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Location: Burlington, WV
Country: US
Country: US
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Miss MacMurray (Carolan)
musician/member name: Music
Duration: 00:02:35
description:
Duration: 00:02:35
description:
Played on dulcimer # 9. This one is all curly ash minus the tailblock and liners. A skinnier teardrop shape than I normally make, a bit ad libbed as I shaped the sides by eye and adjusted to the top and back plates I made for it which were slimmer panels to begin with, using no forms or templates as I’ve done for numbers 3-7. The sides are the same height I normally have done, being 1 3/4”. Top and back panels are both book-matched halves from the same piece. Sides are also book-matched coming from the same piece as the fingerboard. Like my last dulcimer, # 8, I made them with a simple slotted headstock shape, adding a tree carving to this one, inspired a bit from the ash tree that the wood came from off my grandparent’s farm in Va. Was curious to see how ash would do for a dulcimer. Even with it being skinnier, it has lots of volume, reminding me a bit of the cedar dulcimers I’ve built prior, with a bit more crispness like a maple one I did.
Here I’m tuned a half-step up from DAD, so Eb Bb Eb, matching the key Miss MacMurray was notated in, being Cm. I thought about it afterwards that the standard pitch would’ve been lower at the time, so really something close to Bm would’ve likely been the key it would have sounded in, but enough with the technicalities. I’d worked up an arrangement for banjo, primarily learning the tune from this recording by David Hansen ( https://youtu.be/nU5w6AEy4MA?is=9BfM1ieUAzkPYNLf), but had been working on one for dulcimer. Carolan tunes seem to fit the dulcimer.
My banjo rendition fingerpicked on a Pollmann Mandoline-Banjo: https://youtu.be/aFOGgLeVAPs?is=JdCCNlyiUvKHf_Z5
Here I’m tuned a half-step up from DAD, so Eb Bb Eb, matching the key Miss MacMurray was notated in, being Cm. I thought about it afterwards that the standard pitch would’ve been lower at the time, so really something close to Bm would’ve likely been the key it would have sounded in, but enough with the technicalities. I’d worked up an arrangement for banjo, primarily learning the tune from this recording by David Hansen ( https://youtu.be/nU5w6AEy4MA?is=9BfM1ieUAzkPYNLf), but had been working on one for dulcimer. Carolan tunes seem to fit the dulcimer.
My banjo rendition fingerpicked on a Pollmann Mandoline-Banjo: https://youtu.be/aFOGgLeVAPs?is=JdCCNlyiUvKHf_Z5
That dulcimer has quite a clear chime to it, almost like little bells. And your arrangement and playing are great, too. Interestingly, when I arrange a tune in two octaves, I usually start with the lower one and then move to the upper one. You do the opposite here, and it works really well.
Carolan played and arranged on a diatonic harp without the levers and pedals you see on modern chromatic harps, so yes, his arrangements work well on the dulcimer.
Very nice job with both the build and the arrangement.
Thanks, Dusty. I tend to do low and then high strains returning back to the low last time through as well for some tunes. I guess the reason I did the opposite here is that I could get the A note middle string cleanly on the 6 1/2 fret in this case, being more consistent for the melody, otherwise on the low strain I had to bend the string to somewhat get the note, pretty close, anyway.
Carolan had an interesting life. My mom gifted me the Donal O’Sullivan book on Carolan — a nice read and great for the notation to refer to, and for the history behind the tunes. I’m not the fastest site reader when it comes to notation, but I can hunt and peck a bit haha.
That dulcimer has quite a clear chime to it, almost like little bells. And your arrangement and playing are great, too. Interestingly, when I arrange a tune in two octaves, I usually start with the lower one and then move to the upper one. You do the opposite here, and it works really well.
Carolan played and arranged on a diatonic harp without the levers and pedals you see on modern chromatic harps, so yes, his arrangements work well on the dulcimer.
Very nice job with both the build and the arrangement.
This sounds great.Yet another O'Carolan melody I'd not heard before.
Thanks! Kind of a melancholic but sweet melody.
This sounds great.Yet another O'Carolan melody I'd not heard before.