Forum Activity for @robin-thompson

Although I don't think of playing dulcimer as competitive sport, contests have been a part of community musical get-togethers for a long time. So, I think of contests as being part of a tradition.

I've never competed and don't know whether I would or not. If the atmosphere of a given competition was light-hearted, friendly, maybe. . .

Kendra,

Yup, Amazing Grace or Southwind. . . Please let me know the preferred keys for the tunes and I'll see what I can do.

Wish you could come, Stephanie!

Got it, Kendra! I'll fiddle around with Old Joe Clark & Golden Slippers on the BD and make some kind of noise. Mark and I will probably play together (guitar & BD) for my demo if that's okay. (I've been struggling with neck problems for months and that's curtailed my music play of late, doggone it. )

I think you all had it worse in far southern Ohio than we did, Kendra. Our satellite internet goes out when there's heavy rain and, surprisingly, we had working internet through most of April and May.

Won't be long 'til Coshocton!

Jim, we were at the shop a couple hours. Randall did a little shopping before he left and we did, too. (I love my Snark tuner and I got a neat jamming stool that Gary built.)

Yup, we've got to meet somewhere down the road. And get in some jamming.

Sounds like a great meet Robin (now where have I seen a tee shirt similar to yours before..............LOL)

John

It was so neat to meet Randall! He, Gary Sager, Mark and I jammed for awhile upstairs at Gary's shop-- what fun. (I feel lucky to have gotten to jam with such good players!) Not only that, Randall took a couple of requests; talk about a beautiful, smooth baritone voice. . .

Mark took this picture before Gary got to the shop:

Great photo, Jim! You two guys look like you just got everything you'd circled in the Sears Wish Book for Christmas.

Tomorrow it's mine and Mark's turn to meet Randall.

I can't go wrong with red or blue. And I'll be at Gary's Prussia Valley shop tomorrow-- I get to meet Randall McKinnon there!

My biggest complaints about the tuner I use most now (Tune Tech clip-on) are a rattling button and the tuner's not as sensitive as I'd like it to be .

Thanks, everybody!

I appreciate the replies, friends! Mark and I are thinking we'd like to get Snarks. For my part, the tuners we have just aren't sensitive enough. It's not bad when you're in a quiet place so can fine tune by ear. But lots of places aren't quiet . . .lol

Red or blue? Hmm. Seems like I can't go wrong either way. I'll be using the tuner on both mountain dulcimer and bowed dulcimers.

That looks like so much fun! (I've only watched the first video and will watch the second one some other time-- line speed tonight's not all that great.) It was impressive that so many people knew what they were doing-- and if they didn't they made it look good.

It'd be neat to learn to dance. I was raised in a church where dancing was a no-no. I learned lots of great hymns, though. And I wish I could dance. Maybe someday!

John,

I'm afraid you're on your own with this one! Perhaps you & John K should arm wrestle to settle this.
John Henry said:

One thing about moderating is it's a job we want to be boring. Free exchange of ideas and musical friendships are what we want to flourish here!

It's been really fun to see the site develop. I stumbled onto FOTMD very soon after Strumelia put it up-- if I remember right, there were yet no discussions (or maybe one), no groups, no videos.

PS-FOTMD is a Great Group!

Doug, I look forward to hearing "The Winding Banks of Nith"!

Last year, Mark and I played the open stage at Harmony Harvest dulcimer festival in Lancaster OH. How it came to be? Mark's sister, Jane, a singer/songwriter, had been asked to play a gig at Marietta College. (Thirty-plus years ago, when in college, the two of them performed together a lot.) Jane wanted to play at Marietta and wanted her big brother to play with her. Mark agreed to do so and, with that looming on his calendar, Mark said he wanted to play the open stage at Harmony Harvest. And since Harmony Harvest is, after all, a dulcimer festival, some kind of dulcimer needed to figure into it.

We practiced and played a couple tunes-- Huntin' the Buffalo and Star of the County Down -- with Mark on guitar and me on bowed dulcimer. The audience was enthusiastic and encouraging!

I'd been playing bowed dulcimer about a year and a half before getting on a stage to play. (I'd bowed a mountain dulcimer in the fashion of a bowed dulcimer for some months before getting my first bowed dulcimer.)

folkfan,

Until we put in a free-standing gas stove a couple years ago I was cold a lot of the year. Now, I go to the stove to get warm and since it has a glass front (a type of ceramic, actually) if you want to sit by it to read, you can see the flame. It's really nice how, along with some other improvements made to the house to keep heat in/cold out, last winter our highest heating bill was about $140 and we were warm.

Sharon's candles sound wonderful!

Kathy,

You'll get a beautiful, high-quality instrument in your choice of a Blue Lion. And please feel free to give us any updates in how all progresses!

Robin

Bob, I can only recall knowing of one other person who has a Jean Ritchie model BL.

As far as quality of instrument goes, a Blue Lion is of high quality. I know of one well-respected luthier who, when building his own personal instrument, sent a piece of it to Janita Baker (of Blue Lion) so she could do his inlay work.

Kathy,

I own a Blue Lion Jean Ritchie model. I, luckily, came by it used though in like-new condition. And the instrument was a custom order so is not exactly what you will see on the Blue Lion website. I play noter-drone style music on it and like its ease of play. For fit and finish, the quality of the instrument is very very good.

A photo of my BLJRitchie dulcimer can be seen here:

http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/photo/blue-lion-jean-ritchie-model?context=user

The dulcimer can be seen & heard on the videos of Old Joe Clark , Spotted Pony , and Arkansas Traveler from my FOTMD page here:

http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/profile/RobinThompson

Hope this helps, Kathy! If you have specific questions, I'm happy to answer them as best as I can.

As a teenager I sang a lot and have sung very little as an adult. I wish I would've kept singing because it's fun and I can read music for singing. My ear for singing is no longer good. I go flat a lot, doggone it.

PS-(I can't sight read for playing dulcimer-- either mountain or bowed. Wish I could. Though I am glad I can play by ear.)

I'm a computer idiot and it's mostly dumb luck that I can do anything with the machine that turns out okay.

We're patient here, Dennis.

Dennis,

Paul's right-- we love to see stuff!

Dennis,

In the years I've been involved with mountain dulcimer, I've seen nothing but praise from folks who have gotten Dave's Student Model. In the dulcimer world, there are a few makers who offer entry-level instruments that would put instruments of other types costing a lot more to shame.

Enjoy your Sweet Woods!

PS-Dave's a nice guy, too!

Lisa!!! You've been holding out on us. Doggies, that sounded good!

I can't for the life of me bow a decent drone on my bowed dulcimers on any consistent basis. For my own amusement, I'll keep trying, though.

Since YOUR jouhikko is already a star, your own stardom can't be far behind, Strumelia! Do you have particular ideas about how you wish to use your new instruments-- say, do you plan to focus on tunes in a particular regional tradition(s) or in accompaniment to another player's instrument(s)?

Seriously, Lisa, if I ever get to your neck of the woods, I'd love to give one of those instruments a go.

Strumelia,

Wonderful slideshow! I'd love to give a pull of the bow or two on each of your bowed lyres-- they're so lovely and your case with the leather handle, forged latches, and knitted interior are neat.

In the YouTube video on Michael's website, it looks to be your new jouhikko & case that are showcased!?