I would add my 2 cents' worth about the melodies!With ballads sung without accompaniment,they had to be memorable,durable because they were passed down without written music.For a lot of my older friends the melody was just a vehicle used to tell a story and it's not opera!..that kind of thing would be a distraction.. chord changes,modulations...
I have a folkroots I've turned into a baritone (A E a)...low A and E,wound,high a,some thick unwound string(017?)...it took a couple of months for it to settle in but it still has a few notes on the wound strings that are sharp on the first and second frets..I just work around that a little bit in my choice of melodies and fingering.. I'm pleased with the result but then I have 4 other dulcimers I can play while seeing if it works.It's pretty cool but I'll probably switch it back to Dadd after recording some music that lies well n AEa...I miss the jingle jangle.Others could explain this better than I but there is a correlation between body shape and string tension.
I busked in the Toronto subway stations for years(fiddle).Amplification was allowed but I was a purist-so much so that I needed physio every couple years to alleviate the damage from playing too hard in order to be heard above the din.One quickly finds out which are the quieter station spots(corridors away from the trains) that may also have a nice echo.Fiddle projects way more than the dulcimer,both sound wise and appearance wise.I would advise a pickup and a lightweight amp you can carry in a knapsack if amplification is allowed.In Vancouver I finally bit the bullet...using backing tracks I made myself played through a small amp which I could also plug the fiddle into.It became much easier and I tripled my money. There were so few paying jobs for me at least in Vancouver that I had to do something to survive..there went purity but I had a ball making the backing tracks....Schatten in Kitchener Ontario makes a really good contact dulcimer pickup. and there are many cheap good quality small amps that run on batteries.P.S...I dubbed all of the backing tracks onto a Mini Disc player which I then plugged into the amp.Perfect small technology.
Oh,I'd go for a couple extra frets since you're already covered with the more traditional tunings.I have a chromatic that sat in the closet for years while I experimented and learned on the trad instruments.Just in the last year I dusted it off and started figuring it out.Glad I held on to it....nevertheless I'm glad I didn't start with a chromatic,I get such enjoyment out of different tunings,capo positions and string bending.
An interesting side effect of changing the roles of right and left hands is renewed facility on the original configuration...when I started playing button accordion,my fiddling changed for the better.On accordion the bellows is the driver(left hand),on the fiddle it's the bow(right hand)..perhaps it has something to with the sides of the brain!.Likewise,learning dulcimer(on the lap,the high strings opposite to the guitar,the droniness) changed my guitar playing.
Hi Alex.I suspect that going from Galax tuning to D a dd might be inspirational just as doing the reverse was for me.They both have their capabilities and special tunings to explore.Re the thumb,I use it all the time on high melody notes.I liked Dusty Turtle's comment about shifting the angle of the dulcimer...I've learned that if a tune requires a high thumb I have to shift the dulcimer a bit to the left(I'm a righty except with a hockey stick,laugh) and angle it a bit to get the high notes comfortably.
Re strings breaking:in my experience they fly away from the musician's face when breaking while playing.Tuning up new strings I always shut my eyes tight in that last little bit to get them up to pitch.
On reflection-I still play,but would hesitate to record, the music of my youth(Ottawa Valley style).A lot of it has been recorded many times over,why do it again?
It's just something I noticed(the dearth of old time American music in audio/video).. I meant to create a new topic in forums.
I don't hear much old time American music on the website anymore.I love that stuff but I have to go back in the archives to hear it.In the meantime I'm delighted by the creativity and cosmopitanism of the videos and audio uploads people make but I'd sure like to hear more trad music from the places where the mountain dulcimore was created.
Wow,I couldn't hear the dulcimer so much-the synth part was great,tickled my ears.I'm the rowboat generation (yeah,pretty old) ...enjoyed that.
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I think I've reached my satisfied limit now.My first dulcimer was a folkroots I had my eye on for a summer of weekends playing at a renaissance fair..Alas it cost most of my wages but well worth it.As a guitar player it had a depth of sound I was used to.Then a Tom Yockie chromatic I bought through Craig's list in Vancouver.Then a crazy giant over sized Galax style I asked John Knopf to make(love it).Then a scheitholt from Jack Ferguson(marvellous!),next a teardrop from Ohio-it really barks!Unlike the mellow folkroots.The music I play is varied-I love the old time American stuff but it's not what I do. having more than one dulcimer is enabling for me with the variety of music I play,using different string gauges,tunings,etc.I can have dulcimers at the ready with different tunings,strings.
Just a thought.Dulcimer players are a minority in North America which has an advantage re mainstream media...we can be as creative as we want to be...no pressure to be successful or conform to a certain standard or style, because we're mostly ignored.Very creative situation...Nevertheless,as musicians we need communication,a response.If you like something or a certain approach in a tune or wonder about the technique-ask,like,comment.It's not Spotify...it's a bunch of individuals whatever the playing level doing something they love...Ask,like,comment.
That is brilliant!As far as I can tell,the cicadas are hovering around,"E"....I eagerly await mountain dulcimer collaborations with cicadas this year...
Apparently the U.S. is getting a a huge infestation of Cicadas this year,Canada less so.They drone like crazy.Once in a lifetime opportunity,play with the cicadas.Outdoors.
That is so funny-"lower your standards",indeed!.Fretless banjo would be perfect because there are so many tonalities other than the piano scale you can draw on.I once studied classical violin for 3 years trying to upgrade my fiddling skills.I learned a lot,especially problem solving,but it took me 3 years to get back to normal...obsessive about tuning was one of the issues.It's very subjective depending on the culture.I've known blues guitarists who tune sharp or flat to the band in order to create an edge I guess.Some of my favourite recordings from the 30's are where the fiddler is playing what we now would call a minor key,the pianist(Cape Breton) is playing major.That said,the major/minor third dichotomy in trad players differs from player to player,tune to tune.I suppose a tuner could sort that out but using the ears and fingers would be the quickest way..
Tuning is such a big topic.I live in an area of high humidity...wood expands,contracts seasonally.Sometimes I have to tune my melody strings sharp or flat,depending on the time of year(in order to be in tune further up the neck).I'm a fiddle/guitar player...after using a tuner,I re-tune to what sounds right to my ears.I.E.,if a song is in "G" on the guitar I'll play a C chord and a D chord.Certain fretted notes may be out of tune,so I go back to G and sharpen or flatten a few strings...just enough,so that when you play other chord shapes it's somewhat in tune and you don't notice the G chord being a bit out of tune....The fiddle is another ball game.After using a digital tuner for every string I have to retune because it doesn't ring out the way it should...What I've done for years now is to get a basic tone,usually "A" then use my ears and fingers to get to the maximum resonance,make the instrument sing.Playing with pipers reinforced that notion...they can spend a lot of time getting the pipes"humming"..depends on the reeds,the weather,etc.Not a digital tuner,laugh.
Nice looking instrument,4 equidistant strings.The fact that you found it in St.Jacob's got me excited,laugh-a Mennonite-Pennsylvania Dutch dulcimer...No.It's a modern dulcimer and I bet it will sound great by the look of it...all the best.
The replies to my initial enquiry have been great and informative...somehow it travelled from the dulcimer to the langeleik,etc...Then through that to "Hangman's Reel"...After listening to a lot of Scandinavian music in the 70's,I figured that Quebecois people inherited a lot of northern music[open tunings,uneven rhythms] through their Norman antecedents ...very far-fetched...then I surmised that metis and native people perhaps played open tunings and odd rhythms because of the influence of Hudson Bay company factors from Orkney[once a Norwegian colony]...very far-fetched....The one common factor about the scheitholt,hummel,langeleik[perhaps not the mountain dulcimer]....they seem to have been regarded as lower class peasant instruments.....there are no classical works for the scheitholt,to my knowledge plus you don't have to take lessons from age four to get good at it...I like that!
Thank you for all of the comments.All pieces of the puzzle.
I am amazed by the wealth of music available to listen to on the website going back 14 odd[whatever]years.Just a fabulous resource,the variety,the playing styles[all so individualistic which seems to be a trait of the mountain dulcimer]...I would feel quite bereft was this website not available anymore,it provides a sense of community and musical inspiration...
I have a nice chromatic but I seldom play it.It's too easy to make mistakes,laugh.
Good point!The mountain dulcimer is a folk instrument and as such,capable of growth and innovation.Nevertheless my curiousity about its traditional role is well-founded.As a traditional singer/ fiddler I'm interested in where things come from,the history,the stories.Were I a cajon player I would research that as well....I'm not a folk purist,but old is often better than new.Not always,laugh.
Thanks so much for all of your replies.I was looking for context(what was the dulcimer's role in the Appalachians?Non-existent in Canada,so I wonder).A work in progress it seems,like all things that grow.
Hi,I'm very curious about what the mountain dulcimer's role was in the area it came from a hundred odd years ago.Likewise its European antecedents...any folklorists,historians,traditional family dulcimer players out there?...who could enlighten me,perhaps give a direction to my playing?
Thanks for the advice-3 strings for melody playing,making harmonies with 2 fingers,etc.
I have a lovely Tom Yockie chromatic.My second dulcimer.However I'm glad that my first dulcimer was a standard mountain dulcimer with a 6+1/2 fret[Folkroots].I find the drones plus re-tuning strings to play in different modes is such a big part of dulcimer playing...I would have been confused by a chromatic and perhaps missed the dulcimer's biggest virtue-the drone and the[resonant] harmonies you can make.Easy for me to say,I grew up with guitar and fiddle so I don't have to turn anywhere for chromaticism.I wouldn't advise anyone to begin their dulcimer playing on a chromatic..wait,then mix the instruments and techniques.
Thank you all for the input and suggestions.I found Mr.McCafferty online and ordered one of his capos[tuner included!].I also stocked up on strings.It's hard to find suitable gauges and lengths for the dulcimer in Canada,in my experience.
Can anyone recommend a good dulcimer capo?I had one but the "legs' were too bigl and I broke it trying to tighten it enough to clamp down on the strings of my Folkroots..In this case less is more....As an aside,I used to somehow use an elastic band and a pencil as a capo[laugh] before I knew that dulcimer capos existed...much easier to have a good capo...
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