Forum Activity for @salt-springs

This is easy...............go with:

                                                       Scotch and Water

                                                  (and easy on the water)

Everything goes with Scotch and Water..........and I dare say, the less water the better.  Aye, Coinneach?

A representative song title with an explanatory subtitle.

"Barley Bread And Elder Wine - Traditionally Styled English And Scottish Songs by Mary MacGow"

I suggest you not use terms like "British Isles" etc., unless you include songs from the others, Wales, for example.

Mary -- for name ideas, take a look at some of the recordings produced by Paul & Linda Adams of Fellside Recordings in Cumbria.  They've been publishing "new-old" Anglo-Scottish folk music since 1976.  One of my favorite albums of theirs is Fyre & Sworde, Songs of the Border Reivers.  Generally an album's Title does not describe the kind or style of music.

If it were me, I would find a title for your album that is not descriptive of the kind of music; and let a phrase like New Traditional Ballads or New-Old Anglo-Scottish Ballads and Folksongs  be the sub-title...   something like:

The Fairest Flower -- New Traditional Songs of Scotland and England

That's funny, Jan.  Mary, I agree with Jan.  Of the choices you gave us, Songs & Poems in Tune with the British Isles is my choice, too.

To give you further food for thought, muddy up the waters, keep you guessing, etc, the late Roger Nicholson titled his book to go with the album "The Gentle Sound of the Dulcimer" A New Elizabethan.  Most of what he wrote was in an archaic style: pavanes, allemans, etc.

It's a great goal tho'.  I'm too spontaneous to make such long-term plans.  It's been nearly 30 years since I was in England and I'd love to take a musical journey over there now.

Siri might get worn out answering the questions, "What's an Alba?", "How do you pronounce 'aulde'?",  and "Where are the New British Isles?"

My vote is for Songs and Poems in tune with the British Isles.

Keep it simple!

I usually bend the end 3/16 back 180* before making the 90* bend which puts the cut end back in the hole. I also try to leave about 1/16  (bent end) extended past the post surface and put 1 wrap on the open end of the post and the balance of the wraps on th inside ( nearest the knob).

I might be part of the plethora of Ken's, but I have posted no videos.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Mary, Salt = Salt-Springs.  He made a comment on the little video.  I'll tell you, it's not the DOING of the video I dislike, but the Watching of it afterward is another story.  I don't mind a video being "wartz'n'all;" my live performances are, too.  I love performing. If I can have a small group or a large crowd, it doesn't matter; I love to perform.  Oh, I get a case of nerves for about a day and a half before a performance.  Even one of the greatest classical guitarists (and the 1st one to record BTW) Augustin Barrios Mangore said something to the effect, "the day before a performance is sheer hell!" I get a brief set list together and then play what I feel.  Hear that folks, I'd love to perform for y'all; in fact a western tour would be great in July  :).  Gigs in VA, OH, KY, TN, AR, OK, from here to Oklahoma City or Tulsa.  Dulcimer clubs, folk venues, bars that cater to folkies, bars that like solo artists who do outlaw country.  Book 'em!

Thanks, Salt, I may do the whole thing on my next cd (assuming the 1st one flies.  LOL)  I've sung it for years and have modified the accompaniment some.  I am glad you liked it!

There IS a plethora of Ken's around here!

Karen and I sincerely hope to see some FOTMD friends on the road this summer! We'll be in Benton, Arkansas June 2-4 for Arkladulcifest, Kentucky Music Week (Bardstown) the last week of June, Folkcraft Instruments in Woodburn, Indiana July 9 for the Second Saturday Workshop and concert, Evart, Michigan for the ODPC Funfest July 14-17, the Oaks of Louisiana in Shreveport July 29, the Homer Ledford Festival in Winchester, Kentucky over Labor Day weekend, back to Folkcraft in Indiana for the Indiana Dulcimer Festival September 17-18, and a few other festive places along the way. If you are in (or plan to be in) ANY of these areas at those times...let's hook up! We are performing and teaching at each of those events and we hope to see YOU there!

It might help a bit to put on a slightly thinner gauge of strings.  Heavy strings will be at higher tension/stiffer and will tend to 'bend' the sound just a bit when fretted down, even if the string is perfectly in tune when played open.

What gauge of strings are you using now and what is your instrument's scale length (from nut to bridge)?  Is the action high?

Can you use an electronic tuner to test each string?- make sure the open string is in tune, then test each fretted note on that string, trying to use the same light pressure to fret it.  If all strings are sharp or flat on the same frets, then the fret placement may be off.  If however there is one or more strings that are perfectly in tune on every fret, then it points to a string issue that likely can be lessened by changing string gauge or playing action.

Ken's right--an "intonation situation" (sounds like a new song title!) could also include something like bridge movement, which would knock your intonation out of kilter.  If it was fine before you restrung your dulcimer, then you did something to change it.  Even small changes in the bridge placement can make a real difference.

That's a Jim Dandy version Rob.............I like that  alot.

OK, As I promised earlier, here's a snippet of Barbara Allen the way I'm doing it now.  I may post another snippet of the way I've done it in the past.

Wow!  you watched all two of my videos?!

When you re-strung the dulcimer, did you take all the strings off at the same time and then replace them all?  Or did you remove/replace one string at a time?  It's possible that the bridge has been slightly misplaced, and that is what's causing the intonation problem.

Wood is still living.  You'd never leave  your baby or pet animal in the car all day....so the same goes for your dulcimers.  I suggest  you get an exception to bring it into your work place.  they could use a few tunes at lunch, I'd say!! Nothing wrong with asking.   

Sounds like an intonation situation to me.  There are various types of intonation--you can do searches on them (just intonation, equal intonation...)

When I tune my instruments, I first use an electric tuner and then double check them by playing a D on the A string and an A on the D string, tweaking the pegs a bit til I get a sound I like.  It sounds like this is what you're doing, too.  When I can't seem to make this work with a particular instrument, it's usually because the intonation of that particular instrument is different from what I was expecting.  You'll probably find you have a preference for one type over another--which is a really good thing to know when you're getting your next dulcimer!

When hanging out with my dulcimer buddies in Tucson, Arizona, we will often go out to lunch after a rehearsal and we take our dulcimers into the restaurant with us.  There's always some space where they can be safely set and it keeps them out of those extreme temperatures.

Old photo...summer...my hair is "up" and held with a clip.

Anyway, yes, this is a game...gets your brain cells revved up.  I think it's cool that you have to figure out what you're supposed to do on most of the levels.  I bring it up every few years and work through bunches of the levels....I can usually go through the first 15 or so in about 5 minutes...then it  starts getting much harder.  I think the guy who started this is really clever!

Just to add a little bit to this wonderful discussion. I've posted a recording of of an elderly gentleman by the name of Vail Ó Flatharta from Connemara. The recording was made in 1976 and he was an elderly man then. I doubt very much if he is still with us. The area of Connemara is an Irish speaking area the majority of songs would be sung in Gaelic but Barbara Allen would be one of number of ballads in English to be found in the singing tradition of the Irish speaking districts of Ireland. Vail got the song from the singing of Beairtle Choilm Rua Ó Flatharta.This is just one of a number of versions of this song that I have and they all differ.

DT said: "There's a lot to be said for putting down the dulcimer (or guitar, or whatever...) and singing a cappella.  Without a steady strum, it's more natural to let the rhythm wander."

That's one of the reasons I love the old Appalachian Play-Sing-Play style which I use.  Play a Verse, Sing a Verse, Play a Verse, and repeat.  You can do all sorts of variations like playing both a verse and chorus, then sing a verse, play the chorus, sing the chorus; etc.   Done this way you can play a regular 3/4 or 4/4, or and still get the freedom from rigid metro-gnome rhythms when singing the verse.  Or you can play the rhythm of the words (as I do) and still embellish the words when you sing a capella.  That's how I do Parting Glass, DT!

Usually I play a verse and chorus, so the audience hears and knows what I'm going to sing.  Then I sing a verse and chorus, play part of a verse, sing a verse, play part of the chorus, sing the chorus, and repeat...

Hurry and get that van in time for the Gebhard Woods Festival on June 11-12!  I'll have to miss Gebhard Woods this year because I'm in New Orleans that weekend... one of the few destinations that doesn't make me feel too bad about missing Gebhard Woods :) 

On the topic of nursery rhymes, can't resist:

I agree wholeheartedly.  And I think there's also a place for performers who try to accurately preserve or resurrect older styles.  It's good to keep the inspiration source alive and leave it as a signpost for others coming up behind, even if you do later turn off the path and blaze a new trail.  You can listen to old recordings, but it's hard to learn a style of music without seeing and hearing it performed by a real live musician.  The whole "roots music" idea is one of the best things to happen to music in my lifetime IMHO.

There's a lot to be said for putting down the dulcimer (or guitar, or whatever...) and singing a cappella .  Without a steady strum, it's more natural to let the rhythm wander.  When my otherwise much-loved ukulele club plays "The Parting Glass" in straight 4/4 I want to jump out the window.

(Dusty, I've been chopping up quotes from your last two posts.  I hope this isn't mangling the conversation flow too badly... and I hope the html formatting works!)

Back on topic (really!? well, kinda...)  I once attended a master class with Corky Siegel (our local record store is the best of all record stores) and he was promoting this book .  One point being that you should change the dynamics.  A lot.  Sometimes at random, just for the fun of it and to see what happens.  Doing something is more interesting than doing nothing.  Taking that as a basic premise, maybe we should be mixing up the rhythm as well.  Throw in a 2/4 or 3/4 measure in the middle of the chorus.  Hold a note a little longer.  Keep 'em guessing.  Sure you could overdo this, but most musicians are at greater risk of under doing it. 

I guess if I had to summarize this rambling post, I'd say that I hope 50 years from now, all the Barbara Allen's aren't in straight 4/4. 

leaving any stringed wooden instrument in a parked car for extended times can be disastrous.  as has been mentioned its the glue

that can let go and you have a case full of kindling wood.  i traveled for years with numerous dulcimers in a van over the mountains....through

the desert and every sort of weather.  when i parked the van for more than an hour or so i took the instruments out of the van and put them

in my travel trailer that was insulated and could be kept warm ..... or cool.  my advise is "let the dulcimer live with you" and never in a parked car,

basement or attic

Yeah, jazz is a different beast, and usually the band will play the tune straight once or twice and then improvise over the chord changes, stretching and bending the boundaries of those changes but still retaining the harmonic structure of the tune.  In bluegrass, too, the focus of the playing is not the repetition of the melody but improvisation over the chord changes.

In my mind, as long as those chordal structure of the tune remains, the melody can meander.  But if you change the chords, then the the song no longer has the same structure.  What would Woody Guthrie think of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings ? I love that tune (gotta love the bass and those funky horns), but it is not the tune Woody wrote.  The words were borrowed, but the song ain't the same.    A better-known example is Stevie Ray Vaughan's Mary Had a Little Lamb .  Taking the words of a nursery rhyme and playing them over a blues structure just makes a blues tune; it is not the same nursery rhyme.

Dusty, and Mary, VERY THOUGHTFUL POSTS.....THANK YOU MUCHLY.  Yes, I have a very talented brother that when he saw my first 4 string banjo, he had to make one too, he turned the bowl on his lathe.  When we were in College together, we did the folk songs so differently...like you and your mom...but still when we do get together, we sing and play whatever is handy.  ahhhhhhh, love all music and the interpretations thereof.  and singing with MEANING....to reach the deeper part of the "inside orchestras" that are within us all.  aloha, irene

woah, I love this thread.....thank you so much for writing so much of what I've loved through the years.  Years ago I got into playing M.D.(no one played that in Hawaii 35 years ago) and then when we were having our last of 14 children....I joined an early early music group at U. of Hawaii. love all the odd rhythms and learned other instruments during those 5 years and recorders and etc.  and yes, Joan Baez and others, LOVED THEIR STUFF.  (yep, gives the age away, I'm 75) I'm happy to say still building dulcimers, bowed psalteries and harps and whatever I'm in the mood to do.  when I learn how to post photos on here, I'll post some.  Thank you all the Lisa's out there for taking this site on and commenting on it.  I used to go to a lot of harp conventions, but since we've moved to Illinois, not been to one convention as I sold my fav. car of all time, 1988 VW CAMPER.  I loved the folks I met at these conventions.  Now we live in Nauvoo, Illinois and so I'm looking for a FORD TRANSIT MINI CARGO VAN so I can make a place for us to sleep and go to s a few gatherings around here.  Folk music is FOLK MUSIC because so many different FOLK play it differently.  I also want to thank so many folks on posting their photos of their instruments....I've gotten so many ideas & put some of those on my lastest M.D........yeahsville.  love the musical selection up here.  I'll see if I can get that album.  aloha, irene

Ken, that's a good suggestion on the padded/insulated case.  

One of my instruments has a Sassafras top.  I took it with me to Cape Cod last year where it got exposed to a little more humidity than normal, which must have revived the oil in the wood somewhat. The Sassafras scent would hit you in the face when you opened the case.  At home, it's a pretty constant 32-35% humidity when the heat or AC is running, so the oils stabilize and don't give off so much scent.

A padded, insulated case, like a Bag Lady dulcimer bag, will definitely help with environmental changes.  These days I keep two dulcimers in my Bag Lady double-bag aboard my liveaboard sailboat, all year 'round, with temps that range from 100+ to 30 and humidity that ranges from under 30% to 100%.  They keep their tuning very well, seldom needing adjusting more than a few cents.  When I lived out West in Colorado, Arizona and Utah, the same bag helped them adjust from home temp/humidity to outdoor temps and humidities year round -- well below freezing to well above 100F.  I've never kept one in a PARKED car for 6 or 8 hours, in any temp, but have had them inside while I've driven for those kinds of times.  Today, in fact I drove diagonally across Florida for 6 hours with temps in the hi 80s.  Yes the AC was on, but the sun was shining bright on the bag in the back end of the SUV and it was plenty warm back there.  No problems.

Ok, maybe a little off topic, but who besides me read Lil' Abner in the 60s?  I remember this very well:

http://www.adambaumgoldgallery.com/capp_al/Joanie_PhonieWB.jpg

When I'm at home, I use the Aussie method (as does Helen!)...I lay the dulcimer across the arms of my recliner!

Never a big fan of puzzle boxes...

This kind of sounds like when I try to get people interested in  The Never Ending Level Computer Game  http://www.levelgame.net/ , developed by Clarence Ball in 2005. A simple game with simple graphics.  Starts off very easy...after all, you're just trying to complete the task on the screen so you can hit "Next" and go to the next screen (or level) and the directions are right on the screen and they're very straight forward ("If the password is fire, type it in the box"). 

"It's fun!" I'll tell them. "It will give your brain cells a workout--in an entertaining way!"  It's really hard to convince folks of this, especially when they find out that, except for the very beginning, there are no directions...so you may be presented with a blank screen and have to figure out what to do.  Now, at that point, most folks would leave the computer and go pick up a dulcimer.........

I googled The Room game and read about it myself.  Not my cup of tea!!!

What I'd always heard was, "If you wouldn't be able to sit there for an hour (or two--or eight--ACK!), then don't expect your dulcimer to "be okay with it".

Kandee, changes in humidity rather than temperature are the challenge.  Wood takes on and gives off moisture continuously and will naturally mimic the ambient air conditions.  The wood will give off and take on moisture until it is in balance with the moisture in the air.  As wood takes on water it expands and as gives off water it contracts.  Dry enough conditions, for a long enough period of time, can eventually cause cracking.  The more stable you can keep the humidity in the instrument, the better.

Wood doesn't expand and contract much due to air temperature.  

The good news for you is that the process is usually slow, so you likely won't hurt your dulcimer by leaving it in your trunk for a day.  I wouldn't leave in the cabin of the car where temps can get really high (well above 120).  That could cause issues with the glue joints if it was made with a traditional hide glue or something like that.  If it was made with a contemporary wood glue (which it most likely was) you probably won't have an issue.  

Kandee,

First, congratulations on getting your dream dulcimer.  My dream dulcimer is always the next one!

Second, you might want to join the Dulcimer Care and Maintenance group here.  I'm sure you will get better advice than I can offer.

Third, I am no expert, and I don't even play one on TV, but my sense is that extreme temperatures, extremes in humidity, and quick changes in both of those are all potentially harmful to any wooden instrument.  I would not leave an instrument in your car all day in the Indiana summer unless you can ensure that it not get too hot.

Marg, if you have the time, you can easily spend several HOURS at Song of the Wood, playing all the different dulcimers that are hung on hooks around the room. It's just a short jump off I-40 and well worth the visit!

I've hesitated joining the fray here for a while, but I think I've finally "percolated" on it enough to be able to explain my thoughts.  There are a few issues intertwined here.

One is whether we should try to replicate some supposedly "authentic" version of a song or reinterpret it.  Obviously, opinions differ.  Some people still play Dixieland jazz more or less as it was played in the 1920s.  In the dulcimer world, we are lucky to have people doing their best to preserve traditional styles of play as well.  My own opinion is that we should study traditional sources of our music, but if we do nothing but replicate slavishly those traditions, then the tradition would be dead. However, even in trying to copy those traditions, we necessarily re-interpret them, don't we?  When I was trying to play blues guitar and copied note-for-note what Robert Johnson played, I knew I did not sound like him and had to make the tunes "my own."

If we accept that copying exactly what some earlier performer has done is worthwhile to try but ultimately impossible to accomplish, then we should be freed up to study those earlier versions but make our own music.  

A second issue is how precisely we should play on beat.  I would suggest that we should all be able to play on beat, but that once we have that ability we need to free our creativity to pause in between lines, hold some notes or chords longer than others, play some sections louder than others, and so forth.  I would only insist that those variations should be done on purpose rather than the result of an inability to stay on beat.  A couple of years ago I arranged a version of "Ashokan Farewell" and was kind of proud of myself.  I posted it at Stephen Seifert's Dulcimer School, and his feedback was eye opening. He praised some of the chords I chose but also suggested that I vary the tempo and the dynamics to create a more expressive piece.  He was basically telling me that I was playing on beat but sounded like a robot.  If you're playing a contradance, you obviously have to stay on beat.  But if you are playing solo, especially if you're singing, then the dynamics and tempo should follow the emotional expression of the song and vary accordingly. At our family reunions for years we would gather around a campfire in the evening and sing songs. My mother was the main singer, and from the age of 10 or 11 I began to accompany her on the guitar. One year I had been trying to play with some really cool rhythms and I got frustrated that my mom would pause in her delivery, or hold some notes way too long, or whatever.  My uncle saw my frustration and whispered in my ear that my job was to accompany the singer and not impose any kind of speed or rhythm on her.  That comment changed my perspective about what I was doing and how to add creativity to a rendition of a song.

I, too, hear Barbara Allen as in 4/4 time, even though this discussion led me to seek sheet music and several versions on YouTube in 3/4 time.  I don't know if anyone could prove that one is more "authentic" than another.  But I would suggest singing it however it feels right to you.  A big part of maturing as musicians is learning how to play within ourselves.  If a rhythm or chord or note or word does not feel right, don't play it.  Find what feels right to you.

Finally, I have to confess that I can't hear Joan Baez's voice without crying.   The lyrics don't even matter.  There is something in her voice that is too pure for this world.