Forum Activity for @nightingale

Hello everyone, I am new here and happy to be here.  I've played stringed instruments for decades (guitar, acoustic and banjo - clawhammer and two-finger thumb lead style) and after seeing some amazing videos on Youtube, thought - that is one of the most lovely instruments I've ever heard, I must learn how to play it.  My mother, back in '71 gave me a lovely mountain dulcimer out of the blue.  Me and my friends were, well, that's cool, why did she give it to you and what do you do with it?  So I recently pulled it out of the basement, reburbished it (I used to refinish wood many years ago) and its beautiful.  One piece walnut back and sides, 28.5 scale, and I am loving it.

I look forward to learning from all of you, so, thanks for putting up with a newbie!

@ken-longfield How neat you put together a video with you and your Zoom friends for PMOTPD-- it's wonderful! 

I don't deny it, Strumelia!  

Nate, I thought about making it into an entire new Group... but of course then it might have confused everyone.

Indeed, I've known Robin to kick a few shins along the way.  

If that's the case (meaning there's no money involved), I want to run for President of FANS OF NATE.   I've gotten to be an old lady and will keep everybody in line.  

Of course Robin, though we might need some treasure first. Sadly, I think this may be one of those times where the real treasure is the friends we made along the way....

Kendra it's just a common old saying "You can't teach an old dog new tricks". I wouldn't take it personally. 

Count me as a fan and, please, may I have consideration as treasurer of the fan club?  

Nate here's what you get for your budget.  

This is a forum discussion dedicated to discussing how cool FOTMD member @Nate is.

Let's hear it for NateMan!!   Nate builds the coolest creative dulcimers and instruments, often using unconventional materials and original designs. Here is his page: https://fotmd.com/nate

Here is just one video showing a fraction of his many talents:

Ken Hulme said: “ t'll be easier if some of you "old dogs" can learn a few new tricks. “

I do not appreciate being referred to as an “old dog”!  Your response is insulting and inappropriate. 

I’m trying to learn something here and you are not helping. 

Robin- show me the money.

Randy- sounds like a total lifestyle to me. 

I, along with several of my Tuesday evening Zoom colleagues, made a video for PMOTPD. Here is the link:

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Only time I've joined a group is when  it's  necessary to read a post. 

@strumelia I double dog dare you to change everything about this site into a massive fansite dedicated to how cool @nate is!  

Do you want me to work you up a price quote for that job Nate?  

Though we didn't get to record outdoors, we did make a little recording for worldwide Play Music On The Porch Day

https://soundcloud.com/robin-thompson-5/down-the-hill-and-back-for-worldwide-pmotpd?si=e47a6cd55e0c48a493915d5561db6b13&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

I'm not saying you should convert the entire platform into a massive fansite dedicated to how cool I am, but......well actually that is exactly what I'm saying.

I could actually change everything about this site... how it is structured, how it looks, and how it functions.

It is the way it is, folks.  Nothing much can be done given the software involved.  The massive amount of time and expense to replace the site with something else just isn't on anyone event horizon. 

The perceived shortcomings cannot magically disappear.  It'll be easier if some of you "old dogs" can learn a few new tricks.   Let's not beat the dead horse.....

i liked this site but trying to figure it out all th time drove me away … i even had a hard time posting this ….. formd should follow format of places like guntalk …. as large as it is it is simple to follow… no offense meant ….😬

To be honest, I find the separation of Groups and Discussions kind of confusing. Im never really sure where I should be posting. I've also gotten confused a few times when I click on a group discussion from google search, and it doesnt show the replies because I'm not in the group. For non-members this is probably very confusing. For what it's worth I'm not great at navigating this site but I think it is very well put together considering just how much information is packed into this place!

i think people have gotten more used to mobile-favoring 'endless scroll feed' social software like twitter, YT, tiktok, and facebook. I myself find it very frustrating to try and navigate websites on my phone when a website encompasses multiple different areas such as forums, videos, profile pages, photos, events, and home feeds. For most websites that are not feed-scroll based, I'm way more comfortable navigating from a laptop or tablet. The original ED site was really just a PHP forum (no multimedia sections), which was pretty easy to navigate as well.

I'm sorry I can't realistically make FOTMD more intuitive and simple for everyone to figure out. Maybe if I simplified fotmd by removing the Groups feature altogether (leaving just the Forums area instead), it would remove some of the periodic confusion that people seem to have about Groups and how to participate in them?

You ain't the only one Kendra I don't get it either a lot of the time.

Not looking for suggestions/explanations. 

Kendra, are you referring to within the Galax Group?  If so... you made a Comment on the group's comment wall, which is simply a feed, not a discussion with formal 'replies'. Also, you created a new discussion a few hours ago in the group, about the Galax festival, but it has not had any replies yet from others, so there are no replies to see yet in that discussion.

If you are referring to a different discussion you made in a different group, please say so here.

Also, it helps us if you say what kind of device you are looking at/working from... a phone, laptop, tablet, or desktop?  And if possible, give a LINK to the place or discussion you are having trouble in.

@kendra-ward, are you referring to the discussion within Groups?  Make sure you have joined the group first. Then you should be able to see everything.

I still can’t see the replies from earlier, but maybe I have finally figured out a little more about posting…so never mind…thanks…

Once again, I cannot see or find the replies to a comment/thread/ that I just made. It says there are 11 replies which I cannot access. I can’t even find my original post now within the group but it was there earlier. I see my comment on the home page, but it won’t take me anywhere. I just cannot seem to understand how to navigate this site. Sigh…

I never could read the replies from when I had this problem several years ago. I do belong to the particular group and have for years. I am logged in. 

One of my favorite Vonnegut stories. In recent years it has inspired me to do what gives me and others joy, and to hold my tendency toward perfectionism in check. It's the joy that really matters!

Hey Dusty! I noticed that I was able to improve quickly at the test, probably because it used the same tone each time. I also went from 28-31 after retrying. I think your math is right that 1-64th corresponds to 1.5 cents. Not that it matters for me. Being able to tell one tone is a cent and a half higher than another would be much more helpful if I also knew which one is the correct tone. XD

Thank you Ken! I have bookmarked the chord wizard, and expect I will be consulting it often.

I have a copy of Merv Rowley's definitive article on Chord-Melody playing in DAA tuning  -- An Approach to Learning Chord-Melody Style .  The chord-charts there do not include any plus frets because it was written for those of us who only have pure diatonic fret layouts -- not even the 6+ fret.  

Your best bet in to learn to use the Strothers Diatonic Chord Wizard:
Tom & Missy Strothers | Diatonic Chord]

Do you have a comprehensive DAA chord chart you could post? The chart I have shows only D Major, E Minor, F# Minor, G Major, A Major, B Minor, E Major, C Major, and C# Minor. I am especially interested in what additional chords may be formed using the 1 1/2 fret. Thank you!

There is also the possibility that the builder cut the fret slots too wide and those frets eventually worked their way out. As one hammers in frets the slots in toward the center of the fret board tend to compress a little bit which may be why the ends came out while the middle frets stayed in.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Nate, I just did the test and got 29/32.  All my mistakes were 1/64 of a note.  There were four such questions, and I got the last one correct, which makes me think you could get better if you practiced and trained your ear to hear such minute differences in pitch.

Edit: I did the test again and got 31/32.  Still, the one I missed was a 1/64, and I was kinda sorta guessing on the other 1/64 questions.

So I can clearly hear the 1/32 interval, but the 1/64 is still giving me trouble.

Any idea how the quarter tones relate to cents?  My understanding is that when we measure pitch in cents, each of the 12 half-notes of the chromatic scale measures 100 cents.  So is the 1/64 equivalent to 1.5625 cents (1/64 x 100)? I'm trying to figure out how accurate an electronic tuner has to be for it to be better than my ears.

"There's no right way or wrong way to play the dulcimer".  -- Tom & Missy Strothers

A test to determine how well you can discern subtle differences in pitch. I always assumed that I had poor pitch perception, but apparently I can detect a 1-16th of a note difference reliably! If anyone else would like to take this test, I'd love to know what you score!
https://www.themusiclab.org/quizzes/td
Nate