Forum Activity for @jost

jost
@jost
04/19/24 08:32:03PM
77 posts

Question about the 6 1/2 fret


Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Great story of Richard Fariñas 6+ fret. 

I don't know anything about pre-revival dulcimers with extra frets. Some of it's European precedessors might have them though. If I recall correct some Epinettes used to have extra fr
hink and strumelia mentioned that there are icelandic langspils with and without chromatic fret layout (see here: https://fotmd.com/strumelia/group_discuss/2169/icelandic-langspil

Last but not least the hungarian citera has up to 15 dron strings without frets but also four melody strings with a chromatic layout (two for the diatonic layout like the dulcimer, and two for the extra frets completing the chromatic layout): https://www.klangwerkstatt.de/ungarische-zither 

So I wouldn't rule out the possibility that some early dulcimers were chromatic as well (maybe made by an hungarian immigrant? Who knows...). It wasn't the norm though.

jost
@jost
01/21/24 02:54:23PM
77 posts

Traditional role of the mountain dulcimer.


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I own a score books with pieces Compostela by Michael Praetorius. Although he considered the scheitholt a "Lumpeninsttument" ( beggars instrument ), his pieces ( especially the Gavotte dances) work quite well. The score book and arrangements  were published by Wilfried Ullrich and are available from him.

So although there might no classic pieces written for the dulcimer there are enough, who work quite well.

I'm still trying to get this Mozart piece right:

https://thesession.org/tunes/7077

jost
@jost
01/17/24 01:54:17PM
77 posts

Traditional role of the mountain dulcimer.


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Ken Longfield:

Yes, those are excellent books and must reads for folks who want to learn about mountain dulcimer history and context. One part of your question we have not addressed is the use of European predecessors of the mountain dulcimer. Wilfried Ulrich addresses some of this in his book  The Story of the Hommel . There are many such instruments in museums in Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, etc.Unfortunately I am not aware of English translations of literature that describes how folks used these instruments. What is clear is that they were "folk" instruments and not considered to be of great value musically. Again, they were mostly played by folks in their own homes for their own enjoyment. 



At least Wilfried Ulrichs book is available in English from himself:


http://www.ulrich-instrumente.de/kontakt-links-impress/


https://hogfiddle.blogspot.com/2011/05/wilfried-ulrich-story-of-hummel.html 

Some of the information is also available on his website (in German though so you might want to use a translation service like Google Translate, deepl etc). 


Now according to Ullrich one of the oldest references of an hommel is the use in a procession (propably with a kind of strap). He also displays a hommel which was built by a carpenter named Adolf Hilke who played it in the local dances until the concertina and accordion took over at the beginning of the 20th century (they were louder than the hommel thus getting more popular soon). 
Now my own hommel and galax dulcimers both are quite loud so I guess the actual volume might depend a little bit of the way of building and circumstances.

The norwegian langleik ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langeleik ) is interesting as a kind of edge case: It was mainly played by women who tended their livestock on mountain meadows during the summer in their bothys. According to the German wikipedia:


Quote:
Langeleik traditionally falls within the sphere of activity of women. In rural regions, women spent the summer with the cattle on the high pastures (soeter). Here a special genre of songs arose in connection with everyday tasks. Certain songs, called smørbon, describe the making of butter, and there were melodic calls for goats (geitlokkar), cows (kulokkar) or to communicate with the shepherds (laling, huving) over long distances. In the early evening, the women were busy with handicrafts on the soeter or performed instrumental pieces (lydarslåttar) with langeleiks. Later in the evening they played for social dances. Concerts and accompanying dances remained the two areas in which the Langeleik was used.
Written sources from the end of the 17th century mention regular Sunday evening concerts at which women played Langeleik. Nevertheless, there were a few men who became known as professional Langeleik players. Ragnhild Viken (around 1810-1895) was a professional Langeleik player who performed at markets and festivities. She taught the instrument to her son Johannes Viken (1844-1936), who also became a well-known musician. Berit Pynten (1809/1812-1899/1900), who lived in a farmstead in Valdres, was just as highly regarded. In the 1880s, she received a visit from Edvard Grieg in her low hut, who had her play for him and notated her dance songs on paper. Grieg and other Norwegian composers in the 19th century studied folk music, which they valued as an element of national culture. Berit Pynten is said to have had a small dancing doll attached to her right hand with a string while she played.[10]
In the course of the 17th century, various forms of the violin emerged, which took over the two areas of use of the Langeleik and gradually pushed it back into its core area. The European stringed instrument spread under the names flatvele ("flat violin") and venleg vele ("common violin") mainly in the north and east of the country, while the Hardanger fiddle (hardingfele) with an additional four or five resonant strings under the fingerboard has been played in almost unchanged form in the south and west since around 1700.

The music played on the Langeleik is divided into dance songs and melodies for listening. The dance songs include the lively and fast dance style halling, named after its home region Hallingdal, the ganger and, in Valdres, Hallingdal and Telemark, the springar, which is played in a strict asymmetrical ¾ time. Several composers adopted the rhythm and melodic forms of springar, including Edvard Grieg in his folk music adaptation Jon Vestafes Springdans Opus 72/2. Grieg was preceded in the popularization of folk music by the violinist Ole Bull (1810-1880) and the composer Ludvig Mathias Lindeman (1812-1887). Lindeman's extensive collection of Norwegian folk songs Ældre og nyere norske Fjeldmelodier ("Older and Newer Norwegian Mountain Melodies") appeared in twelve volumes between 1853 and 1863, with a follow-up volume published in 1867. According to the Norwegian pianist Einar Steen-Nøkleberg, his piano arrangement of the dance piece Springlått contains typical Langeleik tone sequences to be played by the left hand[12] .


Concertante pieces of music belong to the group of klokkeslåtter or huldreslåtter ("Huldrenmelodien", Huldra is a beautiful girl related to the trolls in Scandinavian mythology)[13] .


 

From https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langeleik#Verbreitung translated with deepl. 

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langeleik#Verbreitung

I think these are interesting in quite a different ways: First that the norwegian folk musik has another drone instrument (the harding fiddle), second that the instruments were used for dancing tunes as well as tunes for listening.  Third: The langleik is usually tuned in a A major tuning ( see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langeleik ). Now the funny thing is that the reel de pendu/hangmans reel  is actually a norwegian tune called Fandens polsdans (meaning something like pole dance of the damned/hell pole dance/devils pole dance) although norwegian fiddlers play it a lot slower:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-HQnPZpJHY 

Now this tune is usually played in the key of A so I guess that although it's mostly known as a fiddle tune (in the old and new world) it was also played on langleiks. Or at least the langleik tuning would explain why it was composed in the key of a in the first played, the anonymous composer propably knew the key quite well from his evening dwellings. On the other hand harding fiddle players used a lot of different tunings (up to twenty according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardanger_fiddle ) so my idea might be a little bit far fetched. 

However my take on the matter is that although the hommel/langleik/langspil/dulcimer was mostly an instrument for playing for your own enjoyment (be it just for listening tunes or accompiement) at home (or your cabin on Norwegian/appalachian  mountains ;) ) it wasn't limited. When the opportunity arose, they were probably also played for dancing too. 

Just my two cents, Jost.

jost
@jost
09/13/23 04:33:21PM
77 posts

Accompaniment


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

shanonmilan:


Is it really normal for a dulcimer to have a very weak, drowned out sound?


 


In my experience yes if you don't use a pickup. In our bluegrass session I mostly play guitar since the dulcimer won't be heard against the dobro,  fiddles and banjos :) 

However it depends: When I join on dulcimer some of the other girls and guys change their style a little bit so I'm not totally drowned out. Or i play the dulcimer just in the late hours (after most of my fellow bluegrassians already left). 

Another possibility is to place the dulcimer on a table or a wooden board on your lap. In both cases the sound gets amplified. Some information on this forum:
https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/instruments-discuss-specific-features-luthiers-instrument-problems-questions/41358/why-is-it-called-a-possum-board 

If you have some skills in woodworking you might be able to build your own possum board (like seen on this page: http://www.dulcimerseite.de/tipps-zur-spielhaltung.html ). Otherwise most dulcimer builders should also be able to supply you with one. 

Personally I prefer the sound and ergonomics of playing on a table if possible.

Best regards, Jost. 

jost
@jost
09/13/23 04:57:10AM
77 posts

Accompaniment


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I don't. In our local monthly bluegrass jam however one of our regular participants (let's call him Adam) always bring his German concertina (english and german concertina are different, I'm just not sure at the moment which difference exactly). 

Although it's quite unusual for bluegrass it's enrich the sound a lot. And in the later hours Adam often sings German folk songs  while accompanying himself with the concertina. 

The combination of the squeeze box and his strong, emotional vocal performance surely are a treat. Alas as far I know he don't record anything and I would never record without permission from him.

jost
@jost
04/19/23 02:38:01AM
77 posts

FOTMD Advisory...


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

The best server maintenance is the one you don't even notice. In this regard the move was excellent

jost
@jost
01/03/23 01:17:24PM
77 posts

Recommendations for best software for splitting PDFs?


Dulcimer Resources:TABS/Books/websites/DVDs

In the office at my employer we have a a license of pdf xchange editor: 
https://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-editor

Most of it's features even works in the free version, otherwise you might need to buy a license. 

The nice thing is that, once licenced, you are free to use it as long as you like, no subscription costs like with Adobe. I'm quite sure splitting pages should work with the free version though.

Another nice thing is that it works with Linux too with the help of the wine emulator. 

Although Linux has it's own tools for such jobs (e.G. pdftk, okular just to name two) I tend to use pdf xchange since I'm used to its ways (I use Linux on my home pc and Windows on the job).

Best regards, Jost.

jost
@jost
12/16/22 05:17:07PM
77 posts

Misplaced fret


Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Wmacky:

The whole dulcimer project was put on hold as my wife sadly passed away unexpectedly  at a young age. As you can imagine I lost interest.The luthier seemed super defensive and I just couldn't deal with all that at the time. It's been over a year and I'm ready to deal with this again



Quite understandable, you have my sympathies.  I still think that the cost of the dulcimers should reflect in their playability.If the fret pattern is wrong or there are other reasons for it I would expect the builder to fix these issues or get the cash back, especially if you spent over 1000 bucks on it.
I'm not sure about the legal warranty period in your country. Here in Germany we have two years for new product from supplier. 
In any case: I would try this: Ask two other builders for their opinion on the instrument and it's fret positioning and general playing. Ask them for a offer to fix the issues. Then go to the builder and ask him for an explaination and what he could offer to you. 
You can do a first check yourself using following  a fret calculator: https://www.thekimerers.net/brian/YAFCalc/YAFCalc.html 

Best regards, Jost.

jost
@jost
12/15/22 05:18:56PM
77 posts

Misplaced fret


Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Wmacky:

I did call the builder last year, and asked about the issue. He became very  defensive and didn't seem to want to discuss it.  When I asked if he used Just intonation, he had never heard of that!!! :-o   It was a bad situation as at the time I had already commissioned a custom built Dulcimer by him which was almost complete. I didn't want bad blood as I awaited the second dulcimer. That dulcimer ended up having different issues, making it unplayable... I needed up storing both and never playing them.  a $1800 loss....



I agree with Ken and John that the fretboard looks quite correct. I'm not a builder (Ken and John are builders and quite experienced) though, just a player.

If you don't mind to explain: Which issues made your second dulcimer unplayable?

If I payed so much bucks I would expect a playable instrument.  I can understand you didn't wanted bad bloot before you got the second one. But why didn't you discuss it afterwards? 

Quote:
The good news is that while I had the dulcimer out last night taking the pics, , I learned and played my first song.  Time after time. It sounded pretty good!



Don't take this the wrong way but I'm getting more sceptical about the wrong frets. If your dulcimer really woudn't be playable or did have a wrong fret positioning it wouldn't sound good. 

So (again please don't take this as an insult) maybe your impression last year was  because you were a beginner who didn't even know one song to try on the instruments? 

As said: No offense just me trying to understand the root cause of your issues. 

Best regards, Jost

jost
@jost
11/29/22 06:33:00AM
77 posts

Howie Mitchell Dulcimer Building Book and Booklets Available Again!


Dulcimer Resources:TABS/Books/websites/DVDs

Are the PDFs still available? The links don't work anymore

jost
@jost
11/25/22 01:39:19PM
77 posts

Introduce Yourself!


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions


Welcome Mivo, finally another fellow German Player:)

I started two years ago with a dulcimer from the Klangwerkstatt.

Where do you live in Germany? 

Viel Spass mit deinen neuen Instrument 😀


updated by @jost: 11/25/22 01:41:16PM
jost
@jost
08/02/22 10:42:50PM
77 posts

Ionian tuning question


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Well I couldn read music notation either when I started with the dulcimer since I also started with cowboy chords on the guitar.
The good thing is that you don't need this since dulcimer tabulature is so easy to read (just press the noter or finger on the fret number of the indicated string). 

I'm pleased to hear that you are making progress now, happy playing


updated by @jost: 08/02/22 10:43:35PM
jost
@jost
08/02/22 02:18:47PM
77 posts

Removable Magnetic Pickup for Dulcimers


Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Another hint concerning the myers pickups/microphones: After a embarassing situation where the pickup didn't work (another open mic at a different location) it turned out that you might need an impedance transformer or a passive DI box to get a signal. I guess the other venue plucked me right into one they had at disposal. The passive DI box also has the advantage that it will shield the mic from any phantom power (which might toast it I guess this happened to my mic because at some point it suddenly didn't worked any more. Thanksfully my german music store has good customer service and just sent me a new one without charge). 

The information is a little bit hidden on the Myers website: 
https://www.myerspickups.com/support




It would be great if they would add a little information paper with stuff like this *sigh*

At least with a passive DI box the replacement mic  finally worked :)
updated by @jost: 08/02/22 02:19:14PM
jost
@jost
08/02/22 02:08:12PM
77 posts

Ionian tuning question


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

In my college days in Germany some fellow students and I  used to have a proverb: "Everything has already been said, but not yet by me" ("Es wurde bereits alles gesagt, aber noch nicht von mir"). It was used to make fun of people who love to hear themselves talk. At the risk of being one here some further thoughts:

First: I agree totally with Ken that you should stop worrying and start playing. I too was quite confused at the beginning  from reading to much about modes/tunings etc pp until I started just playing in Ionian tuning (DAA / CGG). I used tabs from Jean Ritchies Dulcimer book and Gamses "Best dulcimer method yet", later from Strumelias excellent blog.
At some point I wanted to try to play songs in a minor key and just used the given tuning (after some help from this forum). 
Continuing this I ended up playing songs in different tunings for different modes and somehow the whole mode/music theory stuff started to make sense because I heard the musical relation between the different strings. I also started to hear when the tuning sound wrong (still not good enough to tune by ear). 

It just needs time, so stop worrying and start playing. Before I played dulcimer I already messed round with chords on my guitar so I was quite confused by all this theoretical stuff. Why couldn't I just have some chords and started playing?
It got better when I realised, that noter/drone doesn't need chords so is actually easier for beginners but the price is that you need to learn some tunings. 

Second: For actually doing this two other books might be helpful  (they definitively were for me!):
First Neal Hellman's dulcimer chord book. Although it's for chord playing it was a big help for me when I started playing noter/drone. Why? Because he also has a big introduction of the several tunings and modes, something most chord instruction books don't cover. He need to do this however since he also gives chords for different tunings to give his readers and students more options in their repertoire. 
https://gourd.com/Books.html
Another great one is Mark Nelsons collection of dulcimer tabs for old time songs:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34496115-favorite-old-time-american-songs-for-dulcimer 

He also gives a lot of differnet tunings without getting to theoretical. He just says something like: Use this tuning for this song or any other tuning for the mode. 
Although many of the tabs are for chord style there are one for noter/drone too (I learnt The Cuckoo and Wedding dress from his tab). And like Hellman he uses chords for different modes, to give his readers more options. 

Although I'm strictly a noter/drone player I would recommend both books to any beginner (with Jean Ritchies Dulcimer Book and Dulcimer People which you already have) no matter which style they actually want to approach.

Just my two cents.

Best regards, Jost.


updated by @jost: 08/02/22 02:08:47PM
jost
@jost
07/24/22 09:46:12AM
77 posts

Best instruction material?


Dulcimer Resources:TABS/Books/websites/DVDs

I started with Ritchies Dulcimer Book and would  recommend it to any beginner. 

In my opinion her introduction to Tunings is a good thing behause sticking to one Tuning  will limiting your Musical Repertoire.

For DAA tabs I would recommend Gamses Best Dulcimer Method yet. It‘s for CGG-Tuning, which is DAA just for C.

One caveat though: These are Books for Noter/drone /fingerdancing, so not a big help for Chord playing

jost
@jost
07/16/22 05:16:01PM
77 posts

Switching to Mountain Dulcimer due to guitar playing pain


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions


The style also depends on your instrument and your fingers ( at least in my humble opinion). My dulcimers fretboard is quite narrow thus I plain only noter/drone style ( Sound is great!) since my fingers always touch their neighbour strings. Of course one might argue that the fretboard isn't too narrow but my fingers to thick 😀

I'm saving money for getting another one with a wider fretboard now.

So: If you are interested in a certain style it might be an idea to get an instrument designed for it.

Like Dusty I would suggest to try several style and See what fit's you best.

Just my two Cents 

Btw: I'm playing guitar ( first chord strumming, now mainly finger-picking) too. I switch Instruments when one tires my fingers out too much.


updated by @jost: 07/16/22 05:17:30PM
jost
@jost
06/13/22 05:29:10PM
77 posts

Warren May Hourdrop Question


Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Concerning the string gauge: Like John pointed out you should be fine. One caveat though: Depending on the strings gauge not every tuning will work because the strings will be too sloppy or break. In my opinion this is not a problem per se: New strings are cheap and you can only learn by experimenting. Just keep always some fresh strings and a string bender ready for quick replacement ;)

jost
@jost
06/13/22 05:25:53PM
77 posts

Warren May Hourdrop Question


Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Jean Ritchies Dulcimer book is a good start for noter/drone play. Her book "Dulcimer people" (available used) is also a good one, it even includes instructions for chord play. 
Neal Hellmans Dulcimer Chord book is also a great start for beginners since it also has a lot of explainations for odd tunings/modes even If (like me) you never play chords at all.
I like Mark Nelsons "Favorite Old-Time American Songs for Dulcimer" too, it's a mix of chord and noter/drone style.

Have fun with your dulcimer!

jost
@jost
06/13/22 12:46:57PM
77 posts

Warren May Hourdrop Question


Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Congratulations to your new dulcimer. Look like you found a real treasure and bargain

jost
@jost
06/08/22 02:07:15PM
77 posts

Various Tunings


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

@melvoid I just noticed that you play bluegrass banjo and released a method for it. So I have another book recommendation: Mark Nelsons Favorite Old-Time American Songs for Dulcimer https://www.melbay.com/Products/97189EB/favorite-oldtime-american-songs-for-dulcimer.aspx 

It features what the title promises and features around 100 tabs of old time folk songs. Probably you will recognice most of the them, since  some of them are featured in your method too. What I like about this book that it contains tabs for the classic noter/drone playing but also for the modern chord style. So it's quite nice for beginner students which might need some time and experimenting to decide which playing style they prefer. Even better: It features several tunings and explaining them and their use for different keys, even for chord style. This might not sound like a big deal but most chord players and instruction books stick to DAD tuning. Which is just fine (everybody should do what suits them best) but I appreciate  that Mr Nelson give his readers more options. 

There is just one bad thing to say: He also has a kind of little story to every song. In most cases though I think that they are just goofy or too far fetched to be enjoyable. On the other hand I'm German so it might just be my humorlessness genes ;) Otherwise it's a great book and the storys are easy to ignore.

Regards, jost

jost
@jost
06/07/22 05:47:09AM
77 posts

Tull66


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

wally-venable makes a good point with using a tuner to check the freet placing/set up. 

So: If you can check in the store or order online with return policy this should be enough to check the basic playability of the instrument. This is btw a good idea to do in any case, even if the instrument is more expensive or from a renowed builder. You never know how it was stored before ;)

I remembered that this site had a warning against some cheap brands thus I used the search function. 
So for another point of view concerning Apple Creek and two other low level brands:

https://fotmd.com/strumelia/group_discuss/2332/beware-of-internet-ad-sites-of-the-best-dulcimers-to-buy

Of course wally-venables argument for trying Apple Creek with a tuning app/device holds true for these too.

Regards, Jost.

jost
@jost
06/02/22 03:28:53PM
77 posts

Removable Magnetic Pickup for Dulcimers


Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

I wonder why the myers pickup didn't work for you. Which model did you try?

I'm quite happy with mine ( great sound and working on my other instruments too):

https://www.myerspickups.com/products/the-grip-flexible-micro-gooseneck

One reason I can imagine : They are real microphones thus feedback might be a problem in some cases ( e.g. in a  band or group setting). In the open mic at the local pub  I frequent I didn't had any issues up to now. I play solo though.

Did you try to contact their support for help or a refund? 

I didn't  need it up to now but read only good things about it.

jost
@jost
06/02/22 02:52:50PM
77 posts

Tull66


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Well according to fotmd and the Facebook groups AppleCreek is something of a lottery. You can end up with a cheap and great sounding instrument but you have also a high chance of getting expensive firewood. I wouldn't risk my bucks for it.

So I would also suggest a kit by Folkcraft or some other renowed builder.

If I would be living in the USA a cardboard md would have been my first Instrument.

The shipping costs to Germany were to expensive so I ended up with an nice instrument by a local builder.

Just my two Cents, your mileage may vary

jost
@jost
04/28/22 06:25:56AM
77 posts

baritone guitar


Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Thanks for the explanation Dusty, so any guitar could be retuned like this? The Sound is lovely


updated by @jost: 04/28/22 09:09:02AM
jost
@jost
04/27/22 11:54:49AM
77 posts

baritone guitar


Adventures with 'other' instruments...

What's the difference to a normal guitar? The tuning?


updated by @jost: 04/27/22 11:55:14AM
jost
@jost
04/19/22 07:45:44PM
77 posts

Various Tunings


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Strumelia:

If you are at the stage where you want to experiment just a bit but don't quite understand all the details yet, then you can stay with your first familiar tuning, OR play with DAd and DAA both, OR you can dip your toe in the water by adding a third tuning- I'd suggest DAC, for playing the beautiful lonesome sounding Aeolian mode tunes like Shady Grove or Cluck Old Hen or Pretty Saro.



Isn't Pretty Saro a tune in ionian mode? I know you are a lot better and more experienced player than me I'm just bewildered since Jean Ritchies Dulcimer book claim it's ionian. On the other hand the table of contents claimed that Bachelor's Hall is a mixolydian tune while it's in fact a Dorian one. I'm puzzled since in the actual text and tabs the mode of Bachelor's Hall is dorian (which is the correct one). Thus I accepted that the table of contents might have errors but the tabs and actual text not. The tab says that Pretty Saro is in ionian mode . And it works pretty well for me in DAA or CGG ioinian tunings (imho it sounds better in C but this is just a matter of taste and personal preference).

As I said I don't want to be a smart ass I'm just curious whether there is another way to play the tune in a different mode I'm not aware of.
jost
@jost
04/19/22 07:38:27PM
77 posts

Various Tunings


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Many good answers already. I will just add something to confuse you even more

You asked for the GDG tuning. This is (in theory) the same tuning like DAD (mixoyldian mode) just for the key of G. There is a catch though. Depending on the VSL of the dulcimer the bass string might break if you try to tune it to this. 
For such cases there are the so called reverse tunings which change the key of the bass and middle string. Thus GDG gets DGG, GDD (G ionian) gets DGD, GDC (G dorian) gets DGC etc. It works quite well and might be of interest when playing something in the coresponding key. 

As introduction I highly recommend Neal Hellmanns Dulcimer Chord book which has a great introduction to the modes and tunings. I don't even play any chords (strictly noter/drone player on my Dulcimer, if I want to play chords I pick up my guitar) but would recommend this book to any dulcimer beginner (noter/drone or chords) because of the good introduction to the modes.

Another unorthodox way to tune are the so called bagpipe or unison tunings: They are mainly used for mixolydian mode. The idea is to tune the middle and melody strings like the Bass just one octave higher. Thus for D mixolydian the bagpipe tuning would be tuned like this: Tune the dulcimer to DAD. Tune midlde string from A to the same pitch as the melody strings. 
It works great for mixolydian tunes like Old Joe Clark, Going to boston etc. It's also nice to take tabulature for DAD (or another mixolydian tuning) and try it out in a bagpipe tuning: London Bridge, Mary had a little lamb, Brother Jacob and other nursery rhymes just get a lot more interesting just by changing the pitch of the middle string ;)
 Hellmann's Dulcimer Chord book and Jean Ritchies book "Dulcimer people" both have a section by Holly Tannen where she propagates these unison/bagpipe tunings for jam sessions with fiddlers/guitarists etc especially Irish music.


Stuff like these is part of the reason I love the dulcimer so much: Even as somebody who never had a real musical education (my last music theory lesson I had at school when I was twelve years old and I forgot everything) you get a basic introduction just by having fun with the instrument. 

I hope I didn't add to much confusion :)

jost
@jost
04/09/22 01:06:20PM
77 posts

12 String Guitar


Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Yes I know both ( Leadbelly and Leo Kottke), alas my capabilities are not so high.

Lol@Pete Seeger quote :D

jost
@jost
04/08/22 05:08:42PM
77 posts

12 String Guitar


Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Dusty Turtle:

Just noticed this post, @jost.  How's the 12-string been treating you?  I have a 12-string guitar made in Canada by Seagull that I bought several years ago, just before I discovered the dulcimer.  It's fun to play something with such a full sound, isn't it?




Well up to now I didn't have much time for music since my last post here due to the workload on my employer. Now I'm on a two week vacation so more time for music :D
The full sound is really the nice thing, same why I prefer playing with two melody strings on the dulcimer and what I love about my Hummel.

Ken Hulme:

I don't play, but have several friends and bandmates who play 12 strings, and I know 3 players of 24 and 30 string Harp Guitars -- talk about "full sound"!"

Hollar when you're ready, Jost, and I'll build you the dulcimer equivilent -- 9 strings (3 courses of three strings each), on a 3" deep x 9" wide body, 27" VSL, with a double-back like a Galax.




Yeah I knew of harp guitars. They are heavily used in Viennas "Schrammel Music" (named after Schrammel brothers who popularized these in Viennas wine pubs at the end of 19th century):


As far I know you can get them only custom built so for the moment out of my financial and musical capabilities. 
Interesting enough there used to be a so called "Bass lute" which was basically a lute guitar with extra bass strings: 
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Basslaute


Concerning the dulcimer equivalent: I already own a eight stringed hummel ;) And I fear the transatlantic shipment costs from your place to mine would cost more than the actual instrument. A more radical "12 stringed dulcimer" would be the hungarian zither the maker of my Dulcimer offers them too (with 19 strings!): 
https://www.klangwerkstatt.de/ungarische-zither 

Ken Longfield:

I didn't notice this post before either. My only experience with at 12 string guitar was a Yamaha that a college roommate owned. I played around with it some, but I never got into it. That was over 50 years ago. I do like the sound of a 12 string, but it is not something I enjoy playing.




An understandable sentiment. I love finger-style guitar (listening and playing) and this is just not possible for me with the 12 string. On the other hand the 12 string is great for songs with heavy strumming (Eg Star of the county down, The Blacksmith etc).
jost
@jost
04/08/22 04:56:37PM
77 posts

Composition in G minor


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Do you have a sheet? I think a G minor tuning might work for Noter/Drone playing and would like to try this. Since you clearly want to play with chords this is propably not of much help to you though.
And thanks for the youtube recommendation: It's a lovely tune.

jost
@jost
02/22/22 06:20:55PM
77 posts

Steeleye Span with electric dulcimer on Germans TV 70s show


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Frank Dudgeon:

Thank you so much for posting this.  I was lucky to see Steeleye Span a couple of times "back in the day" when they were in their prime, when I lived in Boston, Massachusetts.  Fantastic video.




I envy you. The current lineup is still quite a great live band as far I can tell from youtube although Tim Harts Dulcimer and Peter Knights fiddle are surely missed. 

Their new fiddler Jessie Mae Smart is a great fiddler in her own right though. And the "young blood" (not only her, there are others as well) gives some nice changes to the sound even without Dulcimer ;)
 


Peter Knight now concentrates on his gigspinner projects where he combines folk tunes with afro beat, see this incredible rendition of "The King of the fairies":


Enjoy, Jost.


jost
@jost
02/21/22 02:32:28PM
77 posts

Steeleye Span with electric dulcimer on Germans TV 70s show


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

The TV show Rockpalast is still running today. It was started in Germanys public radio/tv WDR (Westgerman Broadcasting Westdeutscher Rundfunk) in the 1970s. Every episode features another show from a band/single artist. Most of the times they were actual live shows  other times (like this Steeleye Span show) they were recorded "live" in the studio.

For real live shows they often recorded them in the Dortmund Westphalenhalle since the WDR is located in Cologne. Both cities (Dortmund and Cologne) are large citys in the state   North Rhine-Westphalia. 
The Westphalenhalle used to be quite popular as venue for big names of show buisness. 

Youtube has a lot of these shows although mainly all kinds of Rock music.

So looking for Rockpalast episodes will often lead to live material with good audio/video quality :)

jost
@jost
02/20/22 06:08:20PM
77 posts

My frisian Hummel


Adventures with 'other' instruments...


Hi everybody,

I already posted about it in the "Dulcimer ancestors group" last summer . I now manged to record a little demo so I will repost here now:

Quote:

When I visited my parents (they live in East Frisia near the town of Norden) some weeks ago  I bought an eight-stringed  frisian hummel from fellow FOTMD member Wilfried Ulrich. He is an outstanding artisan and showed me also his other instruments (including several hummels, epinettes, monochords, dulcimers and bowed dulcimers (one even with sympathetic strings!). If you ever visit Northern Germany try to arrange a visit and shopping at his place, you will not be disappointed:
http://www.ulrich-instrumente.de/


I also purchased Wilfrieds book about the history of the hummel, his instruction book and several collections of hummel tabulature. According to him the tabs should also work on a dulcimer.

Since then I try to play the hummel. It's big fun but also quite challenging in it's own. 
The fretboard is much wider than on my dulcimer and covers four strings. So I could even use it for learning dulcimer chord playing.  That's the nice part. 
Wilfried recommends in his instruction book to learn a kind of fingerdancing style. The benefit is, of course, that you can play notes on the other strings. I will need some time for it though since I play my MD only with the noter. So finger dancing  is a challenge, but a welcome one!
The other challenge  is to get the right strumming pattern to play all strings (including the four drones without fret board) without sounding bad or eleminating the melody strings. On my dulcimer I use the thumb for strumming from the melody strings to the drones and the HEDIM pick for playing from the drones to the melody strings. On the hummel you start always with the melody strings  and play the drones just when they fit in (usually at the beginning of a bar). So this is a change as well. 



Up to now I didn't manage to get the fingerdancing right or do some chord playing.

Playing droner/note style works great though although there is still room for improvement. 

I recorded one instrumental verse of the German folk song "Wenn alle Brünnlein fließen" based on the tab I posted here so you might get an idea of the sound


Photos can be found on my profile page

I remember we have some more members who play this beautiful instrument (Luigi, Gregg Schneemann etc). What are your experiences with it?  How do you approach the playing style (aka strumming pattern/finger dancing/noter drone)?

Best regards, Jost.
jost
@jost
02/20/22 05:07:04PM
77 posts

12 String Guitar


Adventures with 'other' instruments...


Hello everybody,

some weeks ago I saw an interesting ad in Facebook: A gentleman offered to sale his fender 12 string guitar for 50% of the original price. Since this sounded to good to be true I googled the model.

It turned out to be a "signature model" of some punk musician (thus kind of silly "evil" "Hellcat" and "Skull" inlays). Although the inlays are debatable the reviewers agreed that the sound has much value for money. 

And it has a pickup included. 

So I wrote the owner a message I would be interesting to try it. 

From the first sound I was hooked. He explained to me that he had a kind of serios "Guitar acquisition syndrome" (I feel with him) and needs to downsize his collection. 
Good for me, I ended with a great sounding fender twelve strings guitar:

20220220_224236.jpg-resize.jpg

20220220_224243.jpg-resize.jpg

274545874_4998461523548853_379502485253576952_n.jpg

Better quality pictures on my profile page.

And a demo recording so you might get an idea of the sound:




What I like is that just with pick and a simple strumming pattern one can create quite great sounding music. 
Finger-Picking is a lot harder though expect your name is Leo Kottke
What are your experiences with twelve string guitars ?

Regards, Jost.
updated by @jost: 02/20/22 05:51:54PM
jost
@jost
02/19/22 03:58:49PM
77 posts

Steeleye Span with electric dulcimer on Germans TV 70s show


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Hello,

somebody posted this in one of Facebooks dulcimer/Steeleye Span groups. Great sound and video quality:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAHuI-2YYG8 

Enjoy, Jost

jost
@jost
01/17/22 04:40:03PM
77 posts

Playing Slurs


Playing and jamming difficulties...HELP ME!

Do you have a sheet for the tune? Which Mode / Tuning do you try?

jost
@jost
10/26/21 05:28:23PM
77 posts

Song(s) for retirement


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Well in the end it turned out my musical skills are not enough to learn a new song in such a short time. Since I already can play it on the guitar I took my guitar to my coworkers farewell event. Even without the dulcimer he was quite happy about it and we had a nice farewell party. 

Thanks for your input, I guess I will practice the song the next months so I can play it on new years evening :)

jost
@jost
10/19/21 06:41:53PM
77 posts

Auld lang syne


Dulcimer Resources:TABS/Books/websites/DVDs


Hello everybody,

here is a tab for playing Auld Lang Syne in DAA tuning in noter/drone style. Thumbstrum might work too. 

For the tune I used the version in Peter Burschs 1970s songbook "Das Folkbuch". Since the tune sounds like most versions I'm aware of it should be safe regarding copyright. 

For the lyrics I used the German wikipedia.

Happy droning, Jost.


Auld_Lang_Syne.pdf - 45KB
jost
@jost
10/18/21 03:19:33PM
77 posts

Song(s) for retirement


General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Thanks Ken, he does the same thing as I: Maintaining Linux servers :) 

Thanks for the referece to Morgenrot but I think I'll stick with Auld Lang Syne. Finding the  three tunes and unterstanding their differences are a bit of hassle tbh. There are versions with 2/4, 3/4 or 4/4 rythm. 
Then they tend to be in different keys and  different notes as well krazyhair
Last but not least it's nearly impossible to find a tab-file to use MuseScores3 "dulcimer tab conversion". Guess I will have to do the tab by myself from the version in Peter Burschs (German guitar teacher and author) songbook "Folkbuch". 

I can already play Burschs tab on the guitar, so I have a reference how it should sound. And I have a combined guitar/dulcimer tab for usage with my brothers and mother. 

Best regards, Jost

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