I'll throw in my point of view here, too. When I make a short webcam video, I work diligently to play through the tune without errors, get the sound to work and sound good, and frankly I generally scrunch up my face intensely while doing it! No way am I able to focus on "smiling from the joy that playing brings me" when I'm concentrating so hard! That being said, I do appreciate when others manage to include their heads, but mostly when watching a dulcimer player I really want to see their hands and the instrument so I can learn from their technique. So, sorry to say, you won't see much of my face and/or head on any video, by design! ;-)

Beth, it's an honor to have made one of your ALL TIME FAVORITE Dulcimer videos! Spread the joy;)

That is so hillarious! One of my ALL TIME FAVORITE Dulcimer videos! Thanks Macy Jayne!

Macy Jayne said:

See how much fun it is to show your head???? Even with a bag over it, it's just pure fun.

Hahaha, well this is better than no heads at all i think. LOL

See my video response to this very serious discussion;) It's titled 'Headless Vid'?

(i inserted said video here for you- Strumelia)

I'm with you Mandy, I love watching not only the hands but the expressions and concentration of the musician as well. It's part of the fun. It can even be amusing at times, like when watchingStephen Seifert's signature chicken head movement that he does.

My little Flip video camera does not have much of a field of view, and it is hard enough to get the instrument in the picture. Also its microphone is none too good and I have to be fairly close to get the sound in! If I get a better camera, I'll shoot better videos. Promise!

I generally appear headless. Including my face in the video just makes the experience more stressful for me somehow, and in any case I usually want people to be thinking about the music rather than me ...

Ya just never know...

Wayne Anderson said:

LOL this thread has gone to the gutter! LOL

Okay...that was funny!

John Henry said:

well if the next doesn't included everyone (men and women) going Full Monty (using British Royal Naval slang, here folks) then it sounds good to me.

Jim Edwards said:

Mandy; They're hiding a special connection from you. They are all members of the Icabod Crane Society of Dulcimer Players the oldest and most secretive association of dulcimer practitioners in the world. The group meets in odd (naturally) numbered years on October 31st, at the Gazebo in Sleepy Hollow...

ROFLMAO Love the pic. Are you a cat burgler in your other proffession and don't want to be seen. You filched the crown jewels.

Can't wait for verse 4 Jim !

JohnH

Signed photo's available thro' the president of my USA fan club (JohnK), or copies of original artwork from Dana Mac !!!

JohnH

Ok I guess I should just give up on wanting the heads then

I really do understand but a gal can wish right? But when I do a search for dulcimer vids on youtube (recent ones) I've noticed several things. First, there really aren't very many. Second when they are there they are headless. Dang it all. I'm definitely in the minority here but my viewing preference on youtube is as follows-

1. I like a homemade video (professionally done ones are nice, but it loses some coolness for me)

2. I want to hear your voice. I just would like to see your face and you say "here's amazing grace tuned to DAA" or whatever. Maybe also a quick little bit about how hard or easy it was for you to learn. I don't want you to talk your head off (pun intended) or anything, but just a short and sweet little talky talk. Sometimes I do this and others I don't when I do vids. If I could do them all again though I'd add a little talkin' in the beginning.

I guess my whole goal of the youtube experience is to be entertained instead of worrying about seeing your hands. Yes it really does make sense to show as much of the dulcimer and hands as possible for people who want to copy you, but I'd rather just see your head. When people ask me how I did a certain song I'll just tell them the chords I used and maybe if I used a specific pattern or whatever. I did do some basic instructional banjo vids (have had good feedback) where I did some close-ups of my fretting hand, but after the close-ups I went right back to regular head included stuff.

Here's a question though. I'm not trying to get under anyone's skin here with this either but is every single video everyone makes supposed to be a tutorial on how to play that song? If that's the case it sort of takes some of the fun out of it for me. I'm not trying to judge anyone here either I just really enjoy seeing you.

I also completely understand the limitations people have as far as recording equipment goes. I was using a very old camera to record my stuff until very recently and all my videos turned out really dark.

Well thanks everyone for enlightening me on this serious matter. Dusty - I see what you mean. Brian G. - Good idea!! I like everyone's vids regardless of whether or not I can see them but if anyone was reluctant to show their face in the past, hopefully you've seen this and see there is a demand out there to see your face and maybe just maybe some of you will indulge me.

Thanks everyone

Hi Mandy. I can only speak for me, but here are my reasons:

I use my phone to make these videos, and it has no optical zoom. If I put the phone far enough back so that you could see my face, the dulcimer and the rest of me would be just a tiny speck overall in the frame. My initial intention for these videos was to serve as a kind of visual record for tunes that I know (since I had forgotten many I used to know from when I played in the mid-1990s). Therefore, it was important to me to be able to see both of my hands, so that when I forget one of these tunes, I could actually remember/relearn it from the video. Since then, I've had some other people tell me that they also like that they can see both hands, so after that I never though to try to change the camera angle.

Then, of course, there's the fact that I am not going gracefully into this whole "losing-my-hair-as-I-age" thing, and there's no need to highlight that. :)

Finally, I don't want to take any more focus away from the shirts. Ask John K and John Henry - it's all about the shirts. :)

Now do you see what we are shielding you from Mandy !!! lol (Dusty, I know that we have all had to tighten our belts a bit over here, but did'nt realise Her Maj' had been reduced to flogging off part of the crown jewels ?)

John

I think I've posted one video which includes my head (but I wear a hat in that one). The rest just show the dulcimer. Why?

Vain answer : My face is so handsome that I don't want to distract people from the music.

Self-deprecating answer : Since I look at the fretboard while I play, all you'd see would be my receding hairling. And if I lifted my face up, all you would see would be my double chin. It's a lose/lose.

Serious answers :

1) I have learned a lot (nearly all) of my dulcimer playing from watching other people's videos and I would like to pass on that method of learning. But if I were to sit far enough back from my webcam to get my face in the video, no one could see my fingers on the fretboard.

2) Ienjoy the anonymity of using an online moniker and not showing my face. I have no trouble sharing my legal name with people here; just send me a personal message and you can learn the name the IRS knows me by. But my entire professional life is online. I work online but sometimes I don't want to be at work. So as a private citizen pursuing a private passion online, I create a senseof privacy by using a different name and not showing my face (save my avatar). For example, right now I am about a month late with a project at work and I don't want my bossto figure out that I'm hanging out with Mandy the banjo/dulcimer galwhen I have so much work to do!

Butsince you asked:

Now you've learned; watch out or you might get what you wished for!

Haha in all seriousness, I do understand why people only show the hands I just wish I could see the heads.

I just feel more of a connection with people I guess when I can clearly see your smiling (not smiling, hats, funny ties, handlebar mustache's, funny faces, etc).

Me likes heads!

John Henry - I was not meaning you, really most people on here seem to do this. It was just something I had never really encountered before looking into playing dulcimer. I like seeing people who smile from the joy that playing brings them. Or maybe they laugh because they screw up a part (like me a TON).

So bring on the heads I say, pretty, pretty please.

LOL My head ain't to much to look at but I'll try and put it in my next vid. I usually pan in on my hands so if anyone wants to learn the song. Also my camera doesn't pick up sound to good from far away:)

Mandy ! I have been chewing my nails since you posted this, as it almost immediatly follows the posting of my last video. I therefore plead guilty as charged, but offer three points in mitigation !

I almost always concentrate the thrust of any video I offer on my dulcimer and what I am doing with it. There are some really good videos having excellent 'instructional' content to be found on our site, from people like Brian G, Dusty T, to name but two, which I am sure offer a good help to some newcomers to our musical world (which I realise you are not) and I have tried to illustate the way I play to the same end (and have had good feedback as a result of so doing)

I have limited ability with the computer and its associated 'gizmos', and while I do have a better means of producing videos, I tend to be by myself when I record one shot stuff with a cheapo webcam, and now know what angles, distances, ect work, and still leave 'contols' within easy reach

I always try to be considerate in my dealings with other people, and I am well aware that my playing position is likely to subject viewers to an irritating degree of glare resulting from the ever decreasing amount of hair that I possess !!

Having said that, I would not have missed seeing your daughter recently, and with reluctance concede that some of John K's shirts may just be worth a second glance ???

best wishes

JohnH

John Henry would make fun of my hats if I filmed everything from the head down...

Interesting points. I view videos as both entertainment and learning aids also, with a majority being viewed as entertainment for me. I've been in the banjo community for awhile and watched lots of those vids and 90% or more of them show the head. This is the first time really I'm encountering more of the "headless" vids. I was guessing that the purpose was to feature the hands. But if I could have everything the way I wanted I'd much prefer seeing heads. I like seeing people's smiles or lack of or just facial expressions and so forth. Plus if you are going to talk at all in your vids I would like to see your face.

Just wondering what others think about it. I guess I'll just have to get over it, but I was wondering what the deal was with it since I've not seen it with other instruments. I've seen piano vids too and they show the heads also usually.

Thanks for the replies.

Hi, Mandy! I show my head just to torture viewers! Oh, I think the first video I ever made-- a felt pick demonstration-- has me mostly headless. I was home alone when I made that video.

Ok I just want to say that this is partially a joke but there really is some truth to it also from my standpoint.

Why do most people not show their heads in their vids? I really want to see your head people. It's part of the whole experience IMO. I like seeing the dulcimer and all, but I really like seeing your head too. So please let me see some heads.

That's one of the main reasons I like youtube, I get to see heads and hands and instruments most times. Though it may be a challenge to get your camera to pan out that far or whatever I hope you'll try to show me your head in the future.

Hope I'm not being to demanding, but I just want some heads