Forum Activity for @stephanie-stuckwisch

Tunings you like to use on your dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I learned to play Ionian. Then I discovered Aeolian. It's my favorite.

Tunings you like to use on your dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Funny you should ask about ARRGH. Look up the song 'Key of R'.

Dulcimer Display Stands - What do you use?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I have stands from the Dulcimer Bag Lady. Simple sturdy style. I'm happy iwht them.

How does your pet react to your Dulcimer playing?

OFF TOPIC discussions

The older cat, Tyrie, just ignores it. Maggie (she's in my icon) rubs up against the tuning pegs and generally gets in the way.

Do You Have A 'Go To' or Favorite Dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

My Blue Lion rosewood hour glass. Beautiful sound and action. 

I have 2 hourglass and 1 teardrop. No trouble keeping any of them in place on my lap. I have a slight preference for hourglass due to aesthestics, not sound.

Tab for Angel Gabriel

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Hi Terri,

I've been off line for awhile, but there are a couple of ways to play Angel Gabriel. I don't have any clean tab, just my chicken scratchings. Are you looking for noter/drone, chording to support a voice or finger picking?

Stephanie

P.S I've sent you a friend request so we can figure out how to get the tab to you.

I'm a Blue Lion fan.

Thanks for sharing this. My first dulcimer was made by Edd Presnell

Your "Dream Dulcimer?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

And she sounds as good as she looks.

My other favorite, an Edd Presnell.

Dusty Turtle said:

Your "Dream Dulcimer?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I bought my dream dulcimer a few years ago - Blue lion rosewood hourglass w /custom inlay.

 

What to call your dulcimer collection?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

a mode of dulcimers?

How Many

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I tried to play when I was 16, but was never any good - no one around me played a dulcimer and my family was not musically inclined. Still, I kept the dulcimer because I loved what sounds I could make.

When my daughter left for college, I started truly playing and now I think I sound pretty good.

There's a picture of my old girl in photos on this site.

CD said:

Did you play at 16? It is interesting that this is what you held dear and held onto.

How Many

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

My dulcimers are few but well loved -

1974 Ed Presnell 4 string curly maple top and bottom with walnut sides. I bought it when I was 16. It's the only object I've held onto all these years.

Blue lion walnut teardrop, western red cedar top and tree of life inlay

Blue lion rosewood hourglass, western red cedar top and trilliums w/ dragonfies inlay

I also have a Seagull 6 string guitar - cherrywood with cedar top.

Abbey, if you expand John's video to full screen, it'll give you a good idea of how to play the tune.

From personal experience, I've found that using the middle, ring and pinky finger for barre chords keeps my wrist in a better anatomic position.

Ken has an article on hand health for MD players on the Everything Dulcimer site. I find it helpful to do a these before and after playing.

http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/articles/28/hand_health.pdf

Christmas Songs

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

On This Day Earth Shall Ring

Over the Hill and Over the Dale

Mary Did You Know

Holiday Music Recommendations

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I hear you, John Henry. There's a local couple who perform "I Saw Three Ships" as call and response, effectively turning it into a sea chanty.

John Henry said:

Me, I just enjoy the good old fashioned Carols that I grew up with sung with feeling, but not necessarily "the same as". Hence one of my 'first to reach for' CD's is 'A Tapestry of Carols' , ( Maddy Prior with the Carnival Band , Saydisc) Should always be remembered tho' that what many people regard as 'trad English' carols are in fact neither English or traditional, but have in many cases been highjacked from elsewhere.

JohnH

Holiday Music Recommendations

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

On my list:

Joel Mabus -How Like the Holly

Ann Hills - On This Day Earth Shall Ring

Loreena McKennitt - A Winter Garden

John McCutcheon - Winter Solstice

Odetta - Christmas Spirituals

William Pint and Felicia Dale - When I See Winter Return

Anyone else find themselves just noodling around on dulcimer?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Noodling around - it's my favorite past time. I particularly do it when I'm tuned DAc. Something about aeolian that just leads into improvising.

A new dulcimer from a 100 year plus old church

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Wow. I can't imagine what it would be like to play an instrument containing such a history and years of hymns in it's wood.

D-A-C tuning

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

My favorite tuning. In additional to the songs already mentioned - Wondrous Love (also can be played in DAg), Blackest Crow, Star in the East and Angel Gabriel.

Dana, how 'bout posting a video?

Happy Birthday FOTMD

OFF TOPIC discussions

I lift my glass in a toast to FOTMD and to Strumelia! Thanks for being here, everybody.

What kinds of tunes do you most like to play on your mtn dulcimer?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Folk music, both US and British Isles. Modern folk styles tunes. Shape note and Shaker hymns. Celtic music. Grateful Dead songs.

I'm not on line every day, so this is the first I've seen the discussion.

I don't have a Jean Ritchie style, but I do own 2 Blue Lions. One is a tear drop walnut and the other is a custom hour glass in rosewood.

Janita Baker was good at helping me get the dulcimer that I wanted. She also gently questioned me when I was making requests that weren't in my own best interests.

I love her instruments. Easy to play, a pleasure to listen to and great looking, especially for a traditionalist like me.

The Kitchen Sink - talk about food

OFF TOPIC discussions

Thank you, thank you. It sounds wonderful. I'm heading down to the market tomorrow.

The Kitchen Sink - talk about food

OFF TOPIC discussions

So, Ken, does this mean you might want to share your recipe for Tropical Shrimp salad you brought to one of the FOTMD celebration?

Party Time coming for 700 !!

OFF TOPIC discussions

I'll bring my apple spice cake....and 700 candles.

Do You Have A Favorite Irish Song?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Mo Ghile Mear is great tune. My favorite Irish tune is Siuil a Run. It's a lament for a lover who's gone overseas to fight.

If you could only keep ONE of your dulcimers....

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Whoo boy! All I can think of Sophie's Choice. It didn't have a happy ending.If I had to choose it would be my newest Blue Lion. It's beautiful and easier to tune that my old Edd Presnell.I'm going to have nightmares about this.

Ten Commandments of Jamming

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Ron,I love it, especially VIII. I'm sending it on to a couple of banjo players I hang out with.

The following reflect today's choices. The author IS responsible for any changes in tomorrow's list:1. Star in the East2. Farewell to Tarwathie3. Cool of the Day

How many dulcimers do you own... lets see the lists..

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I have three:1. Edd Presnell hour glass in curly maple top and bottom with walnut sides. My very first dulcimer. Her wooden tuning pegs fall right into DAA and get stubborn if I try anything else. I don't argue about it. The old Kentucky style body makes her look like Twiggy compared to my other two.2. Blue lion tear drop in walnut with red cedar top. I have heavier gauge melody strings on her for DAA and DAG.3. Blue lion hour glass in rosewood with red cedar. I play her in DAD and DAC. She has the sweetest voice of all of them.

Party time :)

OFF TOPIC discussions

I'll bring the Chocolate Decadence.

Naming Dulcimers

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Hi Folkfan,

I hope you don't think I was offended by your response.
There are a number of names for fairy in Gaelic. I found another in Scots - sitheach.

Sith (with the accent over the i) also means peace. I almost gave my dulcimer that name since I liked the double meaning. Then my daughter pointed out that the Sith are the evil jedi in Star Wars and no one would consider the Gaelic meaning.

Since your response, I'm thinking, at least one other person knows it's Gaelic and pronounced shee. I might just go back to Sith - peace and fairy. Thanks, Folkfan.

Naming Dulcimers

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Sithiche is Scots Gaelic as opposed to Irish. Pronunciation is similiar: shee-ich with the ch pronounced hard as in loch. If I could figure out how to do it, there'd be a reversed accent over the first i.

Naming Dulcimers

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

So I'm curious. How many of us name our dulcimers and how do we choose the name?

I didn't name my first dulcimer at first. It wasn't until years later that a name popped into my head after I'd been playing. Since then, each dulcimer gets a name that doesn't occur to me until after I've been playing it for awhile.

So my Edd Presnell is named Gypsy, my Blue Lions are Dove and Sithiche (gaelic for fairy).

updated by @stephanie-stuckwisch: 08/03/23 02:19:31PM

What if they can help DAD...

OFF TOPIC discussions

"Where harmony enhances health"!? Does that mean we're all going to live long lives? Or does it mean that those of us declared without talent will have surgeon general health warnings placed on our dulcimers?

Favorite accessories to go with MD

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

My dulcimer teacher just introduced me to the folding foot stool made by Lee Felt (aka the Dulcimer Bag Lady). It fits just right for my stumpy little legs. I'm ordering one tomorrow. It'll be easier than sawing the legs of a chair (how does one get them all even?).