Thank you, Ken!  ~I appreciate you so very much~

When you get that high, angle your pick way up -- almost vertical -- so you're only picking the melody string(s).  It's not out of tune, but it certainly is a "discord".

So as I keep on, I am playing well until the 11th fret.  Sounds out of tune every time.  I think I'll just cut those songs out of my Christmas repertoire for now...  LOL!

Thank y'all!!!  SO MANY GOOD THINGS HERE!!!!  Let me read and re-read for awhile...  Y'all are a TREASURE TROVE!!!!

ahhhh, cool and wise comments.  My hand is not cramped up at the higher "shinny frets"...(loved that phrase)because I set my dulcimer on a Walmart T.V. tray table and that makes it easy to work any frets.  keeping the noter straight on the two or one wire is MOST important.  I saw in so many books that the early dulcimer players used little tables to set their dulcimers on.  I see on this site where the new builders are putting little "feet" on the bottoms of their dulcimers and I am doing the same thing.  the sound is so much better with it off the laps and on little feet on a flat little table.  At least that's what I've found for me. aloha, irene

Sandy, your Wren is a small dulcimer with naturally stiffer tension.  It will be a bit tougher to play up around the 10th or 12th fret.  You may be having to press down harder to play up there, and that will definitely pull the strings up just a little out of tune.  See if you can press down as lightly as possible when going up the frets higher.  You might also try tuning one step lower on all strings and play in a lower key-like in C instead of D for example.  This works when playing solo, and will give you less tight strings to work with.  OR put on strings that are one step lighter gauge than your current strings, if you think you want to stay in the same tuning you are now but the strings feel very tight when you get above the 7th fret.

I have small hands, so I use my thumb a lot to chord on the lower octave frets. When I get up into the "shiny" frets, I don't use my thumb so my wrist is at a better angle. 

This is where a "floating bridge" come in handy.  Often it's out of tune just a fraction, but sounds more out of tune as you go up the fret board.  If it's a little sharp, then move that floating bridge a tiny bit away from the nut...if flat, then go closer to the nut.  If  you have no floating bridge, then do as Ken Hulme says to do....and to encourage yourself to play more up there.....PLAY your strumming IN THE STRUMING AREA....and your struming won't get that "flap flap flaping" against the fret board.  love playing Christmas music now a days.  

Often above the 7th fret a regular fretted dulcimer will start to sound discordant.  What I usually do, as a Noter & Drone player is to strumm less and less of the drones as I go higher up, until at about fret 10 I'm playing pure melody.  Then I add drone as I go down the fretboard.  

My JI fretted dulcimer does not seem to suffer from discordance as I go up the FB.

I am in love with playing the bass string on my Wren Feather Dulcimer!  Somehow it's easier than on my bigger dulcimer and sounds amazing!!!  Still haven't reached upwards of the seventh fret though....

If you're like me, I almost have to force myself to go to the high octave.  I have also be practicing playing the melody on the bass string in DAd tuning.  No I haven't done much on the high octave bass string.  LOL

Thank you, Dan!  I don't seem to get much practice on those high notes until I start practicing Christmas music, and honestly I'm always kinda glad of that!  LOL!

No tricks, it just takes lots of practice.  The position of your fretting hand is more across the body and a bit more 'cramped' for lack of a better word.  Just keep working at it slowly and you'll be fine.

Is there a trick to it?  Whenever I get above the ninth fret it never sounds so good.  Sometimes it even sounds out-of-tune!  Do you have any tips for me?  TIA!