Forum Activity for @wout-blommers

Ken, another size of strings, with the same length and pitch, needs a different tension, which will result in another building-up of overtones, which one can clearly hear, even at an old age ;-) Designing strings is a difficult job. Designing an instrument too. Lets take a look at the piano. If the bass strings weren't different in size with the others, an octave lower would mean a string twice as long. Even the grand piano would be too small. These strings are designed to sound at a special pitch with a special volume. The length is (almost) fixed. When changing the pitch of the string, mostly higher (an A into a D on the dulcimer), the tension of string is changed, also higher, which enable the string to produce higher overtones. The string will sound slightly different... In the piano the sizes differ to get the same building of overtones all over the strings, because the tension is almost the same.

The human ear is the best instrument to measure this. There are musicians, who has no prefect hearing, but are able to hear a music piece is played in 432 Hz or in 440 Hz. I am able to detect a 'false' sized string on a guitar. The dulcimer is harder, simple because the instrument is played in a different style.

The right string is a combination between length, size and tension. The three strings on the dulcimer when bought in one package are 'matching'. Surely there are packages for sale which offer a different combination for your dulcimer, which have a different volume, resonance and playability for that particular instrument. So one has to experiment. Take one brand of strings which offers different matches. Buy a package of each and renew the strings every week (!) Try the same songs on each set, hopefully remembering how the other ones are sounding. Make notes about which string 'speaks' better than the others (sounds louder or is easier to play). Use them also in different tunings when playing in a other mode. It is possible one string fits better in another set, due to the different soundbox or wood. I mostly play in DAA, in which the middle string is too loud on my instrument. Replacing it by a thinner one makes the balance for me (less tension). I play a Blue Lion and I suspect it's luthier emphased the volume of the 2nd string to balance the double melody, which I play single. This volume is created by the instrument itself and the Blue Lion luthier, I think, has the nowledge and the capability to construct it this way. I can't tell for sure, because I have only one Bleu Lion

(Sleepless nights... Have to appear in court today, which is not my hobby)

Playing bones and the tempo of the tune: up tempo is easier than a slow tempo, although the last is more rewarding, special in the breaks.

I use the bones in Shanti and other sailor songs, like hornpipes.

To the dulcimer I have couple of sets: 17th centurey Dutch dance music, childrens songs and Christmas songs.

My main instrument is the double bass (pizz. & bowed) and the bass guitar (special to Israëlian dance music)

At the performances of my music group it is common the audiance will dance: that's why they visit the gig!

Sure, but I wanted to be grouped together, like showing the grip or how to make the 'bones' or clappers.

A song to practice? I mostly start with The Drunken Sailor. Or maybe Cockles and Mussels?

Yep, Scott is doing a great job. Most of my clappers and bones I bought there. At the moment most of the goods are out of stock...

BTW when I am looking good at his pictures: Scott is using the European style instead of the American style!

Well, some sanding (sharp edges) and French lacker will finish the instrument. Takes about 15 minutes to make...

BTW I choosed bamboo because of its round shape, which works the same as on the Dutch Clappers.

Which one?

The slots are placed to the players hand. They are used to get a better grip without much force.

I hope photo 06 shows how the index finger pusches the bell into the soft tissue of the hand, so together with the thumb it is a firm grip, also without too much force. I hope the difference between the American bones style is very clear, but fast triplets are easy to make.

The experiment isn't able to produce triplets, in fact it works like a normal woodblock, so not useful. I used liile bells too

Why doesn't upload a browser just the way I entered the data?

I numbered the PDF's which are telling the same story.

Maybe I forget this one?

14 Experiment a resonator.pdf - 208KB

Real Dutch Clappers & a grip to play spoons like.

18 Spoon grip 2.pdf - 180KB

See also 04

15 How the slots on the clapper are placed.pdf - 185KB

How simple to make...

10 Three parts to cut.pdf - 55KB

How to get grip on the thing

08 Grip Three Set.pdf - 194KB

What we are talking about

01 Single Set.pdf - 198KB

I never finished the text in Dutch either, but I have the pictures, so I will post those and maybe we can find a text together. A kind of comic book.

Instead of using beewax or gorilla snot or what ever, preparing the 'bones' is an option too, at least if you know how. Somewhere on my computer I have a text about making 'bones' from bamboo which allows experimenting. And is rather cheap, but you allready I am Dutch...

BTW don't go shaving, sanding, sawing, etc on ox bones, because the dust coming from it could be dangerous to your health!

Lisa, keep your bones as loose as possible in your hand. This will make you insecure about dropping the bones and will keep the movements smaller resulting in less sound. Play relaxed!

Playing the clappers or bones isn't easy to learn, because it is a psycho-motoric thing. Even when you have some success creating a roffle, the next day it is less or even gone. Your body needs a good night sleep 'learning it'. Most of the time an introduction to the bones is given during a gathering or a situation like that, during your body will get a lot of information to cope with during the night after. Better is to get the instruction, just only playing the bones, in the beginning of the evening and a couple of hours later to go to bed and take a good night sleep.

And, most important, the older your age, the slower and longer the learning curve...

Looked the video twice: 1e information, 2 film technique. Love the sculpture in the background: it visualise the sound of the bones :-)

I don't think there was much editing in the film, because there are view point changes without any disrubtion of the spoken word, so at least 4 camera's were used: 1 fixed creating the overview and 3 hand held for each musician. That's a lot in a small room, where also the mic's and recording gear had to be in. What also surprises me is the sound of stamping feet on the wooden floor, which is completely gone when playing the song, although Hubby and Dom are moving as before... Just an observation, which I always do watching information video's on the internet: what's manupulated and what isn't.

Anyway, it is all about the bones, of course.

BTW Strumelia, can you hear the drop in the volume of the voices when the bones are playing? And Rhiannon admits their volume :-)

And there is indeed a lot of edited speech, although it is rather good work.

Jan, I know the link and it costed my a night sleep already!

Not being a native speaker: what is playing bones hamster?

Yes, I know, but this drum was also before 1:47 in the mix... It is the loud clicking of the bones with many a roffle which triggers the automatic gain much too much and the drum isn't :D

Lisa, the Dom Flemons lessons, were they on the net or in the flesh? I hope the first, so I can watch these too, allthough the later is my dream, but I wouldn't survive that: it would take my breath away ;-)

Why are so many bones players shot while performing? Take a look at

Hi Lisa,

I play the bones too. First of all I want to warn you for 'over-practising', so watch specially the elbow!

I learned it 55 years ago (9 years old), and picked it up again recently... You know what? It isn't gone. Just like skating, your body will not forget. In my home town playing the clappers was a normal children's street activity, promoted by the town council due to a royal celebration: every child between 10 and 12 became a pair clappers (I was too young to get them, but my father was a schoolteacher) to preform on the queens birthday.

I make a study about the clapper/bones and created a nice collection, which I play if possible (can't manage the Indian karthal).
The matter is rather complex. Because the clapper (idiophone) is so easy to construct and very inexpensive it is used in many a social activity, like dancing, replacement for the church bell during lent term, warning signal for people having a contaminate illness, etc. The English and Dutch navy used the clapper on board the ships to accompany dancing the hornpipe keeping the sailors and marines in shape.

To the dulcimer music I find the rhythm bones a strange combination: to my ears they don't fit...

Much of my bones are bought from Scott Miller, who produces nice sets of ox bones. Adam Klein, the opera singer, makes nice ones too, with a very light sound. Ox bones have a marble like sound, much more tone, but they hard to get. Sanding ox bones is very dangerous to ones health.

What I find the most interresting is the individual aspect of playing the bones. Because I have probably larger hands than you, your bones will sound different when I play them.
I know most American players place the bones one between index-middle and the other one between middle-ring finger. Sometimes the hand is almost stretched out completely. In Europe and special The Netherlands the clappers are set between the thumb-index and index-middle finger. The fingers are held in an open fist to create a resonator body. When the second clapper is placed between the middle-ring, the sound is much lower, which is nice using both hands. Also changing the length of the 'bell-clapper' (hitting the 'bell') by changing the grip result in a different sound.

To me the most troublesome is the repertoir: which songs work and which don't? Of course all sailor songs can have rhythm bones in the arrangement.

Playing spoons? Castagnettes? Maybe a special group about bones?

Wout

(Now awaiting if I get an e-mail warning new replies ;-)

First of all there are 3/4 and 1/2 sized guitars to be used by people with small hands, like children. Some have a rather good sound. Also there are four and three string guitars, but those are hard to find.
To compare the dulcimer and the guitar is easy, special for the left hand (if you are right handed). The dulcimer has five fingers available to stop three strings, where the guitar has only four to six strings. Special when playing chords the later can be painfull, even when you have large hands like me. Playing the barré grip Eb on the third position is a disaster, so never play the guitar in a big band with all those brass instruments or use the sixth position.
On the guitar the force of stopping the string is delivered by the thumb muscle (beware of the string action), where on the dulcimer the force is produced by the whole arm and your thigh or the table. You can check this feeling the muscles in your left arm when playing: on the dulcimer you can feel the triceps working, at least, I can :-)
Chord grips on the dulcimer are much more ergonomic to the hand, special when the tuning is DAA.
Dulcimer players are used to 'scordatura', retuning the strings to fit the song better on the instrument, where most guitar players stick to the standard of EADGBE. BTW anyone ever tried a noter&drone guitar: EAE BB and using a slide?
Other differences between the two instruments are the volume - to get more sound out of a dulcimer the kitchen table is used as an extra resonator - and the fact the player can use the guitar standing or walking, which is rather difficult for a dulcimer. For a serenade under the window of your lovers room beter bring your guitar. Although the dulcimer is cheaper and easier to build, those two last arguments made the guitar more successful in the beginning of the twentieth century, which also could result in a beter love life or a wet suit...

If you don't want a stand made of wood...

http://www.amazon.com/Musicians-Gear-Tubular-Guitar-Stand/dp/B0018TIADQ

For a hour glass type you have to bend the metal here and there, but it is easy to transport and it is cheap. K&M produce a nice add on tray to put down capo and picks etc. http://produkte.k-m.de/en/Music-stands/Accessories/12218-Tray-black which is much more expensive than the stand.

Surely you don't play noter&drone style

You write the strings are three .12 and one .20. Are you tuned in DAA or DAd? If you use the later, the tension on the double melody string is much higher than on the single middle string. Try pressing both using the same finger and on different frets (compare and try out if you feel a difference). A solution could be replacing the melody with two .10 strings (www.juststrings can help you out)

Wout

I like the image of the home town map, only don't walk the same way as you used to do, becasuse going left as usual when leaving home could be to the right when starting at the post office. Well, it could bring you to neigborhoods you've never been before

Music is a language one can learn e.g. by solfge. There are on line exercises useful when nothing else to do comes around. But the best way is playing, playing, playing and pla...

As you put it: chord books for the dulcimer are available in the key of D. But are they useful?

The guitar has mostly a fixed tuning (EAdgbe), the dulcimer hasn't.

Playing guitar the chords notationis mostly given added to SMN, above the staff where the song tekst is beneath the staff. The dulcimer mostly uses TAB together with SMN.

If chord books are useful, why shouldn't we, as the FOTMD forum, create our own?

Just a thought...

Once there was melody and harmony. Chords (grips) and chord names came later.

In my first band back in the 1960tiesthe leadsinger played the guitar. He used very unusual chords. They sounded wonderfull. He didn't know what name they had. I had to tell him whenwritting the song down. He heard what the harmony had to be and usrd trial-and-errorto found out the grip. Yep, he was very, very musical.

You can do the same playing simple songs on the dulcimer. Play the melody and search for the spots where a chord must be played. Play the melody note and try to find on the other two strings which two notes sound the best together with it.

In this way you will learn not knowing to understand music, but hearing to understand music.

Music theory is not music itself: it is just a way to talk (and think) about music inthat way others who speak the same musical language will understand it. Music theory is frozen music practice. When something sounds good it is good and the theory will follow much later

Greensleaves from the Mel Bay book Introduction to the Apalachian Dulcimer.

It still knocks people out when demonstrating the dulcimer.

That left hand set up is also my thought...

Can't see it very well, but is there 4 equidence string slots in the nut?

Psychology!

Funny remarks in the answers means everybody feel him/herself silly when it happens. Just like being angry with myself when cutting my fingers during cooking.

A knitting needle with some chewing gum?

(When the dulciner when moved makes a rattling sound: it's made by balls of hard chewing gum)

Playing the guitar it happened a lot to me, but not anymore. One is able to grow over it...

About loosing picks, in my case placing them on hidden spots in the house. I bought a 72 pieces bag, which makes them much more cheaper. I thought I had enough for the next two years. Wrong! I found them againover time, so the bag has a stable amout of 63 picksover theyears!

I love the position of the right foot normal placed, but my left foot under the chair, which lowers the left knee. I can play much faster that way than in horizontal position. It can only be performed using a strap.

Playing more than one dulcimer in a performance one can use more straps, or, as I mistakenly thought, use two carabiner (hooks), but the metal makes the dulcimer too noisy! I wanted to avoid the idea changing 'strapped' dulcimers reminds the audience of changing clothes on a crowdy beach...

I attached eyebolts on the instruments and shoe laces on the strap.

BTW the slope position of the dulcimer doesn't work well when playing drone&noter style.

And MMD has humor:

At Modern Mountain Dulcimer, we understand that the mountain dulcimer is the center of the Folk Music Universe and that all other folk instruments were created to enhance and accompany the mountain dulcimer.

Blue Lion I think is a good choice.

http://www.bluelioninstruments.com/index.html

Wout

As a warming up I always play the national anthem of The Netherlands, "Wilhelmus", in three styles: the version dated around 1580 in noter&drone style; the 1740 version in finger dancing and the 1938 slow version in chord/melody.

I play the double bass in a folk dance group (dancers and musicians) and also the dulcimer/hummle and the bones/clackers is a special set. Playing "Wilhelmus" is part of the show to demonstrate the dulcimer to the audience, special the bennifits of the diatonic fret board when playing chord/melody.

Played in Bulgaria, it is a gadulka.

When played in Russia, it is a gaduk.

There are about 20 names for this instrument in several regions...

At the other hand many will call it a rebec