Kusani and Richard, I just had to come back and share that my gratitude for y'all knows NO bounds!!!  I am still so enjoying my bamboo noters, so I think of y'all with thanksgiving often.

Thank you, Strumelia.  I have actually had my closest melody string go very wonky out-of-tune while noter playing several times, like in the middle of a song!  I still think that is still at play here still...  And I would still do it again!  LOL! 

Sounds to me like at that particular note/moment, your voice starts out right on the note but then drifts a little high towards the end of the note (performance jitters maybe?)- and at the same moment Hazel's note on the violin is just a little too low.  Your dulcimer is and remains in tune because it was tuned and it has frets.  So things combined just at that moment in such a way (like Goldilocks' 3 chairs) that made a conflict discernible to you.

Keep in mind that even though both instruments may be correctly tuned, the violin has no frets and is much more difficult to play exactly in tune than a (fretted) dulcimer.  Especially with a child's smaller less strong hands.  Hazel does well, but like any learning violinist she does occasionally waver slightly off key since she is learning to fret- any tiny,  tiny finger movement changes the note, while the dulcimer can generally rely on the frets to make each note be in tune.  Playing violin/fiddle is a bear to wrestle with and most folks work at it for several years before they can play reliably 'in tune'.  You have to be both determined and brave to play the fiddle, IMHO.

The important thing here is that overall the hymn sounded lovely and your performance projected a sweetness and love that radiated out from you and your daughter together.  The audience must have really enjoyed the treat.  Well done!!  

You know, we tuned right before service, and I should have checked again right before diving in.  Do I just start out out of tune?  LOL!  People enjoyed it anyway, so that's good, and we'll keep tryin'!

The worst note, IMO, is at 33:00-33:01 "vain".  

The sound people are recording the entire service, they don't have another vantage point from the balcony, and often voices are amplified while instrument aren't or the congregation isn't.  It sounds very different from the pews than the livestream, which is why I'd also love to see a phone vid.  I don't know that one exists...  

Tell me which note you think was the worst (give me the 0:00 time on the vid) and I'll tell you who the guilty party was... if you promise not to pass it along to her-  in case it was Hazel...      

Yeah I was cracking up too when I realized your head was going to be covered with a veil for the ENTIRE video... LOLOL

Shoot the videographer!

I'm so sorry, Robin.  I know what it's like to not have a computer stream well!  OY!  I'm not tech savvy and don't know how to record or extract or share just a part of it.  Sometimes people record on their cell phones, but I don't have one!  I would love to hear that, because the sound is very different that way.

HA HA Ken!  We all cracked up when we saw the video.  Would still love to know how dulcimer, violin, and voice all went wonky on the one REALLY TERRIBLE note! LOL!

ETA I figured out part of it...  One of my melody strings decided to go wonky in the middle of playing, I think.  I had this happen when I was using something uneven as a noter, but not with the bamboo.  I went to play today, and the melody string closest to me was way off.

Sandi, thanks for sharing your hymn playing. I enjoyed it very much, but, LOL, another "headless" dulcimer player video.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Richard, if your stacked bamboo noter works, I'd just stick with it.  

Sandi, I don't know how to jump ahead to the part of the service where you're playing-- I think my internet is too slow to allow me to do that.  If anybody got a clip of it, please post? 

Thank you SO much, Strumelia!  Yes, my girl is 12 now!!!  And poor thing...  We always tune by ear, but our ianist is a professional jazz pianist, he tuned us up today before our performance, and we had been practicing it withour shoddy ear tuning...  LOLOL!  ~and you're not old, HAZEL is old~  HA HA HA!

Sandi, I enjoyed your hymn- you have a beautiful voice.  Was that Hazel on violin??  Oh my, I remember when you mentioned she was newly born, over on everythingdulcimer!  I must be really old now!     lolol

OH Richard that's COOL!  Thank you Strumelia and Robin!  I have linkage for ya, but it is a very funny recording!  You will see...  Not a flawless performance, either, (especially one particular note???) lots of sound adjusting from the sound board, but it was still fun, and I would do it again.  We start around 30:33, but the music today through the entire service was INCREDIBLE!  Hated being after and before such amazing talent though~LOL!

https://livestream.com/accounts/6164779/events/8253232

I really like bamboo for a noter. A very nice thing is that one can get the diameter desired without any woodworking other than cutting to length and sanding or filing away any tiny splinters where it is cut.

Some dulcimers' fretboards are too low for me as I hold my noter underhand and drag my knuckles on the top of the dulcimer. So do I restrict myself to custom-made dulcimers (I wish) with a taller fretboard or do I improvise?

The dulcimer budget runs thin after a while so I improvised. I made what I call a stacked noter of bamboo. It works for me on the lower fretboards and is considerably cheaper than a custom-made dulcimer.

Custom Stacked Noter.jpg  •  32KB

Sandi <3

Your church is very lucky to have you playing for them Sandi!  And of course it goes both ways- you are lucky to have such and appreciative audience.  

RICHARD!  YES!  That's one of the things that drew me to the mountain dulcimer.  I knew I'd grow with it for my entire life.  <3

I am still enjoying these bamboo noters SO MUCH and cannot thank y'all enough!  I have gone up a sie and am surprised I like that even better.  Will get to play in church on Sunday and can link ya (only to the entire service) if you like.  :)  

Richard you said it all.  

Sandi,

Our tastes change and methods may change over time. Sometimes we add something different. Sometimes we change to a different way of playing. How wonderful the versatility of this special instrument which we all love.

Thank you, Lisa!  ~great info~  Thank you, Ken!  Thank you, Richard!  Funny that I used to be all about wanting to learn to chord in DAD, but now I'm in a season where I'm all about DAA with a noter!  LOL!

Sandi,

That little Wren sounds might good. Liked your playing

Thank you, Lisa, for fixing the link. Thank you, Sandi, for sharing Take Time To Be Holy. Sounds good.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I fixed Sandi's link.  FWIW to everyone... if you put a link on its own line (hit 'enter' before pasting the link), it creates a working hotlink more reliably. 

Sandi, there must be a bad link in your post. When I click on the YouTube link it takes me back to this discussion.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Kusani, THANK YOU!

Richard, THANK YOU!  I am absolutely IN LOVE with my Feather Dulcimer!  Here's a little vid of what she sounds like, if you're interested:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF2EfC_l6Z0 

I am surprised that even for the idea of performing I have made this my main instrument.

Charles, thank you for your creative ideas!  I am especially intrigued by the cello tuning peg....  

My favorite noter is a wooden dowel 3/8" x 3" that I soaked in a light motor oil for a week. I've been using it for ten years now. I've also used an ebony cello tuning peg, a small walrus oosic (Google that one!),an antique bobbin, a feather shaft, a Bic pen and various dried hardwood twigs but I keep going back to my old dowel rod.

Glad you got the noters and like them. One of the members here turned me on to using bamboo or river cane as some call it.

Do you like your Feather dulcimer? Thinking about Jay model from Peter. It will fit in my motorcycle trike trunk.

Glad they got there, have fun with them. :)

I have received noters!  That was FAST!  Dulcimer folks are the VERY BEST around!  They are beautiful.  Both friends sent me a couple of sizes, and it really blessed me to have some skinny ones for my little Wren/Feather dulcimer.  I love the sound and feel like the bamboo slides easier than other noters I've had/tried.  I'M SO HAPPY!!!  If I get a chance I'll record what we're working on, just go easy on your reviews.    

Thank y'all.  I am truly over-the-moon!!!!!! 

AW, thank you.  You have no idea what that means to me this morning.  A kind word goes such a long way....  I will surely share!  And I will use one in a church performance.

Do share with us your initial impressions on bamboo noters when you receive them, Sandi.

So great to have you posting here again, by the way!  

Heart overflowing!  Thank you Kusani and Richard!!!  

Sandi, It' going in the mail today. Enjoy. 

Y'all are too kind!  Always, ALWAYS such a blessing.  Thank you!  

I have access to bamboo and will be glad to send you some noters if you like. Send me your address etc.

I make mine out of black bamboo which I grow on the property.  Send me your name/address and I'll send you one.

From the bamboo clump in the backyard... or down the block... or in the woods.  Some people actually have to buy a short bamboo pole from a garden center or similar place and cut it into lengths.  

Ken, I love your ideas always.  I remember you sent me some woods, and I was so new I thought they were actual noters!  I still use them.  LOL!  Where does one get just a piece of bamboo?

Strumelia, I'm a fickle gal,  too!

Glass noters I've tried out seem to give an odd metallic tone. Might be cool for certain effects though.

Every time I've settled on a favorite noter, a month or two later I discover that one of my other noters is actually my favorite.      I'm a fickle gal.

I use a variety of "pen blank" of exotic woods that are 3/4" x 3/4" x 5", which I round out with a belt sander to about 1/2" diameter. I prefer noters about the diameter of my index finger. One of my favorite hard woods is Lignum Vitae one the hardest 10 woods in the world.  My other choice for noters is a 4-5" piece of bamboo.

I've used glass -- a swizzle stick -- a time or two -- very fast!  

Lois, that is a super clever idea!  I say always share, because someone will definitely benefit!  ~so cool~

Sandi, I never tried glass, but bet it would really zip along.  I stay with wood when I don't "finger dance", but had such a hard time at first placing it squarely on the strings that my husband gave it an inner circle at the tip cutting in all around so that I tend to place it more accurately.  I don't know that anybody else would be interested, but, if they are, I can have him take a picture of it.  Guess it could be considered like "training wheels" on a bicycle.

I have found that my little Wren from Feather Dulcimer also sounds FANTASTIC in DAA!  I have lost my noter though and want to replace it ASAP.  I have gotten creative with household items, but I'd love your opinions on where to spend my dollars.  I'd also love your opinions on what sound you like...Wood?  Glass?  Something else?  TIA for sharing with me!