Tonyg, That's the way I describe the sound of the dulcimer when I play for a group of visitors. Just picture neighbors gathering on the front porch. Some play, some sing and some just listen or dance. Everyone taps a foot or what ever way they feel the sounds. I have visited Cades Cove several times and love going through those homes and imagine the music that rang out from those old walls. Yes, I just added three more pieces of music to my list. "Red Haired Boy " is a familiar piece. 

I enjoy playing my strum stick with my brother on his guitar. The strum stick sounds like a banjo. I made it from some wood from an old fireplace mantle built is the mid 1800's and some maple from my wife's bed frame from the 50's. I guess that's why it sounds better when I play some of the old tunes.

I think Goin' to Boston and Red Haired Boy sound good played slower.  In fact, I think a lot of music sounds better (to my ears) on the dulcimer played more slowly.  There seems to be a trend in traditional music......especially bluegrass..... that faster is better.  Personally I don't agree.  I've often wondered if the pre 1940 dulcimer players played more slowly.  I especially like bagpipe tuning played that way (esp. with a lot of slides) as it reminds me more of a lonesome fiddle.  The "angry bee" sound never conjured up a picture of someone on the porch of their cabin up some lonely holler playing their dulcimer on a quiet evening.

Wow! Dusty, There are two songs that I enjoy playing that may fall into that category. When I first heard them on You Tube, while looking for some new music to play, I actually had difficulty picking out the melody because it was so fast and several playing. Two fiddles sounded great and often stepped out for the breakdown (Fancy Gap Breakdown). That's when I picked up the melody and had to learn it. I was sure I would never be able to play it at the tempo anywhere near the group playing, but I believe I'm close after many months of playing it. With pull-offs and hammer-on, Maybe, I could keep up with them. That is when I moved on to learned to play Black Mountain Rag. 

Thanks, you just gave me a few more to work on. I will look them up and add them to the repertoire. 

Fiddle tunes from the United States, the British Isles, Canada and elsewhere are among the most common tunes played in dulcimer jams.  And some of them sound great at bluegrass speed.  I'm sure I'm not the only one whose feet start moving when Erin Mae breaks into St. Anne's Reel! 

But a lot of fiddle tunes also sound great played much slower, and sometimes the beauty of the melody really comes out when the tunes are played at a slow, patient tempo with space to breathe in between phrases.

I sometimes teach a workshop called Fiddle Tunes that Sound Good Slow and include arrangements of The Quail is a Pretty Bird, Liberty, MacPherson's Lament, The Strawberry Blossom, and more.

What are some of your favorite fiddle tunes that sound really good when played slowly?

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Dusty T., Northern California
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As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie