Friends, worldwide Play Music on the Porch Day is always the last Saturday in August. So, 29 August is the day! Mark & I have been practicing the song we will do on the holiday and hope our friends will make homemade music on the day, too:)
I love this tune too and when I saw your post about anyone trying this song, I put it on my “to do” list. Today I worked out the 1st 8 measures, which then repeat to play a verse. The chorus which has 18 measures is a lot harder and I need more time to work that out.
I have attached a rough recording of those 1st 8 measures. Let me know if you think they fit. I played very slow and did not add and extra picks so you could hopefully hear the chord for each note. Tuned to DAD, I used a score in the key of A and transposed it to key of D. This tune is played in 4-4 and also in 3-4 time.... my version is 4-4.
...including a very LARGE project, wouldn't you say, Dan?
Less sales, I think folks are holding on to their money for good reason. I'm still active in the Dulcimore Den, just working on my own projects!
Hi Strumelia and Dusty,
Thanks for your responses!
I trust it will prove to be a one time glitch. I didn't know there was a limit of 6/day until I tried to add a 7th. It appeared on the list but was shaded. I wasn't able (or didn't try long enough) to remove it, so it being there when I tried to load the rest was probably the thing that did it.
I'll just retry them, and stop at five just to be on the safe side!
thanks again,
Leo
I have recently rejoined this wonderful forum and I am curious about how Mountain Dulcimer sales may be going this year both new and used. Most sites I have browsed seem to have lower inventory than I recall from before. That could mean higher sales with reduced available inventory or it could mean slower sales have resulted in reduced stock and overhead. I have no idea but just curious what you may think. I am certain our members who are builders could shed some light on this if they choose to do so.
Hi Leo! Sorry to keep you waiting here for a response from me.
Dusty is correct when he said there is no 'approval' needed for images added by members.
There is however a limit of up to 6 images/photos per day to be added. The file size of your images should not be a problem since you describe them as being less than 1MB each.
There is a total limit of 200 images for each member. That's because I have to pay for the server here and if everyone added hundreds of photos I'd have to spend a lot more paying for a larger server to host all those photo albums. For that reason I avoid having FOTMD become an archive to host people's files, music, and photos.
For hundreds of photos, there are good sites that house photos online and then you could simply post a link here so FOTMD members could go see them on your site, as Dusty suggested. I'm sure your photos are wonderful and everyone here would enjoy them immensely! You should consider uploading all your historic dulcimer photos to a site you control, where you can make certain albums public or private, and organize them as you like. Photobucket or Google Photos comes to mind, but I'm no expert.
I see that you posted a first photo successfully, and it's still there. As Dusty suggests, you should post another photo or two to see if it works. I think you have to post one at a time. Maybe once you hit the limit over 6 it aborted the whole group you were trying to upload. Your photos were not removed or restricted, except maybe because you were trying to upload more than 6 in a day. I can at least assure you that nobody deleted them. :) Thanks, and happy to have you here with us!
Leo, I don't think approvals are needed for photos. I might be wrong, but I think photos normally appear immediately. There was no delay on that first one you posted, was there? My guess is there is some other tech snafu at play here.
Why not try re-posting one of the six that has disappeared? Let's see what happens.
Thanks. Yeah I can imagine there being too much of a good thing (all at once).
Maybe I'll do something like that and just post a few now and then on FotMD, highlights, w link, as you suggest.
But just for info: Is it normal to wait a day or so for approval and appearance of pix?? Or, is it more likely it didn't work, in which case I could just try it again. (I didn't notice how long the dulci-dog picture took.)
In any case, for now, I'll hold off and see what Strumelia says. Maybe she just hasn't had a chance to flick whatever magic switch is involved...
Hi Leo,
Other than the first one, I don't see any evidence of photos you posted either. We'll have to wait for Strumelia to see if she has any more behind-the-scenes knowledge.
I won't go into details about why the 6-photo daily limit was instituted, but you can imagine what might have happened to justify that policy. If you really want to upload dozens (or hundreds) of photos all at once, perhaps you could use Photobucket or some other cloud space and then link to them here. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind seeing a slow trickle of your photos over a period of time rather than a monsoon all at once.
Sorry I can't be of any more help.
Hi All,
Perhaps this is more of a tech question than a forum discussion, but this seems the only way to ask a question. If there's a way to contact moderators and such I'm not seeing it. (But I'm a cyber-moron.)
I have many, many (hundreds of) historic photos of dulcimer and players, mostly from the 80s, including many makers and players no longer with us. I've spent hours and hours digitizing them with hopes of being able to share with people who will be interested.
I tried to upload several yesterday (8/4/20) up to the limit of 6 per day. Now I don't see any sign of them, either on my own pages or generally.
If they're still waiting approval, I understand that, but the fact I don't see them, nor any record of having submitted them, leads me to want to verify.
Also, at six per day, I could be uploading for a couple months. So I wonder if perhaps you really don't want people to post "too many" photos. I can always post them on my own site, but thought most folks here would find them interesting and I'm happy to share them. I'm not trying to hog or dominate the galleries, I just have a lot of interesting mountain dulcimer pictures to potentially share.
These are high quality, edited images, showing not just historic makers and players, but covering the incredible range of variation in dulcimers, with many unusual instruments, details of soundholes, pegheads, inlays, and also pix of dulcimer precursors like sheitholts and the langleik. I have reduced all in size to 400 - 600 kb.
Please advise! Thank you,
Leo Kretzner
PS: I did start to add a seventh before getting the message there was a limit of 6. Did this perhaps invalidate the first six??
We've seen most of John Sayles' films, including Matewan.
There are plenty of films about mountain miners as well. Have you ever seen Matewan?
I'm glad you enjoyed the film. The music is pretty special.
We watched the film on Amazon Prime. Had a laugh because Brian couldn't find it for the longest time until I pointed out that he was searching for "mountain miner" instead of "mountain minor".
We definitely enjoyed it! The music was great. Enjoyed seeing Dan Gellert playing 'old' Charlie... Dan is considered one of the top five current living oldtime musician fiddlers. He's amazing. Elizabeth LaPrelle's ballad singing was magical. And the little kid playing young Charlie was wonderful.
I might not ever have noticed this movie- thanks Dusty! 
The limits of geographic distance (and its expenses involved in terms of food, gas, and lodging) don't apply with online festivals and their workshops, so it's a bargain! Many of these online festivals even include communal slots where folks can have fun meeting in a zoom room and getting to know one another during lunch periods and in between workshops and concerts!
People should definitely look into attending various dulcimer online festivals across the country now that distance doesn't limit them!
Thanks for this important reminder, Lois. Quarantune is so big it has overshadowed the many smaller, intimate, regional dulcimer festivals that have also gone online. I took a couple of workshops at the Dutchland DulciZoom festival last month and had a great time. I'm also teaching a couple workshops at the Redwood Dulcimer Day in a couple of weeks, and I'm sure I'll attend the Harvest Festival of Dulcimers and the North Georgia Foothills festival as well.
Obviously we all wish we could gather in person, but one nice aspect of being forced online is our ability to meet dulcimer players from all over the country. Since I have a job and a family, I could never attend dulcimer festivals further than a few hours drive way, but these online gatherings have enabled me to share music with people from all over.
Thanks to Ashley at DPN for making that festival directory available!
Dulcimer Player News https://www.dpnews.com/festival-directory lists festivals and with everything having to go online it's worth prowling to get some of those workshops you might have been unable to take because they were already taken at Quarantune or Quarantune 2.0.
Welcome back, @Wendell-G (artist formerly known as Geckostar).
Hi everyone. I am Wendell G. and was formerly a member here under the name Geckostar97. An extremely busy work schedule, working from home due to Covid-19 pandemic, a couple of small other things and well...all of my instruments went unplayed for too long. I am so happy to be back as a member of FOTMD. I look forward to many discussions and getting my calluses back on my finger tips for guitar and mountain dulcimer playing! Thank you for so many kind welcome messages.
The film was on our PBS station in KY this past weekend. I saw it on Amazon Prime earlier. The actors are professional musicians, not actors. But it's filmed well and the music makes up for any other shortcomings. You can watch clips on Youtube. Nina
I haven't yet gotten to see the film yet really want to! When the film came to uptown Athens OH earlier this year we had flooding type rains and didn't go. The film was pretty low budget-- we kicked in a bit on their fundraising project. Our internet isn't the best so we don't buy movies to stream. Maybe someday I'll get to watch it. They're coming out with a music project based on the film soon, I think.
Thanks for this heads up Dusty. We plan to watch the film tonight!
Hey folks. Anyone interested in traditional fiddle tunes will love the movie The Mountain Minor (2019) written and directed by Dale Farmer. It is available on Amazon Prime Video right now but will probably be around on PBS stations soon if it hasn't been already.
The film is the story of young Charlie, growing up on a farm in Kentucky and learning the fiddle from his grandfather. But the Depression forces his family to move to new opportunities in Ohio. He eventually retires to move back but also teaches his own grandson the old tunes. So the film depicts the passing on of musical traditions over four generations.
As a film it is good, but not great. The story is sometimes simplistic and predictable and the dialogue and acting a bit staid at times. However, the MUSIC IS GREAT! I'm sure the soundtrack will be out soon if it isn't already. According to my notes, here is a list of the tunes in the film:
Hickory Jack (which both begins and ends the film and is a kind of theme)
Young Emily
Fiddler a Dram
Crazy Kamlesh
Old Jimmy Sutton
Short Time Here, Long Time Gone
Darlin' Corey
Glory in the Meeting House
Sally in the Turnip Patch
Old Regular Melody
Shaking Down the Acorns
Cripple Creek
Ways of the World
Bushy Fork of John's Creek
Paddy on the Turnpike
The Day is Past and Gone
Across the Ohio
This is an old thread, but it's good to see that the revived Hughes Company has lasted at least 10 years -- @kfuller yours appears to be a 2019 model.
Our little stray who showed up just shy of a year ago has us so well trained. It's amazing how we cater to her. She jumps on our laps for a short time, but it hs to be her decision. And we are so honored. Love that little critter.
Bran the black rescue cat from Christmas 2016 has turned into snuggly little cuddle-bug, especially since the dog arrived in February. He will now come and sit on my lap for cuddles and a sleep - voluntarily! I think it has a lot to do with senior cat Pug keeping away, avoiding the dog, and leaving the lap free. He even comes looking for nighttime snoozing under the doona!
When the dog is outside Pug will come for his usual "leg spot", and Bran will hop up for the "lap spot"! Now all I have to do is get all three in the right places at the same time!
There is still a little friction, because Biddy wants to play with the cats, but the cat don't want to play with her! Bran smacked her the other night, but without claws - just a little warning 'don't you dare do that'!
Patience, patience, patience!
It's beautiful, nice job on it. How does it sound?
This reminds me of how singer Ariana Grande got a tattoo on her hand that was Japanese characters meaning "seven rings" (a title of her newest song at the time). Unfortunately the Japanese characters were not exactly correct, and the tattoo actually said: "small BBQ grill" in Japanese. lolol... probably a better tattoo anyway.
@Ariane Oh, that's such a funny comparison-- Moon River issued in Japan as Beef Stew! Thanks for the laugh this morning. In these days, it is needed more than ever.
I have found this - and think that the last sentence is very "fitting" 
In Anglophone countries , the song is best known under the alternative title " Sukiyaki ". In Japan it refers to a Japanese hot-pot dish with cooked beef, the word sukiyaki does not appear in the song's lyrics, nor does it have any connection to them; it was used only because it was short, catchy, recognizably Japanese, and more familiar to English speakers. A Newsweek columnist noted that the re-titling was like issuing " Moon River " in Japan under the title "Beef Stew". [4]
Most Americans pronounce it "soo-key-ah-key". The actual pronunciation my Japanese friends tell me is closer to "ski-yaki".
THe sherry would probably overwhelm flavors in a way the sake wouldn't. But hey, my mother-in-law once substituted an apple for an onion in a soup thinking that since they were both round it would work. 
Can't say she didn't use logic!
Yeah, John. I can just picture my mom looking in her cabinet and knowing there was no sake, saying "Well...sherry starts with an 'S' so we'll try that." 
Sherry! Oh, my. Saké, rice wine, is the commonly-used ingredient here. I'm sensitive to alcohol, so we substitute vinegar or lemon juice for it. "Sukiyukky"--I love it. 
Kids can be so inventive.
In the early 60's, my dad brought home a recipe for sukiyaki from a friend who'd been working a while in Japan: fresh veggies sautéed with strips of steak put in at the last few minutes, served over rice. Some liked it a lot, some hated it. Of course, we had all eaten the vegetables and steak before. I think the objection was more about the liquid that the veggies simmered in. It contained both soy sauce and sherry--and I think it was the sherry which wasn't appreciated. I'm not sure if sherry was even in the friend's recipe--it might have been a special Japanese alcoholic drink or some other fermented liquid--but it was interpreted by mom as "sherry"--which she didn't even like!
People who didn't really like having this tasty dish served for supper referred to it as "sukiyukky". It's still a favorite dish of mine! But I'd never heard of the song by the same name before now!
I have read that this song was released first in Japan in 1961 and became one of the world's best selling singles of all time, selling over 13 million copies worldwide. It was for example top in the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963.
It' so funny...as a child I tried to sing along...I wonder what I have sung in Japanese
Slan_Le_Maigh__1st_two_lines.m4a - 121KB
