My memory is not what it used to be either. Playing instruments, learning new songs, and striving to play better helps me focus. Which in my opion, sure beats forcing myself to do Sudoku and crossword puzzles!
I think we are all concern when we forget. One of the best things i read, true or not - not sure but if or when we forget things - it is not necessary a form of dementia. it's when we don't know we forgot something or don't know what, say a dulcimer even is would be a larger concern. Yes we forget as we get older or when we just have too many things going on but i'm hoping it is not an early sign of bigger problems.
Now me, sorry but I can not play without a tab, no matter how many times I have played the tune. I am a visual person, to say it should come naturally does not work for me. Maybe, if I had been involved with music all my life it would but I am happy to be able to strum a tune with a tab and - the dulcimer and I are happy.
Interesting comments--especially since I just re-read yesterday what I had written 2 months ago and realized I hadn't taken into account circumstances where you lose the ability to easily do what used to just come naturally. Mostly, I just wanted to make the point that people who do not understand "playing by ear" (which KenH described so well) ARE able to hum or whistle while they're working or otherwise engaged, without giving much thought to what the song is and how it goes....it just sort of "comes out". Not always with the right words or notes, sometimes, though, I might add!
1
Sam, you put together a well written response so your brain still seems to be working well. Sometimes I have a problem remembering how a tune goes. It's helpful to me to listen to videos on Youtube or Vimeo or even going to a jam to get the tune in my head. Sometimes I do that a couple of times. That helps me. As my Excel instructor would say, "practice makes better" and she's right. I like how she said practice doesn't make perfect. None of us can get to perfect. I find that when I look at the tab or music and keep practicing it (until I'm just about sick of it, lol) then I really get it in my head.
Sam, I can well imagine that's difficult, frustrating. With a family history of dementia, I've felt concern over some of my own lapses. If I'm on the road to dementia, I'm hoping I'll always love music, appreciate it some way.
Jan said - "But nearly everyone has tunes that they hum or whistle....tunes they never set out to memorize. I have never, yet, observed a person start to whistle and then stop and look up the music for whatever it was they were going to whistle..........."
I have a peculiar problem probably associated with the early stages (or maybe not so early) of dementia. Many times I can't remember the name of a VERY well known song or hymn (Amazing Grace for example). Then sometimes I cannot remember a single note of that song, no matter how many times I've heard it or even played the melody on a dulcimer. Sometimes I'll strum across the strings while going up and down the fretboard with my noter. Sometimes I hit it or it comes to me and sometimes it doesn't ... at all, for some period of time (minutes, days etc.). I also forget which way to move the noter to go up or down in pitch. It's maddening. I can never play a song all the way through anymore. Happens with whistling too and I've whistled since I was a little feller.
Belonged to a poetry site once that did a lot of parody contests. I did one on 'Windmills Of Your Mind' Titled 'Wind From Her Behind' ... I won ...
Hey, Wayne! I like Mike Clemmer's Ban-Jammer so much that I own 2: a standard-size one with a 1.5 fret and a Clemmer "Cutie" (discontinued) with a shorter scale and no 1.5 fret that I use to introduce other players to the Ban-jammer. I have heard others made by other luthiers and I prefer the sound of the Ban-jammer....it's as simple as that.
The 3rd annual Ban-Jammer gathering is in Townsend, TN this coming weekend (first weekend in October) and I really wish I could be there, but it doesn't look like it's going to work out for me to do that. I went the first two years and really enjoyed it, so I'm sure everyone who goes will have a good time!
My personal opinion is that there are many ways to play the Ban-jammer and have it sound good. Aaron O'Rourke and Stephen Seifert have expert flat-picking and claw-hammer skills and can bring out the very best in a Ban-jammer. But someone with average dulcimer playing skills can strum "Camptown Races" or fingerpick "Streets of Laredo" and that will sound good, too. And that banjo "twang" is superb!
I always wanted to play the banjo, but discovered that it wasn't physically possible due to arthritis and other issues. But I CAN lay the Ban-jammer on my lap and play it--so I get the ease of the dulcimer and the sound of a banjo--the best of both worlds!
Nice find. I would certainly look at it and admire it if any of your folks bought it.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
D Chitwood, have you determined what about your play is giving you the callus on the side of your thumb?
PS- i didn't even notice anything about a misspelling! Even if I had I wouldn't have cared. ;)
I visited Wood N Strings in Townsend Tenn this past summer, mainly because I wanted to see/hear Mike's Ban-Jammer. My wife and I have fallen in love with the sound generated. Now we are in the "Exploration Process" looking for a Ban-Jammer, Dulci-Jo OR whatever they might be called (by the various maker). So there's my question: LUTHIERS? and/or your experience with this awesome variation on the MD.
TKS
Wayne
Wow, it makes all our work worthwhile when we hear comments like yours objectsession. Especially the part about starting to play dulcimer. That was one of our major goals in making both the film and the podcast ... hoping that people who have never played would start playing. Thanks again!
Patricia
Good job Patty. I'm sure your neighbor will enjoy the bow.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Yep, I'd do the same were I there.
cool! I have a psaltery but have yet to learn to play it. you've inspired me!
Here is a video of my playing the violin uke with one hand while holding the camera in the other:
It went fairly well. As I was progressing on each string and yes, each string had to be tuned, I had to go back and re-tune the previous strings as they loosened up! I tuned them a bit sharp in case they decide to loosen up a bit. Since it hadn't been tuned in over 50 years it seems to sound pretty good for a violin uke 
Here is a picture:
This dulcimer was apparently made in Yorkshire (there's a Haworth address inside).
A ;little rough-hewn, maybe, but I'd certainly buy it at the asking price if I were in the UK
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331666519485
Contributors to this episode are dulcimer players Joellen Lapidus and Neal Hellman, Richard's relatives Jim and Owenie Crozier and Omar Lugones, and the man who made Richard's dulcimer, Terry Hennessy.
And be sure to check out the episode resource page, there are photos, links, etc.:
http://dulcimuse.com/podcast/resource/005.html
A few years ago I went to a Christmas show at Slim's (a club in San Francisco owned by Boz Scaggs) that featured El Vez, the Mexican Elvis impersonator.
For the first song, the band was playing a cover of the Stones's tune "Sympathy for the Devil," you know with the female backup singers doing the "woo woo," and El Vez coming out doing Mick Jagger gangly dance positions and stuff. He then approached the microphone and everyone expected "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and fame," but instead, El Vez switched into Elvis impersonator mode and sang "Blue Christmas" while the band (including the back-up singers) kept playing "Sympathy for the Devil."
You can't find kitsch like that everyday! The band is called the Memphis Mariachis and the back-up singers are called the Lovely Elvettes. The first time I saw them, at a winery in Napa, the Elvettes wore sombreros over their breasts.
Here is a less elaborate version of what I'm talking about: . Notice how El Vez goes back and forth between Elvis and Jagger. And then after flirting with the audience, he does Blue Suede Shoes en español, and the guitarist plays the melody of Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer for his solo.
Best wishes. I hope it goes well.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Today is the big day. I try out the bow on the violin uke. I'll be cleaning the strings on the instrument first then wipe them down. I hope the strings are in good shape. Maybe I can get a video.
Jabberwockey was, I think, the first real poem I memorized, 'way back when...
I'd do you the full lyrics, but I fear the spellchecker already needs extensive therapy :)
I have heard that if you develop calluses on your fingers, you're pressing down with more force than necessary. So, if that's true, then I guess that's what I'm doing, because I have a lot of calluses on my fretting hand and none on my fingerpicking hand.
Clear fingernail polish applied in several layers with drying time in between each layer, makes a great temporary callus if you suddenly lose one (after spending a lot of time in pools or doing dishes, I guess!). As some here have reported, when you change instruments, sometimes you start developing calluses in new places!
I, too, have found a fingertip callus good for pull-offs!
Haha, well, thank goodness for editing tools! :)
One way to hasten the development of calluses is to soak your fingertips in vinegar or olive brine or something like that. Old school baseball players used to urinate on their hands to toughen up the skin. If you do that, though, please don't play my dulcimers. 
Some people's personalities have similarly marinated in vinegar, which hastens the development of callousness. Certainly no one here at FOTMD, though.
I have to chuckle every time I see this thread.
Callous means "showing or having an insensitive and cruel disregard for others."
Callus means "a thickened and hardened part of the skin or soft tissue, especially in an area that has been subjected to friction."
Occasionally I have been described as callous, but have never developed callus from playing dulcimer
That sounds really interesting john-p
(Any string tuned up from its recommended tension will sound brighter )
Good to know, i do like a mellow sound.
Good luck with all the experiment you will be doing and getting back to building - can't wait to hear how it all goes..
"Jabberwockey" sung to he tune of Annan Waters.
You need to tweak the odd line by using the time honoured folk device of adding an '-o' to the end.
Twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe - o
Good things take time, and come in little boxes. But not too little.
I hope you will share some photos of your finished projects!
Of all the "Amazing Grace/House of the Rising Sun/I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing/Gilligan's Island/Goodnight Irene" mashups my favorite (so far) is Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" sung to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas."
Anything goes in 4-line iambic tetrameter. Personally, I like "Amazing Grace" to the tune of "Freebird" but I wouldn't inflict it on the general public.
Oh yes! Rosin. Got to have that. In fact I received instructions inside my pack of synthetic horse hair on how to prime the hair with rosin before doing it the regular way of sliding the bow strings across the rosin bar. Yep, it's necessary for sure. I can see where waxed dental floss could be a problem...maybe not for teeth but for sure as a bowing implement. 
Interesting style. Produces a much quieter sound.
Also, try 1 up, 1 down, like Cuffy does here:
