Forum Activity for @paul-certo

Violins with steel strings usually have fine tuners, those with nylon or gut strings seem to do just fine with the friction pegs. Nylon/gut seem more forgiving than steel, since steel has very little stretch. A slight turn and steel jumps from flat to sharp. But a big part of the tuning problem is experience-we get good at what we practice. In time, I believe any player can get the feel for friction tuners. I eventually got pretty good with the 5th string peg on my first banjo, but over time it would loosen and need the screw tightened. After a number of years I had had enough of not knowing when it would jump out of tune and had it replaced with a geared peg. Violin pegs are tapered to fit a tapered hole, 5th string pegs on a banjo are straight, and require tension on the knob to stay in place. They are a lot less stable than tapered pegs, in my experience. Try the peg compound and see if that helps.

I can't recall seeing fine tuners on a fiddle, just on school violins. Any fiddlers care to comment?

Paul

I fully agree with Maestro Pedi (Hi Don!). I would not convert a Mize dulcimer from wooden pegs to other tuners. Converting that dulcimer will seriously impact it's resale value. Buy another dulcimer instead.

It's a simple matter to adjust wooden peg holding ability as Don & Lisa have said. I own a vintage 3 string with violin pegs, and it tunes at least as accurately as my mechanical pegged dulcimer, and just about as quickly once I learned how to properly tune with them. As Don said - if wooden pegs are such bad tuners, why do violins continue to be made with them.

Thanks, Strumelia, I'll look around as much as I can without joining. Right now I want my focus on dulcimer and guitar and bass guitar. As my reply in the multiple instruments discussion shows it's too easy to "go off in all directions."

Strumelia said:

Lois, their seems to be a group for beginners over there, called Pstudents:

http://psalterystrings.ning.com/groups

Maybe that's the group for beginner psaltery players that Grace referred to.

Lois, their seems to be a group for beginners over there, called Pstudents:

http://psalterystrings.ning.com/groups

Maybe that's the group for beginner psaltery players that Grace referred to.

Hi Grace, I don't see any other conversation -- a lot of photos, but not an actual group on the bowed psaltery. Maybe everybody just went over to the group dedicated to psalteries?

I haven't played mine in an age and don't really want to while I immerse myself in learning the dulcimer. I do feel guilty, though, at leaving it unloved. There's another reason I'm ignoring it. Maybe you and any other psaltery folks can help me. I broke a string and need to replace it, but know it will mean tuning all those strings! I have an electronic tuner, but found it is affected by where I place it on the psaltery. It will be a long slow time with the skate key style tuner. May even need to replace a few more strings. Sure hope not.

Any words of wisdom? Nagging me to get it done? Whatever.

...and here is a link to the online community just for bowed psaltery players!:

That looks like so much fun! (I've only watched the first video and will watch the second one some other time-- line speed tonight's not all that great.) It was impressive that so many people knew what they were doing-- and if they didn't they made it look good.

It'd be neat to learn to dance. I was raised in a church where dancing was a no-no. I learned lots of great hymns, though. And I wish I could dance. Maybe someday!

heheh heh ... wanna cheap high??? Click 'play' on the first video ... wait 20 seconds and click 'play' on the second video ..... MUWAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHH . ! ! !

I once saw Mr. Doug Kershaw perform "Lousiana Man" on the Ed Sullivan show. His unique style with his 'fiddle', his mellow voice (capable of reaching wonderful AAYYYYYY - EEEEEEEEEEEE's when called upon) and the rhythmic time kept by his feet were memorable. I have looked for that video particulary to revisit the accompanying beat he kept with his feet. I cannot emphasize enough how much it enhanced that performance.

Instruments? Yes in this case, I think so.

Wonderful perspective Lisa.

Here is what I was doing all this past Saturday, at the Dance Flurry in Saratoga NY, 2011.

(I actually was amongst the dancers in both these two videos, but I'm not really visible.)

I had a heck of a good time, but as expected, I was sore for 3 days after arriving there at 10am and leaving after midnight, dancing most of that time. I must have danced for about 10-12 hours Saturday. I took classes in Norwegian, Swedish, and Italian village dances, but mostly did contra dancing in between, like the two contra dances shown here. The second clip shows a really cool two-person band with digiridoo, the first band is more typical.

talk about your major exercise ! My poor feet the next day...

Well I guess dancing falls within percussion instruments in this 'other instruments' forum.

I thought this was really funny.

(Warning: lyrics contain the 'sh' word, but nothing worse.)

Oh no...he would surely bend the rules in his favor! He's a crafty sort (and one to keep an eye on) for sure.

Robin Thompson said:

John,

I'm afraid you're on your own with this one! Perhaps you & John K should arm wrestle to settle this.
John Henry said:

WHO..... ME ? What have I done? (except use a noter !) I try to help people where possible......... sometimes complement them on their dress sense......... always apologise for my inept use of the computer, and yet get landed with the troublemaker label !!! I really must find out who the moderators on this site are.........!

JohnH

Thanks everyone for your warm welcome. I'll do my best to help maintain the friendliest place on the internet.

One thing about moderating is it's a job we want to be boring. Free exchange of ideas and musical friendships are what we want to flourish here!

It's been really fun to see the site develop. I stumbled onto FOTMD very soon after Strumelia put it up-- if I remember right, there were yet no discussions (or maybe one), no groups, no videos.

PS-FOTMD is a Great Group!

Well I add that FOTMD needs almost nothing in terms of 'censorship'. FOTMD members (and dulcimer players in general) seem to be unusually kind and thoughtful.

I like a good spicy debate once in a while, and I am not particularly prudish either.

The moderators' job is really mostly to be there in case a spammer gets through the usual defenses that have been put in place. I might be sleeping late  or off somewhere else for the day, and if a spammer gets in and starts posting their annoying posts here, any of the 3 mods who sees them has the ability to kick them off the site and delete all their content. This gives me great peace of mind!
We have had a very few spammers making trouble here in the past, and I've since further tightened up the joinup process to prevent them from joining in the first place. But it's inevitable that one may slip by at some point in time. The good news is that now there are seven of us who can notice them and kick them out. (And keep in mind that even if they do get on FOTMD and post junk, they would never have access to any members' account info or email address.)

At my age......................?, why, you look just a spit of a boy !!! LOL

My regards

JohnH

Good morning Bob (sorry, I forget you are 'in front' of us, as we are 'infront' of them, LOL)

So far as I see it the moderators are not there so much as to censor us , tho' of course they may should it prove necessary, but to look after us. I recollect a couple of occasions in the past when the site has had 'dubious' intrusions which have always been dealt with very quickly. As Kathie has already said, humour/joshing is different for everyone, and does not travel well in some instances. I am sure that many members do not appreciate the remarks I sometimes make about my good friend John S !!! (he loves it ,honest!)

my best wishes to you

JohnH

Are moderators necessarily moderate?

And if you practice moderation in all things, aren't you being excessive in your moderation? If you are excessive in your moderation, then you are not practicing moderation in all things, so you are not excessive in your moderation.

Oh, my head is spinning. Good thing my wife just popped the bottle of California bubbly that we never had a chance to share on Valentine's Day.

Congratulations to our moderators from 'the group across the pond' , and thanks for agreeing to do the job.

JohnH

ps. Jim, keep your eye on the other two, they do have a tendency to bicker now and then!!!

Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer is a pretty friendly community. We don't see much bickering in general. But like everywhere else on the internet, you never know what might happen.

It's good to have a few extra pairs of eyes watching over FOTMD in case disaster strikes, a spammer gets by the barriers, or some member suddenly decides to go berserk.  

In addition to the site creator (Strumelia), FOTMD has FIVE great moderators. They can eject spammers, watch for any flame battles, are around when I go off somewhere on short trips (or sleep late, as I am known to do on occasion), and generally help make sure things stay on course. I am very grateful for their level-headed presence and generosity!

Visit their pages and get to know who they are. Feel free to ask any of our moderators questions about how things are organized here on FOTMD- they are very friendly and helpful folk.

Meet your Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer Moderators!...

Jim Fawcett

(visit Jim's FOTMD Page, click here)

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DUSTY TURTLE

(visit Dusty's FOTMD Page, click here)

Dusty as a wee babe....

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Jan Potts

(visit Jan Pott's FOTMD page, click here)

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Sam

(visit Sam's FOTMD page, click here)

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Bob Reinsel

(visit Bob's FOTMD page, click here)

You did great, Karen--and you didn't seem all that nervous, either! Being "very nervous all week" is another good reason to move the student performance night to Tuesday....get it over with! Also, didn't you notice that after the concert (and during the break) everyone wanted to talk to everyone and ask lots of questions, etc. It's such a good ice breaker...even if all you're doing is saying, "Wow, I could never do what you just did!"

I just found out that the date of the concert I was going to play in has been moved to a date after I leave Arizona, so some of us are talking about doing another, smaller, one before I leave. It's at a nursing home and they promised me that half the audience will be asleep! I think I can do that.

For me, the best thing is to know my music so well that I can keep going--or jump back in at the appropriate spot--whenever I lose my place in my music. For me, TAB is like rubbing your stomach and patting your head, but I do try to learn it in order to practice with a performing ensemble. It would be so much easier to just play it by ear, but I have to admit that I'm making much more progress in my learning this way.

Karen Keane said:

Hey Jan, I didn't realize that was your Dulcimer debut! Dulcimerville 2012 was also my solo debut on playing the dulcimer for a live audience. (I don't count videos, since you can do several "takes" Hee Hee). At the time, I had been playing for a year and a half and was very nervous all week long, but I survived. I am looking forward to performing again in the near future. I have played flute for almost 40 years and never remembered having such stage fright.

Hey Jan, I didn't realize that was your Dulcimer debut! Dulcimerville 2012 was also my solo debut on playing the dulcimer for a live audience. (I don't count videos, since you can do several "takes" Hee Hee). At the time, I had been playing for a year and a half and was very nervous all week long, but I survived. I am looking forward to performing again in the near future. I have played flute for almost 40 years and never remembered having such stage fright.

I built up my courage by having music parties at my house, so not large crowds. I had one party last fall and another one this spring. But my first time in front of a bunch of strangers was at the open jam at a local pub two weeks ago, I had my back mostly to the audience, but I played 3 songs and played along with 3 others that the guitarist next to me did that were "dulcimer friendly". I haven't gotten the courage to go back, but I hope to again soon.

Well....this may set the record for the longest time between learning to play and performing.

I learned how to play a dulcimer back in 1991 and faithfully practiced once or twice a year.....didn't make much progress!

In 2012, 21 years later, I finally performed as part of a quartet, filling in for an absent member. Just one tune--Greensleeves--and I couldn't decide whether to faint or throw up, so I just played the thing and survived! That was at Dulcimerville 2012 on Student Peformance Night. Now I'm thinking about permforming again--with a larger group--in a couple weeks. This will be an hour-long program, with LOTS of music to learn.

I guess the more you perform, the easier it becomes. At least that's what I've been told!

Doug, I look forward to hearing "The Winding Banks of Nith"!

Last year, Mark and I played the open stage at Harmony Harvest dulcimer festival in Lancaster OH. How it came to be? Mark's sister, Jane, a singer/songwriter, had been asked to play a gig at Marietta College. (Thirty-plus years ago, when in college, the two of them performed together a lot.) Jane wanted to play at Marietta and wanted her big brother to play with her. Mark agreed to do so and, with that looming on his calendar, Mark said he wanted to play the open stage at Harmony Harvest. And since Harmony Harvest is, after all, a dulcimer festival, some kind of dulcimer needed to figure into it.

We practiced and played a couple tunes-- Huntin' the Buffalo and Star of the County Down -- with Mark on guitar and me on bowed dulcimer. The audience was enthusiastic and encouraging!

I'd been playing bowed dulcimer about a year and a half before getting on a stage to play. (I'd bowed a mountain dulcimer in the fashion of a bowed dulcimer for some months before getting my first bowed dulcimer.)

About 12 years ago, I convinced my good friend Lauren to play music together for a casual party as a gig. Lauren had never played as a performer for an audience before, but she nervously agreed to.

We played simple sing-along stuff like My Darling Clementine, You are my Sunshine, etc. We made some mistakes but everyone had a great time and the audience loved it and sang along.

After it was over, as Lauren and I were walking back to our car carrying our instruments, I asked her "So how do you feel?"

She said "I'm so nervous and rattled I feel like I'm about to throw up."

After a moment she added "So when do we do it again?"

I bake cookies, oatmeal-raisin, molasses-spice, chocolate chip, etc. A cup of spice cider and a flannel shirt don't hurt either.

Know the FOTMD warmth feeling.

I don't wear wool, but I do have some silk long underwear that helps on the coldest of days. Then comes regular T shirt and a sweat shirt And over that one of quilted flannel jackets that my hubby got for me this year.

Strumelia said:

I have thin base layers of very soft merino wool which really keep me warm and cozy all winter, without the itching associated with wool from years ago.

Reading FOTMD also makes me feel warm.