Forum Activity for @ballad-gal

Thanks, Redmando, I always enjoy your interviews!

In the latest of my "Conversations with Mountain Dulcimer Players" I chat with Geoffrey Reeve-Black about his UK dulcimer dealership and he tells me about some of his interesting instruments.....

https://mdconversations.blogspot.com/2023/11/11-geoff-black-from-herefordshire-uk.html

Using capo to change key on the fly seems to be a good idea.

I finally  (OK, I'm slow and not the brightest light on a Christmas Tree),  figured out how to avoid the aggravation.   Since I have some issues with my right hand, (think lousy Rugby player 50+ years ago) being used to strum so I used to always string up for left handed play.  A bit frustrating and all that goes with it, such as chord charts etc.    So............I learned to play Galax style.......4 d strings and a noter........makes no difference how you hold that critter, works just fine.   So I recommend you give that a whirl and if it doesn't suit 'ya you can return to that "bac'ards ciphering."  You can also finger pick a unison Galax stringed instrument and finger dance too. Listen to Phyllis Gaskins and you'll be amazed what that style of play can do.  

Few of the lefties I know string their dulcimers the other way around.  If your dominant hand is doing the complicated task of fretting, and your off hand is doing the simpler task of strumming, that's a good thing.

Some re string their instrument to help improve their learning curve.

That interesting phenomenon adds flair to an on stage performance.

Thank you very much, Wally!

This is my feeling as well. I play (or played) several fretted chromatic instruments. The dulcimer is unique in its diatonic tradition. I find it simple, yet challenging; which in turn provides a refreshing approach to my music. 

That said, I respect others who have personal and valid reasons for choosing to play a chromatic dulcimer.

@Lisa-Golladay 's post covered the practical pros & cons quite well.

Yes, I agree with Jean Ritchie.  For me, the dulcimer is diatonic in nature, anything else is not quite a dulcimer.

Let's see your performance to enjoy.

download all my dulcimer music for free at dulcimerbob.com

I just happened upon this.  Art Garfunkel has such a lovely voice, and presents songs so beautifully.  I have loved this song since I was about ten. 

Hi all.  I was just having fun re-reading this thread...I think I call mine the herd, though perhaps I should say the flock, because I tend to give them bird names...

A few days ago at my ballroom studio (where I dance, not which I own ) we did a "quadrille."  It reminded me of scenes from Jane Austen movies.  We were one person short of two group of eight; I suggested calling someone in from the street, but instead they used a large balloon of Mickey Mouse as a place holder (but he couldn't go round the circle weaving between the "follows," aka the ladies.  Actually I think Mickey was a follow, he would have needed to weave between the leads). 

Anyway, it was fun.  In ballroom we don't usually do such organized formation.  It's just a bunch of couples waltzing or foxtrotting and making sure to avoid colliding with each other. 

I'll have to see whether (or where!) there is a contra dance here in Los Angeles county.  You know there's gotta be one. 

It's always a great time to get interested in banjos. (or dulcimers!)

Well Ken, I'd suppose that is 6 years of skill developed!

Shannon -- you do realize this thread was last editied 6 years ago, don't you?

Please share your performance.

@DaveBerry, beautiful music, talented artists, and awesome video. Thanks for sharing!

I bet the lack of videos of dulcimer and mandolin playing together is now pushing you to make a video of it.

Many thanks for sharing the interview, Steve! 

Does anyone have information on these dulcimers?  It is 3-string, tuned DAD, and elliptical shape. Amazingly sweet sound.  My sister had 9 that she used when teaching. All now sold but one and I have a potential buyer but would like any information available to provide to the buyer. 

The combination of instruments in use guarantees some excellent tunes for dancing.

Hi, Matthew!  It's good to have you here on this site.  Lots of info and music to be learned.  If at some future date you'd like to try your hand at playing a historic reproduction of early noter-drone dulcimers (some of us call them "dulcimores"), there are a few builders of them on the site.  Have fun!

I agree with Ken. That's a great interview. You did a good job. Thanks for sharing it.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Hi @matthewlyon and welcome to FOTMD.  Glad to hear you've come back to the mountain dulcimer again.  And certainly, playing a dulcimer with really high action would be more comfortable in a noter style.

Hello all, thought I'd post an introduction here... I realized that my earlier attempt was on my own personal profile page! 

I'm recently returning to playing dulcimer; I played back in the late 1970's as a teenager and play several other instruments (guitar, banjo, uke, fiddle, Celtic harp, tin whistle, etc) and currently lead a community ukulele group with my wife.

I'm playing noter/drone style pretty exclusively with an interest in traditional diatonic music from a variety of sources from Appalachian old-time to bagpipe music and European folk of various types. My wife surprised me with a dulcimer earlier this month and it's very well suited to noter style... 29.25" VSL, pretty high action and no "extra" frets, it's purely diatonic. It's kind of a mystery as to how old it is and who built it. Very folksy craftsmanship, but the frets are accurate and it sounds good, so noter style it is!

We live in western Montana where dulcimer players are few and far between but I'm a childhood transplant here from Southern Illinois with many generations of folks from Kentucky... perhaps there's a dulcimer player not too far back in my family tree. Really enjoying browsing the forum, it's a great resource and so much knowledge here! Cheers, ML

Great Interview!   

The weather in Italy will be lovely next March. Wouldn't it be nice to have a mountain dulcimer festival there? Read on, in my "Conversations with Mountain Dulcimer Players" blog:

Conversation with Gianna Williams

I've made and played a number of all maple dulcimers over the years.   Durable certainly; it's maple after all, not Aspen or Balsa wood.   A bit harder than walnut or cherry.

 "Good sound", like "Beauty" is in the eye/ear of the beholder.  What you consider "good" might not be so 'good' to me or someone else.  I prefer a "highly silvery" sound, where others prefer a more "mellow" tone like a baritone uke or guitar.  This is why we highly recommend you hear the dulcimer you're going to buy.  

Thank you so much for the words of wisdom!  As usual, they are much appreciated!

You do indeed see lots of dulcimers made entirely of a single hard tonewood, most commonly walnut, but cherry and maple as well.  They are not as common as dulcimers with  one of those woods for the back and sides and soft tonewood such as spruce, cedar or redwood for the top.  The top plays a bigger part in the sound than do the back and sides, so an all-maple dulcimer would, as Strumelia says, have a bright, crisp tone. Additionally, it would likely have exceptional sustain. I believe Linda Brockinton mainly plays an all-maple McSpadden specifically for the extra sustain to enhance her soft, fingerstyle play.

Speaking further about sound box sizes-  I also have an all-curly-maple hummel (mtn dulcimer like in many ways) which has a very large and deep sound box/body... and even though it's all maple it has a big resonant mellow tone. My maple mtn dulcimer has a very shallow depth body, and thus its voice is crisp and clear, less 'mellow'. They are both all maple but very different body dimensions and so have different tones.

"Good" sound can mean something different depending on personal taste.  Both my all-maple instruments sound wonderful, but they sound very different from each other!

My Keith Young curly maple dulcimer is all maple, even the fingerboard, and it sounds great and is in perfect condition after 26 years. I used it for this site's logo . Maple has a nice crisp sound, as opposed to slightly 'mellower' tone of walnut or spruce for example. It's also pretty hard, so (I'm guessing) would be a little less likely to get dinged. That said, I feel the volume and dimensions of the sound box tends to be a bigger factor in the tone of the sound than the type of wood does.

Is a dulcimer with maple top, sides and back considered to be a good sounding, durable dulcimer?

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