Forum Activity for @michael-vickey

Favorite accessories to go with MD

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Not really an accessory, but for me a necessity: hard shell cases for my mountain dulcimers.Favorite accessory: capo.Michael

Favorite accessories to go with MD

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Not quite what I had in mind, but for you, Autumn, we'll count it. ;-) Autumn said:

I would have to say my fiddle is my favorite accessory. Does that count? :)

Favorite accessories to go with MD

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Thanks for posting the possum board. I'd never seen one close up before. Sort of looks like the end of an ironing board, which also makes a handy stand for playing an MD on. razyn said:

But the term "possum board" historically refers to a pelt stretcher. Also works for cats, btw, or any similar sized critter, the hide of which one wants to use. For several of the appropriate uses, verses of the song "Ground Hog" are informative. Here is an actual possum board; some dulcimer player realized long ago that it was also an acoustically useful accessory.

http://www.museumofappalachia.org/veWebsite/exhibit1/e10342a.htm

Favorite accessories to go with MD

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

But the term "possum board" historically refers to a pelt stretcher. Also works for cats, btw, or any similar sized critter, the hide of which one wants to use. For several of the appropriate uses, verses of the song "Ground Hog" are informative. Here is an actual possum board; some dulcimer player realized long ago that it was also an acoustically useful accessory. http://www.museumofappalachia.org/veWebsite/exhibit1/e10342a.htm

Favorite accessories to go with MD

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

And my possum boards have a type of rubber matting on the back which keeps them in my lap, but doesn't come in contact with the instrument. Each one has movable lifts which can adjust to the shape of the instrument by sliding back and forth. I usually don't have to do this as my instruments are generally all about the same length. But if I got a baby dulcimer the possum boards would hold that size equally well, and add volume. Robin Thompson said:

Rosemary,
A dulcimer rests on a possum board for play, allowing the back of the dulcimer to vibrate with greater freedom, thus producing greater volume.

One of my favorite dulcimer accessories is a section of rubber bath mat that's placed on the lap under the dulcimer. Since I don't usually use a strap on my instrument, I like the mat for keeping the instrument from sliding onto the floor. :)

Favorite accessories to go with MD

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Rosemary,A dulcimer rests on a possum board for play, allowing the back of the dulcimer to vibrate with greater freedom, thus producing greater volume.One of my favorite dulcimer accessories is a section of rubber bath mat that's placed on the lap under the dulcimer. Since I don't usually use a strap on my instrument, I like the mat for keeping the instrument from sliding onto the floor. :)

Favorite accessories to go with MD

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I thought this would fit in this category best. What is or are your favorite accessory or accessories to go with your mountain dulcimer. Here's a photo of mine. 2 types of possum boards, one has an extending leg, and a low picking chair so I don't have to sit with my legs bent and on tip toe to keep my lap flat

I worry every time I try to add a photo. ;-)
updated by @folkfan: 10/27/19 12:02:25PM

Sounds like you will be able to make the switch fairly easily- if you can do it already, even if awkwardly. Yay! This will make everything a whole lot easier especially if you buy other instruments in the future (and if you sell any too). Keep at it! the fact that you were able to use scissors right handed was a good indicator.

I think it would make more sense to string the dulcimer backward and turn it around. Might have to re-notch the nut and bridge, or make a new bridge if it's compensated (longer VSL for the bass string). Very few dulcimers have anything like a bass bar inside, that would cause reversal of the string gauges to mess with the actual sound of the instrument.

I am also left handed when writing, throwing the ball, and I need those special scissors..lol but I have always played my instruments right handed.. I say do what is comfortable to you.. I know several dulcimer players that are left handed and do fine.. I tried it once but had been playing to long the other way..lol just a quick story.. I had a student who started lessons with a loaner instrument of mine which was set up right handed... she was doing ok but struggling a little with strumming.. after several years of lessons she saw a left handed player and he let her try his and she felt more comfortable.. so next class I switch her set up to left handed.. and she been do better with her playing.. any way like I said do what you want...but that's just my opinion.. :) :)

I'm left handed when writing or drawing, or using a fork. But I'm right handed with scissors, hammer, throwing a ball, knitting, etc.I play all instruments like a right-hander.I'd say if you can use scissors right-handed, you could definitely play instruments that way too.Just my 2 cents.
updated by @strumelia: 02/12/16 09:51:19PM

Dulcilora said:

The sound I get at the strum hollow is very tinny on all my dulcimers. I vary where I strum based on the sound I want to get, and use the sound at the strum hollow for special effect only.

I agree. I dislike that tinny sound at the strum hollow- it's too close to the bridge, and on a banjo that place sounds tinny as well.As to hitting the dulcimer with a pick and marring it...well I do it all the time and my soft long pick just sort of makes a general worn patina area- i think of it as a cool personalization touch, I don't mind the surface damage. ;)

Many older dulcimers, particularly in the Galax tradition, did not feature strum hollows. The shallower 'eggbeater' style of Galax strumming with a quill doesn't tend to mark the wood as much as strumming in the Kentucky tradition with a flat guitar style pick.Sho - if you're hitting the fretboard A LOT, you need to "lighten up" a bit, perhaps, so that the pick is not hitting the fretboard so much. Where you're strumming, up around 13, isn't wrong, but it's nicer not to scar the wood too much up there 8^>

I don't worry about fretboard finishes.I find I tend to strum at the halfway point between where I'm fretting and the bridge. So if I'm playing high up the neck, I strum closer to the bridge, and vice versa. The halfway spot is where you get the mellowest sound, by the way. I do the same thing on my banjo.I say don't worry about it! :)
updated by @strumelia: 02/04/16 10:01:11AM

The MD that I play most often has turned friction pegs. I have never used anything like a compound nor drops on them and after 20+ years they still work as they should. Every now and then while tuning I do get the "slip past" above or below where the string should be, and the solution is usually just to lower the string tension a lot and bring it back up to tune.If the pegs and peg holes are made to properly fit together, and with the correct amount of pressure on the pegs while tuning, slipping should never be a problem.

Nancy Galambush said:

I asked about this at Potter's music in Bethesda MD because the pegs on my old cello were slipping. I was told about the peg dope; however he suggested Lava Soap, which is what he used. I told a cello friend about it recently and she tried it and said it is working fine. The grit in the Lava holds while the soap is slippery. At least this is the idea. I didn't try it on my old cello because I haven't changed the strings on it since buying a new one.

I have to say that years ago on someone else's recommendation I tried the Lava soap trick on my antique banjo with wooden pegs, using just a little on one peg, and it was a total disaster for me. The peg would not hold at ALL, it slipped like it was covered in grease. I tried wiping the Lava off with a damp cloth and I had to really scrub and scrub to get rid of the soap film residue that did not want to go away. It was an awful experience for me. Then I bought the Peg Drops and it worked like magic. Just my own experience.

I do not recommend the stuff that comes as a chapstick type tube. I found it lets the pegs slip too readily. That's the ' peg compound '. They made me use it on my cello pegs in high school. Hated it then, and bought it again when I grew up... and hated it all over again.I DO recommend the 'PEG DROPS'- a liquid that comes in a tiny plastic squeeze bottle (like eye drops do).This stuff corrects both aspects of the pegs- it corrects too slippery ones and makes them grip better, and also corrects pegs that won't turn enough. But you MUST follow the directions exactly. It's not 'more is better'. That stuff is really great, and will last you forever: http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&tab=iw#hl=en&safe=off&num=20&q=Ardsley+Peg+Drops&aq=f&aqi=&oq=Ardsley+Peg+Drops&fp=52e8f388e5caca67
updated by @strumelia: 02/16/16 03:20:43PM

Dulcimer Damsel said:

Hi, Miss Rosemary, and Happy New Year !

I have been playing at church for several types of services. Our music director has been very supportive of trying 'new' things so I am fortunate with that. BUT it does not stop folks regarding me with this funny mix of curiousity and fear when I come down the aisle, dulcimer akimbo. ( : I just take heart and know that I do a kind service when the elders who grew up with dulcimers thank me for playing an "instrument I have not heard in YEARS!"

The thing I try to remember when playing in church is that we are not playing for them.. we are playing for Him and he loves our music...:) :)

folkfan said:

Striking just the melody notes is how I play with a striker, and if I lift my hand and angle downward with just the tip I can even pick up the lower notes I need on certain songs. I've done "Peat Bog Soldier" in Aeolian and have to pick up a 0 fret on the middle string. This is a song that works well will a strong marching beat. Dona, Dona, also in Aeolian, is another one.

Wow i would love to see a video of you playing that. :)

Striking just the melody notes is how I play with a striker, and if I lift my hand and angle downward with just the tip I can even pick up the lower notes I need on certain songs. I've done "Peat Bog Soldier" in Aeolian and have to pick up a 0 fret on the middle string. This is a song that works well will a strong marching beat. Dona, Dona, also in Aeolian, is another one. Strumelia said:

Check it out, it's a wonderful and traditional playing technique, here demonstrated on a French Epinette des Vosges..... :)

Never be embarrassed to talk about how you play or if you've tried something different. You never know when that something you did, is just what someone else would benefit from. We can all listen and learn from each other. And I bet you did sound great. Shas Cho said:

Ha!
I was playing this way on Christmas night
and my family thought it sounded great.
So did I, and it was fun,
but I would have been embarrassed to mention it here...

folkfan said:

How about using a striker to beat the notes out with your right hand rather than a pick.

Check it out, it's a wonderful and traditional playing technique, here demonstrated on a French Epinette des Vosges..... :)

I'm assuming you do the "usual" pull-offs and "hammer-ons". There's a technique that I call 'ghost-noting" where you sort of skip the strum of a particular note and let the sustain and the stopped noter play the note before moving on.Say you're playing Frere Jacques: 3-4-5-3, 3-4-5-3. 5-6-7 etc. and of course strumming every note. Play the first set 3-4-5-3 with individual strums; but on the second set, strum 3, slide to 4 and stop the noter with no strum. The sustain will sound the 4, then in tempo slide on to the 5. Not the same sound as sliding through a fret to get to another one.Here's another trick that's kinda fun - play the wrong note, then slide into the right note still in the same beat.One reason all your songs start to sound the same is that you keep hearing them. Time to learn some new tunes. More complicated. New tempos. New genres. Whatever. New Years Resolution - don't play any of your "regular" tunes for at least 3 months. Start all over fresh and learn new tunes beginning 01-01-10.

Just curious, but are you noting with your right hand and picking with your left, reaching across? Your avatar photo looks that way, to me. That's already adding a little... variety.

How about using a striker to beat the notes out with your right hand rather than a pick. March type songs, or songs like the Little Drummer Boy are interesting done this way. A chopstick is what I usually use. Some people use hammer dulcimer hammers. I strike just the melody line for a clear bell like tone.

Dulcimer DamselListed are some suggestions.1.) Provide a short and interesting story, anecdote, or history behind the song you are about to play.2.) Learn and play songs in as many of the modes as you can (Aeolian, Dorian, etc.)3.) If you have another dulcimer player, one of you can play the harmony on certain songs.4.) If you have another dulcimer player or two or three, play some rounds.5.) Sing while you play. You don't have to always play the melody note you are singing, you can play a note in the chord for your melody note.6.) Add an act or an impact moment for a given song. Mississippi Sawyer is sometimes played with a crash note where everybody pauses for a moment on a sour note. I and my partner stop and look at each other and say "What?" when we're singing a couple of the parts in "The Battle of New Orleans". Maybe some of your songs have places where a change of tempo, a statement, a joke, or other creative act could add to the song.7. Try some variations of hitting the strings and don't strum across all of the strings on all notes. Try playing the base or middle strings by themselves in between playing the melody string(s).8. If guitars or other instruments are being played while you are playing, listen for the places where the drone strings clash with the chords on the other instruments and try to not play the drone strings on those notes.I hope at least one of these suggestions is something you're not already doing. I'm sure we'll see some more suggestions on this post.Good LuckDave
updated by @dave-holeton: 02/15/16 10:01:56AM

400 members coming up..

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did some one say chili... yum yum.. :) :)

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Chili sounds great! I've got bread rising now, so I'll bring that when it comes out of the oven.

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450 members today!Michael

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I guess I am a little late, but I got us some genuine southern Ontario butter tarts for dessert.

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"Plop plop fizz fizz.. oh what a relief it is!"

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can some pass the taters down here....and some of Andy's stuffed mushrooms...

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LOL

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{{{burp}}}}...oh, excuse me! =8-o ;D

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24 (glazed) Carrots as a prize for the 400th member, right Strumelia?Michael

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D'OH!!!!!....been checking off and on all evening....now I have to go to bed still not knowing who the 400th member will be! =8-o

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What recipe do you use. There is one I love that stuffs the caps with several different cheeses, bread crumbs and crisp bacon bits. Serve hot from the broiler. Andy Huffman said:

if I eat all this food then I am going to keep growing! :)

stuffed mushroom caps anyone?

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My plate's ready and my napkin's tucked under my chin. You dish it out, I can take it! :)

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Leftover Shrimp & Andouille Alfredo on home made Fettucini.

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I'll be divin' into the crab cakes and sour cream potato latkes! =8-D(I already ate the wheat-a-pix that Rod sent me.) !!