Ok, here is my very first (rather embarrassing) recording attempt on my Michael King jouhikko. It's quite rough, and the intonation leaves a LOT to be desired...but hey there isn't even a fretboard! lol! It's a start!
This is a tune Michael played for me but he doesn't know what it is, neither do I.
So listen: here I am scratching away on it and scaring off the cats. 
Robin, I am enjoying 'trying' to play just very old and very simple folk melodies. I have a few Finnish and Scandinavian type ones. They have to be really simple for me to even attempt them.
I plan to stick with mostly old European/Scandi folk tunes, and maybe find a friend with a (subtle) drum to get a medieval feel to it eventually once I can actually play the thing. :)
Hey Randy thanks!
You are right on all counts except... right now it's anything BUT relaxing!!! 
These things are pretty wild and uncontrollable at the moment- screeching whiney sounds aren't too relaxing. YIKES! lol!
But i am having fun making a mess of it all and trying hard. It'll take me weeks to be able to do a little ditty like michael whips off. Meaning he's busy apologizing for his playing.... 
Randy Adams said:
I love the sound of it in the video. It has to be such a relaxing instrument to play....ya know....you don't have to be Perlman or Paginini right?....just play some nice little melodies.....fun!
And it looks to be a very well made instrument...horsehair strings!....curly maple!....2 piece back!
I love the sound of it in the video. It has to be such a relaxing instrument to play....ya know....you don't have to be Perlman or Paginini right?....just play some nice little melodies.....fun!
And it looks to be a very well made instrument...horsehair strings!....curly maple!....2 piece back!
Since YOUR jouhikko is already a star, your own stardom can't be far behind, Strumelia!
Do you have particular ideas about how you wish to use your new instruments-- say, do you plan to focus on tunes in a particular regional tradition(s) or in accompaniment to another player's instrument(s)?
Seriously, Lisa, if I ever get to your neck of the woods, I'd love to give one of those instruments a go.
In the YouTube video on Michael's website, it looks to be your new jouhikko & case that are showcased!?
Strumelia,
Wonderful slideshow! I'd love to give a pull of the bow or two on each of your bowed lyres-- they're so lovely and your case with the leather handle, forged latches, and knitted interior are neat.
In the YouTube video on Michael's website, it looks to be your new jouhikko & case that are showcased!?
OK, I got my other jouhikko today! (Remember I sold a banjo and was able to buy TWO jouhikkos with the money...wooHOOO!)
This one is SO DIFFERENT from my other one- and that's what I wanted- to try two completely different setups, tunings, and modes of playing. They are both very very cool.
Here is an album of pix of my new beauty. 
They are both challenging to play in their own ways...but I got a head start of 3 weeks on the other one so now I have to work at this new one. The case is almost as wonderful as the instrument!
This jouhikko (bowed lyre/Talharpa) was made by FOTMD member Michael King of the UK. What a great guy and artistic craftsman! Here is his website: http://www.michaeljking.com/
I'm so excited! I have lots of new stuff to work on all winter now! 
It's so neat that you have Swedish ancestors, Lisa! And bowing is a ton of fun. 
Except for when it isn't.
PS-The discussion about being able to drag smiles should've been able to be seen by everybody but me!
I have taken a little time off of doing patent drawings for a type of spray gun today, to work on getting a couple of interesting new tunes to try to play on my new jouhikko (Finnish/Swedish/Estonian folk fiddle-thingy).
I bought a CD of old recordings of Finnish folk songs and have been picking out a couple of tunes to transcribe and play. Wow, talk about non-chord based archaic music!
This will now give me a total of 6 old simple traditional Finnish folk tunes to work on. I can look into Swedish tunes as well (my Swedish grandfather would have loved that, maybe even my Swedish ancestors played the jouhikko/tagelharpa!)
Now if only I could fret the thing in tune...no fingerboard makes it pretty interesting.
The good news is that after about 2 weeks of playing now i do sound a little bit better- less squeaking and scratching with the bow, and a little less horribly out of tune. Just needs few more years of playing now!
But if you ask me if I'm having any fun...YES, a TON !Cool, Lisa! You get a few weeks under your belt and keeping the bow perpendicular to the strings will come easier, I'd bet. I have a ball bowing (my BD's) and have learned that just feeling more comfortable, relaxed with a bow in my hand helps yield better sound. Well, most of the time, anyway. lol
I can't look at jouhikkos much because I want one and don't need to feed that monster right now.
Flint, I'm listening to sample music from Nordisk Sang right now-- really fine. Thanks for the recommendation.
Well I've spent about 45 minutes to an hour each day so far for 4 days. I am excited because i actually see a little improvement just from that short time practicing.
I am only working on 2 VERY simple Finnish folk ditties that came with the instrument- one is in minor mode and one in major. That's all I need to work on for now, because I'm using these two simple tunes like exercises. They each only have 8 measures in them, and only six notes. It's weird to get used to rocking over onto the far (unfretted) drone string for the tonic melody note each time you want it, but I'm starting to get used to that idea. The main melody string is tuned to the second note (Re) of the scale! 
It's tuned AEB - the B being the melody string (the other two strings played open as drones and/or tonic note) in the key of A.
Still sounds like squeaky train brakes, but that's expected. Every once in a while I accidentally hit a couple of nice clear notes and that's enough excitement to keep me motivated! lol!
Mostly trying to hold the bow perpendicular to the strings and move it fast enough to catch the strings well instead of skreeking.
But I'm having tons of fun!!
Lisa, I use an underhand grip on the bow for BD and have used my middle & ring fingers to make some tension adjustments.
I'll keep my eyes open for a progress report from time to time. It's a mostly wonderful experience to be a beginner.
Randy, I love fiddle music and know I couldn't play a fiddle due to neck problems. Darn trouble's curtailed my music playing-- especially MD-- over the last several weeks.
Thanks Randy. I guess I like the challenge. I really respond to the primitive folk sound and the drones, so even the scratchy out of tune practice is pleasing to me in a strange way.
Sounds to me like you should try fiddling with the fiddle held down low against the ribs instead of in 'classic violin' form. brian plays that way often- he says it's the 'lazy' way to play, but it sure sounds good to me!
Randy Adams said:
I admire you for taking on the challenge Lisa. I was 41 (1992) when I started playing the dulcimer...had been playing guitar & banjo for 20+ years.... and I remember thinking I never wanted to learn another instrument....it's a huge undertaking. But I have enjoyed the journey.
The only instrument I would have liked to learn in my life is the fiddle. I have tried 3 or 4 or 5 times and never made it more than 2 weeks!... : (....I just can't do it. Hurts my left wrist to be in the position....my face, and ears, are right next to where the bow is squeaking and scratching... : ).....
Anyways...have fun! This is inspiring! Hope you check in ever so often with a progress report and trials & tribulations!... : ).....
Hi Robin,
i figure it will keep me out of trouble...sometimes.
Yes the strings are made of pretty firmly twisted horsehair. My strings have 6o strands for the low drone and 40 strands for the two higher strings.
Yes, you can make your own strings as they wear and get too thin. I bought extra bowhair hanks which can make the strings too. The bow is horsehair too, but straight not twisted, and somewhat loose- you create extra bowhair tension with your fingers as you bow (underhand grip). you are almost always playing two strings at once.
Robin Thompson said:
Lisa, I'll wait-- got nothin' but time.
Glad Randy started the thread because I was wonderin', too. You probably haven't had it long enough to tell much about the horsehair strings. . . Are the hairs twisted? Do they have to be replaced often? Can you buy hanks of horsehair and make your own strings?
I admire you for taking on the challenge Lisa. I was 41 (1992) when I started playing the dulcimer...had been playing guitar & banjo for 20+ years.... and I remember thinking I never wanted to learn another instrument....it's a huge undertaking. But I have enjoyed the journey.
The only instrument I would have liked to learn in my life is the fiddle. I have tried 3 or 4 or 5 times and never made it more than 2 weeks!... : (....I just can't do it. Hurts my left wrist to be in the position....my face, and ears, are right next to where the bow is squeaking and scratching... : ).....
Anyways...have fun! This is inspiring! Hope you check in ever so often with a progress report and trials & tribulations!... : ).....
Lisa, I'll wait-- got nothin' but time.
Glad Randy started the thread because I was wonderin', too. You probably haven't had it long enough to tell much about the horsehair strings. . . Are the hairs twisted? Do they have to be replaced often? Can you buy hanks of horsehair and make your own strings?
Hey thanks Randy for starting a thread.
Heck, I've only had it about two days and we've been doing various other stuff so I haven;t been able to paractice it as much as I'd like yet, but getting some practice in today.
Here's a good example of a simple tunes played on a jouhikko:
It will take me many months before I can play something that well!
So how's it going. You luvin' it? Is it what you thought it was gonna be?
I'ts not easy- very challenging. Mostly because you are frettin the string in mid air, no frets or fingerboard to guide you. Also bowing is an art in itself and takes a LONG time to get decent. I'm sounding very scratchy and very out of tune- as I expected! It is what I thought it would be, perhaps a tad quieter than I thought, but then it's got horsehair strings, not steel fiddle strings. a nice 'chewy' textured sound.
<Are you taking to it like a duck to water?.. : ).....Are you having fun? Is it hard to play? Do you like the sound? >>>
It's GREAT fun, but not something I can just slip into doing- will take much work, but I kind of knew that going in. Yes, i love the sound, and as you know I love drones. The bowing is what will be the greatest challenge.
<How do you pronounce it? Is it a well made instrument? What type of songs are you going to play?>>>
Pronounced YOO-hee-koh. It's a very simple instrument, not refined like a guitar. Sturdy and wll put together, but primitive, like it was designed to be. (The other one that's almost done will be a little more delicate and refined).
Best suited for simple older folk tunes and some medieval tunes. Played in either major or minor. It uses only 6 notes in the scale, so the tunes must be very simple. On this one, the middle string is a low drone below the tonic note, a fifth. So this one is tuned to key of A and the low drone is an E.
My other one coming soon will be strung and tuned differently and will be played in G. It's low drone string will be on the top side rather than the middle.
<Any one else have/play one of these?>>>
Pristine (Richard) has one from this same maker- I think he got it a year and a half ago, but I don't know if he's been playing it much.
FlintHill said:
<Can't wait to hear you play these.>>>
lol!
I thought this subject deserved it's own thread?...hope you don't mind?
So how's it going. You luvin' it? Is it what you thought it was gonna be? Are you taking to it like a duck to water?.. : ).....Are you having fun? Is it hard to play? Do you like the sound? How do you pronounce it? Is it a well made instrument? What type of songs are you going to play?
Any one else have/play one of these?
----------------------------
Lisa Said:
"Like Dennis, my positive thing for today was getting a new instrument too!
Last official 'real' new instrument was my Galax dulcimer about 6(?) years ago, so this is quite an event.
I got my first of two jouhikkos-- Finnish/Swedish archaic rectangular 3-stringed drone folk fiddles. I sold a nice banjo which paid for them (love when that can happen). I will keep them in two very diff stringing arrangements and tunings.
So tonight I started making some really awful bowing sounds, trying to pick out some notes...fun!
Thank goodness Brian doesn't mind the screaky scratches...and neither does the new kitty- she just snoozes nearby like it was nothing!"
Lots of different music sounds good on the mountain dulcimer. I've found that because folks tend to tune it with drone strings--it actually sounds very nice in duets with fiddles. You can favor the bass string when the fiddle goes high, and favor the treble strings when the fiddle growls low. :)
Very fun.
Best wishes,
Mary Z. Cox
Fiddle tunes have been at the heart of traditional dulcimer repertoire from the beginning, along with other common music of each era. I suspect also that the term "fiddle tune" is sometimes used in error. Some of these tunes were probably first played on other instruments. Certainly anything composed by Turlough O'Carolan was composed on his harp. Here's a couple other points to ponder:
In very early times, the chord-based harmonies that are so standard in modern music were unknown. Fiddlers,harpists, and players of diatonic concertinas played drone backup or else no backup at all. When other instruments played accompaniment it was not based on chords, but harmonizing notes. This may have been parallel 3rds or 5ths, or possibly 2nds, 4ths or 6ths. By definition, a chord contains at least 3 notes. These 2 note backup parts are 'intervals', not chords.These drones above are all scale tones taken from the scale named by the root note. All, to greater or lesser degree, will harmonize with other notes from the same scale. But not all harmonize equally well with each other. The 5th is the one that harmonizes best with the greatest number of the notes in the scale. It works with any mode of that key. The ancient ones may not have understood music theory as it is taught today, or even as taught in Mozart's time, but they recognized what sounded good. I suspect they tried different combination's until found what pleased their ears.
These drones transferred from fiddles and harps to dulcimers and other stringed instruments as they were integrated into early ensembles.
The interval of a 5th above the root note D is A. This is conspicuously identical to the common I-V dulcimer drone for the key of D. And this is the common drone a fiddler would use, and still do in real Old Time fiddle playing. Bluegrass harmony, and fiddle playing, is much more chord based. Orchestra music always was composed and played by highly trained people, who understood chord harmonies. Folk musicians, especially in eras where most common people had no formal education, were based on more ancient systems. Modes instead of scales, etc. The Old Time banjo and the mountain dulcimer are throwbacks to these earlier times, and have retained much that has otherwise evolved away from drones. This is why, as a player of clawhammer banjo, we use multiple tunings, similar to dulcimer players. The tuning contains the mood the song requires to sound as it did in the early days.
Don't take this to suggest all players must embrace fiddle tunes. This is just a history lesson. You still have to play the songs that put a smile on your face. If you play fiddle tunes, with or without drones is purely up to you. Go and enjoy.
Paul
Great question and great replies!
Like a couple of folk here I came to fiddle tunes prior to finding the mountain dulcimer.
I was attending a beginners old time session with my partner (she had just started playing the fiddle) and I took my dobro. I quickly realised that the dobro did not really "fit" the session. The session leader (banjo player) suggested I got a mountain dulcimer as he had seen those played in OT sessions when he was in the US in the 70s. I looked "mountain dulcimer" up on google and found that clip of Stephen Seifert playing "Whisky Before Breakfast" so I ordered one.
I started playing chord/melody style at the OT sessions and the instrument fitted in quite well - but the banjo player kept on saying that I wasn't playing it like he had seen! I switched to noter/drone and "saw the light" so to speak. All the pieces came together and I realised I had an instrument with a natural "fit" to OT sessions and fiddle tunes.
Looking at the history of the MD this makes complete sense. There are lots of historic references to two (this is very simplified) styles of playing the instrument - to accompany voice, and to accompany dance. Fiddle tunes were often played with a whipped quill in a 4 srting equidistant set-up and unison tuning, which gives a shuffle bow style of rhythm. And in some areas the instrument was know as a hog fiddle. Playing the instrument to accompany voice and withtwo differing drone notes and 3 strings (or double course melody) became more well known than the 4 string unison tuningdue to the settlement schools and recording folk artists such as Jean Ritchie. The folk revival of the 60s changed playing habits further and chord/melody became the predominant way to play the instrument, as it is today.
So fiddle tunes have played a major part in the history of the instruments development. But playing fiddle tunes is by no means the only tradition for the MD - it is simply one of the threads. Fiddle tunes when played traditionally with noter and quill just seem to sound right to my ears. I particularly like the old unison tuning style of playing. And I get asked to play noter/drone style at sessions to accompany other musicians more than I do chord/melody - perhaps that is because it brings out the uniqueness of the instrument?
Fiddle tunes are older than the dulcimer, so in some respects and in certain areas the dulcimer itself was designed with the popular tunes of the day in mind. In other areas the design relects ballads and in yet others hymns (church dulcimers). We know that the fiddle itself was shunned in certain communities and it is unlikely that the dulcimer was every used for dance tunes in those areas - and different stringing, tuning and playing methods would have been adopted for religious worship. There was some cross-over playing, and there is a reference to this in "Play of a Fiddle" where Dena Knicely (1910-1994) remembers her father Samual Johnson (born 1866) using a feather to play dance tunes and a bow to play hymns on his dulcimer.
I enjoy playing fiddle tunes in dance rhythms more than I do playing ballads - so my dulcimer set-up and playing style reflect this. Some players are very adept at playing fiddle tunes in chord melody style, often as solo pieces (Mark Gilston for one!). I prefer to play in a noter/drone style and with other musicians or for dancing. It is quite something to have folk dancing around a pub to "Angeline the Baker" played noter/drone on the dulcimer as we did on New years Eve
Like I said, fiddle tunes are not the only thread of dulcimer history but certainly in some areas the design, set-up and playing style of the instrument would have been influenced by those tunes in an endeavour to create dance rhythms from this simple home-build folk instrument. And there is something about the adaption of the European fretted zithers into a new American instrument that must be linked with the needs of the music, though I'm not sure what. I see the music driving the design rather than the design coming before the music?
These are just my own thoughts from reading up on dulcimer history and from my personal playing experience.
Robin
Going back to DT's first post, got me to thinking.
I came to the dulcimer from a background of listening to Irish and Scottish folk music being sung by singers like Tommy Makem, the Corries , and listening to the 60's folk songs, The Chad Mitchell Trio, Joan Baez etc. Nary a fiddle tune in the bunch to my knowledge.
Probably 98 % of my media library is made up of folk song books, CDs, LPs, cassettes and they're all vocals, so it's natural for me to head in that direction rather than trying to learn a bunch of fiddle tunes or any tunes at all for that matter. My mind associates music primarily with vocals to the point where learning a tune not a song is almost impossible for me.
Even the dulcimer records I have from before I started playing the dulcimer are basically solo vocal albums. After I bought my dulcimer I began to gather some TAB books of tunes and performances by David Schnaufer, Stephen Seifert, etc. That's when I became aware of fiddle tunes.
This has been enlightening to me, too. I didn't even own a mountain dulcimer when I got my biggest introduction to fiddle tunes at Old-Time Week at Augusta (at Davis & Elkins College in WV)-- I was there to take an autoharp class. (My husband Mark took a guitar class.) Before going to Augusta, Mark had been playing a few fiddle tunes and I'd been chording/playing rhythm behind him on the autoharp and this is how we were playing when I began to think about getting a mountain dulcimer.
Now, my autoharps are much-neglected because dulcimers (mountain & bowed) have exerted some sort of magical power over me. :)
This is a good question. Don't be surprised if I try to answer it on more than one occasion.
I came to fiddle tunes as a guitar player before I ever knew what a dulcimer was. Part of the attraction is the same as for any folk music. It amazes me that music dating from the seventeenth century or earlier can still resonate today. And somehow I feel a connection with people from the past by understanding the music they played, even if I hear it through modern ears. But whereas some folk tunes require the lyrics to be interesting, fiddle tunes obviously don't, so those of us unhappy with our singing voices might be drawn to fiddle tunes specifically because they are instrumental.
When I first began studying fiddle tunes,I found, as did Strumelia, that they all sounded the same. The only ones I couldeasily recognizewere those that had become standard songs, such as "Arkansas Traveler" (which, like all kids, I learned as "I'm sweeping up a baby bumble bee"), "Eight of January," (the tune for which was used in the pop/rock song "Battle of New Orleans" in the late 1950s), or even "Sailer's Hornpipe," (which my animated buddy Popeye taught me).
But the more I listened and studied, the more I learned the nuances and beauty of each song. "St. Anne's Reel" is really pretty. "Whiskey Before Breakfast" really bounces. "Red-Haired Boy" and "Salt Creek" really surprise with that VII chord.
So for those of us without good singing voices but who want to play traditional folk music, fiddle tunes offer a large repository of material.
There is also a technical reason for playing fiddle tunes. As I learned when trying to be a bluegrass guitar player, you can't fake it with fiddle tunes. Your technique has to be up to par to play these songs at a"danceable" speed. Just practicing them, in other words, helps develop your technique. In fact, a guitarist friend of mine now living in Birmingham who was the reason I took up mandolin (he was just way better on the guitar than Iand also had a killerSanta Cruz dreadnought) has since abandoned bluegrass, but still warms up by playing a large repertoire of fiddle tunes. He claims he gets the same workout as playing scales but has a lot more fun.
One final reason to play fiddle tunes: lots of people know them. I got together with a neighbor recently and while our kids played in the yard she grabbed her banjo and I grabbed my guitar. We hadn't played together inmany a moon, but we still both knew "Old Joe Clark," "The Road to Lisdoonvarna," "Jerusalem Ridge," "Red-haired Boy," "Blackberry Blossom" and so forth. Fiddle tunes serve a social role, since they represent a common repertoire that you can learn on your own and then play with others. And they are far less repetitive than the 12-bar blues!
I've written this before, but my original introduction to the dulcimer came about 18 months ago when I was surfing YouTube for variations on fiddle tunes to improve my guitar playing and found Stephen Seifert playing "Whiskey Before Breakfast." My jaw dropped and I became obsessed with the dulcimer. That something so pretty and so danceable could be played in such an inventive way on such a simple instrument is still astounding to me. When I develop a version of that song on my own dulcimer, I will indeed have reached a milestone.
This is a great question for a thread.
When I first started hearing 'fiddle tunes', I thought they all sounded a lot alike and that there wasn't much to them.
As I listened more, I began to hear the variety amongst them and appreciate their spare structure and little quirks. I grew to really enjoy them.
Aside from that though, I think there is not really a clear repertoire of 'dulcimer music' in the same way as there is 'piano music', 'guitar music', 'banjo music', 'accordion music', etc. That means that dulcimer players have to choose music from elsewhere and adapt it to the dulcimer. Since the dulcimer cannot exactly be chorded like a piano or guitar, most people attempt to adapt music to the dulcimer based first on the MELODY, and then to fill that out with either drones or chords. Traditional fiddle music is mostly chord free, and the melody is nicely laid out in a straightforward and simple way. This makes fiddle tunes very good candidates for transcribing into dulcimer tunes. so I think this has a lot to do with it too.
I'm not sure that all dulcimer players do like fiddle tunes. Personally, I don't. My preference is for Scottish, Irish, and English folk music with a mixture of Israeli songs thrown in for good measure.
As for the fiddle, it's not a favorite instrument to listen to, for me, either. I like lower sounds like the cello or a mellow bowed dulcimer.
It's sort of like Robin saying that she likes chocolate cake, and a lot of people do. But there are a lot of us that would rather have pie or another flavor of cake instead of chocolate. Personally Key Lime Pie is my favorite and if I eat cake I wouldn't pick chocolate. Carrot or Spice is more up my alley. :-)
Hi, David!
I like the sound of lots of the fiddle tunes-- they just grab me. Trying to describe why I like them would be sort of like trying to describe why I like chocolate cake. :) I'm a big fan of old-timey Appalachian music and am a 'by ear' player who doesn't play out of a fiddle songbook (although I did pick up a used one at Half Price Books last year).
PS-It's not universal, I think, that dulcimer players as a whole have a preference for fiddle tunes. ;)
I started playing guitar in my teens and along the way picked up harmonica. Many years later I picked up banjo and mandolin. At about 40 I started playing violin/fiddle. Mountain dulcimer is pretty new to me, barely a year. For my own personal enjoyment I like fiddle and dulcimer the most. There is also a very lonely (and cold) piano in the garage. And a zither of some kind (looks like an autoharp w/o keys) that is unplayable at this point that I may yet get to.
I am looking forward to a continuing autoharp class next week taught by John Hollandsworth. It will be at John C Campbell Folk School in the beautiful North Carolina mountains. I went to a beginning class last August there taught by Ivan Stiles. The Folk School is really a wonderful place - looking forward to it!
