Forum Activity for @dusty

Babs, I have a couple of books of Celtic tunes but I don't really know which ones are the more common ones, so rather than just choosing tunes at random, I'm looking for those that a lot of players would either know or at least be interested in learning. I'll definitely check out the book you mention, though.

Babs Greene said:

The Complete Book of Celtic Music for Appalachian Dulcimer has a few that you might be interested in.

Linda, the list is obviously a personal one. I included what I thought to be common tunes as well as tunes that I happen to know. I'll check out Red is the Rose. And we might play Wild Mountain Thyme, but I won't put it on the list with tablature since it's still under copyright. Thanks for the suggestions!

Linda W. Collins said:

This is quite a varied list. How about adding:

Red Is the Rose

Will Ye Go, Lassie Go? (Wild Mountain Thyme)

Thanks, Ken. I could probably add Lock Lomond and Auld Lang Syne right away. The others I'll have to learn first. But thanks for the suggestions.

Ken Hulme said:

Loch Lomond

Banks of the Bann

Maire's Wedding

Auld Lang Syne

Tramps and Hawkers

Thanks, Peter. I'll check out Down By the Sally Gardens. And its funny, but I just arranged a version of Leaving of Liverpool for my regular dulcimer group, but I always thought of it as English rather than Irish since it mentions Liverpool. Now that I think about it, though, it was always sung by those Irish groups like the Clancy Brothers, the Pogues, and Tommy Makem, wasn't it?

Peter W. said:

you could add

... Down by the Sall[e]y Gardens

and perhaps...

... Leaving of Liverpool

Looks like a great list to me. I tend to do a lot of so called "Celtic" music, but I don't think most of mine is very common LOL. Down By The Sally Gardens might be a nice addition to your list.

This is quite a varied list. How about adding:

Red Is the Rose

Will Ye Go, Lassie Go? (Wild Mountain Thyme)

If you need it, TAB for each of these is in my book Beyond the Basics .

Best of luck with the jam!

Linda

www.cabinhillmusic.com

Scottish folk tunes are what I particularly love, Dusty. Here's a few common, simple ones that aren't on the list

Loch Lomond

Banks of the Bann

Maire's Wedding

Auld Lang Syne

Tramps and Hawkers

You're list is perfect, Dusty!

Just to make it a little more perfect , you could add

... Down by the Sall[e]y Gardens

(one of the first dulcimer pieces I ever played; I recorded this just a few weeks after I started to play the MD)

and perhaps...

... Leaving of Liverpool

Hello good people of FOTMD. I have been asked to lead a Celtic jam at this spring's Berkeley Dulcimer Gathering . I agreed to do it only after making it clear that this would not be an Irish or Celtic "session" but would more resemble a song circle in which we focused on Celtic tunes, including many slower tunes.

The way this jam is being publicized, people are invited to bring a song to play or to learn one from the jam leader (me). And I was asked to put together a list of tunes, ideally with tab, that people could examine ahead of time. I have started that process, and added a page of Celtic Tunes Commonly Played on the Dulcimer on my website.

Please take a look at that list and let me know if I have left out any obvious tunes. I am not necessarily looking for your favorite Irish polka or Scottish lament, but rather tunes that are commonly played on the dulcimer. For example, just yesterday someone suggested that I add "Farewell to Tarwathie" and "All Through the Night." To be honest, I am not looking for anything too complicated, either, for I have to be able to play and perhaps teach any song on the list.

And just for the record, I am fully aware that the very term "Celtic" might be offensive to some in that it glosses over the differences among Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Manx, and Breton musical cultures. No offense is intended. But from the perspective of the vast immigrant land of the U.S. of A., music from the various Celtic cultures does exhibit some shared characteristics that differentiates it from, for example, Afro-Caribbean music or Baltic music or klezmer or whatever. As a further confessional, I think so far I only have Irish, Scottish, and Welsh tunes on the list. (I ask particular forgiveness from the Breton family I lived with for 6 months in the late 1980s. Pardonnez-moi.)

I welcome any suggestions you have. And if you have none because my list is so wonderful, well I'd love to hear that too.

Well, since you're not leaving until September, we'll see you at the Berkeley Dulcimer Gathering on May 30 and the Redwood Dulcimer Day in Santa Cruz on August 1, correct?

Thanks, Ken - actually we're driving across country from CA to TN and back to attend the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough TN which happens the first weekend of October each year. We've always flown, but will be retired this time! So we get to take two months + for this trip. Got to make the best of it, but will not be making it to Florida this time.

Ken Hulme said:

Actually the list here is pretty good. Also the list at EverythingDulcimer: http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/event_display.php

Not a lot going on in the Fall - Sept-Nov but you're always welcome to snowbird down here to Florida where there's almost always something happening!

Actually the list here is pretty good. Also the list at EverythingDulcimer: http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/event_display.php

Not a lot going on in the Fall - Sept-Nov but you're always welcome to snowbird down here to Florida where there's almost always something happening!

Where is the most exhaustive list of Dulcimer Festivals to be found? I'm specifically looking for September, October and early November festivals this year, but would like to know about all of them!

Oh Ken this sounds like I really would love this cd, thank you for your suggestion.

Robert Schuler, I checked out the cd on the DPN site and it is really good.

Thank you for the suggestion, I will enjoy the DPN subscription.

Thank you for the suggestion Robert, I ordered DPN yesterday. Really sounds like a great resource and good reading, good for my Dulci Journey.

Cynthia, I put this book on my tab book wish list and hope to be able to buy it in the future.

My favorite dulcimer CD is the one that came with the book Celtic Songs and Slow Airs (Mel Bay). I got the book about the time I got the McSpadden kit and listened to it all the time I was building that dulcimer. It is not only some of the most beautiful singing and playing I've heard, but the book has all the music and tab to it. I've learned many from there. Neal Hellman is the author of that book. Slow and lovely...

Thank you Robin T.; Oh boy they are going on my cd list, for when I get to buy more.

I am listening to MD music in the car and when I do house chores, so I am saturated with sweet sounds.

Sometimes they rumble in my head when I sleep or when it is quiet too.

Thanks Dusty, this would be an interesting choice, I like folk songs and those from HI, seem to be relaxing.

I put this one on my wish list because I believe I have spent my MD Journey money for this month, but I am going to check into this one.

I have ordered 5 cd's, including Jean Richies Traditional book which comes with a cd, all choices from all of your suggestions and I think these will keep me swaying and singing for a time.

Thanks all for your contributions.....My dulcimer Journey is Fun!

Lexie, my suggested CD is not filled with traditional appalachian folk tunes at all, but I find it to be the most relaxing dulcimer CD of the several dozen that I own: Mark Nelson's Ke Kukima Polinahe: Hawaiian and Polynesian Music for Mountain Dulcimer .

I think there is a book of tab for all the songs on the CD, but it might be difficult stuff for I've never heard anyone else play the tunes.

Thanks Mandy, I will check out your suggestion.

There are great suggestions that many may like here, I am excited to collect folk tunes running through my head and having the sweet sounds of the MD will be of great benefit for my learning to hear songs and play them. Also it will be fun and interesting to see how my Lil' Girl Friend responds to the sounds coming from Aunties home.

Thanks Joe, Gail, Rob, Robert and Ken;

You all tuned me in on some nice selections and I think I will have enough to listen to while I am driving or dancing with my mop and broom.

Joe the Nashville Dulcimers, was a great find and just what I was looking for with songs I am learning on it and some I don't know yet.

Thank you for the link I am sure other's may have an interest also.

Hey Lexie, check out Sarah Morgan. I have her Run to the Window CD and really enjoy it. Good stuff.

Anything by The Simmons Family, from Stone County, Arkansas, home of McSpadden Dulcimers, would be a good choice. Jerry Rockwell had a cd called (something like) Favorite American Folk Tunes, but I'm not sure it's still in print. If Robin Clark's cd is still available that would be good. David Schnaufer's "Tennessee Music Box" cd has a lot of traditional material on it and is (I think) all solo dulcimer. I'm sure there's a couple more that I can't think of right now.

Bob's right; Mary Faith Rhodes would be good, too.

Lexie, here's a link to the recording on Youtube of Ebeneezer - the first tune on the Russell CD. If this doesn't get you up and ready to dance, I don't know what will!

Thanks Robert and Gail for your suggestion.

Robert, I may consider a MP3 player, might work not sure.

Gail, I put the Russell Family on my wish list, I love Galax dulcimer and it sounds like what I am looking for, I am wanting mostly dulcimer alone so I can hear the sweet sounds while I am doing dishes and what not.

Lexie, one of my favorite dulcimer CDs is Galax Style Dulcimer done by Bonnie Russell and the Russell family. I don't know if you are familiar with this style, but I think it's a great CD - done many years ago when Bonnie was only 14 years old, I believe. There is no singing, but the music is great!

What a wonderful resourse Ken, thank you.

I like it especially for the history of the folk songs and I am sure this will give me and others much enjoyment of gathering a verity of folk music I would like to listen too and learn about.

Not "dulcimer", but the best collection of traditional Anglo-American folk music I know is www.contemplator.com -- words and music.

Hi Folks, I am wanting to begin a collection of good Traditional Folk tunes, so I can saturate myself with Mountain Dulcimer music when I am doing house hold chores.

I would like your suggestions, Thanks!

I think a drag is a strum, or a brush.

Babs, I don't know Bonnie's book, though it seems like it would be really helpful.

I can tell you that I developed a technique (mainly from watching Linda Brockinton and Nina Zanetti) of brushing my finger across the strings of the dulcimer. It is like an inward strum, but much softer since it is done by the finger. If you do it quickly, the strings sound in unison, but if you do it slowly, then you get a more arpeggiated sound.

But without reading the discussions of technique in Bonnie's book, I don't know if that's what she means by drag or not.

I would agree with Strumelia. If you are enjoying some of the arrangements in the book you will probably benefit from the explanations and other arrangements there as well.

Babs, I might humbly suggest that if you already are liking some of the tunes from Bonnie's book, then by purchasing it you'd not only get more tunes you'll probably like, but you'd get the benefit of all of her teaching explanations...AND you'd be supporting her efforts in writing all those arrangements you enjoy playing. I have an old copy of Bonnie's Dust off that Dulcimer and Dance!...it's a great book as well!Bonnie is a talented and creative teacher and player.

my story is a lot like Ken's except it happened around the same time when i visited silver dollar city in branson.

Lynn McSpadden had a booth there and Jean Simmons was demonstrating his dulcimers. like Ken i was enchanted

by the song that was coming from Jean's dulcimer. she was playing with a noter and it seemed to me to be

something i could learn. like Ken ....other intruments overwhelmed me and here was one that did not.

i bought a kit and put it together and learned to hack out a few tunes immediately. i was hooked. i built one

from scratch and it was'nt too bad. the dulcimers soon were all over the house and i could'nt afford a bigger

house so i started selling them........or giving them to friends.

i hung out at the shop of David (Buzz) Darby in branson and we became friends. he really inspired me and

helped me learn to make dulcimers. Peter Engler gave me a 10 x 10 corner in his woodcarving and gift shop.

and i was in business full time. before long i was making over 100 instruments per year.

from there i started exhibiting at arts and crafts shows all over the country along with a few music festivals

Back in the early-mid 70s I was wandering around Manitou Springs, CO, and heard this eerie string music. I'd tried guitar and hated it - couldn't see what my fingers were doing. I played a couple kinds of drum and pennywhistle.

But something in this string sound struck a chord (all puns intended). I followed my ears to a little shopcalled Cripple Creek Dulcimers, run by a 'long haired hippy chick' and her fella. Smelled like patchouli in there, and there were things besides dulcimers for sale... I fell in love with the music - a cassette tape by a guy named Kevin Roth and another by a duo called Force & d'Osche. Lon story, short, I eventually bought a kit and built a dulcimer because it was cheaper and I was a poor student on the GI Bill. Found a stick and taught myself to play from the only book available -- The Dulcimer Book-- by some lady named Jean Ritchie.

The rest, as they say, is history...

The hippy couple? Bud & Donna Ford. Became famous dulcimer builder and late prominent citizens in Manitou Springs city government and producers of an annual music festival over Labor Day weekend.

Hi Babs, sorry about the allergy with the tin whistle.

Maybe changing to a Native American Flute made of wood may give you what you got from playing the tin whistle and hopefully no allergic reaction.

Just a thought.