Forum Activity for @jim-yates

Right after the turn of the century, I got a friend request on Myspace from a fiddle player named Saskia Tomkins.  Her family was moving to my part of Southern Ontario and wanted to meet some musicians and find out about venues.  We became good buddies and I met her family.  Her husband, Steafan Hannigan was a multi-instrumentalist and a whiz on the bodhran.  Steafan and Saskia had three pre-teen kids who were also starting to become fine musicians.  Their son, Oisin, has becomea very talented percussionist.  He's all grown up now and is a married man living in Montreal.
Here's Oisin demonstrating some bodhrans.

Some more photos, before and after:   https://fotmd.com/jim-yates/gallery/rs-williams-banjo/all

Just this weekend my friend Teilhard Frost, a wonderful gourd banjo builder (and player) paid us a visit toreturn my R.S. Williams banjo which had been in terrible, unplayable condition since I bought it for $20 at a yard sale in 2018(?).  I could see that it had promise and when Teilhard saw it, he said that he could bring it back to playable condition.  Well he sure did that.  It was made prior to 1879 (when the company was renamed R.S. Williams & Son) and has been restored with rosewood pegs and nylon strings.  I have been playing it constantly since I got it back.
One photo before Teilhard got hold of it and one after he worked his magic.

 RS Williams banjo.jpg - 123KB

Strumelia,
It has a 16.25 inch scale.

I bought a ten string Regal tiple, made in Chicago, at a yard sale a few years back.  I haven't used it much till COVID locked me in and I started taking part in a weekly ukulele get together.
The tiple has 4 courses of strings and I tune them gG-cCc-eEe-AA.  The saddle is not compensated, so playing far up the neck causes some sour notes, so I stick to the first 5 or 6 frets.
Any other tiplers on this site?

I'm not sure how to add a photo.

I also enjoy Mary's banjo and dulcimer playing.
I'd like to share a banjo duet that AlKirby and I recorded alittle over a decade ago.  Al is playing Scruggs style and I'm playing clawhammer style.  Our friend the late Zeke Mazurek added some fiddleto the mix.  This was on our Sittin' In The Kitchen CD.
https://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/media-player/audio_player2.asp?playlist=1201&musicid=

 Sittin' In The Kitchen K&Y.jpg - 197KB

I have a few instruments in the banjo family.
I play clawhammer and a few other folk styles on my 5-strings. 
I have a tenor that is strung with nylon strings that I often play in the Maple Leaf Champions Jug Band.
I also have a few banjoleles that I use Somebody Stole My Gal, Sweet Sue and Walkin' My Baby Back Home.

I used to play bluegrass banjo,but the arthritis in my thumbs has slowed that down a lot.

I just recalled a couple of songs that the kids in my class seemed to like a lot.

I'm Gonna Tell by Rosalie Sorrels was a favourite.

  I'm gonna tell, I'm gonna tell
  I'm gonna holler and I'm gonna yell
  I'll get you in trouble for everything you do
  I'm gonna tell on you

I'm gonna tell how you broke the plate
And I'll tell all about the bananas you ate
I'll tell on you one time, I'll tell on you two
I'm gonna tell on you!

I'm gonna tell Papa where you hid your gum
And then I'll tell that you still suck your thumb
And soon he'll find out about the cat and the glue
I'm gonna tell on you!

Another that I learned from a Michael Cooney record was one that he called What Do They Make In Washington?
Michael once worked at the Toronto Folklore Centre and he said in the liner notes that his Canadian friends should feel free to change the lyrics for Canuck kids, so I did.  My students sang:


There was a teacher in a fifth grade classroom
Teaching geography;
All about the goods from the different places
All across the country.
Well the lesson was nearly over
When a little kid raised her hand
She said, "Please tell me teacher,
For I do not understand:

  Tell me what do they make in Ottawa
  To give to all of the nation?
  Oshawa people they make the cars
  In Bewdly we take a vacation.
  They grow those big potatoes
  In P.E.I. I know
  But what do they make in Ottawa?
  I really want to know. 

After a few more verses, we come to:

Well, the teacher was bewildered
As teachers often are,
He knew that this young student
Had taken things a little too far
And searching for an answer
This is what he did say,
"That's a very good question.
We'll save it for another day."

The guitar can play in any key, especially if he has a capo.

Ukulele players seldom use capos and (almost) never above the 2nd fret. 
If she's strumming chords, in the key of D, simple D-2220 or 2225, A-2100 or A7-0100 or 2130, and G-0232 will accommodate most dulcimer folk songs.

I have used DAA as my primary tuning.  Since dulcimer is not my primary instrument, I like to stick to one tuning.  I have tried DAD, but find DAA better for chords and double stops and I really miss those lower notes on the melody string.
I have talked to those who feel that DAD is better for chording, but since I started on DAA, I have many patterns and shapes memorized. 

I really like this tuning when playing fiddle tunes too Strumelia, but when I'm singing folk songs in C or D and playing backup, I prefer drop C tuning gCGBD.  When I play this tuning in D, I like to start with open G, gDGBD, and capo the first three strings at the second fret and leave the 4th string open, capoing the thumb string to A.  This gives me aDAC#E, but I can use key of G shapes.

I use a capo for D rather than tuning up.  I'm a bit nervous about tuning up with the medium gauge strings I like to use.

I was a single father of two 3-7 year old sons for about 4 years.  The songs they loved us to sing while driving in our truck were Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys, John Prine's Spanish Pipe Dream (which they called "that Blow up your TV song") and Gene Autry's Cowpoke Pokin' Along.

I recall a song about the musical instruments: "The clarinet, the clarinet goes doodle, doodle, doodle, doodle det... The violin's singing with lovely ringing... "

My dad used to sing us a song with the lines "Hush, hush, whisper, Who dares?  Christopher Robins is saying his prayers." when he was putting us to bed.
In the car, he'd sing The Whiffinpoof Song, St. James Infirmary and Frog Went A Courting.  He ended the song with verses I've not heard anywhere else:
They paddled off across the lake uh huh,
They paddled off across the lake uh huh,
They paddled off across the lake
And were swallowed up by a big black snake
Uh huh, Uh huh, Uh huh.

Well that was the end of him and her, uh huh,
That was the end of him and her, uh huh,
That was the end of him and her
Now we won't have tadpoles covered in fur,
Uh huh, Uh huh, Uh huh.

I taught school for thirty some odd years and some of that time was spent teaching music to kindergarten to grade eight students.  Some songs that went over very well with kids were Pete Seeger's Abyoyo, Carl Martin's The Vegetable Dance, the old jug band tune Boodle Am Shake, a song I learned in Scouts called The Watermelon Song and Hopalong Peter, a tune I learned from The New Lost City Ramblers.

My first dulcimer, made in about 1970, before I knew much about building instruments, stated in my classroom and kids were welcome to use it.  The diatonic scale made it easy for kids to pick out tunes or invent their own.  This old dulcimer, made from a the wood from a hollow core mahogany door and model railroad plywood for the top, has a lot of battle scars from kids playing it, but has given a lot of kids a lot of fun.

 homemadedulcimer.jpg - 32KB

Our back room has an old foundry mold (I have no idea what the product was.) with a carved rosewood elephant sitting on it. 
Maggie said, "Jim, you're not going to take a picture of that thing before you wipe the dust off." 

Sorry Maggie.

Not so creative.  I got the idea by actually getting my moustache caught in the harp rack.
I've never tried playing the mouth harp with the dulcimer.

Here's a tiple, essentially a 10 string wire strung ukulele.  It was made in Chicago by the Regal Company.
It has four courses and is tuned gG-cCc-eEe-AA.  I do play this on occasion.

This is an old Oscar Schmidt guitar zither that hangs on our back room wall.  I also have a mandolin zither that was given to me by a cousin, but it hasn't found a home.  I doubt these will ever be played, but they look neat.

I don't believe I'll play the mouth harp with the drum, but when playing for kids, I have played the mouth harp while working a clog doll (limberjack).  I would play it for a while, then pretend to get my moustache caught in the rack.  I'd then ask one of the kids to come and work the doll while I played the mouth harp.

And if you have a rack, it should be perfectly legal to play while driving.  In Canada, at least, hands free devices are legal.  I'm not sure the police would agree.

A couple of folks mentioned Chromatics.  Toots Thielemans, the master of the chromatic harp passed away today (August 22, 2016) in his early nineties.  Here's a clip of Toots playing his most famous composition, Bluesette.  Part way through he is surprised by another master of the chromatic harp, Stevie Wonder.
I bought a chromatic in the mid-sixties after hearing Toots, but it has not received much attention.

A friend of ours and a mentor to both of my sons, the late Willie P. Bennett was the best rack player I've ever heard or played with.  Here's the last song I ever heard Willie play:

Willie plays Stardust

One of our neighbours, Carlos Del Junco is one of Canada's (and the world's I'd guess) best mouth harp players.  He sometimes sits in with our jug band.  Here he is with our fiddle player, Jim Bowskill, playing guitar (Jim is a master of many instruments).

Jimmy Bowskill & Carlos Del Junco

Terry again, I have a plastic box that I bought at Canadian Tire (a Canuck hardware store).  It was meant to store small parts, but it fits six 10 hole diatonic mouth harps perfectly and fits in a guitar or banjo case easily. The old Elton rack is one I bought in the early sixties and the only modifications are a bend to make it hit my mouth squarely and a couple of lock washers.  I also have a drawer full of harps that I never use, but these six get played pretty regularly.

Terry, Here's another view of the drum.  It was a cheap, $7.00 drum from a school supplies catalog. I put the design on the front in magic marker.

Lisa, I lined up the thumb hole with the third hole from the bottom of the whistle and used a drill bit the same diameter as the hole on the front, so it makes the same note as the third hole from the bottom of a tin whistle.  I seem to recall playing a tune called Nonesuch, in my decade ago attempt at becoming a pipe & Tabor player, but I can't recall what it goes like now.

I just looked it up on "The Session" website and here it is:  Nonesuch on The Session

I had skipped over page two.  I just saw Lisa's video and was impressed.  I see that my homemade pipe & tabor are quite crude compared to the ones you guys have, but they'll do me for now.  Maybe I'll start working on the tune Lisa played.

I made a tabor pipe from a Generation D whistle about a decade ago and worked at it for a while, but it has been sitting in a crock of whistles in my music room for a few years now.  I got it out to tke these photos

I strted by inding the bit that would exactly fit the third hole from the bottom and , placing the whistle on a piece of scrap board, I drilled through the back of the whistle.  I then put a piece of masking tape over all but the bottom two holes and, voila, I had a workable tabor pipe.

I have a cheap 12 inch frame drum, with no snare, that I had intended using as a tabor drum.  You guys may have inspired me to have another go at it.
What tunes do you folks play on your pipe? 

Then there's the group called DAM (Mothers Against Dyslexia)

That's the knot I was taught to use in Scouts when I wanted to shorten a rope.  I figured it'd work on a strap as well.

A sheepshank?

 Sheepshank_knot.jpg - 54KB

I love Maria's strap.

Mine was a South American cotton belt that I bought at a festival.  Very colourful.

 strap4.jpg - 14KB

I have put planetary tuners on all of my steel string banjos, but my nylon string banjoleles have friction tuners as does my favourite dulcimer.  I think you can see Pete's guitar tuners here.  He had three Grover Rotomatics and one cheap knock off that he put on when one of the Grovers got busted.

 Pete's strap.jpg - 12KB

@userno4, Why would planetary tuners cause a banjo to not hold its tuning?  Most banjo players seem to prefer them, although Pete Seeger did use guitar tuners on his banjo.
I think the planetary tuners on your Lyon & Healy would be add ons.  I believe it would have come with friction tuners.

Great information in the two links provided by Lisa.  Thanks for sharing Lisa.

Unless you have a 6&1/2 fret and capo at 3 in which case you'll be FCC or FCF, you will have to play in a different mode.  You can't just apply the capo a little higher if the tuning's too low for you the way you would on a guitar or banjo.

I guess I could cut the chopstick a little shorter, but I've never been stabbed.  This is still the original chopstick from 30 years ago, though the elastic band has been replaced quite a few times.

Mine was not influenced by Ron Ewing.  In fact I'd never heard of him or anyone else using a dulcimer capo when I made mine about 30 some odd years back .  It's still my favourite dulcimer capo.

The guitar was my first instrument, circa 1960.
Since we had only one guitar for a short while, my brother and I both learned mouth harp to play some Sonny & Brownie tunes
I bought my first mandolin in the mid sixties.
I built a dulcimer in the early seventies and bought a better one at a yard sale in the early eighties.
I quit smoking 40 years ago and put the money aside.  I used it to buy my first five string banjo.
I learned to play Autoharp on one that belonged to the school where I taught and bought a few of my own later.
I also play tenor banjo.
I have played at piano accordion, button accordion and English concertina, but have neglected them lately.
My newest instruments are the Filipino banduria, The ukulele and the tiple.

My wife says, "The concept of enough hasn't gotten through to Jim."
I'd probably be a much better guitarist if I'd stuck to it only.

No.  The Echo Super Vamper is a regular 10 hole diatonic.  I have no idea why they used the word "Echo".

This is a Marine Band Special in C that was given to me by my ex-father-in-law.  It's a 12 hole diatonic with a wooden comb.

This is a 10 hole Hohner Echo Super Vamper in A that I bought in Scotland circa 1969 when my Marine Band in A crapped out.  It's identical to the Marine Band except for the top cover plate.  I haven't been to the British Isles in many years and am not sure if these are still available over there.  Perhaps they now sell Marine Bands over there.

There is a framed copy of this photo on my piano.

In 1968/69 I took a year off to hitch-hike overseas.  I didn't want to take a guitar, but I did take a few mouth harps.  I became a much better mouth harp player from my roadside practice sessions.
Just to add a bit of non-mouth harp, but dulcimer (the wrong kind for this site) content:
Just outside of Kilkenny I was picked up by an older gentleman who asked me, "Are you goin' to the fleadh?"
I asked, "What's a fleadh?"
He told me it was a festival of Irish trad music, so I said, "Sure I'm goin' to the fleadh."
The fleadh was in New Ross and on the way there, he asked, "Do you know what a dulcimer is?"
I said sure and described Jean Ritchie's instrument.  He stopped the car and said that his was a different type of dulcimer.  It was a hammered dulcimer and the first one I'd ever seen.  I spent the day with Mr. Andy Dowling (pronounced Doolin) and a pleasanter day I can't recall.
Here's Andy standing in front of his car in New Ross circa 1969.