Forum Activity for @johnr

Mountain Dulcimer Picture in Mathematics Magazine

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Since we seem to agree where a string is plucked does make a difference, let’s not forget that the main thing is to use the varying sounds to make better music. 

Adjectives for sounds such as “warm”, “bright”, and so on are subjective.  How we perceive and describe things varies.  Discrepancies among us should be met with tolerance. 

There may be a reason why plucking somewhat away from the center might be preferable to plucking exactly in the center.  The mathematical analysis predicts that as the pluck point is moved away from the center, the overtones get stronger, but not uniformly.  The overtone that comes in strongest first is the octave overtone.  To my ear, octaves reinforce (for lack of a better word) a pitch.  Try playing D (open bass string) and then Ddd (open bass string, 3^rd fret middle string, open melody string) to get a sense of this.

Thanks for the discussion.

Mountain Dulcimer Picture in Mathematics Magazine

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I've attached a response for Dusty and Nate.  Others are welcome to dig in.  It's a little lengthy, so I had to put it in a zip file which you should find attached.

Mountain Dulcimer Picture in Mathematics Magazine

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

In response to Dusty's "How Do You Measure Tone Mathematically" - I would call it more of a description.  A very simple, perfectly pure tone for a specific note would be a wave.   Real tones are actually built from a bunch of waves which are related to a basic wave which corresponds to the note.  The relative strengths of those tones are the basically the heights of the waves.   Mathematically these satisfy a partial differential equation which is known as (TA DA) the vibrating string equation (or wave equation).   The remaining part is how these waves get going.  That's what happens when you pluck a string.  What I was able to show, mathematically, is that where (near the end or near the middle) matters.  Closer to the middle gives a purer tone.  I think that's what dulcimer players intuited a long time ago.

Mountain Dulcimer Picture in Mathematics Magazine

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Everyone - this is a thank you, a brag, and announcement of a mountain dulcimer picture in a place you wouldn't expect - Mathematics Magazine.  After reading and watching many of you on this site, I was inspired to investigate an aspect of the vibrating string partial differential equation.  Thanks!  This resulted in a paper "What I Heard from the P.D.E." which has just been published - Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 98, No. 1, February 2025.  In the introduction, there's a picture of my dulcimers.  Most college libraries have subscriptions to Mathematics Magazine.  

Just For Fun - sayings regarding the dulcimer or music

OFF TOPIC discussions

I'm an uncurable punster (just ask my wife) but when I play my dulcimer I don't fret about it.

Kurt Vonnegut quote...

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Along those lines: "Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get."  I don't remember where I picked that up. 

How Many Dulcimers Do You Own?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I have two dulcimers, both McSpaddens (one a baritone).  I also have a recorder and triangle.  The piano is upstairs.

But I can inflate my numbers by counting the hand bells and hand chimes I "own" at church - the low octave (C3 - B4), 12 bells, 12 chimes.  Admittedly this may be cheating as I really play them as a unit.

I enjoy the dulcimer playing the most.