@irene You are a marvel! What a beautiful family!
In the poetry of James Still, he included mountain dulcimers sometimes. As I recall, Mr. Still lived for some years in the Amburgey cabin and worked at Hindman Settlement School in Kentucky. I highly recommend his writings!
A day before Christmas I got a DVD of our family playing and singing Christmas songs thirty years ago in Hawaii. I got somethings wrong in my speaking, but you'll see 8 of our 14 children. The older ones were gone....one in the Marines, some in school and some married. Happy new year to you all.
Irene, that's delightful!
Personally I'd regret not getting the Keith Young instrument. I was considering having him build me on of his Virginia traditional dulcimer, when he up and passed away...
Glenda,
Somehow, over the last 18 or so years, I'd forgotten the tragic end of the movie, and only vaguely remembered the relationships, for some reason remembering mostly the music and the idea of searching out the mountain music. But after getting your response, I went back and read the plot synopsis in Wikipedia, and now recall what you mean about the personal relationships, both that of the two women running the school and that of the musicologist and the Aidan Quinn character. I quite understand how that left a bad taste.
Jim. Yes I got the name incorrect it was the "Songcatcher".The movie had many great folk singers and a lot of the wonderful song we love and play sing . Pretty Saro being one of my favorites I guess saying it was not that good wasn't a good way of expressing the way I felt about the movie I did love all the things you talk about . It is worth watching for all the reasons you say . Don probably didn't play more the 10 seconds in the movie. My disappointment came near the end and how the personal relationships ended totally not necessary and ruined the whole move for me. But yes worth the watch just for the music.
Thank heavens we sang a lot in my family. We didn't listen to the radio, nor did we kids have radios of our own, but we sometimes listened to the hi-fi show tune albums. For most of my childhood I didn't realize there was a story that went with those songs! We sang a lot in Girl Scouts, too, and even had a chorus in our elementary school for a semester or two that met for a half hour before school started. I made my own music, too, as the family piano was in my bedroom from age 5 until I graduated from high school.
Don Pedi played Dulcimer the movie the Tune Catchers set in Appalachian Mountains Not that good but remember it because of Don.playing dulcimer at a barn dance.
Are you perhaps thinking of the 2000 movie "Songcatcher" about a musicologist who, in the 1900s, visits her sister who runs a struggling school in western NC? She gets intrigued by the mountain music and searches out and catalogs some of the mountain musicians. The quality of a movie is of course subjective, but I enjoyed it. It has some good music in it as the musicologist goes about her search. The great singer Iris Dement appears in the movie as a mountain musician, and sings Pretty Saro. Emmy Lou Harris, Dolly Parton, Gillian Welch and Roseanne Cash also provide music. And as noted, you get to see Don Pedi play. The plot moves along well enough. It's got some pretty good drama, IMHO. If it's available to you , I think it's worth taking a look at, if just for the music. It's available On Demand from my cable company, Comcast. Maybe yours offers it as well.
I'm looking at a couple used dulcimers right now. One is a teardrop Keith Young with modern fretting that I could finance. The other is a no name, homemade one, with some inlaid strips down the back and fretboard, pictured in my first post. Its a five string, notched for double bass, double melody, though I'd probably stick to 3 or double the melody. It looks like it was made with love, and I'm thinking, not from a kit, given the narrow waist. I'm trying not to get over excited and pull the trigger, buying something I'll regret. I can see Not regretting the KY, I'm sure it's very well made with great intonation, given his reputation. The wasp waist really appeals to me also, it has character, and I wouldn't feel so bad getting a scratch on it, as its got some battle scars. Soooo, I don't know, lots to think about. Both are for sale far away, no chance of playing them. Lisa
I like that shape of that dulcimer, Lisa.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
I can't remember ever seeing a film strip in music class in grade school, but the one about the Grim Reaper is one I would have liked to see. We, too, had the same music teacher, Mrs. Harrington, from K through 8th grade. She directed the 7th and 8th grade chorus and orchestra.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Oh, she was a dedicated music teacher and I suppose something I just took for granted. Class change daily for music and art until junior high when we could opt for band, art, or drama. I guess I just took it for granted that all public schools were like that. Coming out of it after seven years I didn't seem to retain much past ta-tee-tee-ta-ta-ta and Every Good Boy Does Fine. She tended to teach more towards choir with piano accompanying. A lot of singing and occasionally busting out the hammers for us to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
If you have very sensitive acoustic recording gear like an oscilliscope, I believe that you can see the difference between an hourglass (especially a wasp-waisted design) and an hourglass -- the soundwaves would show two peaks -- one for each bout. If I remember, Richard Troughear, the scientific luthier down in Australia demonstrated this. However I do not believe the human ear is capable of such discrimination.
Although the wasp waist certainly adds to the looks of the dulcimer, I believe it does add to the tone. It mellows the tone a bit, making it somewhat less jangly. People compare the hourglass with the teardrop and say, see no difference. They forget that a teardrop has an effectively shorter body than a teardrop.
I think John Knoff is correct on it being mostly for aesthetics. I like the term John used: "wasp-waisted".
My own dulcimer designs generally have that thin waist. I just like the lines, and also have been told (and agree) that it also makes for easy carrying.
It's mostly aesthetics, Lisa. Some like the look of a wasp-waisted dulcimer more than other body styles. Uncle Ed Thomas of Bath, Kentucky and C. N. Prichard of Huntington, West Virginia popularized the shape over a hundred years ago.
Hi,
I was wondering if someone could explain about an hourglass shape with a narrow, or pinched waist. Is this simply a regional or comfort design, or does it affect tone? I mean more than the average amount of pinch than I see on most instruments. I imagine it would be a bit more fragile, but it’s very a very lovely look.
I tried the search, but maybe I’m not using the right terms
Thanks, Lisa
Jan, that's a great idea. Since my procedure I have been unable to lift the scroll saw. I'm still working on strength but not able to lift the scroll saw and the table it's attached to. Thought about selling it but my husband packed it away. Maybe some day.
Mrs. Vaughan taught me from Kindergarten and moved with me through intermediate school so I had seven years of teaching from her.
Was she your only teacher for 7 years, or was she a music teacher? I was guessing you meant the former. I never had a general music class throughout all of my education--what a treat that would have been, I think! Our teachers (up through 6th grade) all had a piano and music books available to pull into the classroom if they wished to do so--some were very opposed to the idea, unfortunately.
We should probably play more of the songs we learned as children. I'm glad this discussion is still giving folks lots of ideas along these lines!
Hmm...Patty, maybe you could figure out how to make a limberjack fashioned after Mike Slone, sort of. It would be a creative way to honor his memory...
Hearing this made me cry. I would often chat with Mike on this website. I loved his knowledge of building dulcimers and his sense of humor. A few years ago he sent me a climbing bear toy. I treasure it. I've had fun with it. I guess I'm still a big kid at heart. I tend to be a crafty person and Mike encouraged me to buy a scroll saw as I wanted to make limberjacks. I wanted to make him one but I only managed to make a bow for my neighbor's ukelin instrument. Well, life took a few twists and due to some health issues I never got to make that limberjack. Mike will be missed. I will be lifting his family up in prayer. Here is a picture of Mike's climbing bear:
I just wish I could remember what it was. Okay, off topic confession is that the film itself, all stills just changed it was those old projectors after all. Still paintings but it captrued me and reminded me of the climax of the Ray Harryhausen Jason & the Argonauts film, which was and is a favorite of mine.
I love that description of the Grim Reaper 'film' Bob.
Mrs. Vaughan taught me from Kindergarten and moved with me through intermediate school so I had seven years of teaching from her. I'd say it was mostly repetitive, she loved music and was a good teacher but never really lit a fire under me.
Hmmm
"Kookaburra" was one of her favorites as well as "Sakura Sakura". There was a still projector film she would show at Halloween of the Grim Reaper playing violin and raising a band of skeletons in the graveyard to play with him until dawn. Really loved that but I have no idea what it was.
There were a lot of traditional songs. "On Top of Old Smokey" and the like.
Lisa, the danger buying most of the cheap dulcimers out there is that they are not really instruments but "dulcimer-shaped objects" intended to be hung on a wall somewhere rather than played. A lot of them have really high action, making them hard to play, and many don't even have correct intonation, so you will sound off even if you are playing correctly.
Bill Berg and David Lynch are two reputable luthiers who make "student" dulcimers for less than $150. They are real instruments and will encourage you to play. However, they are not really small travel dulcimers. The small dulcimers don't really cost less than the big ones since they involve basically the same amount of work. One option for you might be a cardboard dulcimer. Folkcraft sells some that you can either put together yourself or buy pre-assembled. I played one at a festival a couple of years ago and was amazed how well it sounded, although obviously it did not have extraordinary volume.
But I should also say that I own several really nice small dulcimers, including octave dulcimers by Ron Ewing and David Beede. They are small enough to fit in a decent-sized backpack or under the seat in front of you on a plane and yet they both have a really charming tone. They don't have a lot of sustain, but they stand out in a group of dulcimers because of the higher pitch. They are not really cheap, but they are delightful instruments that maintain their value pretty well.
I recommended that Lisa might want to look at Feather dulcimers, which come in various smaller scale lengths and are sturdy enough to take camping etc. Again, all this is good info that can be found in our Fotmd's Little Dulcimers Group.
Folkcraft also makes a travel dulcimer, but they are expensive; $495.00. First Act dulcimers, as KenH mentioned, as of spotty quality. If you can find one, a little work and they can be made playable, although i don't think they are very sturdy.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
I have retuned to DAa. Trying that out.
Lisa --
Like many things dulcimer, it depends... on what you consider "short" and "inexpensive". Personally I would not touch a First Act dulcimer. We'd had far too many reports here and elsewhere about poor fret spacing and shoddy workmanship making them mostly unplayable. Same thing with the Seagull Merlin stick instruments.
We seldom even think of dulcimer in terms of their overall length. But a 30" overall dulcimer will probably have a VSL of under 24". There are several that fit that size criteria including Dave Lynch's Travel Dulcimer at Sweetwoodsinstruments.com , David Beede's Eedy Beede model, and McSpadden's Ginger. But they are not "inexpensive", with prices from $225 to over $500.
Inexpensive but not short are the cardboard dulcimers, from a couple different makers, with about 27" VSLs and corregated bodies. Overall length perhaps 34". Priced from $75 to $90. They have superior fret spacing so you get good, clean notes, but are basically the same size as conventional dulcimers.
If you have relatively simple woodworking skills you can build a simple box dulcimer with any VSL you want for about $50 in materials -- two sides, two ends, top & bottom, staple frets and autoharp tuning pins. Although technically a zither, not a dulcimer, I am just about to start building one similar to the attached photo. It's going to be 24" overall, 4" wide, and about 1" deep, with a 20-22" VSL. I'm building it specifically to fit in a suitcase for upcoming trips to England and Scotland, where I've been asked to play and there are no available loner dulcimers.
Lisa, you wrote me privately for advice on this, so I gave you my personal opinions on it already. However, I'd encourage anyone interested in shorter dulcimers to join our Little Dulcimers Group and read some of the threads on it... lots of good info and recommendations, also @dusty-turtle posted a great list there comparing sizes and makes of short scale dulcimers!
-remember folks you need to JOIN a group in order to read all the replies to threads in the group, and see the comments.
Okay, I'm going to toss this out there.
I'm in an area where there's no dulcimers for sale. I'm looking at good used ones for at home, but is there an inexpensive one out there to take camping, or on a bike ride? I'm thinking around 30".
I know you get what you pay for, etc. I'm interested to hear about success stories for short, inexpensive models, something I won't get heartbroken over if it gets damaged, but is still playable. I'm interested in accurate fretting, as opposed to wonderful tone. I'll expect great tone from an expensive instrument.
An older Naylor Dulcimer factory? I've heard they had issues after the late 90's, but what of earlier models? I've even read a few good reviews for the First Act ones as a cheap travel dulcimer, as they were made from real wood, not plywood. Hondo?
Thanks, Lisa
We can continue discussing these current thread questions here in this thread (post on!), but I'd like to suggest that if anyone has additional NEW questions, that they create a new discussion in our Beginner Group with their new question in the title... if it's not directly related to the questions we're already discussing in this thread. I try to encourage folks to create a new thread if they have a question with entirely new subject matter. That way other folks can find the helpful info in the future if they do a site search for those terms. Thanks and carry on! 
If you're serious about wanting to learn to play Noter & Drone style, the Berea Traditional Dulcimer Gathering is just what the dulcimer doctor ordered! The Gathering focusses only on traditional dulcimers and dulcimer playing -- noter & drone or fingerdancing. As we say -- "no chord playing allowed" -- and 99% of the people who tune DAd play chord-melody style which is not traditional. Most traditional dulcimers were set up to play in DAA, Ddd or ddd -- or their other key equivalents. So, we are gently "discouraging" people who habitually tune DAd because the focus is going to be completely on Traditional dulcimers and dulcimer playing.
@ken-hulme , if you want to "gently discourage" someone, I suggest you try maybe using a slightly smaller sledgehammer. 
@pondoro asks: "Saw the info for the gathering in Berea, it seems DAd is not allowed? Should I learn DAa instead? How often do you all retune? Between songs in a set?" Pondoro, I think it's not so much that DAd is 'not allowed' at Berea. It's more that by being in DAA for noter style you'll be starting out in synch with almost all the other players there, you'll be able to follow the same TABS if tabs are used at all, and most importantly that DAA (1-5-5) tuning in noter style will give you more of the typical needed notes on your melody string to play the majority of simple traditional tunes likely to be played at that gathering. It'll make things way easier for you to pick up playing the tunes along with the other folks there. And since you will not be chording at Berea anyway, in switching from DAd to DAA you won't need to learn a new bunch of 'chord fingerings' anyhow. It'll be pretty easy, especially if you learn two or three super 'easy-peazy' noter style tunes in DAA before going there... like Go Tell Aunt Rhody. Try tuning to DAA and playing the TAB for Rhody HERE . Here's another very simple beginner DAA tab for a real fun traditional song to play and sing: " Single Girl, Married Girl ".
Working through those two tabs alone in DAA will really get you your sea legs for Berea, Pondoro. 
And HERE is a very simple explanation as to why DAA tuning may be actually easier than DAd when playing in noter style.
Lastly, don't worry nobody's going to want to retune after every other song at Berea. That'd be too much work and nobody's getting any younger...hahahah! Seriously though- most likely they'll play a whole bunch of tunes in DAA before making a switch to perhaps DAC to play a bunch of lonesome sounding tunes for a while. Everyone there will help and encourage you, and it'll be easier and more fun than you might think!
DAd tuning Bonus : Here's a traditional song with TAB and fun lyrics that is in mixolydian mode (so it uses the 6 fret and not the 6.5 fret), so if you want you can play it noter style in DAd tuning with the 'home' note on the open string. Here I tabbed it in a reverse tuning in the key of G, but my TAB numbers will work just exactly the same and you'll have all the notes you need right on the melody string if played in DAd tuning: Oh My Little Darlin' .
Hope this helps!
Looking at dowel selections at HomeDepot, Lowe's, and my local True Value hardware stores, I see of dowels made variously from oak, maple, and poplar. All those are considered hardwoods. Lots of folks don't want softwood dowels for their fine wood projects. Sometimes there are pine dowels offered too, but those are softwood and not what you'd want for a noter. If you're not sure you can ask the sales person to make sure the dowel is from hardwood, but most decent sized hardware stores do carry some hardwood dowels. In a pinch, people sometimes even use popsicle sticks, which are made from birch (another hardwood, but it's cut thin so may not last very long). 
Irene -- sounds like your friend got a great dulcimer, and maybe not such good advice from her local club. You should encourage her to set the dulcimer back up as a 6 string; and encourage her to learn to play in other tunings beside DAd. Playing noter & drone style in DAd on a dulcimer with a 6+ fret does not give the player the same advantage as it does chord-melody players, plain and simple. I played noter & drone on a six string (no 6+ fret) for a number of years, and it gives you a GREAT sound (but needs a bit more care because you have to fret two strings not just one).
String gauges -- as Ken Longfield says -- you MUST know the VSL to get the right string gauges. Then use the Strothers String Calculator. Packages of strings are sometimes labelled -- DAA or DAd -- and they'll be close for most VSLs between 25 and 27", but not necessarily right. If she buys packages of strings, she should get 2 packages and replace ALL the strings (one at a time -- never take off all the strings at once).
Send your friend a copy of my I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What? article.
Pondoro -- As Ken Longfield said, you can play noter & drone in any tuning with any dulcimer. But the vast majority of tunes out there in Dulcimer Land do not require the flatted 7th note which is what distinguishes DAd from other tunings. DAd tuning with a 6+ fret does not give a noter & drone player any advantage the way it does modern chord-melody players.
If you're serious about wanting to learn to play Noter & Drone style, the Berea Traditional Dulcimer Gathering is just what the dulcimer doctor ordered! The Gathering focusses only on traditional dulcimers and dulcimer playing -- noter & drone or fingerdancing. As we say -- "no chord playing allowed" -- and 99% of the people who tune DAd play chord-melody style which is not traditional. Most traditional dulcimers were set up to play in DAA, Ddd or ddd -- or their other key equivalents. So, we are gently "discouraging" people who habitually tune DAd because the focus is going to be completely on Traditional dulcimers and dulcimer playing.
As a noter & drone player you're going to want to learn to play in ALL the common Modes (Ionian, Dorian, Aeolian & Mixolydian) and Modal Tunings; and maybe other as well. N&D players re-tune frequently (it's only 1 string that is re-tuned after all; and only takes seconds). Many of us play a set of tunes in a given tuning, then switch and play a set in another tuning.
As far as noters -- I recommend to my students that they use a hard wood stick ( not a hardware store dowel) about the same diameter as their Index finger -- 3/8" to 1/2" or a bit more. I make a lot of noters from "pen blanks" that I buy online, and they are 4-5" long -- a comfortable grip for most hands. The harder the wood, the better. River cane Bamboo makes great noters. Here's a link to my Noter & Drone article/booklet called Get Noterized .
https://fotmd.com/strumelia/group_discuss/2317/ken-hulmes-get-noterized-article
When Susan got this beautiful dulcimer, her son found it at an Estate Sale, it was sooooooooo beautiful and made with great care. SUCH A DEAL....$150.00. I estimate it's worth to be about $600.00 plus. She had the right strings on it then. She moved to Arkansas and got in with a group (a great group, I'm sure) that only did DAD tuning. She was told to take off a string on each set, and she learned the chords and can keep up with the group....but when she played at home, didn't like the sound 1/2 as much. I think she didn't get the right set of strings when she replaced the strings. They were not an octave apart as suggested Ken...So I'll text her and ask the VSL and then she should be able to string it up. Her sweet husband strung it last. What I was wondering also would be if anyone knew of any dulcimer club there in San Antonio and via that...............someone could give her advice and or sting it up right with the right set of strings. I bet if she went to a music store there, she'd get some help as well. I'll get back with you on the VSL. thanks soooooooooo very much, aloha, irene
Irene, before recommending string gauges, we should know the vibrating string length of the dulcimer and whether the strings are in unison pairs or octave pairs. your friend could also use the Strother's string gauge calculator to determine what strings she needs. http://www.strothers.com/string_choice.html
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
I have a "fairly newbie" QUESTION for my newbie friend that took her dulcimer to San Antonio and wants to know if there are any dulcimer folks there? She will be there for one week, and her dulcimer needs the right gage of strings. She has a 6 string one and loves to play noter drone style. I told her tonight that I'll post this question to my friends here. I check daily sometimes twice daily, so I'll be a looking. THANKS. aloha, irene
