Mary Arndt

I  learned how to play the banjo in 1979. Late 80s I bought my first dulcimer, from the Dulcimer Shoppe In Mt. View, Ar. I taught myself to play because I could already read tablature. However I am more comfortable fingerpicking with my banjo pics that I am at strumming. Something I’m working on. In the 90s I bought a Blue Lion dulcimer in Southern Ca. where I lived. Beautiful instrument. Due to a chronic illness, I fell away from playing all of my instruments.  In the last 5 years I’ve tried to motivate myself to play again. I went to the Colorado Dulcimer Festival  to motivate me. Unfortunately that failed because it seemed too intimidating for a novice like me. I have not given up. 

 Unfortunately I have lost all of the ground I gained when I initially taught myself. So I’m starting over. Plus I had plateaued way back then because I never had a lesson and there are a lot of things about playing the dulcimer that you cannot learn by reading a book. I hope when the pandemic is over that I can take some lessons to help me over this plateau. But one of  my biggest problems is I am an incredibly shy player. That actually goes back to when I was in high school and played first chair violin and got demoted because I didn’t play loud enough. Same problem with my banjo. Just something I may not be able to overcome. 

I am hoping by joining this group that I will dig up that motivation that  helped me to buy my first instrument and teach myself to play. And to get past the plateau I hit.  Unfortunately my dulcimer, music stand, music book open to my best song are just sitting in my living room gathering dust. But I guess that’s progress. For the past 25 years all my instruments have been in their cases in a corner.