Initially I learned a few simple tunes all around the same time. They were "Boil Them Cabbage Down", "Mairi's Wedding", "The Southwind" and "Rosin the Beau/Bow". I believe the one I actually learned first was "Mairi's Wedding", but it might have been "Boil Them Cabbage Down". In one sense it seems like so long ago, and yet in another it feels like yesterday. :)
Even tho' it was a very long time ago I have no trouble 'naming that tune'. It was "AU CLAIR DE LUNE" ! How can I be so precise ? 'Cos I'm looking at the book I learnt it from, "Make and Play the Dulcimer" by John Pearse (copyright 1970) Ignoring the 'Make' content, I rate the shortish 'Play' section of that book as one of the best absolute beginner scripts I have ever come across, simple and uncluttered, with some very useful illustrations. Must admit to some bias here tho', the book has sections on using a 'noter', and 'feathering'four ways, no less , including 'beating' (as you see, I have been playing on the 'dark side' for a very long time, lol) The availability of the book coincided with a weekly TV series "How To Make and Play The Dulcimer", and the emergence of a Folk/Rock Group named 'SteelEye Span', which included one 'Tim Hart', who sometimes played ..........Mountain Dulcimer !
JohnH
My first song was Rosin the Beau, which I learned from the Bing Futch video on YouTube . I became obsessed with the dulcimer about 4 months before actually buying one, and over those four months I watched that video so much that when I finally got my dulcimer, I pulled over to the side of the road, and played about half of that tune from memory. By the end of the day I had the rest of the tune as well. Oh, my playing wasn't that great, but it was a nice start!
First song was Verdant Braes of Skreen which I got from More Irish Street Ballads by Colm O' Lochlann, first tunes were Petrie's Polka and Murphy's Polka I learnt from the group Na Fil.
Lord Lovel and Shady Grove from Larkin Bryant's book. One fingerpicked, one strummed, both in different tunings...and as I told people before, I felt fulfilled and just played those 2 songs for almost 10 years and had never seen or heard another dulcimer player in that time.
It would have been one of 'Red River Valley' , 'You are my Sunshine' , 'Good bye Girls I'm Going to Boston' or Bonepart Crossing the Rhine'. Probably Red River Valley.
These were the first few tunes I was taught and they got played to death until the fateful day when I was playing GBGIGTB and it morphed into 'The Dorset Four Hand Reel'. That was when I discovered I could play by ear and didn't need to remember fret orders or anything like that. There was no stopping after that and suddenly I could play hundreds of tunes.
Thinking back to those days(early 70s) a couple of songs I remember as very popular were 'Willie Moore' and 'Pretty Polly', neither seems to get much of a mention nowadays.
I don't remember for certain, but I would have to say either Bile dem cabbage down or Go Tell Aunt Rhody. Neither song do I play on a consistent basis now.
Blow the Candles Out arranged by Randy Wilkinson
Greensleaves from the Mel Bay book Introduction to the Apalachian Dulcimer.
It still knocks people out when demonstrating the dulcimer.
Can't really remember that far back, when I'se a youngun, but it was probably "Amazing Grace". It was the mid-seventies, and dulcimers were beginning to get more popular, but were played mostly Jean Ritchie-style.
Little Rosewood Casket.
The Crawdad Song for me.
I "Biled Dem Cabbage Down". LOL.
Good thread to start, James.
Thought it would be a nice thread idea for people to share about what there first song was on the dulcimer, and maybe any back story or how it came to be.
Mine was Wildwood Flower. I'd been playing autoharp and guitar the local dulcimer club, and there was a Thursday night session where it was just me and the lady that ran it. We were doing some tunes, and we started playing Wildwood Flower. I looked at her, and said, Diane, can you show me how to play that on the dulcimer? So line by line, I was shown on her dulcimer how to play Wildwood Flower. Diane favored DAA, so I was first shown Wildwood Flower out of DAA. After a while, I relearned it in DAd and then never could play it out Ionian tuning to save my life. Even now, on my 3 string Clark model dulcimer from Dan Cox that is tuned bagpipe Ccc, I play it from the open fret using DAd tab. My eventual goal is to relearn it out of Ionian, and usually I can do the first two lines just fine, but the third is where things start going south for me
It is on my dulcimer bucket list to do, so we'll see.
When I send something I usually ask and pay for tracking number so I can be sure it gets to its destination. I've ordered things from ebay and I haven't had a problem yet. The seller always gives me a tracking number. It comes in handy where I live since our local post office has a reputation for not being reliable. In fact, we made the news a couple of weeks ago. The Washington D.C. area was reported as having mailed delivered after 6 p.m. We were one of those areas. Fortunately that has changed and we now get mail in the afternoon. I could tell you some stories but I don't want to worry you. Give it a couple of days and then go to your local post office and ask them if there is a way they can search it.
Here in Lansing, MI, I usually can track a USPS shipment to the time it was accepted for transit and, if it happens to come from east or south of us, once in the Allen Park, MI sorting center and once more when it's out for delivery. But that, of course, depends on the sender adding tracking to the postage. I've had Parcel Post shipments, even with a tracking number, take long vacations to all sorts of places. The upside of this is I've never actually not had a dulcimer delivered and never received one in damaged condition from USPS. So, frustrating as it is, hold out hopes, Kristi, and I'm winging what positive energy I can your way as well.
I tried one out... Very tight strings and takes a lot of hand power .... For a man it would be great! they do sound good!
Steven Berger said:
Paula, check out the Gold Tone Dulciborn...I don't have one, but the samples on YouTube are worth watching...it's a dulcimer disguised as a Weissenborn guitar...and it sounds incredible.
Great!!! love to try it!
Ivan Bradley said:
Hi, Paula, you might consider the Blue Lion Acoustic Jam model as well. I'll bring mine to TVDS this Saturday so you can try it out. It's not for sale, but it could give you another idea in your search. Blue Lion usually makes a few of them in each production run, so, if they haven't been ordered one might be available there soon. I'll bring my Ron Gibson baritone as well. With its deep body and boat shape it projects pretty well and could be another consideration with a regular set of strings.
See you Saturday.
Ivan
Paula, check out the Gold Tone Dulciborn...I don't have one, but the samples on YouTube are worth watching...it's a dulcimer disguised as a Weissenborn guitar...and it sounds incredible.
Hi, Paula, you might consider the Blue Lion Acoustic Jam model as well. I'll bring mine to TVDS this Saturday so you can try it out. It's not for sale, but it could give you another idea in your search. Blue Lion usually makes a few of them in each production run, so, if they haven't been ordered one might be available there soon. I'll bring my Ron Gibson baritone as well. With its deep body and boat shape it projects pretty well and could be another consideration with a regular set of strings.
See you Saturday.
Ivan
Hi Bill could you also send me that same information.
There are so many makers out there.
I am looking specifically for a sweet sound, some projection, and not twangy...!! more guitar sounding but enough volume so you can hear yourself in a jam.
I like Gallers for that reason but he does not seem to be making them, and I cannot find a used one.
any other suggestions for the description a above?
I wanted to add that one of the products I used had been effective for eliminating the odor of a dead animal that was decomposing under a fellow worker's bed one summer (the place was using tents as a cost saving measure!). Everyone who shared the tent thought the guy had really disgusting body odor--but they were so pleased that the industrial strength hospital surface germ killer spray made living with him possible when used every 12 hours. They didn't discover the dead animal until the last day when they were packing up and breaking down the tent.
It wasn't me, but my brother Steveand my future husband, Craig, who shared the tent with this guy!
And, no, that spray didn't even begin to help this dulcimer! 
I bought a MD and case off Ebay that must have belonged to a smoker. I took a small air compressor and blew out all the dust I could get to inside and outside the MD. Do this outside so you don't smell up the house. I sprayed the case with fabreeze and put it in the garage. Several treatments cured the case. I took dryer strips and sprayed them with fabreeze and stuffed them into the sound holes. I also wiped down the outside of the MD with a slightly damp paper towels. Refresh/replace the dryer strips weekly and eventually the smell will go away. Initially you are replacing one smell with another until the smell disapaites over time.
Hi Tumbleweed!
I had the same question because I had purchased an old dulcimer that just stunk to high heaven....I don't remember what I paid for it, but I figured it was worth the price to have it as a wall-hanger if nothing else because it was very attractive. It has a wooden case and the case had been "padded" with industrial carpet glued on and that had deteriorated and smelled really bad. I tore out as much of the carpet as I could and then set the case in my garage to air out....that was about 5-10 years ago and it's still out there somewhere....I was finally able to bring the instrument inside the house a couple years ago, but it's in some out of the way place....still haven't put it up ona wall where I might breathe the residual mustiness. Some people say they actually LIKE the smell of old musty wood, but I find it very offensive. At least I don't have to work on keeping out scorpions, as Kristi Keller mentioned! I have to say that I asked for advice here and I think I tried everyone's tips, but nothing except "airing it out" over a long period of time seemed to make any real difference. I hope you have better luck than I did!
Welcome to FOTMD! Lots of good folks here....and we're happy to have one more! 
Jan
I just bought one from an estate sale in Florida and the harp itself is in great condition but will need a good tuning etc. I am sure it has been in storage for awhile and the case will need to be replaced. The musty smell from the case is on the harp but not as bad. I have read about putting it out in sunlight but I live in a desert area and it is August, not a good idea this time of year. I have also read to put sage or cedar chips in the sound hole but not sure if I would be able to get it all out. I am open to suggestions on how to clean it up safely and to get the stink out. Thanks
If you please I'd be more specific? There are 2 noter movements in particular I avoided for a while. They are eighth notes played with a quick flick of the wrist....& there ain't no such thing as a slow flick right?....you either flick it or you don't! That 7-8-7 and its reverse cousin and more difficult 4-3-4 are tough to get to sound clear. Of course the higher up the fretboard these movements are used the easier it gets b/c the frets are closer together. Use the force !
BTW I hear Robin using these noter movements in her playing.
' Oh you know all the notes, and you sing all the words, but you never quite learn the song ... ' The Hedgehog Song
Know the feeling well Randy. Someone asked me to play 'The Siege of Delhi' the other week, no trouble working out the notes, no trouble working out the rhythm, but fitting the two together is a nightmare. Easy enough to play slow*** but as soon as you try and get up to speed your arm's swinging about like a demented pendulum and any fine control goes out the window.
In the end you just find yourself 'catching' it one day and then wonder why it was ever a bother in the first place
*** It does seem fashionable to play some of these old tunes that commemorate massacres as laments instead of quick marches nowadays though.
Robin beautiful playing, hard to pick a favourite from the play list, I do like B in the L. I love them all.
"It's a timing thing that I can't think about too much...."
Robin...this is so true with my noter playing too. Like...if I'm flatpicking a tune and have trouble with a passage I can repeat, repeat the troublesome measure or two at a slower tempo and eventually my fingers can figure it out. But with noter playing I find there are certain techniques that I can only get going by playing them up to speed....slowing them down doesn't help so much....hard to explain.
"Use the force Luke!"
Once I started thinking about going with the force I could play passages I once avoided with the noter. Sometimes I get 'em and sometimes I don't but the more I play the better I can navigate the tricky techniques by just going for it and trusting the force......: )....f'real....
