Forum Activity for @gennaro

Would like info on my new to me dulcimer.

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Thanks guys. To my untrained ear it sounds great. The pic doesn't do it justice. Walnut body with cherry fret board. 

Would like info on my new to me dulcimer.

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

I have to echo the others. That is one nice looking dulcimer! I really like the carving work in the strum hollow.

Would like info on my new to me dulcimer.

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Like KenH, I've never heard of him and agree that you have a very nice looking dulcimer. Working for Huss and Dalton he should have good experience in instrument building.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

1-2-4 Chord Surprise!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Glad to hear that playing one instrument is helping you play the other. When I first started playing guitar I did stretching exercises for my left hand to reach some of the chords. The span of my left hand from tip of thumb to to of pinky when spread to its widest is greater than on my right hand. After you play for some time, I am sure you will notice this difference as well. Have fun learning your instruments.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Would like info on my new to me dulcimer.

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Never heard of the man, but that's a fine looking dulcimer, certainly.  Hopefully it sounds as good as it looks!

A-d-a

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Dusty , I was just trying a tuning someone said they were using but I realize they didn't give me the right tuning and that is why my string kept breaking. Yes - right  Strumelia, a standard size dulcimer just can't tune way up high - that was the problem

thanks

1-2-4 Chord Surprise!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

So, I could just barely manage a 1-2-4 on my first dulcimer, the cardboard one. On my second dulcimer, the Cedar Creek walnut kit I built, the VSL is longer, and so a 1-2-4 was pretty much impossible.  I got an acoustic guitar a few weeks ago and have been learning that.  I was idly noodling on the walnut dulcimer while waiting for something, and was doing some chord shapes from a Bing Futch video I'd watched.  And I landed the 1-2-4!  Shocked, I tried again.  Yep, I can make it now!  I've found that the guitar requires more strength/agility in my left/fretting hand than I previously had, and I think the additional strength I've already gained gave me the ability to open my hand that wide and land the 1-2-4.  Exciting!  As a side note, I'm finding that learning the guitar has given me new revelations about the dulcimer, and coming to the guitar from the dulcimer has helped me pick up the guitar more readily than I think would have happened otherwise. It's all good!

Would like info on my new to me dulcimer.

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Just bought a used dulcimer. Made by John Calkin in 1985. Marked as #50, so hopefully he had it down by then. Can find very little about him, other than a few articles he's written. Also it seems that he currently works as a luthier for Huss and Dalton guitar company. Just wondering if John has any kind of reputation in this community.

TEDx talk and music by the great Jerry Rockwell

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

@hugssandi & @gordon-hardy Jerry Rockwell used to live in a county adjoining the one in which I live.  For some years, he hosted an annual little dulcimer fest. . . Jerry is a fine luthier-- I own a couple instruments he made-- and a great player and innovator.  I found his TEDx talk inspiring, too, Gordon!  

Your next performance?

OFF TOPIC discussions

You're fab-o in my book, @hugssandi!  <3

Practice tips

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Thanks all, for the great info. I actually learned to enjoy playing scales. I treat thrm like melodic walk ups, similar to what I do on bass guitar. I got Aaron O'Rourke's book Faster, Cleaner, Better for a Christmas gift. Looking forward to delving into it.
I also like the advice someone gave of breaking a song I want to learn into small sections, and focusing learning one section at a time, beginning with the hardest.

Brass instruments

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

That's cool. My dad, a piano virtuoso, recently got a Native American Flute. I tried my hand at it. That's a challenging little instrument.

TEDx talk and music by the great Jerry Rockwell

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Robin, I finally took the time to review this video, I don't know why it took me so long. Thank you, it's very inspirational!

Your next performance?

OFF TOPIC discussions

Thank y'all so very much!  I'm not fantastic, but I always love being asked to play.  

Your next performance?

OFF TOPIC discussions

I agree with the others; a job well done. Thanks for sharing this delightful performance.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Your next performance?

OFF TOPIC discussions

You sound great, Sandi! And that little wren sounds perfect.  Nice job!

Your next performance?

OFF TOPIC discussions

I just got to watch, Sandi!  You all did such a lovely job on such a pretty tune.  Your little Wren really has nice tone which blends and balances well in ensemble; Preston had you mic'd just right!  

Your next performance?

OFF TOPIC discussions

Your brief "deer moment" just made it all the more appealing, because we can all so easily relate to moments like that in our daily lives.     

updated by @strumelia: 01/05/20 07:40:39PM

North Carolina dulcimers getting media attention

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

It was a beautiful execution of the songs and as Ken says at slow pace. Very refreshing.

Your next performance?

OFF TOPIC discussions

@strumelia THANK YOU!  The song is Christ Child Lullaby, and I found dulcimer TAB online arranged by S. Stevens that matched their music (save for 6/4 versus 3/4 time).  I altered it quite a bit and made it easy peasy!  Great mic job on my Wren by my Preston, who was running sound.  SO FUN, though there is that deer in headlights moment by moi...  LOL!

Your next performance?

OFF TOPIC discussions

I watched your performance Sandi (and some parts of the service as well) at
https://livestream.com/accounts/6164779/events/8950700/videos/200482706

- Sandi's group starts playing at the 18 min 30 second mark BTW... if you want to get right to the dulcimer music  ;)

I have to say that was a BEAUTIFUL song, and just beautifully played by everyone in turn in your group.  Truly delightful and full of joy!  The melody of that song is especially lovely, the way it dips down sometimes.  What is that song/hymn called?  It's wonderful and you guys ALL did a fantastic job.  It's also great how your sweet little Feather dulcimer sings out bright and clear like a little bird.

TEDx talk and music by the great Jerry Rockwell

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

THANK YOU!

Your next performance?

OFF TOPIC discussions

I haven't seen your play-- soon to head out on my evening walk-- yet am proud of you, @hugssandi!  It is a special thing to play at Epiphany.  <3

updated by @robin-thompson: 01/05/20 04:33:41PM

John Molineux uses a striker on a mountain dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

WOW!!!  Would love to learn such cool stuff.  Life keeps happening~which is GOOD~but I am not really progressing.  Love this so much!

silver dagger

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Hazel and I love to play and sing this...  We should record for fun, maybe?  Not because we're good, just because it's a favorite!

mountain dulcimer in trio with contrabass and guitar

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Saving!  So good!

radio interview and music from AppalAsia

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

THANK YOU!  I will listen.  I love this, too!

Your next performance?

OFF TOPIC discussions

Got to play my little Wren by Featherdulcimer in church today, which is always such and honor and joy~even though I mess up a lot!  LOL.  Today it did NOT go down as planned and practiced, two verses, accordion thing, two verses, dulcimer, a verse, end.  Obviously I don't roll well with sudden changes~HA HA!  Still such fun!  It starts about 18:27 here:  https://livestream.com/accounts/6164779/events/8950700/videos/200482706  

BTW in another thread a good while ago I did figure out that I was going out of tune while playing by somehow pulling a melody string out of tune while noting.  Notering?  LOL.  ???

updated by @hugssandi: 01/05/20 10:46:44PM

North Carolina dulcimers getting media attention

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Perhaps what surprised me most about the video is that nearly everyone is playing from tab not on paper, but on their tablet computers.  Who says retirees are technophobes?

North Carolina dulcimers getting media attention

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I happened to be watching the news on WLOS when they aired this story. Melanie and Mack Johnston are good friends of mine and we play together whenever possible. Melanie is also a whiz with Tabledit and teaches classes on it at festivals.

North Carolina dulcimers getting media attention

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

“We sometimes say they’ve taken out all the wrong notes, because it does not have all the sharps, flats, all the keys that a piano has, but we have enough notes to play in a particular key and play a song without hitting too many wrong notes,” Johnston said.

I love it!

North Carolina dulcimers getting media attention

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Great find Dusty; thanx!

Practice tips

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Patrick --  many folks consider the traditional dulcimore (no 6+ or other added frets), as well as the noter & drone style that I play,  as "limited".  I've always considered that challenging -- how to get the most bang for your buck as it were.  I'm glad to see you on this dulcimer journey.

I wholeheartedly agree that a person's perception of reality and their limitations define their reality.  IMHO it applies to EVERY endeavor in our lives.  Only you can limit what you can achieve.

For more than 30 years (since the first time I heard them) I've wanted to learn cauld wind Border pipes, but they're so expensive... and at age 71,  I can't justify that kind of expense...   Oh well.  We can talk about pipes someplace other than here.

 

=Ken 

Practice tips

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Even though most of us have no genuine ambition to become serious musicians and just want to have fun, I thought given the original question here I'd post a link to Jack Tuttle's Top Ten Ways to Become a Better Musician .  Jack was a legendary multi-instrumentalist and music teacher long before his daughter Molly became the hottest flatpicking guitarist since Tony Rice.

Practice tips

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

My first pipes were Walsh Shuttle Pipes.  They are a variety of small pipe with a very compact drone arrangement.  I was a bit of a disappointment to my mom for about 25 years because she was a GHB teacher and I wasn't interested.  Then she got the first set of shuttle pipes in Fairbanks and I fell in love with the sound.  I started taking lessons after that and it is now an important part of who I am.  After I'd learned to play and saved the dough for a set of my own, I came to love the GHB perhaps even more.  

 

I have only competed with great highland pipes.  The shuttle pipes are for just plain fun.  

 

I own a set of bellows-blown border pipes, but have not ever really played them.  They were a gift.  I imagine that using a bellows wouldn't be any harder than learning to blow the pipes I'm used to.  But I haven't put in the time yet.  

 

One of the really fun things about a dulcimer is that it has so many notes!  Bagpipes have 9 notes.  One octave, plus one note below.  The dulcimer, you can play all 3 strings and get a lot of musical potential out of it.  (I also play banjo, so I am used to having more than 9 notes with my other instrument.)  One of the really great things about a limited instrument is that it is sort of a challenge to see how much music you can get from it.  

 

A friend told me once that your reality defines your potential and your limitations define your reality.  I don't know if that means anything here, but I do know that with as few as nine notes, there are thousands of tunes for the bagpipe and nobody has yet determined that we've run out of options.  If you ever start stagnating with the dulcimer, remember that more notes and more tuning options means your limits are nowhere near as confining as the pipes, so the potential is much greater.  

 

-Patrick

Practice tips

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Patrick -- GHB, Small Pipes, or  Cauld-Wind?

Practice tips

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

This is from the perspective of a bagpiper who is only starting on the dulcimer. I really don’t know how relevant it will be here, but I hope it helps.

When I am working up a tune, either for personal challenge or competition, I warm up by playing scales with the important ornaments, then I will play the most difficult passages a couple of times slowly. Then I play.

Warming up before playing a musical instrument is really no different than warming up prior to a sport. It gets your mind and body in the zone to play the best you can.

As I learn the dulcimer, I hope to find a few basic warmups to get me going right. For now, I’m still just strumming it and hesitantly picking out melodies.

Patrick

North Carolina dulcimers getting media attention

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Great Article. Thanks Dusty for posting.

Practice tips

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Another good consequence from recording yourself is not only to do it in order to LISTEN to how you are sounding, but in a video (made for your own use only) it's helpful to SEE how you are playing.  It's surprising how one can see certain bad playing habits we didn't know we had.  Stuff like maybe too much arm motion, poor posture, bad finger fretting position, facial grimacing, stiff shoulders... all things we might not be aware of until we SEE ourselves doing it in a video. 

 

North Carolina dulcimers getting media attention

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

That was a nice piece.  I've made so many new friends through the dulcimer.  You know, it's sometimes hard for seniors to make new friends.  But the dulcimer has opened that door and others to me.  I love this instrument and want to share it with as many others as I can, and encourage people to try it.  Thanks for posting that ,Dusty.  Nina