Forum Activity for @ken-hulme

Barbara said "When changing the key in the Mixolydian mode to F for instance, would the first string be tuned to F, the second a fifth higher and the melody strings to F an octave higher than the first?"

That's spot on! Other than by letter (DAA) or Mode name (Dorian) you will also see tunings referred to by number -- 1-5-8 or 1-5-5 for example, where the bass string is the first number, the middle string is a 5th above, and the melody string is some other value relative to the bass string.

Usually the "octave higher" note is written with a lower case letter to indicate that it is an octave higher -- not DAD, but DAd.

You will likely find that some songs are hard to sing in some keys, but other songs will be easy in those keys. I can't explain this in music theory terms, but what Guy said probably covers it. I only know from experience that I need to try songs in different keys until my voice fits. I sing in C,D,E F, G and A, but not all songs fit the same keys. In G, I often need to sing in a lower octave than I would use in E for the same song. With some songs I have a few choices that I can reach easily, with other songs I may have only one or two good keys. You have to experiment with your voice to find what suits your vocal range.

A key is not the only determining factor which makes a song easy or difficult. All songs have something called a "tessitura," or vocal range. It depends on a combination of the tessitura of a song, the voice type of the singer in question, and the amount of training or lack thereof of the singer which will determine which key is comfortable for a singer to sing in.

Many (but not all) traditional melodies tend to have similar vocal ranges, making the key of D difficult for many women to sing in because it will be at or above the second passaggio (break area) in a woman's voice. This can be very difficult especially in untrained voices, (however some untrained soprano voices work much better in D than C in these melodies).

The Key of D for tenors and high baritones (again depending on the melody and the voice in question), will actually be more comfortable in D than in C in many of these songs, due to the fact that the melodies will often peak just below their first passaggio (break area). In fact, in a tenor's voice, the key of D can often be a bit low for some traditional melodies. So it's really all very relative.

Harder or easier to sing with are relative terms. It depends on your voice.

Any Mode can be tuned to any key. DAA is Ionian Mode in the key of D. Drop everything one note and you have CGG, Ionian Mode in the key of C. DAd is Mixolydian Mode, key of D. Again drop everything one note and you have CGc, Mixolydian Mode in the key of C. The strings that came on your dulcimer will easily tune down to C.

The only drawback to tuning outside of the key of D is that you won't be able to play together with most other dulcimer players (as they believe D is the only key!). But if you are primarily a soloist and a singer then there're no real problem.

In all Ionian Modal tunings, the scale starts at the 3rd fret. All Mixolydian Modal tunings have the scale beginning on the open, unfretted string.

Modes are scales, like do, re, mi, fa, sol la, ti do -- which just happens to be the Ionian Mode scale. The Mixolydian Mode scale is do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti-flat, do. Any Mode (scale) can be in any key. Generally the keynote of the dulcimer is the note to which the bass string is tuned - A, B, C, D, E, F, G

To understand the interrelationships between Tunings, Modes, Scales, etc, I recommend you read my blog article here called Uncontrite Modal Folker : http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/profiles/blogs/uncontrite-modal-fo...

My other article, called I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What? Answers many beginner questions about tuning and playing, care and feeding, and an illustrated glossary of terms of the dulcimer. It's here:

http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/profiles/blogs/i-just-got-a-dulcimer-now-what

I guess the question is, is D too high or too low for you? C is only 1 step lower than D or 5 1/2 steps higher. Try this for an experiment. If you're in DAd, tune the middle string down to G. You can then see if G is a better key for you than D. We can have a better idea of where to go after that.

Rob

What are you using to tune to DAd at the moment? Won't that give you a C to tune to rather than a D?

I would think that your strings would be OK tuned down just one tone - you should experiment a little yourself and see how your dulcimer sounds and feels before making any string changes.

Robin

Hi Barbara,

The melody strings may be a little slack tuned down a tone to c - just give it try though as it won't do any harm.

I know what you mean about the dulcimer and music theory!!! I played varoius instruments for many years before discovering the dulcimer. And this 'simple' instrument hascaused me to learn way more theory than I knew before - plus it is the only instrument I play where I have felt I needed to learn to read music because it is a useful skill.

Hi Barbara,

If you tune all your strings down one tone from DAd to CGc you will be in the key of C with the 'doe' at the open string as it is in DAd.

Noter drone players, like Strumelia, canchange tunings to coverquite a wide range of keys easier than a chord melody player.

The double back of the Galax dulcimer style, as john says, allows the inner back to vibrate freely rather than be muffled in your lap. Some early styles of dulcimer were built with feet, and when played on a table give the same effect -- significant additional volume. Try this for yourself by setting two pencils on a table spaced to support the dulcimer more or less near the ends. You'll notice significantly more volume.

Some people use a detachable false back called a Possum Board on which you can set any dulcimer. The board is usually 3/8" or 1/2" thick and 6-8" wide, and has two unpadded wooden dowels glued to it to suspend the dulcimer. Various combinations of elastic bands hold the dulcimer in place if friction doesn't. Most Possum Boards are player-made, although some of the dulcimer builders also make them for sale.

I us a Possum Board with my Uncle Ed Thomas replica dulcimer by John Knopf, and it makes a world of difference!

The vibrating back of the dulcimer doesn't actually make contact with your lap, so there is a greater resonance and a bit more volume to the sound.

Thanks Carrie!

Next week my holidays are definitvely over. So I took the chance to record it today...

Here's the video corresponding to this tablature:

As there are so many different versions of "Rosin the Bow" (I tend to believe that "Bow" is older than "Beau" and "rosin" not to be a name, but the verb describing the preparation of fiddle strings), I searched for a really "old" source for the tune.

I made a find here (turn to the second page of the document):

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.music.sm1852.191620/pageturner.html

This is a print of 1852 - I didn't find the earliest print of 1838. Don't ask me why it is in a collection of "Ethiopian melodies!"

So I took that melody, transposed it from "G" to "D" and wrote an easy arrangement for it.

Here it is, hope someone likes it. Enjoy!

That's right. I sold the Eede Beede to someone else, I think in Canada. I have sold the Folkroots Travel dulcimer to one of the students in my local group. She loves it. Thanks again for the comment.

Not quite, Joe. I bought my Eede Beede directly from David. I think you might have bought a Folkroots Travel dulcimer from me and then went searching for a capo for it. Am I right about that?

Thanks for the note Dusty. I believe you are the man I sold my "eede beede" octave dulcimer to, right? I might leave mine like it is for now.

David Beede ships his octave dulcimers with .008 for the melody, .010 for the middle, and a wound .011 for the bass.

It might be hard to find a wound string of that size. My local acoustic instrument shop had to special order them for me.

However, the reason not to try one would be the slot in the bridge and nut. If the slot is cut for a regular steel string, then the wound string might not fit in it very well. And if it does make its way into the slot, it might stretch it, potentially ruining it for regular strings. I would say be careful.

I have a dulcimette with an 18" long fretboard. The strings are regular metal, #10 for bass and #8 for the middle and melody strings. I was wondering if I could add a wound string, instead of the #10 regular string for the bass. I used to have one of the octave dulcimers built by Beebe in Florida and it used a wound string on the bass, but I do not know what size was used. The guy that built the dulcimette does not build them anymore and he did not think it would tune right with a wound string. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Steven,

I agree with Dusty. I purchased my first "Student Dulcimer" from David Lunch and it is awesome. In fact my wife wants one now as well. She also plays the autoharp. If I may make one suggestion (if you purchase from David), spend the additional $10.00 to have buttons put on (for a strap). If I didn't have a strap around my waist I would be chasing my dulcimer all over the place - not to mention off the floor. Just a suggestion

Hi, Steven. I don't see my response on here that I sent the other day, so I'll try again. We still have the hourglass dulcimer that my wife started on. She has since bought a Gallier A-frame like mine, but the little hourglass still plays just fine. I'm not sure who made it, but it's well cared for and nice looking, with a good voice. It has a strap, gig bag and pick. It's ready to play for only 75$+ shipping. You can see pictures on my personal page on this web site.

By the way, welcome to the dulcimer community. You're gonna like it here!

Dewey Parker

Steven,

Everyone has made some great suggestions. I just want to add that a cardboard dulcimer is very good as Dusty said. Yes, it is cardboard but the sound is pretty amazing. I assembled a cardboard dulcimer from Backyard Music for our 4H project last year. I truly was surprised at the volume. I really didn't expect it. I've been very pleased with it. You may not want to go the cardboard route but I just want to let you know it's not a toy instrument, not at all. Also, one of these days I'll post a vid of me playing it. I've been wanting to do that but life has been very busy for me this summer. I'll just have to squeeze that in best I can. I'm sure you'll get a good dulcimer for your wife

Any time, Steven; any time. We welcome questions, and although it may seem like you get a wide range of answers, quite often it's the case that there is no one way of doing things, and each player has to arrive at what works best for him/er.

Another vote here for the Harpmaker Dave Student model. I've been playing dulcimer for nearly 40 years, and about 3 years back Dave made me a slightly customized version of his Student model, which I really like. It's light, it's sturdy, it has great mid range sound (not high silvery trad sound, not deep mellow modern sound.... just right), and it looks nice too. Like JohnH I've made dulcimers and know what to look for, and Dave's are top notch.

Shape (teardrop, hourglass) is only an aesthetic consideration, not a performance factor. Likewise wood choice is mostly cosmetic (because of the way dulcimer sound is produced) unlike guitars.

Avoid FirstAct, and avoid Applecreek in particular. They are made "offshore" by people who can't spell 'dulcimer', and have a very poor reputation among dulcimer players who've been around for any time.

Steven, the only thing that I can add to the previous post is that I whole heartedly agree with what Dusty as said. I make dulcimers, and would happily lay claim to his student instruments, great value for money IMHO 1

JohnH

Steven, there are many affordable options for entry-level dulcimers. Very good cardboard dulcimers are sold new for as little as $60. I recently played one made by Folkcraft and it sounded remarkably good. There are also several luthiers who make student dulcimers for under $200.

I would personally recommend a student dulcimer by David "Harpmaker" Lynch of Sweet Woods Instruments. You can find his website here . He sells a student dulcimer for $125. David is also a member here at FOTMD so you can contact him directly without leaving this website.

I had heard other players recommend his student dulcimer and comment that it plays as well and sounds as nice as dulcimers costing well over three times the price. I just bought one for myself last month. I wanted an affordable instrument to play on the east coast since I spend a few weeks every summer and a few weeks over the holidays there every year. And I'll be honest that it was hard for me to leave it behind when I came back home. The dulcimer is made of birch ply, I believe, which helps keep costs down. And David knows what he is doing. The intonation is excellent and the sound surprisinglyrich. It seems to play just as well for soft, fingerstyle play and for louder strumming with a flatpick.

If you get a cardboard dulcimer or most other student models and your wife decides that she does enjoy playing and wants to keep doing it, you will have to upgrade and get a nicer dulcimer. With David's student model, she may want to upgrade, but she won't have to. It would be a satisfying instrument for years. I expect to keep mine. And if you do decide to upgrade, David has some kind of trade-in policy as well.

There are no silly questions. Just ones that you don't ask and don't get answered.

The hole in the soundboard, under the fretboard, is to facilitate the soundwaves passing into the body cavity of the dulcimer. Unlike guitars, mandolins or lutes, the dulcimer top does not make a very large part of the sound, because it has that huge brace down the center (called a fretboard) that is preventing much top vibration. You can close the gap between the two soundboards, but you'll get a better sound by keeping the gap open under the inverted U of the fretboard.

So far there is only one dulcimer builder actively pursuing an academic, quantitative (not qualitative) study of the dulcimer, a chap named Richard Troughear, from Australia. You can read his fascinating discoveries on EverythingDulcimer. Some 20 pages of intense reading begins here:

http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/discuss/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1...

Sorry jessica, my fault for making assumptions, and thus 'not delivering the goods' . No problem with the space you refer to, even when the soundboard starts out as one full width piece it is not uncommon to make a similar sized channel in it to that already in the fret board, thetwo channels being matched up during subsequent assembly. In your particular instance the procedure would be to pin and glue the chosen inside edges of the two sound board pieces so as they line up with your pre existing channel in the fretboard, thus making one prefabricated item out of two.( I usually do this after I have cut the pieces to shape, ie, two halves of a teardrop or hourglass soundboard.)

That make more sense to you ?

best wishes

JohnH

Hello jessica ! I am assuming that your fretboard is channeled down its length, in section like an inverted 'u'. Various reasons are offered as to why this is done. Reduction in weight, increase in internal volume, avoidance of making what for some could be an awkward joint, making best use of available widths of soundboard material ect . It is common practice to construct this way, and done properly should not affect any strength properties, and should result in some increase in volume.

I am sure that you will get other advice/answers, there are some very helpful people on this site, with years of building experience between them !! Use 'em

good luck with the build

JohnH

1. Always have spare strings around.

2. Strings are strings are string. Brand name makes virtually no difference. I prefer www.juststrings.com and buy their bulk strings.

3. Sounds like loop end strings are what you probably should use.

4. It's never worth the time trying to 'repair' a string. Trust me on this....

5. Make sure the string pins angle slightly down - away from the top of the dulcimer. Post a picture.

6. Always tune a 'singing' string. Pluck the string you want to tune. Quickly turn the tuner you think is right, one-quarter turn. If the string does not change it's sound, STOP! You have the wrong tuner.

7. Read my article here called I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What? It's an illustrated glossary of dulcimer terms, and answers to many beginner questions about the tuning, playing, care and feeding of the dulcimer. You can find it here:

http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/profiles/blogs/i-just-got-a-dulcimer-now-what

Loop end strings will stay put better for you on the little hitchpin.

Always have extra strings on hand, strings do break occasionally, it's normal.

Hi Jeni,

1. You can order strings directly from Folkcraft, Prussia Valley Dulcimers, and Just Strings dot com are three places to buy strings. I don't know if Gary carries Folkcraft strings, but if you know the gauges of the strings you just need to buy four single strings in the proper sizes.

2. One reason for the string riding up might be the angle of the hitch pin. Check to see if it is at the same angle as the others.

3. Loop end strings will fit tighter to the base of the hitch. If the problem continues with ball end strings switching is an alternative.

You didn't tell us what make of dulcimer you have. That may help us determine the problem.

Thank's Babs

Thanks Sharon and Dusty !

I really enjoyed sitting down yesterday evening with that short clip of Willie Nelson and seeing what I could come up with on that old Tignor dulcimer.

I still feel that I'm just scratching the surface of what's possible on an old dulcimer with a noter. The more I play these early dulcimer designs the more admiration and respect I gain for those traditional players and builders of these 'boxes of possibilities'

Wow, Robin. That is a haunting version of the song. It's putting shivers up my spine. Your commandand ability to get nuanced sound out of the noter is just remarkable.

Hi Sharon,

I found a short clip of the Willie Nelson version of Amazing Grace from Songbird on Amazon. He is singing it in Em and using accidentals. I've had a quick go at the tune and tried to capture the same sort of feel. I used E,B,A tuning on my old Tignor staple fretted dulcimer and a hardwood noter to capture the accidentals. As I'm playing noter drone I don't have the chord changes that are on the Nelson version but I've tried to get the same sort of lilt in the melody. I've added some pick up notes to each phrase so the sound is not quite so sparse.

I've heard Willie do a couple of versions, but I would say they were mostly in the traditional major key with a couple of minor chords thrown in. I think I don't know the version you are referring to.

Here is a minor version of the song by the Blind Boys of Alabama to the tune we usually associate with House of the Rising Son:

Becca, should you decide to get a bowed psaltery, I have a copy of Kendra Ward's instruction book I'll send you for free. It's designed for people who have little or no music knowledge, i.e., it gives the basics about the notes on the staff, time values, etc. Since I had played a number of instruments before, most of it was repetitious for me. Actually, the bowed psaltery isn't all that hard to learn without a teacher but, if you can get to a festival or two with BP classes, that's a plus. I don't know if you noticed on Rick's site, but he'll be holding the E. Tennessee Bowed Psaltery Gathering Nov. 1-3. If you could get there for some or all of it I'm sure you'd enjoy it.

Actually, Ken, the 20 note psaltery is 2-1/2 octaves, but it's most likely diatonic in the key of C. There seem to be relatively more left handed bowed psaltery players than, say, left handed violinists or cellists.