Forum Activity for @robin-thompson

My hat's off to you, David!

My husband and I also have played 'out' to help in overcoming stage fright. It helps.

Cool, Dennis!

DAC can give just that right haunting sound to some tunes.

Stephanie, that dulci-bow built by John Hen-- um, I mean a "certain member from the UK" gives a really neat sound on that electric Yocky!

Stephanie, cool sound! That's your Jim-Bow?

Thanks for posting that link, Jeff! When I got to YT and saw it was a video of Butch Ross. . . well, I'm embarrassed that I neglected to mention Butch. Mark and I love Butch!

Gayle, I'm an old-time music dulcimer player. However, I like lots of different dulcimer music! A couple of my favorite "electric" players are Bucko Futreal (his videos can be seen here at FOTMD) and Jerry Rockwell.

EDIT: Both Michael "Bucko" Futreal and Jerry Rockwell play more than one instrument. They're two players who come to mind when I think of "electric" dulcimer music, though. Also, I need to smack myself in the head . Bing Futch plays great music on electric dulcimer.

Geekling,

I wasn't clear about how I used to hold a mountain dulcimer upright to bow it. When I did this, the instrument was nowhere near the floor-- the lower bout was held/balanced between my knees.

Hey, friends, this same instrument is attracting attention on another FOTMD thread, too.

http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/forum/topics/funny-ebay-listing

It's a cool piece of folk art. The fretboard does appear to have a radius to it. I suppose someone could've bowed it, holding it upright the way I hold my bowed dulcimers; I used to bow a mountain dulcimer this way. From the looks of it, though, I'd just call it a mountain dulcimer.

I've heard these two live a few times, always a treat. Thanks for posting.

Oh, I love Lester's fiddle play! Lester's 90 or better and I believe he was at Clifftop this year.

According to the liner notes in Kim Johnson's cd, Linda McCumbers (Lester's late-wife) used to sing Cherry River Line.
Have fun learning this cool tune, Phil!

Here's my translation of the tune to lap dulcimer. Tuning is DGG. Any mistakes in my translation are mine. :)

Great ear, Stephanie-- you heard Reuben in it! (Mark heard something from a tune he knows as Lonesome Reuben. . .) Thanks a bunch for the links-- they really add a lot to a thread!

Love this tune from Lester & Kim! I encourage you to check out the notes on YT; this was a banjo tune that Lester brought to fiddle.

Wondering whether anyone plays it on mountain dulcimer?

Gayle, I used to play recorder a bit but haven't given it a go in years. I look forward to hearing your mix with dulcimer and recorder!

It's good to have you be a part of FOTMD, Gayle!

Websites tend to have, for lack of a better word, personalities. I have met many wonderful folks both here at FOTMD and at another site where I'm a member, Everything Dulcimer. I think there's an indescribable something about the mountain dulcimer that draws many folks to it who just happen to be friendly.

I heartily agree, Skip-- it's great to hear variety in the play of a tune! When I'm playing fiddle tunes with friends, I like to play through the tune several times, varying something here or there. Fortunately, I have musician friends who also like to play through fiddle tunes several times and they vary their play also.

Skip said:

Robin;

Watched your video's, we liked them. That is generally where I am aiming to go.

Folkfan; I agree with that. [Except for the modes part, which really doesn't mean as much to me as note availability. I leave that up to the writers/TAB producers and assume they know what they're doing.] The 'everyone would sound alike' is the part which bothers me, it's so sterile sounding [and ultimately boring] to hear everyone playing exactly the same thing. It's part of the reason for the original post.

Oh, got ya, Skip! It was my fault for not understanding-- I'm an idiot about music!

Skip said:

Robin;

The question is based on Paul Certo's post about a player playing a DAA tabbed tune in DAdd. That player was 3 frets off of the SMN notes. In other words, when the tab indicated a DAA 3 {d} on the melody, the player was playing a DAdd 3 {g, s/b 0 [d]}. That's why it seems to me you should pay attention to the notes even if using TAB [Tab positions the fingers to the fretboard, not the notes].

PS-Skip, I point you to a couple videos my husband and I did and they can be found on My Page here at FOTMD. You're under no obligation to watch. If you'd like to see someone playing simple harmonies/back-up, look for "I'm Troubled" and "Down the Road". I apologize for the examples being my own play yet that's all I know, really.

Skip,

I don't have a good grasp of modes; my ear is my guide. I only play noter/drone and, occasionally, get to jam with dulcimer friends who are chord/melody players and we blend fine.

I'm not sure I understand your last paragraph. (. . . can't you play a mixo tune in DAA [tuned DAdd] as long as you play the notes, not the fret numbers [TAB], and all of the notes are available? Am I forgetting the effect of the drones? )

I'll take a stab, though. As long as you have the notes available, I don't see why not. Give it a try and let your ear be your guide, bearing in mind the drone effect . Modern ears aren't used to the drone effect .

Skip said:

Won't some of this depend on the style of the player, xxx/chord vs xxx/drone? Most of the folks I play with chord or fingerpick the melody, a few fingerdance. A couple of them can do harmonies, in DAdd.

I don't think many of them, maybe a couple, even know what a mode is. I know, technically, what they are, but don't really understand them. Probably because I play the separate notes as shown in SMN [or TAB].

I suppose the only way I can find out for sure, with my group, is to try it.

I'm probably wrong, but can't you play a mixo tune in DAA [tuned DAdd] as long as you play the notes, not the fret numbers [TAB], and all of the notes are available? Am I forgetting the effect of the drones?

I think I meant something like that, Skip. I'm a by-ear player so anytime I go talking about what I'm doing things get dicey.

Skip said:

Robin;

I've been learning how bass players do their thing, so what you posted makes perfect sense to me. I'm assuming when you said 't he note that matches the key of the tune', you meant the root note of the key or indicated chord; D, G, or A in the key of D for example.

Skip, if what I wrote makes no sense, feel free to ask me questions. I'm not good at explaining things.

I've jammed with mountain dulcimer friends who use DAd as their home base tuning. (My home base tuning is DAA.) To me, the different voicings sound better than if everyone's tuned the same. Out of DAA, I'll re-tune to DGG, EAA; the keys of D, G, and A cover a lot of fiddle tunes. A Ddd or ddd tuning is really handy for covering 2 keys without re-tuning.

I love playing harmonies! When playing harmonies, remember that if a note doesn't sound right to your ear, you're only a fret away from a good-sounding note most of the time. To begin to learn to play harmonies, just play solid rhythm on the note that matches the key of the tune. More importantly, whether playing melody or harmony, it's the rhythm that holds things together-- it's not the notes. To practice good rhythms, put on any pre-recorded music you like, mute your dulcimer's strings, and strum with the music. Vary rhythms, skip beats, let your hand do whatever feels right-- it's more felt than thought. Kinda like playing air guitar. It's fun!

I remember little FOTMD when it was still wet behind the ears.

, Strumelia!

Hey, Kim! David Lynch's Sweet Woods student model is $125 and I've heard nothing but good things about it. Dave's a member here and so is his sister (folkfan). You can see a picture by scrolling down this page:

http://www.sweetwoodsinstruments.com/dulcimers.htm

How nice of you, Kevin! You're so right about the importance of properly fitted bridge & nut blanks.

Kimberly, if you have basic hand tools, you could do it yourself. I've got dulcimers with very basic nuts & bridges and one dulcimer on which they were very finely honed-- they all do the job.

If I ever get in that neck of the woods, I'd like to stop-in there, too, Phil. Whichever one of us gets there first can send word back to the other.

Thanks, Cheryl. My folks are falling apart just ahead of me. LOL

Yes, a week is a lot, especially if one has any physical problems that are effected by playing an instrument.

Cheryl Johnson said:

Robin,

Hopefully I'll be fully recovered from Dulcimer U by then! :) :) A week is a lot! I have that week off from work and its either Old Time Week or up to John Campbell for some bluegrass guitar picking. Hmmmmmm.

Hope your folks are okay.

Cheryl

Phyllis Gaskins is teaching at Old-Time Week? Wow! I didn't know that!

I've been to Augusta twice during Old-Time Week/Vocal Week/Dance Week. In '04, I took autoharp at OT Week and last year I took different classes from the Vocal Week offerings. Augusta's pretty durn cool. If my folks' health were better, I might consider going this year.

***I just saw that it's the Old-Time Week in October (and not the one in August). Got me thinking now. . . And wondering how I'd do toward the end of a week's worth of strumming. I'm going to keep this in mind and will have to see how mom & dad are doing come early autumn.

Love the looks of that 3-stringed Ledford! Congratulations on your great find, Curtis.

Dusty, if your dulcimer knew about the dulcimers on the other walls, it would've bawled its little eyes out.

Dusty Turtle said:

Wow, I had these pictures up while playing my own dulcimer, which jumped off my lap with a tear in her eye and cried "gramdma!"

In the lower photo, see the dulcimer with the open tailpiece that's heart-shaped? Any of you seen that before? If I remember right, there were 2 other mountain dulcimers with open tailpieces; one was an open circle and the other an open D.

The exhibit has a room devoted to each of these instruments: banjo, dulcimer/scheitholt (w/ 2 hammered dulcimers), fiddle, and guitar. It truly is a wonderful exhibit.

Thank you, thank you for posting pics, Laura!

I, too, attended the exhibit and plan to go back for more looks. There are instruments from both individual and institutional collections. Should you make the trip to Lancaster, you're in for a treat !

PS-Laura got permission to take photos; otherwise, there are to be no photos taken. I talked with a woman at the exhibit about the possibility of photos being made public so they could be posted or linked to FOTMD. Got my fingers crossed!

Randy,

Your time at Dulcimerville sounds delightful. (I have an idea of some of what you're feeling because I was privileged to go to Don Pedi's retreat last month; Don is a treasure!)

If I ever get to Dulcimerville, you're one of the first people I'd be searching-out!

Below are instructions on creating a music listening PLAYLIST from your favorite audio clips on Fotmd...

Hi, Marian! To me, strumming is the most important aspect of dulcimer play. Thus, it takes time to settle-in to learning how to strum and feel comfortable strumming. (I'm always working on my strum and I've been playing about 6 years.)

I suggest this exercise: Put on any music you enjoy. With your left hand, mute the strings. With your right hand, experiment strumming rhythms with the music. It really helps one get a feel for rhythm and, over time, your strumming will improve.

Happy strummin'!

Phil, I'm thinking Carter got caught in a sting operation.

phil said:

Carter sounds like a great little dog for you Dad. I have a feeling he was not stealing that fruit, but was invited to have some too.