Forum Activity for @robin-thompson

Wow, Stewart, my home is in WayneNF-- in the southern Perry County section!  And my husband taught in Morgan County, right next door to Washington County.  Small world.  

Stewart, I was just in Marietta yesterday, taking my folks on a day trip.  About 1.5 hour drive from their house.  (My home is closer to Marietta than is theirs.) 

You boys can rest easy tonight.  

Clemson's done for. 

Stewart, I think you can send him a private message regardless of "Following" status. 

Sure, you need it for noter play!  ;) 

PS- Randy Adams is the dulcimer player I listen to most!  I've got a playlist.  :)

Hey, I like it, Stewart!  Have fun working on it! 

I can offer no information, William, but the dulcimer is a treasure! 

I've had the pleasure of visiting Mr May's shop on a couple different visits to Berea. 

Thanks for the posting, Stewart!

I am so sorry to see this!  And hope some folks may still get together.  

It is sad to me that an area which has figured prominently in the development of the modern lap dulcimer will not have a fest to celebrate the people and its history in the development and popularizing of the mountain dulcimer. 

Yes, a group photo!  

Maybe next year I can make it to Hindman.  

@mathom You've got a treasure!  

Very cool. 

I hope it doesn't get so cold you're forced to burn a mountain dulcimer!  If you have a hammered dulcimer, it will burn longer.  ;)

Thanks, Ken!  When I got to the Hindman fest in '15, I loved it!  

Ken L's got it, John K.  There's something in the works for getting word out here in near future, though. 

Charles, that's just cool. 

CC, a dear friend of mine plays a Clemmer and it sounds fantastic up and down the fretboard.  

A dulcimer-carrying Santa is cool.  

Don, have fun!  Playing in different keys takes practice and it's a great skill to acquire.  

If a miracle of some kind takes place-- some unforeseen postive happening-- I may be able to make it. 

I'd had hopes of getting to attend. Then the attempts at getting my parents moved into Senior house failed.  So, likely, I'll still be living with my folks in March. 

I really like teardrops.  Enjoy that neat old Folkcraft!  Nice photos, too.

What a cool case, Bob!  

R&C, enjoy that cool mountain dulcimer.  Happy strumming! 

Strumelia, I hope the little movies are of help. :)

Just for quick viewing to let you know what are false nuts/reverse capos.  I can delete the videos later. 

https://fotmd.com/robin-thompson/youtube/486/information-false-nut-reverse-capo-for-mountain-dulcimermov

I have purely diatonic instruments and those with 6.5 frets and love 'em all!  I retune plenty using a false nut (at fret 1 and fret 4) from my "home base" tuning of DAA and am happy to have those extra frets when I want them.  

@dulcimerjones  I'm always working at developing a better ear.  And learning the instrument-- what I think I can do with the mountain dulcimer within my playing capabilities.  It's a lifelong journey, I think.  :)

Figuring out a tune can take me months.  Most often, I prefer to work from a fiddle version(s) or a banjo version(s) of a tune to figure out the essence of a tune and how the tune will lay-out on the fretboard of a mountain dulcimer. 

I'm happy to see this back online!  

I've learned over the years how helpful it is to figure out the essence of a tune, what is tune at its most basic form.  The necessity of working on this skill became clear when I was honest with myself about my own limitations as a player.  

Mark said if you'd like to send an mp3 of you on PAR, he'll put back-up to it.  Just let me know.  :)

Dusty, I look forward to hearing your Pig Ankle Rag!  I've heard it played on hammered dulcimer but don't recall having heard it on mountain dulcimer.

I've been thinking on Cattle In the Cane this morning.  First, I need to experiment with tunings to get an appriate key.  Then, since I'm dealing with a real fiddle-y tune (lots of notes), I'll work on the process of subtracting notes because there's no way I'll duplicate what a fiddle is doing.  

I've loved the tune Cattle in the Cane for years!  Betty Vornbrock of the Reed Island Rounders fiddles it beautifully.  And on their cd Hell up Coal Holler, Gerry Milnes (fiddle) & Lorraine Lee Hammond (Appalachian dulcimer) play a really nice version of the tune.  

Right now, the tune feels out of reach for me. . . Maybe someday I'll work up a noter/drone version.  

Do any of y'all have any out-of-reach tunes now that you hope to figure-out someday?  

That is quite distinctive.  And I don't recall having seen the exact form on a mountain dulcimer before. 

 @ellen-horn 

Way cool!  I gotta ask-- what did Jackson Browne's lap dulcimer look like?  

Wow, that is some spider!  :) 

If I were to give my dulcimers proper names, I'd be like Ma Kettle and never know one kid's name from another.  (Anybody remember Ma & Pa Kettle on tv about a million years ago? ) 

I like the saying about how old-time music isn't as bad as it sounds.  :)

Though I don't have a working turntable now, I hope to someday!  

PS- The record on the left is from the Fuzzy Mountain String Band.