Forum Activity for @davisjames

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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