Forum Activity for @strumelia

Cool, Dusty! 

I put new strings on the Guild 6-string last night, all in preparation for today's Pick - N - Jam, an annual party in which people pick wild berries (mostly blackberries this time of year) and then gather at an old farmhouse to make jam. While the jam is cooking, we take out our instruments and pick and jam some more.  I'll be bringing my dulcimer and my guitar.  This event was canceled last summer, but this year anyone vaccinated was invited to come.  So grab your dulcimer and your copy of Rise Up Singing and come on down!

I'm saddened beyond words.  I was looking at his cd's in the rack day before yesterday and was fussing at myself for not keeping in touch with him.  He was a wonderful musician and singer and a great encourager to me. I miss him already.

I've admired John's dulcimer playing and .singing for many years. Found him to be very encouraging and helpful. RIP John. 

I'm so very, very sad to hear of John's passing. What a wonderful musician and dulcimer player he was, and he helped so many people to find joy in making music.

There are 18 truly beautiful music clips that John posted here on FOTMD over the years. I do hope that folks will have a listen to them on John's fotmd page, here:

https://fotmd.com/john-shaw/

And if you care to, leave a message on John's fotmd profile page Comment Wall while you are on his page.
Farewell to a fine and kind person, and amazing musician.

I'm so surprised at this sad news!  I didn't really know John, but I corresponded with him when I built his electric dulcimer a few years ago.  He seemed to be a wonderful dulcimer friend and player.

That's sad news, Geoff.  John used to be pretty active here online, although not so much in recent years.

He once posted a version of the old country blues Leaving Home that showed me the range of material that could be played on the dulcimer.

Please share our condolences with Angela and make sure she knows that even those of us who never met John in person thought very highly of him as well.

I am shocked and saddened by John's death.  John was such a fine player and a gentleman!  He encouraged me on my mountain dulcimer journey and I am grateful to him for doing so.

Thank you, @geoff-black, for letting us know here at FOTMD and for including these wonderful photos.  I offer my deepest sympathy to John's wife, Angela, and to you & all who knew John.

I'm sad to report the sudden death of John Shaw, a fabulous MD player with many friends on both sides of the Atlantic.  He was a mentor to so many of us in the UK when we started playing, and his superb dulcimer arrangements of such a wide range of fascinating music will constitute a major legacy for the international dulcimer community.  John taught at many UK festivals and even a few years back toured venues on the US East Coast.  His smooth, melodic and unfussy style of playing, such a positive influence on so many new players, was another major legacy.  He was also an excellent singer and performer, and a longstanding member and one time Chair of the UK Nonsuch Dulcimer Society.  His wife Angela would like the FOTMD community in particular to know that he thought very highly of you all.  In turn, I'm sure you will miss him as we all do over here.  Geoff Black

 John Shaw Bio Pic (Rdcd).jpg - 208KB

I did see that photo of a Geoffrey Johnson at Hughes Dulcimer Co, circa 1974.  I'd need to do some more digging to see if it's the same person though.

This image purports to show a Geoffrey Johnson of Hughes Dulcimer Company in 1974.  Not sure if it's the same Geoffrey Johnson.  I'm sure @ken-hulme can tell us about Hughes.

Sorry -- never heard of Geoffrey R Johnson as a builder.  BUT.  I did some surfing... and it appears that Mr Johnson is (or was) from the Fort Worth, TX area.  There's a YouTube vid of him at a Fort Worth Main Street Arts Fair in 2009.   I also discovered several other of his dulcimers for sale...

Okay team, I thank you for your quick responses and I have to apologize.  After I posted my query I decided to look over my mysterious dulcimer a lot more closely.  I got a flashlight and a mirror to see if and what kind of internal bracing was inside and low and behold, I find a stick (handwritten) that says Geoffrey R Johnson, March 1994.  I got on the internet and found some info on this guy and his dulcimers including one for sell somewhere that is almost exactly the same as the one my wife bought.  So is Geoffrey R Johnson gone underground?

Same here, John.  It looks like it can't decide whether it's an hourglass or  what.   I've seen a lot of those elements -- the extended tail block (although never one that extended) , same with the fretboard extending a little beyond the body and the through-body string holders. The tuners appear to be brass, and have come from some other instrument.

That's not a terribly long "overall" length, which is something we mostly don't worry about.  What is the VSL?  That's the important number.

I don't think those tuning shafts are extra long, but the sidewalls of the tuning head are very thick, and the slot between the sides seems very narrow -- so the ends of the shafts extend into the opposite side walls.  

Definitely not a kit, IMHO, this appears to be someone's personal interpretation of what a dulcimer should be.

@dusty-turtle I'm glad to see Joellen getting notice, too!  In my view, her Pelican Ballet cd is one of the best recordings in my mountain dulcimer collection-- and I have lots of cd's in the collection.  And her mountain dulcimers are works of art.    

Rob, I've seen lots of different kinds of dulcimers and dulcimores, but I've never seen one like yours!

Thanks for sharing that, @robin-thompson.  I certainly believe the match between the personal expressiveness of Joni's songs on Blue and the minimalist approach of her dulcimer is what defines the album.

It's nice to see Joellen getting some publicity.  I wish she still sold her dulcimers for $200!

A couple of years ago my wife (who was working part-time at an antique store in Beatrice, Nebraska) found this dulcimer at the store and of course she had to buy it.  There are no manufacturer's marks so I'm guessing it's a home made/kit dulcimer.  It has no 6 1/2 fret and is really long 42 inches, tip to tip (it doesn't quit fit into a standard dulcimer bag.)  It's unusual at least to me in that it has such long extensions for the tuning machines and the string end has thru the body holes.

Anyone ever seen anything like this before?

 Dulcimer 1.jpg - 226KB

https://www.cbc.ca/music/50-years-ago-joni-mitchell-introduced-many-of-us-to-the-sounds-of-the-dulcimer-1.6066838

Here's another for your list, Dusty: Stringed Bagpipe

Read the list.

My favorites are

Hog Fiddle and Harmony Box

@don-grundy So glad you were able to make music outdoors!  

June 21 is also Worldwide Make Music Day.  3 of us played our dulcimers together on the Liberty, MO square.

Friends, the international day event called Play Music On The Porch Day is always the last Saturday in August-- not far away.  Do you have your tune chosen yet?  If not, you have plenty of time and can even decide on a tune at the last minute.  :)

I just watched the video (with this article) featuring a young musician out of N. Ireland and enjoyed seeing her very much.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-northern-ireland-57510337

Thanks for that link, Strumelia. I read that article this morning. I have to admit I never thought to connect Joni's Blue with Miles's Kind of Blue , though I've loved both albums for years.

There's also a piece in the NY Times today: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/06/20/arts/music/joni-mitchell-blue.html?searchResultPosition=1 .

Both articles are worth exploring on a screen bigger than a phone since there's lots of pictures and interactive content.

Unfortunately, after a comment by Roseanne Cash about the "weird sound" of James Taylor's guitar, the editors inserted an audio excerpt of Joni's dulcimer.  D'oh!

There's also an NPR "listening party" on YouTube on June 22 .  Not sure what that will be like. Thousands of people listening to the album and chatting about it?

Here's a wonderful NPR article about Joni's Blue and her music- it includes some interesting references to dulcimer and guitars in Joni's music. https://www.npr.org/2021/06/20/1008271419/joni-mitchell-masterpiece-at-50-her-kind-of-blue

Yes, @dusty-turtle, that's the collection.  After all these years, I'll get to listen to Blue straight through. 

Dusty's call of Bonaparte's Retreat sounds right to me.  If memory serves, I think I heard Don Pedi say some years back that he thought that "snake charmer" part was a later addition to the tune.  

Great video, Dan-- so glad you shared it!   

Thank you sir. One of those tunes I know, but I couldn't place it!

@robin-thompson, is that the collection that has Joni's first four Reprise albums?  It looks interesting, but since I already have all of those CDs, I'm not sure what I'd gain from "newly remastered" versions.

Every time I listen to Blue carefully, I notice something new.  For example, I had long thought that "A Case of You" was just a love song, but now I rethink the lines "I could drink a case of you and still be on my feet" to mean that she can't be swept off her feet by anyone. I hear it now more as a statement of her own independence. And that website I link to below explains that "Little Green" is about her giving up a baby for adoption.  Now I understand the words and just find it heartbreaking.

I've wanted Blue yet don't have it.  Yet.  I've pre-ordered a new collection coming out from JM in a few weeks and it includes Blue.  

I've had Blue since it first came out. Love it! And love the other album's of Joni's that I have, too.

Bonaparte's Retreat, methinks.

Edit: Today people usually play Bonaparte's Retreat with three parts.  The version in the documentary only has two of them.  The missing part is what defines the tune to us as mixolydian since it relies on the lowered 7th. If you skip that part, you can probably play it in either ionian or mixolydian.

I know this video has been around a time or two, found it again the other night and can't quite make out the tune for the second segment on Edd Presnell, (time 9:24)

Thank you in advance.

Music From The Hills

Joni Mitchell's Blue album, which introduced the dulcimer to millions of pop music fans, is 50 years old.  Check out CBC Radio's celebration of the album , which includes commentary and artwork inspired by the music.  The importance of the dulcimer is highlighted clearly:

The album’s distinctive sound comes from the dulcimer, which is the main instrument on four of Blue‘s songs. “I took off to Europe carrying a flute and this dulcimer because it was very light for backpacking around Europe,” [Joni] said. “I wrote most of Blue  on it.”

I don't have to tell you what a phenomenal combination of vulnerability and strength Joni's songs embody. And no one has ever matched the melodic playfulness of her soprano vocals.

Keep in mind that once you get residue of rosin on your strings, they can be a bit sticky, especially if you play with a flatpick. Clean rosin residue off your strings with a soft cloth that's damp with a little rubbing alcohol. Avoid getting alcohol on your instrument's wood or on the fretboard.

Demo of Hammered dulcimer with Jimbow

A dose of rosin should certainly last more than 8 measures, even on a Mountain Dulcimer!  Could be you're not dosing with enough rosin; or pressing down too hard are wearing it off too quick. 

Hammered Dulcimers are going to be nearly impossible to bow. 

Bows used on Bowed Psalteries certainly last for more than one song!