Forum Activity for @robin-thompson

Randy, you're also hitting on how a person can join in to play on tunes you don't know when in a music jam. At least I think you might be hitting on this: where there's both by ear play and drawing on past experience as far as understanding the structure of folk or fiddle tunes and playing along with others on tunes you either haven't heard before or don't know well.

Randy Adams said:

These types of threads about memorizing tunes, or the similar topics 'how do you learn a new tune', or 'ear vs tab' come up occasionally here.

I don't mean to be condescending, or to disrespect the way that works the best for others to learn how to play the dulcimer but there is a higher level to aspire to that never gets mentioned. Well sir, I'm going to take a deep breath and say it out loud.

Most folk tunes, or fiddle tunes, are simple in structure and melody. Many musicians with some experience and competence can hear these tunes once, understand how it goes, and play it. In fact many tunes are simple enough and move in such a predictable manner, they have queues that indicate where they are going, that they can be played adequately the first time through, like as the tune is being played.

How a person gets to this level is dependent on several things. How much are you willing to practice? What are your musical goals? How much innate musical talent are you blessed with?

Assuredly this is a learnable skill. Nobody just picks up an instrument and does it. But it is not only the domain of the musical genius either. Many amateur musicians I know and play with can do it.

Gayle, I'm a 'by ear' player 99.9% of the time-- since I am a noter/drone player, all I have to worry about is being in the right key, getting the melody down, and most importantly, getting the rhythm right. The .1% comes in if I happen to be with a group of people and we all are trying to learn/play a specific piece of music a specific way so I struggle to read from paper; this rarely happens, though.

I'd like to learn to read SMN for playing an instrument, bowed dulcimer particularly.

Take the ox off your Sox and you're a fan of the Reds.
Hey, I want the Yankees to lose, too.

Dusty Turtle said:

As a Red Sox fan since before I can remember, I am indeed routing for a team this year: whoever is playing the Yankees.

I know there are Yankees fans out there. But I guess some people wanted Goliath to beat David, too.

Actually, a lot of the games have been really exciting this year. And here in Northern Cal we had two teams in the run, with the As a genuine cinderella team with one of the lowest payrolls in baseball. My wife is a Giants fan, so our house is black and orange and not because of Halloween.

You know I wanted the Reds to win the division and the Pirates to win the wild card.

Jim Fawcett said:

Well, all I can say after 20 years of having a losing season with the Pirates, Let's go Nats!

Patty, as a Reds' fan I've been pulling for the Nats to defeat the Cards!

Patty from Virginia said:

Robin, If the Washington Nationals win Friday night, I don't know what I'll do. I'll either get excited that our area finally has a winning team (been a long dry spell; although, hockey team has been okay) or I'll faint from the shock of it all

A most appropriate post, Carrie!

Carrie Barnes said:

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Mudville: Mighty Casey has struck out.

Leonard, this pretty much sums it up for me.................

Robin, smog?

For your dear wife's sake, Leonard, it is good to not watch games sometimes.

I watch no Reds' games-- we don't get cable tv and live in the boondocks where few channels can be got.

Leonard Griffin said:

Robin, if we could figure that out it would not hurt so bad. Like Carrie says we Texas Rangers fans have been disappointed again for the third time. I sometimes have had to not watch games for awhile, my wife says I get to hard to live with , and my blood pressure I am sure goes up!!

Oh, Carrie! How in the world did the Reds win the first two games of the series in SF then lose 3 at home?

Anybody cheering for a team in baseball's post-season?

Robin "Go, Reds!" 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.