Forum Activity for @jan-potts

There are lots of folks that I've known from here as well as other events I've attended....it gets hard to keep it all straight after awhile.  But several great friends I definitly knew first as FOTMD people and then sought them out in the "real" world: Dana McCall (love ya, Dana!) who, it turns out, lives only 15 miles away!; Gail Webber who I first welcomed on this site and has since been my roommate at several workshops, retreats, and events; Rob Lackey, an interesting poster here and a really fun guy to jam with (met him at Dana's "Just Ain't Right" Jam a few years ago); and Mark Runge whose progress as a luthier I really admire and who, with his lovely wife Val, I have had fun exchanging visits with as we travel or attend events.  I had also read posts by Kristi Keller on here long before I met her and she became my "big sister" in Tucson, Arizona. 

There are many more who I know I am going to meet someday!  Marg, bless her heart, offered me a place to stay when my brother was dying in a hospital near her home.  Although it didn't work out for me to do that, I'll never forget the offered gift of a room to a sad visitor to Texas!  Dulcimer friends are really the best!

Fantastic Debbie, so glad you got to go to the festival and come home with lots of tips to practice.

Jan, I've never tried spoons, but thye seem to be a whole different dynamic than bones, in terms of playing technique.  Though in the end, it's all a clacking/clicking rhythm result.  

You silly!   See the big drum on the right get going at 2:00.  

Thanks for the cool responses guys!

Brian went out today for an hour, and because my bones practice is a bit irritating to hear, I did my practice while I was alone in the house.  Rattling away all carefree-like.... I then heard a voice calling up to my window...saying  YooooHoooooo!-I hear them Bones rattling!!!
I was rather mortified to realize that my nieghbor who brought us some maple syrup  had not been able to get a response to his door knocking and so he walked round the house and was listening to my bones practice through my second story window...       D'oh!!!  lol

He said it sounded fine but I was kind of embarrassed, since I am definitely not sounding good yet.   ;)

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones

Oh hear the word of the Lord

Its true you don't need garage band for mac, but the mac mic is very tinny.. thats i why i bought one.

Robert, good idea. 

I don't think you need Garage Band.  I would think that your built-in camera should do the trick.  The built-in camera on your Mac should let you record yourself in video with passable sound in a quiet setting.  Won't be the greatest, but I've tried it on my PC and the concept works fine.  I would expect Mac to do better than a PC in this regard.

Tell your husband that I said the only dumb questiuons are the ones that never get asked or answered.  So far your questions here have been pretty on point.  There does come a time, however, when 'question overload' can occur, especially when some folks want instant gratification without doing any work themselves.  IMHO people learn better if they work to solve a problem rather than being given answers which were more than obvious.

I make my own. Don't cost a penny. Robert...

 IMG_20150809_104841_040.jpg - 68KB

I went all out and bought a blue yeti, they are a little pricey but worth it in the long term. 

Ken, I'm going to follow you,get get the details. Thanks!

Sheryl, if you need a red herdim, let me know. I've been selling out my inventory and I think I still have some red ones left. They are a dollar each.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

 My husband thinks I ask too many questions. I have no doubt I drove my Mama half crazy. 

Charles, I got my Bing picks yesterday. So far, I like the Ultra Lite best. Hoping to pick up a red Herdim at a workshop I'm attending at the end of August.

D, you ask such good questions. I can't wait to see some answers to this one. 

What is the best way to record a song on a mac? I have heard the app garage band is good but don't I need a mic? And where should this mic be placed....how close? And...is there a particular inexpensive one you would suggest? 

I just want to record a song or two and share with my daughter who lives abroad. The recording app on my iphone barely picks up the sound at all. Thank you!

Lisa, the Dom Flemons lessons, were they on the net or in the flesh? I hope the first, so I can watch these too, allthough the later is my dream, but I wouldn't survive that: it would take my breath away ;-)

Why are so many bones players shot while performing? Take a look at

I think the bones make a good accompaniment for many fiddle tunes, like "Whiskey Before Breakfast", added to a verse or two to make it more interesting. I took a class on playing the bones and other rhythm instruments years ago, and found it a whole lot more complex than I thought it would be.  I don't have a set of bones to practice on, so I've never been able to get good at it.  (But then I have a set of spoons (wood, joined, from Canada) as well as castinets, and I've never become very good at either of those, too. !)  Takes a lot of practice!

Hi Lisa,

I play the bones too. First of all I want to warn you for 'over-practising', so watch specially the elbow!

I learned it 55 years ago (9 years old), and picked it up again recently... You know what? It isn't gone. Just like skating, your body will not forget. In my home town playing the clappers was a normal children's street activity, promoted by the town council due to a royal celebration: every child between 10 and 12 became a pair clappers (I was too young to get them, but my father was a schoolteacher) to preform on the queens birthday.

I make a study about the clapper/bones and created a nice collection, which I play if possible (can't manage the Indian karthal).
The matter is rather complex. Because the clapper (idiophone) is so easy to construct and very inexpensive it is used in many a social activity, like dancing, replacement for the church bell during lent term, warning signal for people having a contaminate illness, etc. The English and Dutch navy used the clapper on board the ships to accompany dancing the hornpipe keeping the sailors and marines in shape.

To the dulcimer music I find the rhythm bones a strange combination: to my ears they don't fit...

Much of my bones are bought from Scott Miller, who produces nice sets of ox bones. Adam Klein, the opera singer, makes nice ones too, with a very light sound. Ox bones have a marble like sound, much more tone, but they hard to get. Sanding ox bones is very dangerous to ones health.

What I find the most interresting is the individual aspect of playing the bones. Because I have probably larger hands than you, your bones will sound different when I play them.
I know most American players place the bones one between index-middle and the other one between middle-ring finger. Sometimes the hand is almost stretched out completely. In Europe and special The Netherlands the clappers are set between the thumb-index and index-middle finger. The fingers are held in an open fist to create a resonator body. When the second clapper is placed between the middle-ring, the sound is much lower, which is nice using both hands. Also changing the length of the 'bell-clapper' (hitting the 'bell') by changing the grip result in a different sound.

To me the most troublesome is the repertoir: which songs work and which don't? Of course all sailor songs can have rhythm bones in the arrangement.

Playing spoons? Castagnettes? Maybe a special group about bones?

Wout

(Now awaiting if I get an e-mail warning new replies ;-)

Aw, Lisa, now you've gone and made me want to dig out my bones and give it a try again. I have one set made of walnut and another set, I think, of cherry. Glad you are trying the bones again.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song.

Thanks everyone for the advice!

I'm practicing regularly now at home to get better at playing the rhythm bones.  Been trying to learn off and on for several years, but kept running into a wall.   Finally I had a great 2 hour lesson from Dom Flemons last month and am now making slow progress.  Boy, it's way harder than I thought it would be!  But hey, I'm working hard at it and each week I seem a tiny bit better.

If I can get better, it sure will be a good added skill to have at big campout gatherings and of course at 1800s music gatherings with Civil War era repertoire.

Anyone else here play the bones?

VSL - a hair shorter than 27. I will probablyhave it tune to DAA most of the time but will go to DAd and also or DAg - so far

Thanks ken for all your help. Yes, the knobs worked out fine.

Glad the knobs worked out.  Simple, cheap fix.  What's the VSL?  That will tell you what gauge strings you need for the range you want to tune (centered on D). 

Chromatics are not good for blues. You can't bend notes on them. They are stiff and un emotional. In my youth when I was totally emersed in the blues, I got thru many a jam with a D, G, C, E, A. Into a long night  of jaming it often did not matter what key I was in... Robert.

The knobs came today and they were an easy fix. I just put the same strings back on that came with it so, I will need to decide what will be the best ones for this dulcimer. 

I want to thank all of you for all your help in getting this red stain dulcimer (Hondo, made in Korea for Sears - maybe  late 70's/80's) up and running. I have it in DAA tuning and played a simple 'Amazing Grace' for you to hear the sound. I think it sounds like what I would think an old time dulcimers would sounded like. 

I've been pricing various models, I can't afford a chromatic, I'm leaning towards a Lee Oskar or a Seydel. I just need to figure out what key. I like playing along with older Dylan songs, my favorite is "Like A Rolling Stone" which is in "C" I think, and "Mr. Tamborine Man" in "F". I like to play along with Blues songs like Elmore James, Muddy, BB King ( I was in the front row a few years ago, BB gave me a pick and shook my hand!!). 

One problem with buying a harmonica is you can't try it out first.

Good points, Ken.  I have no problem re-tuning the dulcimer, especially not when I'm playing drones.  The tenor guitar, however, is a different beast and I fear I will make no decent progress until I pick one tuning and learn it well before branching out.  Chords, you know. For me, it's much harder to switch tunings when fretting 3 or 4 strings at the same time.  I never got any good with chord/melody on MD until I picked one tuning (DAd, yeah, boring) and stuck with it for a while.  Now I need to pick a tuning for the ceegar box and buckle down.

Debbie, have fun at the festival!!! Let us know how it goes

Lisa -- the tuning you pick depends on the tune itself and how you are playing it.  Learn to retune -- it's only the 3rd and 4th strings that change in your list.

It's only 1 string difference -- the melody string DOWN from DAd to DAA; or UP from DAA to DAd.

How about 4-equidistant strings?  Even more options that way.

I use DAdd, DAdc, DAdA, DAA#d (chromatic) and DGdd (which is really cool: a traditional G-Ionian with an extra low D at the bottom)

I just got a cigar-box tenor guitar.  4 strings tuned DGbe... or DGBd... or DGAd... or DAAd... or DF#Ad... or ... ?  I can't decide, except I know I want an open tuning.  Any suggestions? 

Is ARRGH! a tuning?  I'm pretty sure I've played that one a lot!

Yes, that's very nice  Robert

I have my other dulcimer with a (suitcase strap) hooked on with a tie, no button. It  had a lot of room to slip something around the end. So yes, I could do that but there isn't a lot of room on the red stain dulcimer, so checking into the different ways. 

Thanks, all good to know

I use violin end pins as strap buttons. I think ebony wood looks more appropriate on a wood instrument. very easy to install, just drill a hole and glue it in... Robert...

Strumelia has an excellent video on her blog about how to attach a strap to the head of the dulcimer, if you don’t have a button, or don’t want to add a button.  

http://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2010/02/video-tips-for-beginners-home-made.html

Was only thinking of one end. Soap, I had not thought of that. I didn't even think of drilling the hold, just putting the screw in. Will watch a vIdeo and tackle this project also.

Thanks again, everyone. When I am finish getting the red stain dulcimer together and post a video, know you all had a hand in helping me set it up.

Charles, looks like you know your picks. Here's the description for the rest of you FOTMD who may be interested, and don't already know:

WEGEN BG100 PICKBLUEGRASS, WHITE, 1.00mm - Set of four. A standard shaped flatpick with dual beveled-edge tip for right handed players. Has 9 holes in a diamond pattern for grip. Bluegrass players (and anyone else who craves a thick plectrum) - this pick is a must have! The ultimate in control!