Lisa, the Dom Flemons lessons, were they on the net or in the flesh? I hope the first, so I can watch these too, allthough the later is my dream, but I wouldn't survive that: it would take my breath away ;-)
Why are so many bones players shot while performing? Take a look at
It happens at 2:00 when the bones wakes up the automatic recording input gain. :DI think the bones make a good accompaniment for many fiddle tunes, like "Whiskey Before Breakfast", added to a verse or two to make it more interesting. I took a class on playing the bones and other rhythm instruments years ago, and found it a whole lot more complex than I thought it would be. I don't have a set of bones to practice on, so I've never been able to get good at it. (But then I have a set of spoons (wood, joined, from Canada) as well as castinets, and I've never become very good at either of those, too. !) Takes a lot of practice!
Hi Lisa,
I play the bones too. First of all I want to warn you for 'over-practising', so watch specially the elbow!
I learned it 55 years ago (9 years old), and picked it up again recently... You know what? It isn't gone. Just like skating, your body will not forget. In my home town playing the clappers was a normal children's street activity, promoted by the town council due to a royal celebration: every child between 10 and 12 became a pair clappers (I was too young to get them, but my father was a schoolteacher) to preform on the queens birthday.
I make a study about the clapper/bones and created a nice collection, which I play if possible (can't manage the Indian karthal).
The matter is rather complex. Because the clapper (idiophone) is so easy to construct and very inexpensive it is used in many a social activity, like dancing, replacement for the church bell during lent term, warning signal for people having a contaminate illness, etc. The English and Dutch navy used the clapper on board the ships to accompany dancing the hornpipe keeping the sailors and marines in shape.
To the dulcimer music I find the rhythm bones a strange combination: to my ears they don't fit...
Much of my bones are bought from Scott Miller, who produces nice sets of ox bones. Adam Klein, the opera singer, makes nice ones too, with a very light sound. Ox bones have a marble like sound, much more tone, but they hard to get. Sanding ox bones is very dangerous to ones health.
What I find the most interresting is the individual aspect of playing the bones. Because I have probably larger hands than you, your bones will sound different when I play them.
I know most American players place the bones one between index-middle and the other one between middle-ring finger. Sometimes the hand is almost stretched out completely. In Europe and special The Netherlands the clappers are set between the thumb-index and index-middle finger. The fingers are held in an open fist to create a resonator body. When the second clapper is placed between the middle-ring, the sound is much lower, which is nice using both hands. Also changing the length of the 'bell-clapper' (hitting the 'bell') by changing the grip result in a different sound.
To me the most troublesome is the repertoir: which songs work and which don't? Of course all sailor songs can have rhythm bones in the arrangement.
Playing spoons? Castagnettes? Maybe a special group about bones?
Wout
(Now awaiting if I get an e-mail warning new replies ;-)
Aw, Lisa, now you've gone and made me want to dig out my bones and give it a try again. I have one set made of walnut and another set, I think, of cherry. Glad you are trying the bones again.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song.
I'm practicing regularly now at home to get better at playing the rhythm bones. Been trying to learn off and on for several years, but kept running into a wall. Finally I had a great 2 hour lesson from Dom Flemons last month and am now making slow progress. Boy, it's way harder than I thought it would be! But hey, I'm working hard at it and each week I seem a tiny bit better.
If I can get better, it sure will be a good added skill to have at big campout gatherings and of course at 1800s music gatherings with Civil War era repertoire.
Anyone else here play the bones?
VSL - a hair shorter than 27. I will probablyhave it tune to DAA most of the time but will go to DAd and also or DAg - so far
Thanks ken for all your help. Yes, the knobs worked out fine.
Glad the knobs worked out. Simple, cheap fix. What's the VSL? That will tell you what gauge strings you need for the range you want to tune (centered on D).
Chromatics are not good for blues. You can't bend notes on them. They are stiff and un emotional. In my youth when I was totally emersed in the blues, I got thru many a jam with a D, G, C, E, A. Into a long night of jaming it often did not matter what key I was in... Robert.
The knobs came today and they were an easy fix. I just put the same strings back on that came with it so, I will need to decide what will be the best ones for this dulcimer.
I want to thank all of you for all your help in getting this red stain dulcimer (Hondo, made in Korea for Sears - maybe late 70's/80's) up and running. I have it in DAA tuning and played a simple 'Amazing Grace' for you to hear the sound. I think it sounds like what I would think an old time dulcimers would sounded like.
I've been pricing various models, I can't afford a chromatic, I'm leaning towards a Lee Oskar or a Seydel. I just need to figure out what key. I like playing along with older Dylan songs, my favorite is "Like A Rolling Stone" which is in "C" I think, and "Mr. Tamborine Man" in "F". I like to play along with Blues songs like Elmore James, Muddy, BB King ( I was in the front row a few years ago, BB gave me a pick and shook my hand!!).
One problem with buying a harmonica is you can't try it out first.
Good points, Ken. I have no problem re-tuning the dulcimer, especially not when I'm playing drones. The tenor guitar, however, is a different beast and I fear I will make no decent progress until I pick one tuning and learn it well before branching out. Chords, you know. For me, it's much harder to switch tunings when fretting 3 or 4 strings at the same time. I never got any good with chord/melody on MD until I picked one tuning (DAd, yeah, boring) and stuck with it for a while. Now I need to pick a tuning for the ceegar box and buckle down.
Lisa -- the tuning you pick depends on the tune itself and how you are playing it. Learn to retune -- it's only the 3rd and 4th strings that change in your list.
How about 4-equidistant strings? Even more options that way.
I use DAdd, DAdc, DAdA, DAA#d (chromatic) and DGdd (which is really cool: a traditional G-Ionian with an extra low D at the bottom)
I just got a cigar-box tenor guitar. 4 strings tuned DGbe... or DGBd... or DGAd... or DAAd... or DF#Ad... or ... ? I can't decide, except I know I want an open tuning. Any suggestions?
Is ARRGH! a tuning? I'm pretty sure I've played that one a lot!
Yes, that's very nice Robert
I have my other dulcimer with a (suitcase strap) hooked on with a tie, no button. It had a lot of room to slip something around the end. So yes, I could do that but there isn't a lot of room on the red stain dulcimer, so checking into the different ways.
Thanks, all good to know
I use violin end pins as strap buttons. I think ebony wood looks more appropriate on a wood instrument. very easy to install, just drill a hole and glue it in... Robert...
Strumelia has an excellent video on her blog about how to attach a strap to the head of the dulcimer, if you don’t have a button, or don’t want to add a button.
http://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2010/02/video-tips-for-beginners-home-made.html
Was only thinking of one end. Soap, I had not thought of that. I didn't even think of drilling the hold, just putting the screw in. Will watch a vIdeo and tackle this project also.
Thanks again, everyone. When I am finish getting the red stain dulcimer together and post a video, know you all had a hand in helping me set it up.
Charles, looks like you know your picks. Here's the description for the rest of you FOTMD who may be interested, and don't already know:
WEGEN BG100 PICKBLUEGRASS, WHITE, 1.00mm - Set of four. A standard shaped flatpick with dual beveled-edge tip for right handed players. Has 9 holes in a diamond pattern for grip. Bluegrass players (and anyone else who craves a thick plectrum) - this pick is a must have! The ultimate in control!
+1 on Ken's suggestions. Sometimes you see the nut-end strap button installed through the side, but it is still drilled into the solid block at that end.
Don't over-think things. However, strap buttons do need to be installed into the ends of the dulcimer, not the sides. The ends have solid blocks of wood in them there so there's "no worries" about drilling a hole there. Drill a slightly undersized hole for the screw, soap the threads and install. Easy peasy.
Exactly what I myself did. I found that for a home key as it were, I most often found myself in the key of G (wife's singing voice and easy to group with violin and viola and such) gDG has proven to be so great for me to merg with singers and other instruments that that is what I have on my only one dulcimer right now. Ealier, single and loads of dulcimers I too had a few keys represented. The Baptist Hymnal loves flat keys so I would have an Eb, Bb, F, Ab, and C to name a few. It's so much easier to just remember one set of fingerings and don't even think of the relative key being played. Let your "key specific" dulcimer do the transpositions for you. Kevin.
This is where "self taught" might not be the best way to learn. Bad habbits and getting stuck in one area (tuning) vs others. I would always read in the first book on dulcimers I bought with my first ever dulcimer (I had buggered a cheap kit previous to this and had plunked out a tune or two, but all that did was wet my interest in getting a "Real" dulcimer) Book and instrument in hand I was off to dAD and was stuck there forever. I finally forced myself to learn DAA, bur that was about it. I'd read about detuning strings and moving things around and if you could stomach tab only, then that would be fine as you wouldn't need to know the notes, just the numbers and follow the tab map. I knew that standard notation was out of the question due to the diatonic nature of the instrument. So here I am and several dulcimers later and still play just in dAD, but am content with that (actually a fifth lower, but the same relationship with the strings in G gDG. No longer having two dulcimers or a courting or double neck dulcimer, I really am a one mode player and that's just fine with me. Kevin
I installed my strap buttons with a little help from "youtube". Its a lot easier and less scary than you think. After drilling the holes ( very carefully) role the screws in a dry bar of soap before attaching the buttons. No glue is necessary.
Do we need to worry about the wood before we install a strap button? If it's too thin how would it hold without pulling the screw out and messing up the end of the dulcimer? Should we put some glue also, would this help hold the screw in? Is this something any of us can do?
see as howI have been unable to attend any workshops this is something I have never thought about befor.
@debbie-hinz -- time for a little bit of "tough love" dulcimer style. Dulcimers do not stay in tune -- you need to learn to tune and retune easily and quickly. Dulcimer strings are gonna break whether you do anything wrong or not -- get used to it -- it's not the end of the universe! Strings are cheap -- under $5 a set BUy several and keep them with your instrument 'just in case'. If you play a couple hours a week you probably need to change strings every 4-6 months anyway.
I can see how the plastic, foldable cube with retractable handle would work for small gatherings, performances, etc. As you say, it will hold 2 instruments in form fit cases, plus a few more items. What I'm looking for, however, are suggestions for something 2 or 3 times that size for hauling the large, unweildy instruments (hammered dulcimers, folk harps, steel drums, etc.) and/or multiple dulcimers. I'm thinking here of events/workshops where you would need to transport over a long distance--and possibly in inclement weather--more instruments than what you can haul in a small crate with wheels. Hopefully, as well, it would be something you could push though crowded hallways and wouldn't stick out too far in front of you (which can creat traffic problems).
Debbie, if your strings broke going to DAA from DAd you're going the wrong way. You tune down (losen the strings) from DAd to DAA. To go to DAd from DAA you would tighten the melody string to get that d. BTW, that d is above what is termed the middle C. That's why you typcially see DAA because the A is below that C and you will see a lower case d in DAd to indicate that d is above the middle C.
Debbie, most workshops I've attended (also jams) tune to DAd. I would suggest you invest in a tuner. A clip on is nice especially when attending workshops or jams. With a tuner you'll be able to tune back and forth from DAA to DAd without any problems. Most tuners are inexpensive. There are a couple of threads on this site about tuners. Everyone has their favorite. You can also tune by ear but for me when I'm among a large group of players who are also retuning their instruments it gets a bit difficult to hear my own and that's why I have a clip on tuner. Just my 2 cents
Debbie, while it may be true that DAd is more preferred, it all depends on the festival. Some will state the tuning in the class description, but a phone call to the person in charge of the event should be able to answer your question, if you want (or need) to know before you arrive. I have been to a festival in the past few years where DAa was the preferred tuning of most of the attendees.
Another source of boxes (if you can't somebody to give you one) is Uline packaging, online http://www.uline.com/BL_406/Long-Boxes. You have to buy a bundle of 10, but the cost of the whole bundle is cheaper than taking your instruments to a a commercial shipper.
Just another option....
It looks like a Wegen BG100 or 120
