Forum Activity for @steven-berger

A beautiful and unusual looking dulcimer, Gennaro! Congratulations!

This is the guy I deal with for wooden pegs...

http://www.violinwoodworkshop.com/violin-pegs.html

I've gotten pegs from both these, and been very happy. 

Here's a source for inexpensive pegs of various sizes.
http://www.newarkmusical.com/index.php?cPath=322_25_332

A little more expensive, but good selection of woods:
https://fiddlershop.com/collections/violin-pegs/product-type_pegs

Phroedrick, you can look on eBay or Amazon for them, available in several wood species.  I've seen ebony, rosewood, maple and others.  Any local violin repair shop should have some.  They are remarkably inexpensive, at least to me, if bought online.

John Calkin has a facebook page noted as JohnCalkin.92.  The guitars that Huss & Dalton build cost about 4 grand, so I would venture to say that John is a top notch builder of acoustic instruments.  Drop him a note on facebook if you wish.....

Congratulations on your success. I went in the other direction: from the guitar to the dulcimer, and you're right that playing one instrument makes the next one easier to pick up. But the bigger lesson here is that as the muscles in our fingers stretch and strengthen, chord formations that once seemed impossible become do-able.  Newbies need to be reminded that instead of saying "I can't play that chord" they should be saying "I can't play that chord yet!"

And that extended slant chord down near the nut is the toughest chord to finger, so you are doing great!

I have to admit to a bit of a bias. I was initially taught to play by fingerpicking. It is all I do. But then, I lack some of the needed coordination to use a pick. That and toe tapping for time keeping.

~L~ None of it matters when the instrument is sweet and the desire is 'there', eh?

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

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

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."

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."

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

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

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!

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.

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@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!  

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

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!

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

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

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

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

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 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.     

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

@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!

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.

THANK YOU!

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

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

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!

Saving!  So good!

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

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.  ???

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?

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.

“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!

Great find Dusty; thanx!

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