bit, he got thoroughly spooked.  Don't think I'll ever get him to try playing there again. 

O.k. I make myself play there.  When I said "I've felt intimidated", that past tense isn't true as I still do.  I've blown it there at times.  It's good for me to set those goals.  Just hope someday he'll try it again and I keep trying to help him understand.

Regarding the discussion of "when you can consider yourself a musician", I sometimes think I play like an Oriental Rug...there's always a mistake somewhere in it.  (O.k. so maybe the audience doesn't know -- if I'm lucky.)  My standard reply to the obvious mistakes is "Now you know why I'm a storyteller and not a musician."

My new baritone has what I think is called a Weeping Heart?  Robin 8 years ago posted a photo with the same type of sound hole.  I never heard of this type, so I went looking on the Sound Hole discussion.

Just one more thing in my getting to know my Bari.  It has a lovely tone, but I am having to adjust to extra frets.  Joined the Extra Fret group.  Nothing like an addition to the family to get you involved in more and learning more.

Awwww!  Wish there was a way to get someone in the future related to my present malamutt (husky/malamute mix) as he's got the best of both sets of genes.  How wonderful for you, Patty, to have that relationship to Molly.

Definitely Laughing Out Loud over your dulcimer-playing KY moonshiner, Lisa.  My best market for gigs is here in Michigan which has a doozie of rum-running type history from Prohibition, so my post-Prohibition reporter looking back at it will have more than enough to cover looking at that.  My trick right now is organizing it in a compact format, there's so much available to say.  I figure the Ooo-koo-lay-lay will help me keep it light and entertaining.  I want to focus on how it turned normally law-abiding people into bootleggers and made drinking the opposite of what was intended.  (I plan to start with a W.C.T. U. song -- learned years ago as KY's Carrie Nation came to Holly, MI to smash the bars and for many years there was an annual Carrie Nation festival and pageant.)

You and Terry have convinced me to stay with a tenor.

Thanks, Ken, for reminding me it's perfectly acceptable to strum to the rhythm of your words.  Those of us singing while playing an instrument often talk about the difficulty of doing both together.  Let's face it, those words have a rhythm and the great musicians who want to show off their strums make us feel inadequate if we don't have a strum pattern. 

I was so taken with a few things Sandi said that I decided to follow her.  (That's why we  follow .)  A discussion she started last year showed up (it now is gone, crowded out by recent comments?).  Fortunately I remembered part of the title and the Search helped me find I Am SO in Over My Head again.   While the discussion was mainly about playing chords, I especially like Strumelia's point about people getting so carried away with their chords and fancy playing that you can't recognize the melody. 

Sandi, I agree with Dusty Turtle (Dusty, I would have sworn you played forever! , but your musicianship pre-dates the MD) on that discussion when he talked about how something he couldn't play at one point, six months later he came back to it and now was up to it.

My reason for bringing up that old discussion is it shows how we need to keep reviewing old topics.  We don't always "get it" right away once the discussion is over.  Keep at it, Sandi.  You're definitely not alone.

Thanks, Ken, Susie, & Terry.  I was wondering if this and my earlier trying to get started was worth posting.  Just figured it would be worthwhile for someone, even though it's an"Other Instrument."

Terry, you gave me the rationale I tried to explain to my husband about why I bothered.  Dunno if you know if the baritone uke was around by the early 30s or not.  My voice is low enough I often sing an octave lower.  Probably I'm better keeping the tenor for that 20s sound.

Consider this a P.S. addressed to other members: Lisa/Strumelia keeps this site running with her own time and her own money beyond any money we don't contribute -- I am sure we don't donate anywhere near enough to keep it running.  I'm not planning on selling anything, but don't want to see this site follow Everything Dulcimer into oblivion.

This discussion started on another location here,  A Fretter Box , but I promised to post eventually the story of it here.  There are some resources included and, storyteller that I am, a story, too.  It all started because I'm developing a storytelling program about Prohibition and that era's hot instrument was the ukulele.

As I write this, a 14 year-old just won the national spelling bee.  I never went into spelling bees beyond my own schools, but am generally a good speller.  In years of proofreading my own writing and that of others I've always said it's easier to proofread somebody else's writing than your own.  I blame that overconfidence for what happened. 

There's a site called Ukulele Underground , which is probably the ukulele equivalent of FOTMD and I now remember why I didn't join there right away.  Their registration and even Contact form has a "random question" which is always "What is this forum about?"  I tried the uke; ukelele; playing ukelele and kept getting rejected with "The answer given for the random question was incorrect."

This time I was determined and sent an email to an active performing member explaining the problem and asking him to pass it along to a moderator.  He didn't know who the site moderators might be, but gave me a name to contact.  That, too, required some detective work as the name wasn't that uncommon and, added to that, the person recommended lived in Chicago where several people had that name.  Eventually I reached the correct person and was told who the moderator/owner of the site was.  I passed along my tale of woe to the owner and was given advice to get registered.  (None of these three deeply involved ukulele players, after my repeating to them "I tried the uke; ukelele; playing ukelele and keep getting rejected with 'The answer given for the random question was incorrect.' " noticed my typo.)  Even as I write this I find my tendency to write uk e lele instead of uk u lele persists.

Thank heavens for Lisa Golladay's proofreading skills!  She caught it and also suggested I try  http://www.doctoruke.com for my desired Twenties Music.  She's right on that, too, and, if it weren't playing a uke, I might have listed how it has kept me busy this past month working on "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" -- a piece I already love on guitar, so it's been fun adapting it for a new instrument.  Dr. Uke gives chords, lyrics, and an audio recording all together.

Back to the U.Underground doorkeeper.  I reapplied, this time correctly spelling ukulele and was again rejected.  The message said because I might be a spammer!  The message also said if I believe this was in error to write using their Contact.  O.k., I wrote, spelling correctly.  Somehow I was admitted (probably on probation?) as a Junior Member.

At the risk of sounding ungrateful I find myself contrasting their site with FOTMD and even further as I'm an admin on a storytelling network and sympathize with the problem of keeping out spammers.  FOTMD handles this so much better than the uke site.  A few years ago Strumelia even gave me an IP locator to help identify some of the more obvious spammers.  My own admin work also makes me sympathetic to poor spellers and that site also has many members for whom English is their second language.  This just shows the inflexibility of a computerized gatekeeper.

Further reviewing FOTMD vs. U.U., their welcomes are posted in offiffiffic'al Sticky Notes for you to find.  FOTMD has members who give new members a few posts of welcome notes.  Yes, it takes up space on the Timeline and we've all seen it many times, but for newbies it is indeed Welcoming. 

Dunno how many members here have an interest in ukuleles.  The last post in this forum about them was five years ago.  Speaking as someone who knows the mountain dulcimer is my first love, BUT have a Folk Musical Instrument Petting Zoo, I have learned to never say "never."  That includes the dulcimer, at one time I was sure I would never want one...but that's another story.

There are other ukulele resources you can find with a search engine, but just remember: Call 'em Ukes, Ukuleles, but never Ukeleles!

Sandi, I never tried glass, but bet it would really zip along.  I stay with wood when I don't "finger dance", but had such a hard time at first placing it squarely on the strings that my husband gave it an inner circle at the tip cutting in all around so that I tend to place it more accurately.  I don't know that anybody else would be interested, but, if they are, I can have him take a picture of it.  Guess it could be considered like "training wheels" on a bicycle.

Thank you, Nigel.  You, Dusty, and Brian helped get me there.  I felt a wee bit guilty taking over the Timeline with my problems instead of Private Messaging, but figured it both helped me succeed and maybe helped a few reading it all.

Oh my heavens!  I have it!  I do...I was just about to start all over and found something that sent me to my C drive (I thought I had bypassed that to save space) and there's something called My Web Sites.  Yes, Nigel, it even has an index.html!  5 KB and all.  <sigh!>  I'm surely not the only one to be this confused, but I'm sooooooo relieved.

Thank heavens their site stays up until June!

I really think something didn't work.  Tried to send a screenshot, but the file attachment says it failed.  The address line is weird, too: file:///C:/Users/lois-/Documents/Website%20Ripper%20Copier/Downloads/Everythingdulcimer/evartdulcimerfest.org/index.html

I think it's time to start over...oh joy!

That produced a Notepad of computer language for Carbonite and a few things from Website Ripper, related to old searches I did about the Evart festival on Everything Dulcimer, but I tried Website Ripper and when it didn't work well I deleted the app.  Then I succeeded in finding the way to HTTrack (my first search hadn't turned it up) since that had worked for Brian.  If
"index" doesn't appear, I'm worried.  HTTrack is on my computer.  I also know it was the one copying all night long and this morning.  I just now stumbled into a list of those files Website Ripper tried to copy last night at around 6.  They're empty, but the titles are still there.

Opening HTTrack produced a list of Documents and that's where the Website Ripper list was apparently until I deleted the program. 

I just sent off a question to the HTTrack Forum and certainly agree I'm inexperienced in using their software.  If I hadn't seen it downloading over all those hours, I would believe it didn't download.  My flashdrive shows a 2 KB WRC file, but when I try to open it, it just keeps trying to have my browser save it.  That may have been where I went astray in my initially telling it to open there, but now I can't seem to figure out how to open it any other way.  I've tried a variety of programs supposedly able to open WRC files and have nothing even close to Nigel's experience.

WIN HTTrack.  I can see the flashdrive and find the copy, but opening it is still a mystery.  Right now I could say the attached jpg pretty well describes my feelings...it doesn't open anything on my flashdrive, but it's a picture of me.

 computer-error.jpg - 12KB

O.k. here's a clue that's probably important.  My download has an extension of .wrc.  I just did a quick search on Google and will see where that gets me.

Hi Dusty & Marc & Brian, et al (including anybody here named Al),

I started downloading to a flashdrive back when I wrote 17 hours ago.  It finally has finished and it was going up until a few minutes ago as I got home and checked.  At that time I saw it was somewhat over 4 1/2 GB which is why I chose the flashdrive I used.  BTW AVG complained at me 3 times about some malware -- I think it was Smiley something or other.  Each time I clicked off, since it was stopped and I didn't want to do a scan or anything else while doing the site mirroring.  For most of that time only the download was happening.

I can see ED is on the flashdrive, but when I go to open it, I'm asked what app I want to use to open it.  DUH! I haven't a clue.  My browser doesn't open it.  Now what?  I don't even know enough to know what kind of an app I need.

Computers!  There's always something more to learn!

Hi Marc, I tried putting the various named apps in at the Google Playstore and got nowhere, then went looking for website copiers.  At one point I downloaded a "free" copier only to find it needed me to move up to a licensed, a.k.a. paid, copier.  This is the link,  https://www.httrack.com/ , to take you to the copier Brian named.  Maybe I was slow figuring it out, but probably I'm not the only one.  Can't give a final word on all this as it has only been running for 8 minutes with 180 some files copied. 

I will say check your flash drive's Properties first to be sure how much space exists.  Along the way I found a few flash drives with forgotten information.

Aw!

That one of the kitten and the dulcimer got me thinking of an old piano instrumental piece called "Kitten on the Keys" and how there needs to be one for Kitten on the Dulcimer -- maybe with some meowing.

As long as Sally Ann doesn't  mistake it for a scratching post, may she learn there are people's toys, too.😉

One of the things I love about FOTMD & the dulcimer is the frequent reminder that there's no ONE way to play.  I find that also means I keep learning new things.  Discussions here & articles at ED can be great resources that I might not currently need but want a while down the road in my dulcimer "journey".  Yes, tab is a great resource, but what is the likelihood of anyone republishing articles.

I mentioned earlier a way to find the site once it is offline, but, if not re-posted on an online site, those articles won't be found in a search engine like Google.  You will only know about those articles by searching the old ED site on the "Wayback Machine."

DRAT!  Sure would love to see those articles move here or somewhere else in an active site.

The tab there is what lots of players want, but I just fell into a 3 year-old discussion here about tunings.  It mentioned a DAA chord chart that went into several keys.  A search sent me to a discussion on Everything Dulcimer by Stephen Seifert as he was developing a new handout about DAA chords.  From there I went to his website & his 3 charts.  I am pretty sure I've downloaded it in the past, but just to be sure I printed it out again.  Since the site won't really plan to add anything, now's the time to prowl Archive.org on Feb 24, 2018 to see if it's complete.

I've also found the more people prowl a site there, the easier it stays to find it.

Everybody needs to get good at using the "Wayback Machine" at  https://archive.org/ .  By the time it shuts down we need to locate the date with the most complete scan of the site so that people can go to that date to prowl for an article or tabs.

As a storyteller I do that with a site that was a rich source of story suggestions but no longer is online.

I was lucky to find a home (Middle School music classroom) for my mother's beloved piano.  Shortly afterwards I learned how lucky I was.  Read an article about how many people are finding it impossible to even give away pianos.  People are even paying to have them go to landfills!  The article did wonder about the wood being recycled to make new instruments. 

Yes, they're heavy to move, but if you can manage that,  maybe you wonder how to find unwanted pianos.  If you have never discovered Freecycle, Google it and subscribe.  You can post a request for people to contact you -- I would suggest mentioning your wanting to recycle the wood to make dulcimers.  Probably once a year would be acceptable to post the request.  You can sign up for more than one Freecycle group as they are grouped by geographical area.  I would add just probably one at a time so you don't get swamped.

I am not likely to ever build a dulcimer, but this sounds like a great way to find beautiful wood rather than let it rot in a landfill.

FWIW I just put in this. (Dunno if it's http or https.)   traditionalmusic.co.uk

Sadly most of my husband's banjos don't have much that burns.😎

Thanks, Lisa, I agree that C and F make the most sense to me.  My tuning is CGG and having the C and F chords in both keys is a great way to keep this simple.  It will be a lively song for a jam on death and I want to start in C with the verse on melody string only, then across the strings for the chorus, ending on C for a measure, then Bb (suggested by Jan Potts since it's in F) for a measure and then F for a measure (or those two, Bb and F, maybe only half a measure each), before starting the chorus on an F chord for the chorus a second time, but in F.

It also gives me an ending with a measure of F, then half each of Bb and F.

What I really love about your suggestion is the link!  I plan to prowl that site like crazy.  I am at an awkward stage with the need for either arrangements and/or learning how to do my own.  There's even a bit of a story to it.  (My playing sometimes uses the excuse of "Now you know why I am a storyteller and not a musician.").  I now handle the rights to the songs and arrangements of my late aunt, Norma Andersen.  Her musical world was Barbershop, but I bet she's approving my own musical journey.  Thanks for nudging me a bit further.

Key changes need a bridge to transition and Robin Thompson suggested I take this out of "What Are You Working On?" and start it's own discussion.  I could try this in Music Theory, but am interested in how to do this and, maybe, others have wanted to do key changes in a song.

Yesterday I asked:

I am currently trying to develop When the Saints Go Marching In.  I am using Ionian tuning and want to go from the key of C to the key of F. Might anybody be able to suggest a bridge?

Hopefully this is as far as I need to explain it.    https://web.archive.org/web/20040330202706/http://dulcimersessions.com:80/ for Feb '04 issue was scanned on March 30 '04. If you go up to the top of the Wayback Machine where the little lines of scan are, you can also see blue arrows pointing forward and back in time.  Just click those to work your way through what was saved.

Woops!  Missed Oct. '03 as those little lines are hard to catch.   https://web.archive.org/web/20031007042119/http://www.dulcimersessions.com:80/

Are you clicking the lines at the top of the page of their captures?  This is what I found for the earliest shown:

https://web.archive.org/web/20030801132250/http://www.dulcimersessions.com:80/ gives July '03

https://web.archive.org/web/20040124023510/http://www.dulcimersessions.com:80/ = Dec. '03

https://web.archive.org/web/20040330202706/http://dulcimersessions.com:80/ = Feb '04

Since these are Mel Bay posts of earlier issues, I let myself hop down to Oct. 4, 2006  https://web.archive.org/web/20061004025712/http://dulcimersessions.com:80/

There I again see her with working links & this time it's actually the October of 2006 issue.

Hi Dusty,

What I was able to find a lot of the time was an individual article on some Business site that may have been re-posting it, but try this one  https://web.archive.org/web/20160325051242/http://dulcimersessions.com/  which seems to come straight from Mel Bay and shows Lois Hornbostel, complete with working links.  I had earlier just seen the article on "Home-Middle-Outside", so this looks more complete.

Sorry it's clunky, but it's dependent on their scanning.

Go to the "Wayback Machine" at  http://Archive.org  and at the top of the page you will see "enter URL or keywords", put in  http://www.dulcimersessions.com/ and hit ENTER.  Working my way back through the "snapshots" usually does it.  The most recent snapshot was 9/29/17.  At first it didn't look promising, but scroll through the other articles down to "Welcome to the June/July 2010 Issue of Dulcimer Sessions" which has a posting date of Nov. 30, 2016.  Click "Read More" and it looks like you have access to other earlier issues.  I clicked Mountain Dulcimer Tunes and was able to reach that.  If there is more you should be access and can't, I'd go back to those other "snapshots" until you get a thorough one.  I'm not (yet) familiar with it, so those of you who know it will be a better judge.

Something I just discovered is Archive.org has been dumping some sites for lack of viewing, so the more people view it, the more it stays alive.  Had this happen recently with storyteller's site.  Supposedly it wasn't there, yet I noticed in the middle of the page it looked like a link.  Clicked it and got it!  

The "Wayback Machine" is a great service when a long-running site is no longer active.  Use it to keep it going.

Speaking as another Lois who has found Lois Hornbostel's arrangements worth seeking out, I'd like to ask if anybody has the address of the old site.  As a librarian I know a few tricks for navigating back into the internet after a website goes down, but will need to know that address.

Half have names and half don't.   (Do you think they talk to each other?)

My dulcimer with a swan head and tail feathers is called Swannie.  My first dulcimer was found abandoned in a fleamarket  and I call it the Orphan.  Haven't figured out a name for my Folkcraft nor little travel Applecreek.