Je suis d'accord .. 
.. I discovered Malicorne when I went looking for a French equivalent to 'Steeleye Span' , as a result of being part of a French conversation group ...... I also discovered Alain Stivell,Tri Yann and Angelo Branduardi at the same time. I figured a folk revival fuel for folk rock in England must have crossed the Channel in some form..
Hi Jan
That's a very impressive list of songs you listed. If I may ask, when you play these songs in a jam, etc., do you use tab or do you have all the songs to memory?
I've played with a group of people, usually around 15, two times. My only experience with jams.
Most everyone were using tab. I could only play maybe one third of the songs, having no tab book and playing by memory.
I was okay with this, as I love to watch and listen to others play. But both times I wished I had tab.
I counted 22 of your songs that I have to memory, so I would have to set out more than half.
Lisa said,
"...what you actually have is a group of players who know each other and have played these songs before. Or they're playing within a genre that has a core set of tunes that everybody knows. Or they're improvising within a narrow set of boundaries, like with 12-bar blues. Or... they all go to the same dulcimer festivals and they all learned the same songs from the same books because it's a small world."
My dulcimer group is 2000+ miles from my home and I only get to visit and jam with them a couple times a year, so I can relate, Lisa! Most of the time I am going to jams at festivals/events/workshops, etc., where I know few people...and the attendees come from a wide range of states and even other countries. It helps everyone if the jam is defined or described in some way, for example,
Since the jams I've been to always have the attendees taking turns choosing songs to play, if someone suggests a song nobody knows, they have the option of playing a solo for the group or choosing another song. If several people know the tune, they will play it through several times and others will join in as they feel able, with chords, single notes, percussion, etc.
Some events publish jam tune titles in advance....Dulcimerville used to do that, and many found that helpful. If nothing else, you can write suggestions on a board, make posters, or write titles on a cheap vinyl window shade with a permanent marker to help people remember tunes that they really do know. The tune list may even lead to some requests! (Would somebody puh-leeze play 'Sally Slapped Me With a Flounder???!!!')
Here's my list'
Rosin the Beau/Bow
Boatmen
Going to Boston
Edelweiss
Rock the Cradle Joe
Sugar Hill
Old Yeller Dog
Red Wing
Old Joe Clark
Hard Times
Soldiers’ Joy
I’ll Fly Away
Ashokan Farewell
Rattlin’ Bog
Wildwood Flower
Ash Grove
Columbus Stockade Blues
My Old Kentucky Home
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Sweet Hour of Prayer
Will the Circle be Unbroken?
This Land is Your Land
Angeline the Baker
She’ll be comin’ round the Mtn
Goober Peas
Greensleeves
Scarborough Fair
Southwind
The Water is Wide
Rocky Top
Wabash Cannonball
River
City of New Orleans
Liza Jane
Reuben’s Train
Ground Hog
Amazing Grace
Simple Gifts
Golden Slippers
John Stinson2
Cripple Creek
Angel Band
O Susannah
Short’nin’ Bread
Skip to My Lou
Sloop John B
Spotted Pony
June Apple
White Coral Bells
Mes Parents
Go Tell Aunt Rhody
Cindy
Boil ‘em Cabbage Down
Be Thou My Vision
Scotland the Brave
You Are My Sunshine
Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night
Leaning on…Everlasting Arms
Blowin’ in the Wind
Puff the Magic Dragon
Dona Nobis Pacem
Oh, How Lovely is the Evening
Star of the County Down
Shove That Pig’s Foot a Little Further in the Fire
Glendy Burke
Pretty Saro
Hope this helps!
If you're the organizer you should have a backup folder with tab for a half dozen simple songs like Lion Sleeps Tonight, Frere Jacques, KumBaYa, the detested Boil Those Brassicas Down, etc. Or you're prepared to teach those tunes to people so they can play along without tab.
Jan, those are really good points. A jam can be anything you want it to be :-)
A lot of times when there's an informal jam, and nothing is pre-rehearsed, and it seems to a beginner like these people are performing magic -- what you actually have is a group of players who know each other and have played these songs before. Or they're playing within a genre that has a core set of tunes that everybody knows. Or they're improvising within a narrow set of boundaries, like with 12-bar blues. Or... they all go to the same dulcimer festivals and they all learned the same songs from the same books because it's a small world.
What do you do when you get a room full of players and nobody knows the same tunes?
My last refuge in a room of singers and chord players is The Lion Sleeps Tonight, since it's 3 chords in a steady repeating pattern and people only need to remember one word from the lyrics (and wimoweh isn't even a word anyway). I don't have a good fallback for melody/drone dulcimer, unless it's Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. I keep running into people who don't know Go Tell Aunt Rhody, for crying out loud.
What are your fallback tunes to get a jam rolling?
And Kimberley, good luck on Saturday and tell us all how it went!
He is a good performer, for sure. Makes very good slides, which makes the ocarina sing!
Here's my end result of converting a guitar stand to a dulcimer stand.
http://fotmd.com/forums/forum/new_posts/18503/10-dulcimer-stand-conversion-project
Shared this video with my so who plays ocarina. He told me he has seen a lot of David Erick Ramos' videos, and that the wall of ocarina's seen in this video are about 1/10th of what he owns.
Nice, a wall full of ocarina's
As demonstrated by the responses, a "jam" has many different meanings. For me, it's a time to gather informally with other musicians to play music with no pre-rehearsed arrangement, taking turns suggesting and leading tunes, and feeling free to add harmonies or to use percussion or vocals or whatever else contributes positively to the experience. I would expect some to be slow and some fast and some easy and some difficult. I would expect that some tunes played would be ones I've never heard before, but I would still find ways to participate. I think flexibility is key.
Other people like to gather and play tunes from a particular book or folder of music. While I wouldn't call that a "jam", others do and that's OK--it's a fun activity and can be very helpful in learning and practicing tunes with a group.
Jams can be times when new tunes are shared and taught to a group on the spur of the moment, if the desire to learn it is there. Sometimes, when only one person knows a particular tune, others listen in appreciation to the impromptu solo performance.
However you define a "jam", it's all about sharing music and having fun!
I picked up one at a sale shaped like an Armadillo for my son who plays ocarina. I don't think anyone even knew what it was, because they sold it to me for a quarter. It's definitely unique!
Somewhere I have a small one that kind of looks like a terracotta pig. I'll have to see if I can find it.
Forgive me for being late to the party on this thread. Besides mountain dulcimer, I play ukuleles, guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, tin whistle and harmonica (the last two quite poorly!). If you're interested in seeing me in action, click here: Mound City Slickers @ KDHX Radio, St. Louis, MO . I'm the fellow playing the banjo-uke and singing.
I don't work for Dave, but I consider him a great friend. Here are some of his materials available at Folkcraft: http://www.folkcraft.com/search.html?sep=dave+haas&sed=122
Just ordered a Mountain Ocarina today. Couldn't help myself. G tuned, cost $24.00 plus shipping.
My thinking is that at 69, I'll never be really good at any instrument, because I dabble in too many, and started to late. But it's just too much darn fun to change.
Hopeless and satisfied.
Charles,
Just to clarify, my Seydel is the Orchestra model, Session Steel. It's also solo tuned, which I love. Most harps are Richter-tuned, which give me fits.
Seydel also sells another solo tuned harp, the Seydel Mountain Harp. It's an 80 hole double sided, C & G, tremolo harmonica. Forget playing the blues, its made for stuffing it in your mouth and blowing away. I love it. I had a reed to blow on the C side within 3 weeks of buying it. Contacted Seydel, sent it back, and within two weeks had a brand new harp as a replacement. No problems since.
But what makes the Mountain Harp so special is the solo tuning.
The advantage a harmonica has over a dulcimer is being able to fit in a glove compartment in your car. Even in 150° heat. Always ready when stuck in traffic jams... Robert.
Terry, I really like the Seydel a lot. At first I was a little disappointed it didn't have a hard case, only a soft leather sleeve. But I found it fits in my pocket better.
They might poke their eye out! 
Harmonica's are nice, but I wouldn't let my children play them (if I had any children)!
That's the great thing about a harmonica. It's a play by ear instrument. .
While I love the 10 hole diatonic, and I also own a Sessions Steel, I favor the 64 hole Hering Vencedora tremolo harmonica. Sweet sweet sweet.
However, blow a reed, you're on your own. Made in Brazil, which is the nearest repair facility. One can buy a new harmonica for the price of shipping.
I don't play blues. Maybe one day. My harp career is 1 year old today.
Charles, after messing around with the Sessions Steel for awhile, and have decided it sure has a nice sound. But be careful with the edges, pretty shape. For sheer playing for fun, I prefer my Hohner Special 20s, C & D & G.
Ack! I mispoke. My first dulcimer was made by my father from a Virgil Hughes church dulcimer kit back in the mid-1970s. I forgot it was my First Dulcimer because I rarely played it and it is now a dulcimer shaped piece of wall art. Sorry Dad!
The first dulcimer I bought was just a fretboard with strings. The idea was that you put it on a suitable surface/table to increase the resonance. This was in about 1971 or 2. I bought it at a stall in Cecil Sharp House, the London headquarters of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. It cost £4. It had a pleasant sound and was not a bad way to get acquainted with the dulcimer. I put a magnetic pickup on it and played it for a while as an electric dulcimer - it had a very satisfying electric sound. The down side was that it was made of rather soft wood and did not last too well.
The first dulcimer I owned was an original JE Thomas made in 1912. As many of you know, I found it at a flea market. Not recommended as a "first dulcimer".
My first dulcimer was one that I built from a McSpadden kit way back in 1969 or '70. I am far from being handy with tools and the instrument that resulted was pretty terrible. because of my 'craftsmanship' it was virtually unplayable. But I was sweet on a girl (Barb Schlemm... I wonder whatever happened to her) who played dulcimer back then and it seemed like the best idea in the world to be able to play dulcimer with her, so I gave it a shot. Of course, that didn't work out since the strings were so high off the fretboard they could barely be pressed to a fret to make an out-of-tune note.
That little instrument (and I use the term loosely) sat in my closet for 10 years or so and eventually got disposed of in a yard sale.
Fortunately, many years later, I got a good instrument and actually learned to play the thing. And the rest is history.
If you suspect it'll be that small, then I would pick half a dozen songs, find tab, and make 10-12 copies of them. That way you have a base to start from and whoever comes can also pick tunes and help people through them...
I suspect that our meeting that is coming up this Saturday will be very small. I will be very happy if we have 5 people show up, but I want to make sure that it is a good experience so that people will return for future meetings.
