Forum Activity for @robin-clark

Thanks Robin - I do like the sound of a well played Irish flute.  I've seem Mike McGoldrick play a number of times at festivals and he joined me on dulcimer, Nick on banjo and Mike Harding on mandolin for a couple of tunes outside the beer tent at SFF a few years ago - that was a real treat!  Its going to take me a good while to reach my 10,000 hours of practice to play like him

Wow, Robin a warm, lovely tone!  Nicely done. 

Some wind instruments can sound rather strident but not your flute.  :)

I have a new toy

I've long been after a melody instrument for playing at sessions that has a bit of gravitas and would be a challenge to learn.  I thought of the fiddle but we already have a fiddler in the house so I looked elsewhere.  I'd seen some wonderful Irish D flute players at sessions and gigs and had the idea of learning to play one in the back of my mind.  This summer at Shrewsbury Folk Festival I met Jem Hammond.  He was running some of the tune workshops and I got the chance to talk with him in the bar.  He showed me the different types of flute he played, with keys and without, and suggested I buy a Gary Somers aluminium flute with a delrin head.  He had one with him and said that they were well made with a great embouchure hole and solid tone across the octaves.

I emailed Gary in Brazil and he pointed me towards a shop in the UK that had one.  Luckily I was working in Canterbury, where the shop was, a couple of weeks ago so I called them and collected the flute.  I went straight from Canterbury to Lundy Island for a week's rock climbing.  So as well as my dulcimer I also had a new flute to take across to the Island   I carried the flute when walking around the island to various climbing areas and eventually managed to get a scale out of it!!!  Getting any noise from it at all was (and still is) a bit hit or miss but my embouchure is starting to come.  Having heard Jem play the same model of flute I know that there's bags of rich tone hidden within it and the more I practice the more I'll find.

I love the fact that it is such a kinaesthetic instrument to play and that the tone and intonation come from the player's skill.  Like golf, as a beginner you'll hit one or two shots in a round that really feel good and with the flute I'll hit one or two notes that just resonate.  I'm hoping that the more I play the more of those good notes I'll be able to hit and the stronger my overall tone will be.

Right now, a couple of weeks in, I'm at the very much a beginner stage.  It is doing me good to struggle through the learning process.  I've just recorded myself for the first time this morning coffee break so I can assess what I need to work on (mmm.... breath, tone and intonation would be good starters!!!!)

http://k003.kiwi6.com/hotlink/7ox922snmt/Calon_Lan_-_flute_-_5_Oct_16.mp3

You & Lundy Island make a great team, Robin!  :) 

Your play sounds really good! 

Other than standard guitar tuning, Mark also tunes to "Drop D" sometimes to give something of a droning quality to the guitar part.  Don't know whether you've ever tried it or not but you might like experimenting if you've not yet played in this tuning. 

Terry, my right foot always starts tapping to the beat when i play bones...so I'd say that would not be compatible with driving...lol!   =8-o

Lisa, it's kind of ironic that as you were posting your message, I was sitting at my desk, practicing vibrato on a ten hole harmonica.  Plan to do "Down in the Valley" tomorow morning at the assisted living home.  Great song for vibrato.

In response to what you said about playing and driving, I agree with you, this is not a safe practice.  I've been doing it for around two years now, and I must admit that there have been several times when I was a distracted driver.  With that said, I don't recommend it.  If you are not doing it now, don't do it.  However, and you knew this was coming, I doubt I will stop this practice.  I do pick my spots though, when not to play, like heavy traffic, school zones, or 45 mph or less.  The slower the traffic, the danger goes up. 

Now, I'd like to see a video of you playing bones while driving.  Not really, but that would be interesting.  Hey, when I first got my tabor 3 hole flute, I gave it a go while driving.  But then you know the rest of the story.

Terry, I hear you!  I think I can add to that list of handy take-along instruments too:  the Bones!  and...when I get a little better at it...my penny whistle!  Both are extremely portable, lightweight, and the bones can be played one-handed... but I can't do either while driving.  We're all different, too much traffic here (and deer!)...my brain is one-tracked...requires my whole concentration and both hands while driving, the most I can do is listen to music or talk to my traveling companion. 

Susie -  last flute purchase... yeah right.  

Fantastic version of a great song.  You really play it well.

You guys are right! 

Hee hee heee

its very addicting.....but it's a good addiction!!

😜

I remember saying this is my final flute after the second one, I am now on number ten. One in every key

A master at play.

Hi Ken,

What I've found is that it becomes quite a symbiotic relationship between the instruments.  The guitar can really work in support of the melody and the dulcimer gives the guitar direction.  For Elzic's Farewell I was using primarily one and two fingered chords on the guitar and one 3 fingered inversion.  There are some basic chord charts for DADGAD to get you going, like this one here  but once you get the concept of playing guitar against drones (like a dulcimer!) you can make up your own chords (or rather partial chords) to suit the piece.  I've panned the instruments left and right in the above recording so with headphones on you should be able to pick out what the guitar is doing. Now I'm no great guitarist, I hardly ever play for pleasure and find standard guitar tuning a struggle but I managed to sit down at a friends house the other night and pick out a lot of tunes by ear from DADGAD (Will the circle, You are my sunshine, Shady Grove, OJC, Wayfaring Stranger, Wagon Wheel, I'll Fly Away etc) just as we were sitting and chatting.

I think it is definitely worth a try if your guitarist friend is prepared to experiment a little and step out of their comfort zone!

Sounds really good Robin.  I've started trying to convince my guitarist friend to re-tune to DADGAD and see what we can do together...

Congratulations Susie.   Exciting times are here for you.

I've had the chance to sit down in my front lounge this evening and record an example of noter drone dulcimer with DADGAD guitar backing.  One of the great things about DADGAD is that it is essentially neither major or minor - it is the noter drone dulcimer that actually tells your ears the guitar is playing minor or major chords (which it is not!).  There's quite a bit of myth busting going on here - that's a 3 string dulcimer in dorian tuning with wooden pegs and an old Leonard Glen by ear intonated fret pattern.  And it is being played noter drone style with guitar.  When I first started playing dulcimer the common wisdom was that such a combination was impossible to play in tune.  Well what a load of ??**@$%%  What I can say is that neither instrument has been anywhere near an electronic tuner - the 9 strings were blended by ear.

Thanks Jennifer, I'll posts my thoughts on it after I get it.

I ordered my 3rd (and likely final) Native American Flute today. A High Spirits F#m (Golden Eagle - midtone) in walnut with turquoise inlay. I wanted the F#m due to its popularity in having the traditional, haunting voice (adopted by the Native American community and their key of preference). Also, it is the key that corresponds to the notes on the staff (when you play an F# (as noted on the music staff), it is an F# that sounds). I also wanted to treat myself to one flute with a little flair, so I went with the turquoise inlay. It should look real nice with the walnut. This will be my deepest sounding flute. So, I'm pretty excited to get it.

I was on a rock climbing trip to Lundy Island a couple of weeks ago and met a great guitarist.  I had a dulcimer with me so we worked up a few tunes together.  He played in DADGAD.  Just before the trip I'd started to experiment with the DADGAD as backing for noter drone dulcimer.  However on Lundy I had a golden opportunity to play live with a great backing guitarist and really hear the potential of the combination. 

It was an absolute delight to work the dulcimer against such a complimentary backing and we fired off fiddle tunes during the evenings we spent staying in the Old Lighthouse on the island.  On the last night we ventured to the Marisco Tavern and played a session in the bar.  I found a seagull leg bone on the cliffs and using that as a strummer certainly gave my dulcimer a very solid 'voice' in the pub!!!

Since returning home I've been working on my own guitar playing in DADGAD and have been surprised just how intuitive it is to both play melody and back-up for old time fiddle tunes.  Now, there could be an 'issue' with old time purists but seeing as how the guitar was a late comer to old time and the fact I've heard some early recordings backed by open tuned guitar DADGAD sits well with me - and it certainly sits well with noter drone dulcimer!

I'll try and record something this week and post it here.  But I did wonder if anyone here plays DADGAD and in what context?

Robin

Have a real dulcimer luthier look at it.  Normally in such cases we don't raise a whole fretboard for a couple of dips; usually its the other way around -- lower a fret or two.  Low spots don't cause intermittant "twanging", high spots would

u need a luthier to examine this dulcimer.  a non level fretboard is trouble and the fix could be expensive

Oh darn!   The next jam is the first saturday in November.   Bob Warner and I looked at it today and we took a metal ruler and it looks like the fretboard has some slight dips in it...  I think they set the action really high to avoid the fret noise due to this.. not sure there is a remedy... unless the frets could come up to be even...   no festivals other than Sharna Tanner is having something in Pinckney, and all day Thursday type annual day...

Even a crushed, smashed, or exploded instrument can be repaired, given time, determination, and skill enough. 

It sounds like there's a hump in the fingerboard, or some frets have popped up because of humidity issues. In either event, the problem can be fixed by a reasonably competent guitar or violin repair person. The cost of the repair may be more than you think the instrument is worth. But consider the cost of repair vs the cost of a new (or new-to-you) instrument. 

If the problem is either a hump or high frets and isn't too bad, the frets can be filed level, then re-shaped and polished. If it is really a camel in disguise, then the frets need to be pulled and the fretboard planed flat. Some of the fret slots may need to be re-cut before new frets are installed, leveled, shaped and polished. All of this sounds pretty drastic, but the procedures are pretty common in guitar repair. 

Have you identified the high spots?  If it's a fret here and there, they can be lowered, at least to some extent.

It looks like the fretboard is not level.  Not a good thing and not Sure this can be fixed.  I think that may be why the action was set so high to compensate for this.   

No, sorry, I won't be in the state on Saturday.  When do we meet in November?  Are you going to any nearby festivals?

Hi Matt, the mtn dulcimer group meets this saturday at Bob's Barn... Will you be there?  If so I will have the dulcimer there and maybe you would be so kind as to take a look at it...  

Thank you!  ~now to learn how to read chords~  :/

The latest book I have is the LyriChord book (blue-green cover). I have an older Tune book that I got in the 90s (I believe) (Pink Cover).  I also have a couple of the older Lyrichord books from the 70s and 80s (brown cover).  When I purchased my most recent one a couple of years ago, I opted for just the Lyrichord book.

Which of the books do you have, Ken and Doug?  LyriChord or Tune Book? 

Yup, Dusty, that's the one, So HAppy Together! I guess limited tunes are nothing new - but I do long for a good tune now and then...

I've been using Yohann Anderson's book for over 30 years with different sing-alongs. I can second a recommendation for that!

How could I not respond that you are referring to a song by whom?  The Turtles!  So Happy Together?

Annie, you are certainly correct, but I would suggest that songs with no range are nothing new.  Remember the song "Da Doo Ron Ron?" It was a top ten hit in the early 60s by the Crystals and again in 1977 by Shaun Cassidy. The melody (both A and B parts) only has 3 notes!  Do Re and Mi!  You can play the whole melody using only three frets on a single string on your dulcimer.  And the chorus doesn't even make any sense!

There it is!  Thanks Phil!

And another thing: most pop songs these days seem to use the whoops instead of a tune. IMHO the range of notes used is often too narrow.i.e. moving up or down 1 note or 2, rather than all over the place in a melodic way. Does anybody remember the song that had in the chorus "I can't see me lovin' nobody but you, for all my life."? Now that was a tune! 

This past weekend was our church retreat, and I did get to play for vespers around the campfire.  I played "Awake Harp and Lyre" based on Psalm 108 from Margaret Wright TAB.  A youngun' became my personal music stand, and we positioned flashlights to shine on the music.  The rest of my playing was around camp and campfire during the day, so no issues!  LOVE my little Wren, "Teagan", from Feather Dulcimer!!!!  ~she was quite the hit and is inspiring others to love the md~  

I should have said that the strings I referenced above are the ones that come on a MMD (David McKinney's default strings).But you can order individual strings from juststrings.com in whatever gauges you like

 I use 14s with a 22 phosphor bronze bass for DAA tuning as my standard (experimenting with .01-at-a-time tweaks ups and down to optimize each instrument) on all dulcimers between 27 and 28 vsl, and I purchase my strings in bulk by diameter (much cheaper than prepackaged sets).  I'm really just curious about Dave's defaults.  I acquired my MMD second hand, and doubt that the strings are original as it is several years old.  Jan, I will try to contact the representative, and I appreciate the willingness of all to respond.

Give me a call and we'll get together.  That way I can both see and hear what's going on and help you fix it.