Forum Activity for @john-keane

Still listening to it, and still lovin' it!  Great stuff!

David, it was really a pleasure to assist you with this process!  It's just plain FUN!

Great folks and great products!

Sounds like a blast!

We look forward to seeing you at Kentucky Music Winter Weekend!

I don't work for Dave, but I consider him a great friend.  Here are some of his materials available at Folkcraft:  http://www.folkcraft.com/search.html?sep=dave+haas&sed=122

If you choose KMW, Karen and I will see you there as well!  There is a wonderful weekend festival (Homer Ledford Festival) right down the road from Berea (30 minutes or so) in Winchester, KY (Labor Day weekend).  Dana McCall hosts it and does a great job.

Thanks Jill.  Arkladulcifest takes place in Benton, Arkansas (in the Little Rock area).  It is hosted by Linda Brockinton, Karen, and myself.  2015 was our inaugural event.  We are delighted that Richard Ash and Duane Porterfield are returning in 2016 as instructors and vendors as well.  We had several "east coasters" this year, so we would love to see the west represented as well. 

Jill, we would love to see you at Arkladulcifest!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/arkladulcifest/

My first dulcimer was a very small T.K. O'Brien student model that I purchased (used) from a co-worker for $50.  Karen and I had first become aware of dulcimers about a year earlier (Cedar Creek kiosk at Silver Dollar City), but we didn't buy one initially.  Nowadays, that first dulcimer still lives here locally with one of my students.

Dusty...you ain't right lol!  Robin, rumor has it that you just may be correct.    Jan, that sound like about the coolest trip ever!

It was just there (and cheap).  I held my enthusiasm in check until we paid and left lol. 

One of my wall hanging oddities (flea market find). 

Jan, we did that for Christmas a couple of years ago and it turned out kinds neat. 

Dana, you did a fantastic job with the festival!  You and your family are absolutely wonderful (you taught 'em right)! 

The game changer for me occurred when I became a student of the game.  I watched (and still do) as many videos of people playing the dulcimer as time would allow.  I discovered that there are many approaches and many styles to experiment with.  I asked questions here on FOTMD and got varying opinions...but I got opinions.  Then, I finally got to attend my first live "in person" dulcimer workshop to see and hear "up close" many of the answers to my questions with immediate feedback.  I guess my true game changer was when I immersed myself in all things mountain dulcimer.  I kept the things that worked, made note of the things that didn't work for me, and continue the process to this day (and try to share those experiences with others so that they might avoid some of my earlier frustration).  The wonderful byproduct of this is all of the amazing friends that I now have in the dulcimer community that I didn't even know five years ago.  The mountain dulcimer community is genuinely a fantastic collection of people.

Awesome news!

James, it was made by Folkcraft.

My favorite...

We love you back!

One of my favorite things to do is what you did right there...good for you!

Looks great!

We have two Folkcraft hickory dulcimers in the house (Folkroots custom models)...they pretty much rock!

Helen, that would be a tall order! I can see doing something with a foot, but given the clumsiness of holding a didgeridoo, I don't know how doing anything else with the hands would be manageable. There IS a travel didgeridoo made of a square block that could possibly be mounted to a stand...hmmmm...

That's great! I love my didgeridoos (or didgeridi?)!

Congrats to all of the participants!

John, it was a pleasure to meet you and get to visit a bit!

The Crawdad Song for me.

Happy Birthday FOTMD, and a sincere thanks to Lisa for such a great place!

Ron Ewing makes an awesome one (various sizes too).

I know that you have to be excited!

Wow...I thought that was great for it being a new to you instrument!

I have no recollection of any of this.

Robin Thompson said:

Hey, Carrie, I'm glad you got back to Ol' Pal! If you ran into a certain J.K. there, I trust you made every effort to avoid that troublemaker. LOL! I've heard wonderful things about the Wright's fest and might just make my way to TX some spring to attend.

Rob, I totally agree. If one ever has the opportunity to sit and play several instruments by a single maker in a showroom or festival display setting (with construction methods being consistent by the maker), a player can discover a remarkable difference between the different tone woods and dulcimer shapes.

Rob N Lackey said:

Well, Ken, in this case all other things are equal except for the type of wood. Jim's instruments are the same size, same bracing, same vsl, etc. Therefore any difference in sound in any of his instruments must be related to the wood choices. I've played a lot of his instruments and, yes, there are differences in sound which can only be attributed to the type of wood used in the instrument. That's why I didn't bring up any of those things in my answer to Denise: it doesn't apply!

Yay Julie!

Julie, once you discover your strum and become comfortable with it, I would highly recommend the use of a metronome when practicing. A metronome is probably the most valuable implement available to novice and professional musicians alike for developing rhythmic and technical accuracy.

That is great!

That is a great picture!

LOL! That would work just fine!

Helen Seiler said:

OOOOh a dream dulcimer. Something that sounds great and has lots ofinlay workwith a log cabin in the mountains theme. Yum. Hey JK, I could call it BIG CABIN.