2008-01, Dulcimer Players News Vol. 34 No. 1 by Dulcimer Players News

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ulcimer D layers P The Journal for Dulcimer Enthusiasts

Vol. 34 No. 1

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Winter 2008

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$10.00

Brasstown, North Carolina

John C. Campbell Folk School

Explore weeklong and weekend classes year-round in craft and art, music, dance, cooking, writing, photography, storytelling, gardening, and nature studies. Both novice and advanced students will find that John C. Campbell Folk School offers a special environment full of art and life.

Offering mountain and hammered dulcimer classes! Weeklong and Weekend Classes On Campus Housing Delicious Meals Fun and Friendly Environment Join us for Dulcimer Celebration Week July 27-August 1, 2008

To request a free course catalog or register for a class,

call

1-800-FOLK-SCH or visit www.folkschool.org

Make your own mountain or hammered dulcimer at the Folk School!

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In This Issue - Winter 2008

Dulcimer Players News, Inc. Post Office Box 278 Signal Mountain, TN 37377 (423) 886-3966 Email dpn@dpnews.com Web

When you Copy, What is Right - Dan Landrum

Transformative Powers of Music - Steve Schneider

Arranging Lagrima (& Other Disasters) - Butch Ross

Giving Back

www.dpnews.com Editor Dan Landrum

Production Team Butch Ross Angie Landrum Contributors Karen Ashbrook Nicholas Blanton Ken Bloom Christie Burns Sue Carpenter Wanda Degan Winfried Goerge Adrian Kosky Madeline MacNeil Heidi Muller Jim Pfitzer Steve Schneider Neal Walters

Music Mentors, Dulcimer at Street Level - Heidi Muller

Profile: Sarah Elizabeth - Jim Pfitzer

Unicoi, A Dulcimer Festival Success Story - Angie Landrum

Walkabout with Adrian Kosky

Music Reviews - Neal Walters

Guidelines for Review

World Cymbalom Congress - Karen Ashbrook

Bowed Dulcimer - Choosing a Bow - Ken Bloom

Sheet Music Minor Meanderings - Wanda Degan

Star of the County Down - Sue Carpenter

A Medieval Hammered Dulcimer of Carinthia and Slovenia -Winfried Goerge, translated by Nicholas Blanton

Subscription Rates

(Four issues) United States $30; Canada & Mexico $44; all other countries $48. Visa, Master Card, American Express, Discover, checks drawn on American banks, cash and money orders accepted. Payment should be sent to the above post office box, or charged online at www.dpnews.com.

About the Cover

Letters

The inspiration for this year’s mosaic comes from a ceiling medalion designed by Antoni Gaudi and Josep Maria Jujol in Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain (1900-1914).

Festival Listing - DPN & EverythingDulcimer.com

Index to Advertisers

Classified Advertising

Beginnings and Beginnings - Madeline MacNeil

Funnies

Dear Readers, Thank you to everyone who contributed photographs to the cover mosaic. I hope you enjoy spotting faces, and memories, of the year past. I like the idea of making this an annual tradition as it reinforces DPN’s position as a journal of the dulcimer playing community. We’ll keep building our library of photo’s for next year so feel free to send in great pictures when they become available. We’re growing. Butch Ross has joined our staff as a writer and graphic artist. We also have a new cartoonist, Jerry King, you can read more about him on page 64. Australian fretted dulcimist, Adrian Kosky, is back with a series of stories to take us on a walkabout throuhout 2008. Technical Dulcimer columnist, Sam Rizzetta, is handing over the reigns to our friend, Nicholas Blanton. Ralph Lee Smith is off this month, but he’ll be back for the Spring Issue. We weren’t able to fit as much sheet music into this issue as I would have liked. There’s a lot of extra material on the web site though, including more sheet music. Enjoy - Dan Landrum

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Letters Just a note to say I really like the changes you have made to DPN. There is one thing that would be helpful to those of us without a computer. If your advertisers would list a telephone number, they might make more sales. Just a thought. Laura Corwin, FL Thank you so much for a wonderful first year. Wishing you the good strength, good health, good friends and good fortune to continue making all our music a little sweeter. Judith Ganchrow, Israel The new CD is an invaluable tool in my effort to promote the chromatic dulcimer tradition in the schools of our city. Albert Bourassa, Canada My very first DPN arrived today!! What a wonderful production. Keep up the excellent work. Niall Cahill, Ireland I must tell you that the two HD pieces of music in this [Fall] issue are absolutely spectacular. Son-Shine by Bill Robinson and Winter’s Finale by Ruth Smith are wonderful pieces and the composers are to be commended for their writing talent. There’s a lot of music to learn in ews 2 Dulcimer Players N

these pieces but both are worth the time and effort. Your CD insert is certainly a big help. Great choices! Thanks for doing such a nice job on the DPN. Karen McCurdy, OH Thanks for doing such a great job with the magazine. The issues just keep getting better and better! Bill Altman, NC I would like to thank the DPN and Steve Schneider for his “Up With Awareness/ Down With Ambiguity” article in the Fall 2007 issue. At a festival that I attended last spring, one of the instructors commented that, when you are ending an old-time tune with a 2-note chord, you should always have the 5th in the bass. That had been bugging me ever since, because, although I’m sure that she was correct in terms of authenticity of style, I often just didn’t like the sound. So I’d be naughty and end The Girl I Left Behind Me with a G on the right treble and a B (the 3rd) on the bass! Steve’s article explained why I had not been satisfied when I played the D on the bottom — it was ambiguous and open and did not really sound like “the end!”. I know enough music theory

that I should have figured it out on my own, but sometimes a person just needs someone else (like Steve) to point out what should be obvious. Most of us, both music readers and ear players, just want to play and don’t want to be bothered with that “difficult and boring theory stuff ”. We need someone with Steve’s knowledge (and kindness) to prod us a little, and we often learn a great deal. Nancy Downie, OR Love your magazine! 20 years ago my wife bought me a dulcimer. At 72 I was inspired by your magazine to really learn how to play. Richard Thalleen, FL I just received my very first copy of the DPN and want to say, I am very pleased with it. I don’t know why I waited so long! The CD is a great tool for learning and listening. I have been playing the mountain dulcimer for about 8 or 9 years now and without the help of my club, the Indian Territory Dulcimer Celebration in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the great many workshop festivals that have shared the love of the dulcimer, I think life would be a whole lot less livable. The dulcimer soothes the soul! The many great people I have met

during this endeavor has been endless and always so helpful. Although I play the guitar, the mountain dulcimer has opened up my musical aspirations to include playing the mandolin, the banjo and the fiddle. It has been a nice progression. Thanks again! Becky Masoner, OK Thinking back to nearly a year ago when your first issue came out, I thought to myself, “They have set the bar so high they can’t possibly maintain the same standard.” Boy was I wrong. I’m astounded issue after issue! It’s amazing what you have done with the DPN and I anxiously await the arrival of each new issue . The CD is another bonus that exposes subscribers to an amazing variety of dulcimer artists. I just can’t say enough about the whole package! GREAT JOB! Phil Vernon, IA I love the current magazine, and the CD helps so much. My DPN collection goes back to the Winter 1983! Fred Bower, FL Thank you for the CDs in DPN magazines. I play and treasure them. It has opened a whole new area of music for me and I have purchased several CDs. I

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especially enjoy the “group” mountain dulcimer songs. Phyllis Day, FL I also wanted to take an opportunity on your oneyear anniversary of running DPN to tell you how much I have enjoyed the magazine since you took over. Madeline always did a wonderful job and I personally am very appreciative for all of her work. But the changes you have made to the magazine have made it all the more relevant and interesting. Plus, the CD adds a whole new dimension to the reviews and songs. Allin-all it has been a great transition and I just wanted to say “Thank You” for all of your hard work and the obvious care and concern you pour into each issue of the magazine. As someone who has had a hard time getting to the festivals in the past few years, DPN keeps me in touch with the community and with all that is going on. Between DPN and EverythingDulcimer. com I feel like I can remain connected to everyone who loves these instruments so much. Larry Darnell, MO While the song list on the back of the sub-card is a

good idea and I see that you tried a PDF on the web, I would also like to suggest that you provide a downloadable, color PDF on the website much like “Sing Out” does. Each downloadable PDF makes a complete CD jacket and tray insert. Jan Hammond, OH Good suggestion. See our web site and let us know if the new files work. I am just back from North Carolina where I stopped by the shop Song of the Woods. After snooping around, I discovered your magazine. I had seen it before in Seattle at Dusty Strings, but didn’t think it offered much to me a beginning hammer dulcimer student. However, your new format is intriguing and when I discovered I also got a CD all for the price $10, I decided to give it a try. Of coure, the first thing I did was listen to the CD - WOW! PERFECT! A nice mix of tunes, different speeds and styles but moved right along and then Christmas music too. The bonus was the music pages. So I look forward to your next issue! Congratulations and thank you. Patty Price, WA

Missigman Music

Master Works Hammered Dulcimers and Psalteries McSpadden Mountain Dulcimers Stoney End and Blevins Harps Also a full line of Books, Hammers, Accessories, and DVDs.

Missigman Music

Box 6, Laporte, PA 18626 570-946-7841 dulcimer@epix.net www.missigman-music.com MC/Visa, PayPal or check. Free shipping on all domestic website orders, Including most Instruments!

Send your suggestions and comments to: dpn@dpnews.com or DPN P.O. Box 278 Signal Mountain, TN 37377 Please do do not not reprint reprint or orredistribute redistributewithout withoutthe permission. Contact dpn@dpnews.com. permission. Contact dpn@dpnew.com

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My fear is that you’ll skip this article altogether. Discussion about the rights and wrongs of copying music are often contentious and confusing, and anyone willing to engage the argument has probably already formed an opinion. Why even broach the subject in DPN? The entire music industry is going through a storm of change regarding copyright and distribution issues. In such a storm, the smallest boats are easily tipped. Many of those boats are piloted by dulcimer teachers and performers who depend on product sales to stay afloat. Pirates abound in these murky, uncharted waters. I think most would agree we’ve become accustomed to feeling safe in the dulcimer playing community. We go to club meetings and festivals and are surrounded by people we trust. It is common to see builders at festivals who have put hundreds of hours into building expensive instruments, simply cover their wares with a protective sheet and walk away from their tables at the end of the day. They’re confident that everything will be there when they return. No honest person would lift that sheet and carry off an instrument without permission. Nor would they pick up and walk away with recorded or printed music without paying first. For the sake of this article, I’m going

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to assume the reason they don’t steal from the vendors is because they have a good sense of the difference between right and wrong, rather than just a fear of being caught. So, you purchase an item, take it home, and now are free to do with it as you please. True? Does anyone else miss the days when sharing demonstrated unselfishness? Today, opinions differ about what simple words like sharing, borrowing, and stealing mean. This is complicated by the recording industry which seems to be in self-destruct mode as music delivery methods create new distribution opportunities. The industry’s initial reaction was to sue anyone they could prove liable. This

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made them no friends, and for some, justified peer to peer sharing. Such sharing is easier than ever now, and there is very little likelihood that you will be arrested or fined, but there is good chance that what you do will directly impact your favorite teachers and performers. I believe a moral, informed person that properly values and respects other people’s work, needs no copyright laws. But when the sea is changing, people differ about which course to take.

excerpts from a conversation I had with Pete, I transcribed it with his permission. It began with a simple question (Pete’s words are in blue). “What would you do if you got a call today to play for a wedding, and the bride wants a classical piece you don’t already have in your repertoire?“ “I would first scour Google, find out if any professional arrangements were done of the piece, and then download them.”

“I won’t ever pay money for an arrangement of a public domain piece.” - Pete the Pirate It is time to meet a pirate who we’ll call Pete. I’ve often heard Pete say he won’t ever pay money for an arrangement of a public domain piece. I’ve chosen Pete to represent the pirate’s viewpoint because he’s a talented and knowledgeable performer, respected by his peers, and represents a new and very common way of thinking. I’ll confess �� right now that Pete and I �� couldn’t disagree more on the topic at hand. Pete developed his musical chops in the internet age, and almost every aspect of his training involved technology. “We have the resources available, for the first time ever, to access any style of music of you want, almost instantly.” The following paragraphs contain

“How long would that take?” “If someone has pirated it and made it available, about 10 minutes. The first thing you’re gonna find if you Google the name of a piece and your instrument, is that maybe there’s an artist’s web site and he’s selling an arrangement of it for perhaps 12 dollars. Well of course I’m not gonna pay that.” Pete says he assumes that since it is a classical piece that the composer is probably deceased, and therefore not going to make any money off of it. “But what about the arranger?” “Depending on the instrument that it was arranged for, I would make a decision as to how much work I think was really involved. One of the things I would consider is whether it is part of a complete suite of pieces. Is it a large scale work, a suite, a sonata, a concerto, or is it a miniature? For instance, if I found a complete dulcimer specific arrangement of a Vivaldi lute concerto, I would consider that it took a whole lot of work. It is different from when

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7645 E. Lamar Alexander Pkwy. - Townsend, TN 37882

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someone does just a movement from a piece and tries to pass it off as something complete.” “So Pete, you’re telling me that if you found a complete version for free, you wouldn’t download it?” “At that point I would at least consider buying it. I’d download it first though.” “But you’re not saying you’d buy it for sure. Doesn’t it matter that this is for a wedding at which you’ll be paid?” “I would say that whether or not I would buy it has nothing to do with whether or not I’m getting paid. Basically what it boils down to is a question of whether it is worthy of putting that book in my library as something I’ll study for years and years. So I guess the answer is no, I won’t buy an arrangement just to play at a wedding. No one should make money off of Vivaldi. He’s long dead. So, the only way to present his music, in a way that is not already available for free, is if it has more long term value in terms of education for people who play a particular instrument. The library at my university contains the complete works of Vivaldi. They’re free for my use.” “Are you telling me you have never performed a piece of music that was arranged by someone else, that you always go to the library and learn from the original score?” “When I go to the library it is to reference the original score. I still have to do the work to make it work for me.” “But aren’t you saving time using someone else’s arrangement, even if it is just as a reference? And shouldn’t you value the time and effort they put into building that arrangement?” “Of course I value it.”

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“Should you be paying for it then?” “Again, usually no. Because most of the time you’re not talking about a substantial amount of work.” Did you notice that Pete’s argument seems to center around the value of work? I’m afraid this attitude of undervaluing other people’s work is partially a result of the ease with which the music is attainable on the internet. It is easy to make the mistake of assuming this type of thinking exists only among young people, but don’t forget that most households with computers, also have scanners, or even copiers. Copying a page, or many pages, of an arrangement directly from a song book is easy now. The only thing stopping you, if you have a scanner, is the decision of whether or not it is the right thing to do. Many musicians still hold out hope that digital distribution can level the field against giant record companies and publishing houses. This will not hold true if an attitude persists that it is okay to copy other people’s work and give it away. Giving things away is easy these days, making money is not. Arranging and recording music is hard, time consuming work. Take a look at Butch Ross’s article beginning on page 17 for a typi-

cal example of what goes into producing an arrangement. It seems like a simple matter of right and wrong to me, but let’s go back to the conversation with Pete, who continues his thoughts on paying for arrangements: “If you’re going to be credited with arranging, you better be very qualified, and clear about your source material for your arrangement. Where did those notes come from? In my defense, just the other day I got a pirated copy a complete songbook of one of my favorite arrangers. It is a legitimate work, and I’m now looking for a way to buy it, but there are many people who aren’t qualified to be arrangers that produce books.” “But wouldn’t you agree that if it isn’t worth buying, it isn’t worth downloading?” “Lets go back to your example of a wedding gig. I’m just going to use the least amount of source material possi-

ble for a gig like this. I won’t spend months of my life arranging a piece the right way, only to play it once.” “But you’re benefitting from someone else’s work, to make your work easier. Shouldn’t you be paying for this?” “If I’m only going to use it once, then no, for many reasons. If I was only going to use it once and it isn’t available for download, then I would buy it.“ “And you think this is ethically okay?” “Yes.” “This really makes me want to steal your car.” “The car is a product that was made, and that is the only version of that car. If you steal my car, that is the only version of my car that exists. To replace it would mean building another car. When you talk about someone’s arrangement—they don’t really own it. You can’t pay per copy for something t h a t can

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9th Annual

*UNE *UNE s #ULLOWHEE .ORTH #AROLINA

Mountain Dulcimer Week Enjoy six days in the beautiful Smoky Mountains as part of our friendly dulcimer community. This program that sets standards in mountain dulcimer music and instruction can help you bring out the potential in your dulcimer – and yourself!

“Mountaintop Jam” group atop Waterrock Knob, 5,829 ft. elev.

THE CLASSES: Over 200 hours of classes are offered in seven skill

levels of playing instruction, with a tasty assortment of different music styles. Our dulcimer building course requires no experience, and nonplaying spouses have loved it!

MORE TO ENJOY: Get-Acquainted Banquet • Concerts • Open Stage Mountaintop Jam • Dulcimer Marketplace • Free Loaner Dulcimers • Economical Tuition & Modern On-Campus Housing/ Meals • Free On-Campus Shuttles Dulcimer Doctor • Over 30 StaffLed Jam Sessions & Sing-Alongs Informal Jamming • Scholarships

THE 2008 STAFF: Our schedule gives you an opportunity to take classes with six to twelve of the country’s favorite dulcimer player/instructors, including: Leo Kretzner Paul Andry Kenneth Bloom Betty Smith Terry Lewis Will Peebles Paul Henderson

Larry Conger Don Pedi Michael Fox Mark Gilston Norris Bennett George Haggerty Homer Phillips

Linda Brockinton Bill Taylor Lois Hornbostel Susan Boyer Haley Ron Ewing Joe Shelton ...and more!

Peter Tommerup Anne Lough John Huron Mike Anderson Joel Paul Elaine Conger

TO REGISTER: Our catalog and registration form are mailed in February. To be on the mailing list contact Bobby Hensley, Educational Outreach, Western Carolina University, 138 Outreach Center, Cullowhee, NC 28723, or e-mail Hensley@email.wcu.edu. For curriculum and staffing questions contact Lois Hornbostel, P. O. Box 907, Bryson City, NC 28713, or Loisdulc@verizon.net. Online registration at our website, http://dulcimer.wcu.edu after catalog mailing. WCU is a UNC Campus and an Equal Opportunity Institution

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be duplicated for free. I don’t think this can be turned into a product. Once your ideas are down on paper, then they’re available, unless they’re presented in a special way that the user would continually benefit from. You really can’t use the car analogy at all. This person, the arranger, I want to know his credentials as an arranger.“ “What about the value of pieces that are simplified for beginners?” “In the context of a method book, then sure. But no, if somebody arranged Wildwood Flower for a book, then that is where it goes wrong. That person just needs to go find a midi file.” “It seems to me that you use musical and technological sophistication to justify everything. Will you admit that what you’re doing hurts the ability of teachers to make a living? “Not necessarily, no. I think it forces teachers, arrangers and composers to focus more on larger scale

work instead of quantity and how many different pieces you can arrange. I recognize that I’m not offering any sort of way for them to make money. I think that if your business model is that someone is going to pay for a folk tune, then you’re going to wind up with a bunch of players that don’t have a lot of musical sophistication and they’re only going to go as far as the number of tunes they’ve learned.” “But what is wrong with that? It brings them joy. Doesn’t joy have value?” “Sure. But if the people you’re talking about are hobbyists, then they should be the last people who have to pay. I think it is common sense.“ “Forgive me, but I don’t think what you’re saying makes any sense at all. I know you believe what you’re saying, but it seems unreasonable, unsustainable, and bad for music itself.” “Look, most people’s argument

that arrangers need to be compensated for their hard work centers around the fact that someone is benefitting from their work. Most people would say that if you benefit, you should pay money, rather than pay homage. I think paying homage is enough. If someone isn’t making money from what you are teaching them, then why should it cost them? Hobbyists shouldn’t pay anything.” “Can we return to the wedding scenario one more time? Aren’t you getting paid?” “That’s why I say the actual arrangement and its substantive worth come into play. If the arrangement is not of a high level, then there’s no furthering music at all. It was never meant to be something huge. It is just someone saying, hey, I’ll just crank out this arrangement and sell it for 10 bucks.” “But we’re talking about books

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Abide With Me - Amazing Grace - Beautiful Savior - Canon in “D” - Come Thou

Wings - Victory in Jesus - What a Friend We Have in Jesus - Whispering Hope

Fount of Every Blessing - In the Garden - Love Divine, All Loves Excelling - Spread Your Wide

O O T .. () -

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filled with arrangements.” “A book full of arrangements doesn’t mean it’s a substantial work.” “Wait a minute. How can you say that? You would never know that if the arranger hadn’t taken the time to write it. And you would not have downloaded it if you didn’t have a need for it.” “I need it because I have a quicky gig, not because I’m interested in studying that piece of music.” “But someone else had to take time so you could have a quicky piece of music to learn. That takes time. Do you place any value on other people’s time?” “They’re interested in it for the same reason. These collections of books are not put together because people are wanting to further the musical cause. They’re doing so because they want to make money off of a market. I’m saying that you cannot put music from a composer into a collection of any kind, without demonstrating some knowledge of the source material. Arranging is a series of decisions, and that relies on source material. Take a look in a dulcimer book section and you won’t find much that is useful to skilled musicians. When you see a collection of Irish tunes, for instance, they’re probably all found in the O’Neill’s book which is a substantive collection.” “But you still haven’t answered the prior question of why the person who supplies product that helps the hobbyist have a hobby, shouldn’t be compensated. You’re talking about valuing arrangements on a subjective basis. I’m talking about a monetary basis. It is work. People get paid for work that needs to be done. I know we’ve touched on this extensively, but I want to be clear. You are saying that time put into simple arrangements, and subsequent collections of those arrangements, have no monetary value whatsoever. Correct?” “But you’re acting like the work needs to be done because someone has requested it. That’s wrong. That means cashing in. The word ‘market’ has no place in music. I don’t believe you can look at music as an art form and see it as a ‘market’, too. The only person I will ever pay for an arrangement of a Bach piece is a Bach scholar. I’ll use someone else’s arrangement. I admit that and I’ll credit them when I use it. But I won’t pay. Ever.” I think it is important to note that this is generally the way Pete feels about computer software, too. We disagree about this subject, as well. I believe soft works, such as music and computer software should be purchased, and I think Pete’s arguments are simply justification for stealing.

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His response: “I don’t consider it stealing in the same sense. There’s not a word for what it is, but it isn’t stealing.” My head hurts, and this circular discussion has gone on long enough. Pete, whom I know and would trust with my possessions, seems totally disingenuous on this subject, but he really seems to believe what he is saying. His belief is foreign to many of us who not only had to work hard to be able to purchase books, but perhaps even had a hard time finding them to begin with. It is clearly convenient for him to believe the way he does. I think it is very important to understand this is not simply the viewpoint of a few kids. Pete’s views are supported by his peers and reinforced by the music sharing practices of his parents and teachers. So, back to the question posed in the beginning of this article. Why talk about this subject in DPN? The simple answer is because it is a serious issue that is affecting our community. It needs to be discussed. I haven’t quoted a single law in this article because I don’t think it is necessary. I could quote dozens of stories related to me by teachers about people using their work without purchase or permission. Often, these good-intentioned folks write notes, explaining that they passed a piece of music out to a class and “everyone just loved it!” It is hard for teachers to respond to these notes. Do they simply say “Thanks,” and condone the practice, or try to explain that they feel they’ve just been robbed, but appreciate the nice note? It sometimes feels like they can’t win. I don’t expect this brief but wordy article to change minds, but I do hope it will spark discussion. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I’ve heard from enough people who’s lives are clearly impacted by the free distribution of their material, to believe that there is enough of a problem in our community that it needs to be discussed. We have a decision to make each time we hold a piece of music in our hands. If the work is great, then of course we want to share it with our friends. If it truly is worth sharing, then it is truly worth a fair price. I think it is really that simple. DPN Dan Landrum is editor of Dulcimer Players News and suffers from an insatiable desire to tell other people what they should do. He’s a hammered dulcimer player and teacher knows first hand how hard it is to write an instructional book, especially your first one. Please do do not not reprint reprint or orredistribute redistributewithout withoutthe permission. Contact dpn@dpnews.com. permission. Contact dpn@dpnew.com

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by Steve Schneider

The Transformative Powers of Music Music is simultaneously a force of transformation and a mirror. Magically, using music, we can create a change in the atmosphere, in others’ and our own emotions, alter heart and breathing rates, and even affect how people relate to one another. Music is known to be able to soften the edges of personality, to reduce fear and pain, and to bring soothing comfort to those in need. And, for many reasons, one of the most effective tools we have available to us is the hammered dulcimer. In the right hands and played with empathy and understanding, the hammered dulcimer can be a powerful and effective tool of therapeutic transformation. Thanks to its vast dynamic range (especially its ability to be played extremely softly and still be heard and felt), the hammered dulcimer is, at the right times, the ideal instrument to play at the hospital bedside. Since the instrument is percussive along with having a significant sustaining quality, it has the ability to soothe and to energize simultaneously, to calm and to stimulate, to reassure and to enliven. We can also use music to give us a snapshot of who and how we are, and where we are in our lives and relationships. A cursory examination of how and what we play gives the astute observer and listener a glimpse of ourselves and our inner processes. In the same way, our listening choices can also tell us something about ourselves. This information, when free of judgment and criticism, is truly revealing in some very interesting and helpful ways. These notions have had a profound effect on my life, work, and art, as a music therapist, music student, teacher, and performer, and they have helped me to gain some understanding of the incredible powers of music, and of the hammered dulcimer in particular. I’ve recently had an experience that would be instructive for me to relate here, as it involves a significant personal transformation while using the hammered dulcimer in particular. My brother-in-law, Jim, asked me to play for him when he was sick and uncomfortable with a lifethreatening illness. He was always connected to music, and to my music as well. As someone who had never achieved a desired level of musical competency (he played guitar), he both respected my musical fluency and loved the sound of the hammered dulcimer. In order to offer him something he could relate to, we talked at length about his favorite music. In addition, I took stock of what he had been listening to at the time. I learned a handful of his favorite pieces (including a Mexican song called s

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Mariposa by the group Mana) and spent many meaningful and pleasant hours together playing hammered dulcimer, listening to recordings, watching music videos, and talking about music. I took great comfort in knowing that the music was reaching him in ways that nothing else could— and part of its power was simply that I had taken the time to learn some of his favorites. This meant a great deal to him. My mother-in-law (Billie) was hospitalized for many weeks this past fall. By the time I saw her she was in pain, fearful, extremely weak and uncertain of her future. Bedridden and having difficulty sleeping, she asked me, out of the blue, why I played music for my brother-in-law when he was ill but not for her? I suggested that it might be because she had never asked me to play music during the past 25 years, and I had assumed that this was not something that would be of any interest to her. I was absolutely shocked when she proceeded to ask me to play for her (see Deep Purple to the right). To prepare for the experience, I talked with her about music, about her favorite songs and singers. Even before the first note was played, our relationship was changing due to these discussions. You really can’t talk about music without revealing parts of yourself. She reminisced, I listened, asked questions, and I talked about my own musical tastes as I made lists of the music that was important to her. We had opened up a level of personal intimacy that hadn’t really existed prior to these discussions, and for me it was exciting and refreshing; for her it was a time that she focused on pleasant experiences and on the past, during a time when she was young and healthy. We both truly enjoyed ourselves as we redefined our relationship. As she was having trouble sleeping, it was obvious that the most beneficial time for Billie to hear music was late at night as she was attempting to fall asleep. By 10:00 the general volume of the hospital dropped significantly and it became the ideal time to play and to hear music without much interference or interruption. The greatest disruptions actually came from nurses who would occasionally crowd together outside her door in order to listen to the music. We established a regular repertoire fairly quickly, and it was composed predominantly of her familiar favorites. These included songs such as Lara’s Theme from Doctor Zhivago, Edelweiss, Moon River, Pachelbel’s Canon, a piece I had written for my wife (her daughter) called Lovely Mary, and many more. I also played songs that my father-in-

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Deep Purple

One of her more ardent requests was for the song “Deep Purple,” a hauntingly beautiful sentimental air from the 1930’s with an extraordinary chromatic melody and a fascinating chord structure. I transposed it from F to the more dulcimer-friendly key of G, and found that learning and memorizing it was a healthy challenge. As I learned and arranged “Deep Purple,” I began to consider my criteria for choosing certain harmonies, and consider what “rules” I follow in order to determine where, when, and how much harmonic support I should give to the melodic line. With this in mind, I invite all readers to send me suggestions for music in the public domain (non-copyrighted) that I could systematically harmonize and arrange for hammered dulcimer within these pages. Please send me any titles or actual music of tunes you would like to have me dissect and put back together in the interest of discovering a set of guidelines of harmonization and arranging. I reserve the right to choose or reject any submissions, and I’ll choose one myself if I don’t receive any usable suggestions. If you’re going to send me a copy of the music, it ideally should be written in “fake book” style, with a melody line and chords written above or below it. If you’re just sending tune names, please indicate any information you can about the tune’s origins and where I could find a copy of it in print. Please send hard copies to me at:

180 Woodedge Drive, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304 If you can send music electronically, please send it to: performance@steveschneider.com.

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ews Dulcimer Players N 13

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law had loved and occasionally sang (if you could call that singing) such as Skye Boat Song and Red River Valley. As I played, she would occasionally hum along until she finally drifted off as the music helped her to relax. A combination of the soothing sounds of the dulcimer, a quiet and gentle presence in her room, and hearing familiar and meaningful repertoire that was chosen just for her, made it easier for her to let go and, finally, to sleep. The music seemed to cheer her, to diminish her pain and anxiety, and to relax her to a point where her sleep was both deep and restful. Billie reported that she felt more rested on the mornings after I played for her, and also that she had been able to sleep better while cutting back on her sleeping medication on those evenings when she heard the hammered dulcimer. She fell in love with the sound of the dulcimer, and talked of its remarkably soothing qualities. In addition, she was able to fall asleep a bit more easily and quickly each successive night. Back to changes…The most remarkable transformation that occurred with my mother-in-law and me was between us personally. We have not had a warm and cozy relationship—in fact, she passionately hated me when we first met 25 years ago (I understand why some cultures prohibit any contact between a mother-in-law and her son-in-law), and it’s been “interesting” with her ever since then. This has changed dramatically, especially since her hospitalization, and one of the most robust agents of this change is the music we shared during that meaningful time. I remain aware of the fact that the experience might not have been quite so powerful had it not been for the unique properties of the hammered dulcimer, a remarkable tool in the hospital setting when played appropriately to the situation. As a music therapist I’ve used the hammered dulcimer hundreds of times before in a similar setting, but never with a family member. Somehow, and on many levels, and especially with my mother-in-law, and especially because we have had a rocky history, this was different and more meaningful than working with a stranger. Thanks in part to the gentle nature of the instrument and the manner in which I was playing it, Billie allowed herself to be completely vulnerable with me, not only in our discussions, but also in that she would easily fall asleep while I played for her. This could only occur with a sense of trust and mutual respect, something that did not truly exist prior to this. Billie’s out of the hospital and doing really well at home, and she and I remain close and in regular contact. I never expect miracles, but I’ll take one when it seems to occur. I’m just thankful that I play the hammered dulcimer. DPN Steve Schneider has been playing and teaching hammered dulcimer since 1984. He loves the instrument because of its wide dynamic range and its mystical sustain.

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ews Dulcimer Players N 15

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It dIdn’t just seem lIke a good Idea, It was Steve Schneider’s arrangement for the hammered dulcimer, with a guitar version of “the original” by Alan Shikoh on the CD. “Okay,” I thought, ”there needs to be a mountain dulcimer version, too.” The form of the song is AABA and it modulates from D major to D minor. Having been flushed with the recent success of having figured out My Favorite Things, I figured I’d give it a go. The E minor to E major modulation in that song had worked out swimmingly on the Clemmer dulcimer I was using (though I still believe that such harmonic inventiveness goes way beyond the job description of an au pair). Besides, my musician friend had said it was a “beginner’s” piece… He was wrong. Ten fingers working six strings yeah, maybe it’s easier than most, but thirty-one strings and

two sticks (or three strings and a noter for that matter) turns out to be quite a different story. Here’s what I had to do to make this arrangement happen.

a lIttle back story For quite some time now, I have used the challenge of arranging unusual songs as a way of pushing myself to learn new ideas and techniques on the instrument. While there

are a plethora of traditional techniques I have yet to learn (heck, I could spend a year on Stephen Seifert’s Mode for Dulcimer and another two on Tull Glazener’s right hand alone), I am a lazy, lazy man who must trick himself into learning things. Fortunately, I also have a fairly restless musical curiosity, and a firm belief that you can do pretty much whatever you want to with this instrument. It’s these two things that drive me to learn on the mountain dulcimer.

step one: tabledIt The first step, then, is to get a copy of Lagrima into tabledit. Taking the sheet music printed in the July issue of DPN, I meticulously copied it into Tabledit, set up for DAD dulcimer, by looking at the page and saying, “Every Good Boy Does Fine”, again and again until I had successfully transcribed all sixteen bars. I’ve since learned that Tabledit will import MIDI files directly, and that all I needed to do was find a version for solo guitar on the web (and being public domain material, there are myriad versions) and bring it into Tabledit via the program’s “import MIDI” function. It would have taken a lot less time had I known that. But I am (and my wife will vouch for me) an idiot.

step two: dIssect As I began to put the tab in the program, it was a matter of looking at the notes for key points, like pedal tones, that could be used to take advantage of the instrument’s

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ews Dulcimer Players N 17

strengths. The piece starts with an “A” pedal tone that runs the length of the

way. I rarely ever play in DAA, but knowing the way chords tend to be

first four measures. (fig. 1) Building the melody and harmony around the droning middle string was a piece of cake, it’s actually a technique I learned from figuring out Joni Mitchell songs like Case of You and All I Want, as well as classic DAA techniques like the ones outlined in Maddie McNeil’s, You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer book she wrote for Mel Bay. I suppose it’s worth mentioning, in that, you can always find a use for any technique, song, or trick you learn along the

voiced in DAA made arranging the A part of Lagrima a snap. At the end of measure seven there’s an E7 chord (what Spanish guitar piece doesn’t have one), but since I have a 6 1/2 fret, that’s no sweat. It’s part B—the D minor modulation— where it starts to go off the rails. (fig. 2) Beginning with a phrase that includes Bb, C#, and F natural in the first two measures, it becomes readily apparent that even a 1 1/2 fret isn’t going to be

enough to cut it. I feebly coax my way through the first few measures before hitting the 4 1/2 in measure eleven as well as the 7 1/2 and 8 1/2 in measure fourteen. At this point, Lagrima becomes La Gripe-a, and I completely forget the commandment about not taking the Lord’s name in vain.

step three: rethInk the problem After walking away from the problem (i.e. quitting in disgust and playing Boil dem Cabbage for three days to re-ascertain my ‘mastery’ of the instrument), I remember that the key of E has been particularly fruitful to me as a player. So, returning to Tabledit, I transpose it to E (a simple automatic feature of Tabledit, coupled with some minor tweaking on the

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backside to make some of the new fingerings return to the realm of “that which is playable by humans”) and take another stab at it. Here, almost immediately, I see that I need a few new frets: 6 1/2, 7 1/2 and especially 3 1/2 abound. I should just give up this fool’s folly immediately but instead, here’s what happens…

step Four: re-rethInk the problem, preFerably In europe. At this time, I was in Belgium. A few days later, I found myself in

10th Annual Workshop

10/9/07

the workshop of a hummel builder. Hummels are interesting instruments; they are designed from the onset to be nothing more that a drone-melody instrument. Yet they are designed to be played through all of the modes. Many have 6 1/2 and 1 1/2 frets, but many more also have an entire second melody string that has a chromatic fretboard running beneath it. This gives you a fret board that consists of thirteen or so frets, and another eight or nine half-frets to catch the incidental notes over the two octaves of the fretboard. For myself, the addition of the extra frets has always

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messed up the whole-whole-half spacing ratio that I use as a visual guide (the 6 1/2 fret not withstanding). So I’ve never been keen on adding extra frets, even the 1 1/2. But a half fret would leave the melody string untouched, meaning that I’d still be able to see the pattern. “You want me to do this to an already completed dulcimer?” Garrett asked with trepidation, my well-worn McSpadden in his hands. “Yeah, yeah, it’s cool. It’s not like it’s a good one,” I lied. In truth, I trusted his ability as a workman completely. Roger Frood, himself an exquisite builder of hammered dulcimers, had spoken admiringly of his prowess with wood and instruments. In ways that transcended that standard British sense of politeness,

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Roger convinced me that Garrett really knew his business. And so, over the course of an overcast hour, he added two additional half frets at 3 1/2 and 7 1/2. The additional frets helped immediately in some of the trickier spots but, being only half-frets, were worthless in the descending line of measure five. To get this note I would have to bend the double-course melody strings up to F natural, and there’s no way to do it without it sounding like garbage. Oh sure, I could remove one of the double strings, but dude, there’s a principle here. So I took it back to D, the new 7 1/2 fret helped, but the 3 1/2 was useless. I needed a 4 1/2. Perhaps, I thought, I could try in CGD—another tuning that has been especially fruitful—but by this time, I was fed up.

step FIve: punt At the Upper Potomac Dulcimer Festival, Lisa and Heather Malyuk gave us a copy of their new CD, 13 tunes. One of those tunes was La Partita, another tune often found on the hammered dulcimer but virtually nonexistent on the mountain dulcimer. Though usually played in A minor (what Spanish guitar piece isn’t), it was transposed to B minor, again by Steve Schneider, plus it was composed by Táregga - in my mind, I say, “Close enough.” Arranging for dulcimer is like standing at a row of bus station lockers with an anonymous key. It can often be arduous and fruitless, but once you find the right combination of tune, tuning, and key it can be effortless: assuming you forget all those failures you amassed to get there. With La Partita, I decided to first try in B minor, just like the Malyuks did. Thanks to my new half frets, it fell beautifully under my fingers. (This is what you hear on the sampler CD.) Later, I attempted to transcribe it in A minor with the assumption of a 1 1/2 fret. Again, beautiful, though there’s one note in the A part I had to ditch (a Bb). That version is included in this magazine, but if you want to hear it in A minor, you’ll need to find someone with a 1 1/2 fret (Hellooo Shelley Stevens). So, in a nutshell, that’s all it takes to arrange a song for the dulcimer. I started this project in July and finished it sometime in late October. Three months of working everyday on 16 bars of music, only to punt, and work another month on 34 bars of La Partita (and that was the easy part). s

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Someone once asked a well-known teacher, “If everybody plays Old Joe Clark, why do I need to acknowledge that it’s so and so’s version?” Well, to them I’d say it’s like quilting, or tole painting, or scrapbooking or any other number of handicrafts. Very few quilters weave or print their own fabric. Most quilts utilize wellknown patterns, which often even dictate what colors or fabrics to use. But it’s the quilter’s sweat and blood (sometimes literally) that goes into the quilt. So, is it fair to say that because everyone uses a log-cabin pattern, the quilt doesn’t belong to the quiltmaker? Of course not. The same is true of these old tunes, as the above story demonstrates, arranging a tune is hard work. It’s far easier to learn what someone else has invented, than to invent it yourself, and these things are not nearly as easy as they seem. While Lagrima and La Partita are knuckle busters, there’s no less work in a slow and beautiful arrangement of Nearer My God to Thee, or Amazing Grace. If a piece of public domain music moves you, it’s the arranger who deserves that credit.

epIlogue I was talking to Steve Seifert, we talk on a fairly regular basis (mostly about celebrities and fashion), and I was telling him about my troubles with Lagrima. As soon as I mentioned the D major to D minor modulation, he says, “So you did it in DGD, right…” [Sigh] Here we go again. DPN Butch Ross graduated Suma Cum Laude from the Philadelphia Institute of Snarky-ness and Smartalectry, obtaining a skill set that is self-apparent when he’s up against a deadline. Sheet music supporting this article is at www.dpnews.com. Please do do not not reprint reprint or orredistribute redistributewithout withoutthe permission. Contact dpn@dpnews.com. permission. Contact dpn@dpnew.com

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Twenty kids at the Roosevelt Center do and they want to play them right now. “Ms. Heidi!” Six-year-old Rhoshanda comes over and gives a little hug, “Are you going to take me today?” And there’s LaMonica, skipping across the hall. “Mr. Bob! Take me! Take me first!” “No, me!” comes another voice. The melee begins. It’s another afternoon of Music Mentors in Charleston, West Virginia. The East End of Charleston is a community of contrasts, from tree-lined streets and Greek revival mansions along the Kanawha River to timeworn brick porches, crack houses and warehouses near the I-64 freeway. The golden dome of the State Capitol glitters in the sunlight just blocks away. Many of the children here attend a year-round elementary school and spend their after-school time at the East End Family Resource Center. From 3:00 to 6:00, they have a safe place to go in the reclaimed former Roosevelt Junior High until their parents come home from work. A small but dedicated staff guides them lovingly to walk the straight and narrow by way of homework, recreation and arts activities. Sometimes it’s like herding cats. There’s one s

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thing, though, that grabs their attention, and that’s music. “O and pie and ice cream, 4 and pie and ice cream” wafts out into the hall. “5 and pie and ice cream, 4 and pie and ice cream…” Hey, that’s Twinkle Little Star. “7-hopper, 6-hopper, 7-hopper, 4-hopper… Shoulder up your gun, whistle up your dog…” That’s Bob singing an old Appalachian song while his young friend strums along. Add a little beat box and you have the new East End version of Groundhog. Music Mentors was begun in 2005 to offer one-on-one dulcimer lessons to children who would not otherwise have access to private music lessons. It was the new edition of a program begun in Charleston in 1999 by two members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, in which a retired band teacher gave free woodwind and brass lessons to children. The program ended after he passed away. Bob Webb was directing a children’s summer camp known as Creative Capers where he taught dulcimer, and people kept wishing in his direction that Music Mentors could continue. I got involved in teaching at the camp when I came to Charleston in 2003. Mentors sounded like a good idea, but no one knew how to make it work. Two years later in a community grantwriting process called the Sustainable Kanawha Valley Initiative, the

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idea surfaced again. Bob and I proposed a new model in partnership with the East End Family Resource Center to start with three days of building box dulcimers with children and adults, and continuing with weekly, 30-minute, individual lessons to 16 children for a period of 25 weeks. We received our first grant and the program took off, running from fall 2005 to spring 2006. We began by building 22 instruments for the program that are used every week in our lessons and are kept at the Center. Our “boximers,” as we call them, are shaped like the German forerunner of the Appalachian dulcimer, the scheitholt. Straightsided with one heart cut in the top, they were designed by Bob who has made over 700 of these in various programs in West Virginia. They start out as flat die-cut boxes and raw fretboards. Children varnish the boxes, sand the fretboards, mark them and lay in the frets with the help of adults. Over our 25 weeks in our first year, we ended up working with a total of 39 children, six of whom achieved almost perfect attendance. We learned that students sometimes drop out suddenly—their families move or for various reasons they can’t stay in the program. To motivate students to stick with it, we promised that those with strong attendance could either stay with dulcimer or choose another instrument to learn in the next term. With our next round of grantwriting, we were able to bring in a third instructor, Tim Courts, a well-known local jazz drummer and keyboard player. We purchased guitars, electronic drums and a keyboard. New students came to dulcimer lessons and several went on to try their hand at something else, though they still wanted to learn dulcimer. We’re now in our third year and bursting at the seams with

children from age 5-11 who love to play. We need another instructor and more space. It’s a good problem. But grants come and go, so we needed to find another source of funding. Besides being a musician, Bob is a recording engineer with dozens of top-flight projects under his belt. We decided to make a CD that can be sold as a fundraiser. The Hayslett Collection—A Musical Tribute was released in December, 2007. It honors a 90-year-old master luthier, Harold Hayslett, who has made 80 violins, 13 violas, 63 cellos and a mandolin since he retired from his job of 33 years as a pipefitter for Union Carbide. Bob recorded musicians ranging from West Virginia’s finest old-time fiddlers to West Virginia Symphony players performing traditional, contemporary and classical music on Mr. Hayslett’s instruments. Proceeds go to the Harold Hayslett Music Mentors Scholarship Fund. The CD is getting rave reviews and will help keep Mentors going in 2008. Enter Shalor Gore. One of the first children to learn dulcimer, he helped build the fleet of box dulcimers when he was still six years old. Shalor has big energy that lives loud. He bangs rhythms on everything. Mr. Bob works with him to channel that energy into playing dulcimer. He’s a natural talent and picks it right up. When the Vandalia Youth Dulcimer Contest was on the horizon last May, we encouraged Shalor to enter. At eight years old, in front of a hundred people at the WV State Capitol, he took second place playing Groundhog and Old Joe Clark. His red ribbon was nearly as long as he was tall. The Charleston Gazette took notice and next thing we knew they sent a reporter and photographer to the Center to interview Shalor. Why does he play the dulcimer, they asked? “Because it gives me joy,” he answered, “and it’s cool.”

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Three days after the article appeared, a woman called the Center. She had read the article, was moved by Shalor’s story, and remembered a small dulcimer she had but wasn’t playing. She decided to give it to Shalor so he could have a dulcimer to take home. She encouraged him to practice so he can win the contest next year. A very proud and elated Shalor took the dulcimer to school and performed within the week. After that it was a church ladies’ group that asked him to play. Last November, a statewide prevention conference invited Shalor to demonstrate his skill for 200 people. Shalor is also taking drum lessons through Music Mentors, and his teacher notices he has an innate sense of when and what to play. “He’s going to be a producer,” Mr. Tim says. The dulcimer has brought a lot of joy to Shalor’s life so far, and it’s opening doors. More of the kids want to try the contest this year. His little sister is moving right up behind him with a great memory for tunes and a mischievous urge to play fast. Bob has started using the programmed beats in the electronic drums to help the children learn to play faster, and they love the beat. There’s a deeper reason to teaching the kids than meets the eye or ear. Research has shown that music wires the brain for learning. Individual lessons for young children help them achieve greater learning in all areas. More and more children from middle class and affluent homes are taking music lessons as their parents understand the crossover between learning music and improving in other areas. Lower income families cannot usually make their dollars stretch that far, putting their children at a disadvantage. We started Music Mentors to help fill the gap and give them an equal opportunity. The dulcimer is an ideal entry-level instrument. In West Virginia, it also allows us to acquaint children with a part of their heritage that is quickly fading away. We teach in DAD tuning. Our mantra is, “Say it and play it.” We use words to convey strumming rhythms. “Apple pie and ice cream,” “apple, apple, pie, pie,” and “grasshopper” (the old bumdiddy) are most effective. We teach songs like Twinkle, Gray Cat, Frere Jacques, Groundhog, Old Joe Clark, the Lion King song and even Cucaran’s Cross. The children are remarkable in their ability to remember their tunes week after week, sometimes even after long breaks. They sing them to themselves and remember their fret numbers. “4, 5, 7-hopper, 9, 8, 7-hopper, 4, 5, 7-hopper, 2, 1, O-hopper.” Know the tune? It’s one of their favorite songs.

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Children from the Center are given yearly academic tests. We were gratified to find out that the test scores for our kids went up this past year. We can’t prove it’s due to the music, but we’d like to believe it’s so. The staff at the Center thinks it might be. We do know for certain that Music Mentors is making a difference to these city kids from the Mountain State. You can see it—one strum and one smile at a time. DPN

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“The Hayslett Collection - A Musical Tribute” is available by mail or online at CDbaby.com. To order by mail, please send a check for $18.00 made out to “UUC - Music Mentors” and send to: Heidi Muller, PO Box 1064, Charleston, WV 25324. For the latest information about Music Mentors, please visit www.musicmentorswv.org. Heidi Muller and Bob Webb are longtime touring musicians, performers and teachers with CDs and books available at www.heidimuller.com. The Moonshiner’s Atlas 14 tracks of traditional, original and radically interpreted covers on mountain dulcimer.

www.butchross.com

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ews Dulcimer Players N 25

Sarah Elizabeth by Jim Pfitzer

arah Elizabeth collects elephant figurines. She also writes fiction, knows karate and plays mountain dulcimer. In fact, by the time other children her age were beginning to read, Sarah had earned a scholarship to the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University. When she was ten, she won a nationally recognized mountain dulcimer contest and was making a splash in the dulcimer world. She has since recorded with the Oak Ridge Boys and played at the Bluebird Café. She is still at Blair where, according to adjunct teaching artist Sandy Conaster, “she continues to study and amaze us all.” As impressive as all that is for a young woman just barely old enough to drive a car, these accomplishments are not what make Sarah Elizabeth truly amazing. Sarah began setting herself apart in a very big way when she organized her first big fund raiser. In the fall of 2005, as part of the Samaritan Series at the Hillwood United Methodist Church in Nashville, Sarah and a few musical guests raised $3800 for the Middle Tennessee Autism Society—a cause very near to Sarah’s heart. In 2002, Sarah was gifted with a baby boy cousin named Sean—the “cutest child I had ever laid eyes upon!” says Sarah. “He had this chipmunk laugh, which made all of us around him smile.” But the laughing didn’t last. When Sean was a year-and-a-half old, his love for life and uplifting smile were robbed from him—stolen by autism and replaced with frustration and sadness. s

ew 26 Dulcimer Players N

Fortunately for Sean, his parents sprung into action and after six intense months of care including behavioral, speech and occupational therapy for nearly forty hours a week and changes in Sean’s diet, “the smiling, giggling boy was back! He was truly happy again.” Sarah was elated to see the smiles, laughs, and joy return to her beautiful little cousin. “I just love to watch him play with his sister, laughing and chatting away,” she says. But Sarah did not just thank God for the miracle and continue with her life. So moved by her experience with Sean, she teamed up with Nashville singer/songwriter Tammy Vice to write a song about it and began working with Tammy’s autistic daughter Morgan. Recognizing the power of their art, Sarah and Tammy developed a curriculum for teaching music to children with autism. That curriculum, which she hopes to spread statewide, has led Sarah to partner with Very Special People of the Arts (VSA arts), where she is an un-paid intern for her high school senior project. Through a grant, VSA arts has acquired twelve dulcimers for Sarah to use in forming a dulcimer choir open to children with autism and William’s syndrome. Beginning in 2008, Sarah will spend three weeks at a time teaching workshops in participating Davidson and Sumner County Schools in the Nashville area. From that work, a performing ensemble of students will be chosen. Her dream is to furnish each of those children with her own dulcimer. True to her ways, Sarah is making that dream a reality. To that end, Sarah is organizing a special event at the Blair School. On March 8, 2008, Sarah will be joined on stage by a host of Nashville musicians for Autism Has Touched My Life: A Concert & Silent Auction to Benefit Very Special People of the Arts. Sarah has already purchased two dulcimers with money raised by “passing the hat” at Dulcimer Chatauqua on the Wabash in New Harmony, Indiana and has two more that were donated by Dave McKinney of Modern Mountain Dulcimer. Her hope is to raise enough money through the benefit to increase that number from four to twenty.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Parentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s of children with autism have enough expenses to worry about,â&#x20AC;? says Sarahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mother Jennifer Musgrave, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sarah doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want this to cost them anything.â&#x20AC;? And from Sarah: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think kids should have the same opportunities I hadâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;even if theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re different.â&#x20AC;? Sarah Elizabeth is certainly different. And is it any wonder she is drawn to elephants? Known for strong family bonds, group supervision of young and tender care for the infirm and disabled, the elephant is the perfect totem for Sarah Elizabeth. DPN Ticket information for the March benefit will be posted by January 15, 2008 at www.vsaartstennessee.org. You can hear an audio cut from Sarahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CD, Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re All In This Together on the included sampler CD. It is reviewed on page 39. Jim Pfitzer is a freelance storyteller and writer living in Chattanooga, TN. He can be found at www.jimpfitzer.com.

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ews Dulcimer Players N 27

How does a dulcimer festival become sucH a success?

nicoi State Park is a 1,000 acre state park with a lodge nestled in the mountains near the Alpine-themed village of Helen, Georgia. It offers a variety of sports and outdoor activities, including camping. Among mountain dulcimer players in this part of the country, Unicoi means just one thing: festival. The state park is the yearly meeting place for the North Georgia Fretted Dulcimer Association festival. Unicoi— as everyone calls it—is one of the best-run and bestattended dulcimer festivals out there. In fact, attendance is limited to NGFDA members to help keep the number of attendees at around three hundred fifty (so they won’t lose their wonderful venue). There are approximately six hundred members in the NGFDA, and over half of them participated in the festival this year. However, since membership is not limited to Georgia residents, seventeen states were represented. The festival—which started nineteen years ago in a parking lot—was held in the Unicoi lodge. It is the perfect facility for everything. Vendors were set up on two floors of

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the open central area and down the hallways. Classrooms, concerts, and even the restaurant were all under one roof, making this an easy festival to get around. This year’s festival had ninety-six classes. That’s approximately one hundred ninety man hours of teaching going on over four days. How does a dulcimer festival become such a success? Peggy Martin, former director of the NGFDA festival, tells us how it all got started. “[The club] was birthed from our need to get around metro Atlanta and get together regionally to play and learn new tunes.” The club maintains a dedication to the lap dulcimer (though there were plenty of hammered dulcimer players there, too). We have a newsletter, a small festival in the spring, and a number of in-the-woods get-togethers.” Peggy says, “We’re up to thirteen satellite groups, and we list those online.” While most of the satellite groups meet once a month, the festival is the only event planned for the entire organization. Most communication within the club is done through the newsletter and the satellite group leaders.

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by Angie Landrum Membership grows mainly through the satellite groups. Peggy was glad to hand the reins to new festival director, Mike Vandermark in 2007. “It’s not easy to find people to direct a large festival. It requires someone with a background in people sense, and it requires a backbone.” Mike says, “It takes a lot of man hours. I’ll start again in January, hiring the faculty for 2008. It’s a year-long process.” He says it begins with surveys turned in by participants at the end of the festival, “We eliminated a couple things this year that didn’t work well last year. We depend on those surveys.” So, what’s the main thing that has caused the NGFDA to grow and succeed? Mike says, “Four years ago when I came to the club, I felt welcome right away. Everyone’s here to help one another.” John Huey, director of vendors, offers this advice to festival organizers. “First, be nice to vendors. Don’t take any profit away from them. It’s no advantage for us to ask for a percentage, and maybe next year they don’t want to come back. We have vendors who have been with us for as much as nineteen years.” And in John’s opinion, what makes this festival special? “I think it’s the closeness of the

members in the [satellite] groups. And we have such a fantastic group of artists that always come. It’s just special.” Peggy started a children’s program four or five years ago. “We’re trying to teach them the history and tradition of the mountain dulcimer,” she says. “We wanted to make sure we have a future by bringing the children into the picture. The children started class in the morning, and most of these children did not have any background in mountain dulcimer, and now they’re playing a tune.” Later that afternoon, the children performed during the open stage, accompanied by their teacher and a couple of featured performers. Throughout the course of the four days of Unicoi, the sense of camaraderie was apparent against the backdrop of a late fall, fully ablaze. Impromptu jam sessions sprouted like wheat, and strangers talked like old friends. What makes Unicoi a success? It seems to be a unique combination of location, management, consistency, and cameraderie. Somehow this friendly and familiar bunch of dulcimer players conspire to make it a magical experience. Whatever the reasons, Unicoi is a special place. DPN

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ews Dulcimer Players N 29

Editors’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles by Adrian Kosky, reflecting on his experiences exploring and absorbing roots music and dulcimer culture in America.

Photo by Dan Landrum

or a couple of years I used to visit Kurt Simerman’s web site, look at the beautiful dulcimers and dream that I had the courage to buy one, as they looked so much more than what I could play. I joined the mailing list for when new instruments became available, but let it go each time I received an email. Once he offered five new instruments, and my mind was made up, I would take the plunge. There are very few dulcimers where I come from, so my hopes of a fine instrument were keenly sharpened. As soon as I made my decision, I was informed that they had all been sold! I rang Kurt from Australia, and he kindly offered to build me one, as he heard my story of difficulty in investing in myself, but finally taking the plunge. He sent it in January 2005. I had been quite low at the time, with an unfinished album, a loss of direction and a yearning to learn and grow. The instrument arrived and made me realise what a fine instrument can do. I am not an instrument snob, and will play any instrument I have in my hands, but I know innovation and heartfelt art when I see it. It made me play better, stronger and more, whilst leaving me so much room to grow into it as well. It cost me twice as much, considering our currency then, s

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as well as more than $200 in postage and another few hundred in taxes and duties. At the time it seemed like magic, that this beautiful instrument could arrive on my doorstep, sent by the man who made it, and yet we had never met, nor had I ever played one. We became partners, Kurt and I, without the formality of a piece of paper, or any financial gain. He, the luthier of my newly developing voice, and me taking the instrument where no Simerman has gone before.

I took it to a fiddlers convention a month later, where I met an old friend, who offered me very good advise. He said, “That instrument suits you, and besides, everyone plays the guitar.” I have played a few instruments over the years, but he was telling me to follow this one. Kurt enabled this by building an

instrument that suits my varied interests. I now have other beautiful and quirky instruments, but my Simerman traveled with me three times to the Delta and the birthplace of the blues. It has held it’s own in furious bluegrass jams, and on street corners where I sing and play my heart out to anyone who cares to listen. On a recent adventure in the US, a video was made of me playing a couple of tunes on the dulcimer, that was later posted on YouTube. I sent the video to Kurt, who sent it to someone wanting to know how his instruments sound. The lady that received the video contacted me and asked if there was anything I didn’t like about the instrument, and I replied yes. The problem I had was that I did not have two! I am often in situations where an instrument is damaged through travel, and it pays to have a spare. In fact, this happened to my faithful old Gibson guitar on my most recent trip, and it is currently in the hospital [another story]. This led me to call ahead in anticipation of my journey, and have Kurt make me another dulcimer. It was sent ahead, to meet me in San Francisco. Every where I played this instrument, people would want to touch it. It is made of flame mahogany and has a tree of life in the soundhole.

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Two people wanted to order one so I excitedly emailed Kurt with their needs and details. I tried to call for a week every day, until coming across the sad news of his passing. Kurt made unique instruments, and my playing has developed uniquely with inspiration and support, in part from this gentle man. His legacy will definitely be living on through me and others who enjoy his talents. I am saddened by this loss, but owe a debt of gratitude to the man who remains with me in the instruments I carry with me around the world. Kurt, I will play them with gusto, in your honour. DPN Adrian Kosky is an Australian multi-instru-

mentalist and internationally known dulcimer player. His music draws heavily on American blues and roots music—as a result of this, he finds himself ever frequently on our shores.

Dandy Duster

Over 4” static free hog bristles set in a wooden handle. Comes in a storage tube. $18.00 free shipping. Samples & disc. available to dealers. Cliff’s Custom Crafts 43 York St., Bay City, MI 48708 989-892-4672 cliffscrafts@chartermi.net Please do do not not reprint reprint or orredistribute redistributewithout withoutthe permission. Contact dpn@dpnews.com. permission. Contact dpn@dpnew.com

ews Dulcimer Players N 31

Mu s i c R e v i e w s Fun & Music

Laughing Silver String

Fred Meyer & Jim Miller

Ricko Donovan

red Meyer and Jim Miller are two of the most talented icko Donovan is a Nashville-based musimusicans you are likely to find in our extended dulcimer cian and singer who learned his trade by community. For starters, they play more instruments spending several years busking and living than you can possibly believe. They also like to have fun in Europe, primarily in Spain and Ireland. He played and Fun & Music is the happy result. This is a DVD hammered dulcimer on streets, in cafes, theaters, and clubs release that contains 26 examples of some good oldfor about eight years before returning to Tennessee. Much of time tunes mixed with a generous sampling of the his time was spent outside Doolin in County Clare and along the Cliffs of Moher during the summer months. The Laughing musical mayhem that their many fans have grown Silver String is his fourth release and features Ricko on solo hamto expect and appreciate. If you haven’t actually mered dulcimer and guitar with occasional assistance from Cindy seen them at a festival, you may have caught Wyatt on Celtic harp, Sonja O’Brien on fiddle, Franko Hashiguchi their antics on any of several YouTube videos. on pennywhistle, Marney McCague on Irish flute, Marcel Botteman Beginning jammers (and even experienced on fiddle, Rolf Groesbeck on fiddle, frame drum and dumbek, and players) have come to appreciate Jim’s ability Neal Lee on bodhran. The tunes are mostly staples of the traditional Irish repertoire and include dance tunes as well as several O’Carolan to use turkey basters connected to “party pieces. All are exceptionally well played and nicely arranged. Ricko’s blowouts” with plastic tubing to signal the dulcimer is well out front on correct accompaniment chords. Jim has every track and the other also adapted the turkey baster, attached instruments complement to tubing then to pennywhistles, to allow his lead nicely when a you to both exercise and play a tune at the change of pace is approsame time. The automatic dog scratcher, priate. Ricko doesn’t sing on this recording but his the pipe hat, the rhythm rack (which inWebsite has several tracks creases upper body strength while playing that indicate he is a multia tune), the mandomill, the mandobanjitalented performer who is at tar, and the fruitaphone are all here, too. home with both traditional and Meanwhile, Fred, normally the straight man more contemporary music. This in the duo, contributes his own bit of madalbum is all traditional and is well worth your attention. ness by juggling to the tune of Old French and playing the Playskool electronic telephone on the old surfing favorite Pipeline. Of course, Fred also plays some excellent hurdy gurdy which, by contrast, actually brings a little bit of or sanity to the business at hand. Jim and Fred also play e 39 f ion g a P See several varieties of dulcimer (in case you were wonrmat ed o f n i t c dering how they manconta f our review o aged to get our attenon all music. tion), in addition to a host of other musical oddities. This has to be one of the most unique musical productions to come along in recent years and, while it’s not for everybody, I challenge you to sit through it without at least occasionally rolling on the floor laughing.

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b y N e al walters Silver Lining Peat & Barley

One for a Friend

Jeff Hames

eff Hames has been a busy young man lately. His composition, Folklore was the first mountain dulcimer instrund speaking of both the hammered dulmental to win the instrumental division of the 2005 New cimer and Celtic music, Peat and Barley, Song Showcase at Winfield. He went on to become the comprised of Bill Mitchell on hammered dulWinfield champion in 2006, and Music Room Rag from cimer and Becky Ross on fiddle — is a Celtic duo based in his newest album also placed in the new song showWashington D.C. They’ve been married for nearly 25 years case competition. Jeff was featured recently on the and have been performing together for over ten years. LongWoodsongs Radio Hour in a program dedicated to time members of the Potomac Valley Scottish Fiddle Club, they the mountain dulcimer which also featured Jean wanted a Scottish flavor to their name so chose Peat and Barley. They are often asked, “Which one of you is Peat and which is Bar- Ritchie and the Nashville Dulcimer Quartet. He also coordinates the Young Dulcimer Playley?” They leave the answer to your imagination, but they do offer the following when asked how they came up with the name; “Scottish ers forum on the internet. One for a Friend is Whiskey receives it’s distinctive “smokey” flavor from the drying of the his second album release and is dedicated to the memory of friends who have passed, malted barley grain over peat fires. including David Schnaufer, current friends, Therefore, peat and barley are and those friends yet to come. That’s quite two of the major components a resume for someone who just got out of in one of Scotland’s major high school, but Jeff is one of several young industries. But, there is a players who just plain blow your socks off broader Celtic connection. with a combination of amazing skill, suPeat has a long history as a perb musical taste, and continuing respect fuel source in both Ireland for the traditions of the music. His new reand Scotland, while barley’s cording is wonderful. He plays a number of use in brewing beer brings to different dulcimers (standard, baritone, and mind the pleasures of having a bass) and gets superb help from Steve Deaton pint in the comfortable surroundings of the local pub. Silver Lining is their second album as a duo and is a who not only engineered the sessions but also wonderful collection of Scottish, Irish and original tunes that highlight plays everything but the kitchen sink in support. Master flatpicking guitarist Dan DeLancy the interplay between the fiddle and dulcimer. Becky is a masterful fiddler, whether playing a lively reel or a stately air, and Bill’s ham- gets in a few licks, as well, and there’s a wonderful version of Gray Cat on the Tennessee Farm mered dulcimer is the perfect counterpoint, adding strong rhythfeaturing Jeff, David Schnaufer and Lee Rowe that mic support as well as melodic and harmonic variety. The result closes the album. Jeff is a masterful player with talranges from delicate and dreamlike to robust and danceable. ent to burn and this recording is quite simply a tour de It’s definitely some great music and I recommend it unreforce. In other words, servedly, preferably with a tumbler of Glenwhozit in front it’s a no-brainer folks… of a crackling fire! buy it.

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ews Dulcimer Players N 33

Mu s i c R e v i e w s Following the Muse

b y Ne al walters Bandwagon and Steppin’ Back

Sue Carpenter

Picks & Sticks String Band

It’s been quite a while since we had a recording from Sue Carpenter but I’m here to tell you the wait was genuinely worth it. Sue was the 2005 National Mountain Dulcimer Champion and she is renowned for her beautiful, inventive, and often harmonically complex fingerpicking arrangements. Now she is back with a wonderful new batch of tunes that cannot fail to bring tears to your eyes and a big smile to your face. Bill Carpenter, Brian Ferguson, Dirje Smith, Rhandy Simmons and Ross Holmes add occasional guitar, percussion, or fretless bass, the odd cello and fiddle, and they get amazing mileage from some old chestnuts and some newer material that I’m betting is going to be moving to the top of your learn list in short order. Sue plays baritone, standard, and chromatic dulcimers, often adding a harmony part using a capo or a dulcimer with another voice. Her arrangements are meticulous and always creative and she uses several tunings—all of them with four equidistant strings. She doesn’t always fingerpick but she is at her introspective best when she does. There aren’t many dance tunes on here but you’re going to find yourself mesmerized as you listen. As much as I like snappy old-time tunes and kicking dance music, there’s a part of me that says, “This is the way the dulcimer is supposed to sound.” I suspect many of you out there will feel that way, too. It’s plumb beautiful, as one of Sue’s Texas friends might say. I’m very much inclined to agree.

Correction: Jody Marhall’s cut on last issue’s companion CD was listed as Sleigh Ride Set (Winter’s Run/Troika). It was actually a medley of Frosty’s Favorite, Housetop Hornpipe, and The Blazing Yule. My apologies to Jody and to all you readers. I can only say that Jody’s music was so entrancing that I simply lost my concentration! I’ll try and do better this time! - N.W.

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Describing Michigan’s Picks & Sticks String Band is a very difficult task, though their publicity brochure certainly comes close, using terms like, “the complete entertainment package”, and describing their playing style as, “rollercoaster”. They’re not a jug band exactly, they’re way more than just a contra band, and you can’t pigeonhole them by their material because they do everything from folk, swing, and traditional to light pop, western, jazz, and world music. They remind me a lot of the Old Ruffwater String Band who are also from Michigan, and that’s a very good thing. The group consists of two couples; Morgan and Sharon Humecky, and Mike and Susan Gleason, with occasional help from friends like Brian Newsom and Kim Domonick. Sharon is the hammer dulcimer player in the group and her driving style is a key element of the band’s overall sound. In addition to dulcimer festivals like Evart, they’ve performed at banjo conventions, arts festivals, historical museums, and even the Detroit Zoo where I suspect they might have auditioned for the movie Happy Feet. They’ve released two albums and both Bandwagon and their latest, Steppin’ Back, are chock full of rollicking, good time music for dancing and for just listening. They can go from Jim Crack Corn to Love Potion Number Nine to Caravan or Don’t Let the Sun Catch Your Crying without blinking an eye or skipping a beat, and I guarantee they will make your feet move in the process.

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ews Dulcimer Players N 35

uick

To submit your project for review in DPN, send a copy to:

Pic k s

Christmas with the Homers The Homers The Homers hail from Minnesota and play all manner of stringed and other instruments including both mountain and hammered dulcimers. They have a delightful sense of humor, as a visit to their web site will quickly demonstrate. Matt Edwards and Sven Olsen attended the University of Minnesota together in the early ‘90s. They sang in the choir, did an occasional duet, worked on “adventurous Beatles medleys“

and even wrote an original song, Three Sticks of Dynamite, an ode to folk hero, John Henry. They went their separate ways after graduation, but got together again recently and picked up where they left off. Their first CD is called Christmas With The Homers. They chose the name, The Homers, in honor of their stay-at-home-mom wives. The recording is really well done and consists of classic Christmas material done in a relaxed and extremely listenable manner. All proceeds from the CD will be donated to the Edwards and Olsen Families so you won’t have to worry about whether your purchase money is going for a good cause or not!

Neal Walters 12228 Hollowell Church Rd. Greencastle PA 17225

Angels A-Shouting The Hotwells Howler Based in Bristol, England, the Hotwells Howlers are a large group brought together by a combination of long friendship and a shared passion for traditional music and song. Originally a Christmas seasonal pub gathering in Bristol, The Howlers now perform throughout the year to benefit cancer research. Angels A-Shouting is an absolutely gorgeous collection of seasonal material from a va-

riety of mainly west-country English traditions. The material is meticulously researched and the liner notes are a treasure of information about both the sources and the songs. This is primarily a choral work, though both John Shaw and Chris Russell contribute some lovely dulcimer playing to the ensemble’s delightfully simple and spare instrumental backing of the singing. If you’ve heard the Christmas Revels, you’ll appreciate the overall effect. This would be a great Christmas gift and all profits go to cancer research.

Mountain Dulcimer MOUNTAIN DULCIMER

HAMMERED DULCIMER

Robert Force • Stephen Seifert • Tull Glazener • Sarah Elizabeth • Susan Trump Janita Baker • Molly McCormack • Dave Haas •Karen Mueller • Shelley Stevens Bing Futch • Butch Ross and more…

David Moran • Cathy Barton Ken Kolodner • Rick Thum Guy George • Jim Miller • and more…

Also classes for GUITAR - David Para / Rick thum / Peter Madcap BANJO - Dave Para • STEEL DRUM - Guy George, Jim Miller • TIN WHISTLE - Guy George AUTOHARP - Karen Mueller • CELTIC HARP - Donna Missigman MANDOLIN - Patrick Hutchens BOWED PSALTRY - Donna Missigman HARMONICA - Peter Madcat Ruth FIDDLE - Ken Kolodner STAINED GLASS - Gale Sturm BASKETRY - Mary Carty and much more!

For more information and registration go to

www.kentuckymusicweek.com

ew 36 Dulcimer Players N

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Gray Cat Gang Gray Cat Gang Gray Cat Gang has been playing as a mountain dulcimer ensemble in their home state of Georgia for nearly eight years. Bonita Muth, Joan Humble, Thelma O’Hern, Dolores Davidson, Sharon Sterk, Bobby Coleman, and Ted Coleman all play dulcimer. They also play other instruments including; bass, bowed psaltery, guitar, harmonica, autoharp, mandolin, and whistle. They play at nursing homes, retirement centers, civic clubs, festivals, church socials, and private parties. Gray Cat Gang is their debut recording and features

Burke. Everybody but Erma, who plays guitar and sings, plays mountain dulcimer. Karen and Chris add hammered dulcimer and the group also include bowed psaltery, banjimer, autoharp, shaker, and pennywhistle in their arrangements. Barb and Ann join Erma on the vocals to create some nice three-part harmony. Bits and Pieces is full of traditional jam tunes, some Stephen Foster songs, a few gospel favorites, and one or two sentimental country songs. Like the Gray Cat Gang, they have a nice full club-like sound, their enthusiasm is infectious and they’re doing material that most clubs The Remnants The Remnants are from West- would find appealing. I’m glad ern Pennsylvania and consist to hear them singing as well! of Karen Linhan, Chris Senak, Barb Snyder, Anna Mary Upholster, Ann Baltich, Erma Nicol, Ora Dalton, and Ethel traditional jam session favorites with an occasional contemporary song. Bonita contributes vocals on Bill Staines’ River, Before I Met You, and Green Grow the Lilacs, but otherwise the recording is all instrumental. The Gray Cats play well together, they’ve worked hard on their arrangements, and they are obviously having a very good time. Bits and Pieces

Basic Mountain Dulcimer Two Samplers Wanda Degen Wanda Degen is a veteran performer and teacher with several recordings available. She’s been teaching mountain dulcimer at Elderly Instruments in East Lansing, MI and at numerous festivals for some thirty years after building her first dulcimer herself using Howie Mitchell’s book in 1973. She also served as Elderly’s Director of the School of Music for several years. Wanda has published two recent instruction

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ews Dulcimer Players N 37

books targeted at the beginning player and she calls them Samplers. Each book comes with a CD demonstrating the tunes and contains TAB showing strumming patterns, fingerpicking styles, basic melodies, and harmony ideas. The Ionian Sampler has 31 tunes and some excercises, while the Aeolian, Mixolydian, and Dorian Sampler has 21 tunes and delves a little more deeply in flatpicking, slides, hammerons, and pull-offs. The TAB is done by hand but is very clearly laid out in a nice comb binder that lays flat for convenience. So Far ... So Good Sweet Fern Bob and Rose Taunton Bob and Rose are from Alabama and have been part of Heartstrings, a quartet with

whom they’ve recorded a couple of albums. As a duo, they call themselves Sweet Fern. So Far…So Good is their first release as Sweet Fern and features Bob’s lead singing, banjo, and guitar playing and Rose’s harmony singing, dulcimer, whistle, and bass dulcimer playing. Rose plays the bass dulcimer through a small amplifier and uses it instead of a regular upright or electric bass. The sound is unique to them, as far as I know, and is very effective. They love to sing and do a great job on both traditional favorites and more contemporary folk material.

I’m a little biased since they did their recording in our studio, but they shouldn’t be penalized for keeping bad company. I think you’ll like their home-folks approach to music as much as I do.

try to present the songs just like we would in your living room and My Pathway Leads to Pennsylvania contains over 70 minutes of music. We’ve chosen a mixture of traditional and contemporary songs and we play them just like we knew what we’re doing. Of course, I can’t go so far as to actually recommend it to you—that just wouldn’t be right—but I will endeavor to remember just who my friends really are!

My Pathway Leads to Pennsylvania Neal & Coleen Walters Lastly, your humble reviewer begs you to give him a chance! We’ve got a new album of songs that we’re hoping will also please the discerning readers of this very fine magazine. I play autoharp, dulcimer, and banjo and we both sing. We

Editor’s Choice - Neal

y editor’s choice this time is the music of I.D. Stamper. I.D. made one

dulcImer players news sampler cd purpose, polIcy and submIssIon guIdelInes Purpose - The DPN Sampler CD is a promotional and educational tool mailed as a quarterly insert along with the magazine and supports the material within each accompanying issue. The CD is not available for purchase.

Policy - Items included on the CD include, but are not limited to: 1. At least one track from each of the four to six albums reviewed in the “Music Reviews” column - these are selected by the reviewer. 2. As space allows, tracks from the “Quick Picks” column - these are not guaranteed placement and will be included as they best fit the mix of the CD. 3. Reference material from the accompanying issue, such as recordings by profiled artists and contributors, audio versions of sheet music, pdf’s of teaching material, reference lists etc. These can be either audio or data and will be included at the editor’s discretion. 4. Editor’s Choice audio tracks - these cuts need supportive material to be included either in the spoken introductory track, in the magazine or on the DPN web site.

Submissions - Books and CDs you would like conisdered for possible inclusion in Dulcimer Players News magazine and sampler CD, should be sent to: Neal Walters 12228 Hollowell Church Rd., Greencastle, PA 17225 E-mail both Neal and DPN the following: Your contact information (including phone number), web site, email and postal mailing address. If there are any of these contact points which you would like to remain private, then clearly indicate so. • In Addition: Describe in 50 words or less the material you are presenting. Do this in your own words and make sure it is something you would be comfortable seeing in print! Example: “This is my third CD and I wanted to see what would happen if I teamed didgeridoo and dulcimer. I enlisted by buddy David Hudson and we call the results Appalachian Oz - the Mountains Out Back.” • Tell us which track you’d like to see on the review CD, and in your own words explain why you chose this cut. • Download, ﬁll out and return the IPR Waiver and Release Form. (Forms available at www.dpnews.com) • List the title and track number for each track on the CD. • List the CD title and all performers on the CD. • List all the performers on the track(s) your are recommending for inclusion on the CD.

E-mail: neal@doofusmusic.com AND dpn@dpnews.com s

ew 38 Dulcimer Players N

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great album,Red Wing, back in 1977 for June Appal Records— which coincidently is being rereleased very soon as a CD. Using a pocket knife, I.D. made his first dulcimer out of a log his father brought in for firewood and patterned it after a dulcmer made by Uncle Ed Thomas. He made the fret bars similarly from a butternut log. His dulcimers were unique and sounded unique as well. John McCutcheon, who played along with I.D. on his album, still plays one of I.D.’s dulcimers. His music has a very strong blues flavor combined with a strong rhythmic drive. If you haven’t heard him, I think you’re in for a treat. Thanks to Derek Mullins of June Appal for giving us permission to include samples of I.D.’s playing on the companion CD. Hopefully, the new June Appal CD release of Red Wing will be out in time for the Spring issue! Editor’s Choice - Dan t seems like dulcimers are popping up in many new places. My first editor’s choice came to me as a total suprise. While I of course love dulcimer music, I’m an even bigger fan of the singer/songwriter genre. I recently purchased a new album by Jud Caswell. What a pleasant surprise to find hammered dulcimer on two tracks. It didn’t take long for me to get Jud on the phone and learn that the player was Maine resident Paul Schaffner. Paul says he and Jud crossed paths at various venues. He says, “Jud then sought me out because he felt (and I agree) that the tonality of the HD could add a special quality to his more reflective musical pieces.“ The song I’ve chosen is Leather Shoes, from the album, Lost

and Found. You can learn more about Jud Caswell and Paul Schaffner at www.dpnews.com. My second pick is from a groundbreaking album recorded 16 years ago by the Seatle, Washington based builder/ player Rick Fogel. His Through the Looking Glass album (now available on CD) demonstrates exquisite musical mastery in a way that is hard to top. I’ve chosen one of Rick’s original tunes, Dulce, which uses sparse tastefulness to demonstrate the dulcimer’s sweet solo voice. Rick has made the sheet music for this piece available on our web site - www.dpnews.com. Editor’s Choice - Butch If I were one of those performers whose insecurities left him quietly seething at anyone who demonstrates a superior talent, I would loathe Sarah Elizabeth. Sarah’s new album, we’re all in this together, showcases her instrumental prowess as one would expect, but the CD also highlights her arranging chops and clear, supple voice. The CD opens with a wonderfully reimagined version of the classic, Wellyn, highlighting it’s subtle Latin rhythms and adding bluegrass punch. Unexpected surprises like the instrumental, Send in the Clowns, (performed on bass dulcimer) and Frosty the Snowman make this a diverse and entertaining listen. But the highlight for me, after Wellyn, is her take on the Skeeter Davis hit, End of the World, dedicated to Skeeter and gloriously rendered here in a crystalline a cappella. Elsewhere, the erstwhile teen tosses off inventive arrangements of more obscure fiddle tunes, some with vocals, and a pair of original instrumentals.

CD Reviews Contact Information Fred Meyer & Jim Miller jmiller5@msn.com fredmeyer@hotmail.com www.jmillerdulcimer.com www.fredmeyermusic.com Ricko Donovan 1028 Iverson Ave Nashville, TN 37216 www.myspace.com/rickodonovan www.myspace.com/hammerdulcimer Peat & Barley Billy Mitchell/Becky Ross 9200 Brink Road Gaithersburg, MD 20882 301-208-8285 music@peatandbarley.com www.peatandbarley.com Jud Caswell 207-751-3563 booking@judcaswell.com www.judcaswell.com

Sarah Elizabeth 2 Stirlingshire Ct., Hendersonville, TN 37075

www.sarahelizabethmusic.com

Rick Fogel PMD 906 1916 Pike Place #12 Seattle, WA 98101 206-910-8259

www.geocities.com/whamdiddle/

Jeff Hames Jamming Good Music 169 Azalea Circle Madison, MS 39110 dulcimermusic@bellsouth. net www.jeffhames.com Sue Carpenter 2160 Hideaway Lane Quinlan, TX 75474 903-883-3037 scarpenter@onlineisp.net www.suecarpenter.net

Picks & Sticks String Band c/o Sherry Humecky 8787 Chubb Road Northville, MI 48168 248-348-0066 picstix@charter.net www.pickssticks.com The Homers c/o Matt Edwards 1858 Ramada Ave S St. Croix Beach, MN 55043 651-757-5070 saintcroix@gmail.com The Hotwells Howlers c/o Dave Byrne or John Shaw 01761 479224 or 0117 9673443 davidwbyrneuk@yahoo.co.uk angelash@ukonline.co.uk Gray Cat Gang c/o Ted Coleman 510 Kamelia Drive Hawkinsville, GA 31036 478-892-3393 doc423@cstel.net The Remnants c/o Karen Lihan 724-539-3084 or Chris Senak 184 St. Cecilia Road Latrobe, PA 15650 remnantsdulcimergroup@ yahoo.com Wanda Degen Lansing, MI 517-337-2264 www.wandaDegen.com Bob and Rose Taunton 1450 Greenwood Road Tallassee, AL 36078 banjobob@charter.net www.bobandrosemusic.com Neal & Coleen Walters 12228 Hollowell Church Road Greencastle, PA 17225 neal@doofusmusic.com coleen@doofusmusic.com www.basementmusicstudio. com

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ews Dulcimer Players N 39

ew 40 Dulcimer Players N

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Photo by Christie Burns

elcome to the Bavarian town

Weltkongress, while it was called the

world. The congress traditionally ends

of Oberammergau, Germany.

Yangqin World Congress two years ago in

with an international gala concert that is

It is the 9th meeting of the Hackbrett

Beijing. In 2009, who knows what it will

open to the public, with a “farewell” day

Weltkongress, or the Cimbalom World

be called; the Dulcimer World Congress

of sightseeing.

Congress, where musicians from over 20

perhaps? In addition to the biannual

Bavarian hackbrettist, Anja Kroeker

countries including Great Britain, Japan,

members’ meeting, there are four days of

did an amazing job directing the 9th

Taiwan, Thailand, Hungary, the Czech &

presentations by the delegations from every

festival.

Slavic Republics, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine,

country at the congress. These are mostly

performance and lecture schedules for

Switzerland and of course Germany, have

musical performances, but there are also

the 20-plus countries represented is

Organizing

food,

lodging,

gathered together to tune and play their

no small feat. The fee of €150 (about

many strings.

$220 US) included all the events, free

The Cimbalom World Congress is the

lodging in the local hostel (or reduced

official meeting of the Cimbalom World

rate lodging at a local hotel), several

Association,

Hungary-

meals and a great program brochure. In

based organization for promoting the

Budapest,

the face of ever increasing travel costs,

music and instruments of the hammered

organizers work to keep the fees as small

dulcimer family. CWA members include

as possible in hopes of maintaining a rich

professional and amateur musicians, instrument

makers,

musicologists,

students, and many others. The

congress

takes

place

The Tawainese Contingent

every

and diverse contingent. Each country officially received an hour of stage time and an additional ten minutes at the final gala concert. The

two years, in a different country. Each

lectures and

Asian countries went all out for wardrobe

event assumes the name of the the host

instrument displays. There are also plenty

and presentation. The Japanese, in their

country’s

October

of chances to meet, talk, eat, drink, and

mazuri festival jackets and head pieces,

2007 meeting was called the Hackbrett

play music with people from all over the

played not only folk pieces like Sakura, but

instrument.

The

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ews Dulcimer Players N 41

intense new compositions and even the William Tell Overture.

were a welcome foil to the serious, highly-trained conservatory

Every gesture from the Taiwanese, small or grand, was scripted

musicians. It is nice to have a place at the table!

for maximum drama. Their performance even featured an exotic

Between concert sets, musicians wandered ‘round the

traditional dance. The Germans were decked out in lederhosen

entrance hall where we traded CDs and hammers, and tried

and dirndls. a

The opening night was

presentation

each other’s instruments

- many transactions done

a local group from

with only smiles, lots of

Oberammergau

gestures, and words that

that

included

Schuhplattler

were

incomprehensible

the

other

person.

“kneeslapper”

Music score arrangements

dancers.

brought

The

American

contingency held our own, despite (or because of) our folkie, self-taught

nal An internatio

Coolest Hackb rett EVER!!!

session!

specifically were

hot

commodity. I was thrilled to get newly composed Japanese cimbalom tunes

approach to learning. In

in 7/4 and complex Russian

our one-hour time slot (shared with Jenny Coxon representing

trio settings, but as I look at all those black lines I think the

Great Britain) we played a variety of repertoire from the Civil War,

paper is more suitable for framing than playing (how do they do

French, Irish, Belgian, old-time, nouveau, and gypsy to classic rock

it?!). I had requests from all over the world to email one of our

– in other words your typical American melting pot. Our energy

tunes. Already I am sharing with my students new tunes and

and Three Stooges-like disorganization were well received. We

ideas learned that week.

Dulcimer Shoppe

Mountain View, Arkansas

Visit your McSpadden/Evoharp dealer and try these fine instruments for yourself.

1-877-269-4422 www.McSpaddenDulcimers.com Hand Crafting McSpadden mountain Dulcimers and Evoharps Please do do not not reprint reprint or orredistribute redistributewithout withoutthe permission. Contact dpn@dpnews.com. permission. Contact dpn@dpnew.com

Although night

late

jamming

was

not officially on the schedule, the Americans gathered

with

their

dulcimers at the end of each day’s program and

hoir Hackbrett C

kicked off some tunes, welcoming from

players

any

country

with any instrument to join in. As anyone who has been to a dulcimer festival in the States knows—we can’t help it—it’s fun! Playing music together allowed us to connect in ways that

our

limited languages did not. Johannes Fuchs led

waltzes and polkas from

Appenzell.

There was a group of twenty-somethings from Germany and Switzerland

who

loved to play 12-bar blues that went on endlessly started.

once English,

German effi ciency

American, Flemish, Beatles and even silly tunes that never

die like The Lion Sleeps Tonight and Guantanamera (young people still learn songs like that?!) were all the rage. One tune that everyone could agree on was Korobeiniki, which many of us know as the theme from the video game Tetris. The personal highlight for me was a three hour lesson trade with Kálmán Balogh, a brilliant cimbalom player. He wanted to add some Irish music to his group’s repertoire and, good gypsy that he is, he figured ornamentation

the

key to the heart of the music. So we worked on my dulcimer with him using his massive, long cimbalom

hammers

while I showed him

Paul Beck balom playing a cim

Irish rolls and grace notes and then he proceeded

(still

my dulcimer) to show

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ews Dulcimer Players N 43

me some basic Romanian gypsy accompaniment and exercises he gives his students. I even had the pleasure of attending a small private concert in Washington, DC the following month with his band. They were on tour and I was dropping off a copy of my Irish book for him. After buying his CDs and attending his concerts when he toured in the States, I have now become a friend and not just a fan.

imura Junko Sak ughter and her da

One would be remiss not to mention the fireball CWA founder

www.maggiesmusic.com ••••••••••••••••

and president, Viktória Herencsár, an amazing Hungarian

6th Annual Find the rest Blue Folkad! ofRiver this Music Festival

3 (take note parents: it is never too early to start little Jane or

Shelbyville, Indiana May 17, 2008

cimbalom player who started studying the instrument at age John.) She had a vision for the gala finale, creating order (in her way) from the gaggle of 30+ dulcimers on stage, insistently ordering—I mean “directing”—us into various tiny spaces on stage. The group finale was a German traditional song and a newly composed rhythmic song (with hackbrett-case drumming) with an energetic chorus of “C-W-A---Oberammergau!”

grand time was had by all! It was an incredible trip I hope to make again, even if there wasn’t enough time to sleep. I made friendships and connections that will continue for many years.

Cathy Barton & Dave Para Les Gustafson-Zook Larry Conger

Joining the Cimbalom World Association (CWA) costs only US$20/year. If you join, you can log in to the website and watch a clip of our grand finale. The website is http://www.cimbalom. org. DPN

Specializing in Celtic music, Karen Ashbrook is For details contact Renee Moore 317-392-3608 · renee@blueriverfolkfest.com

considered one of the finest hammered dulcimer

www.blueriverfolkfest.com

consummate Irish musician.” Some of the sheet music

Sponsored by Shelby Arts Council

ew 44 Dulcimer Players N

players anywhere. She has been called “the referred to in this article, as well as audio samples, can be found at www.dpnews.com

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A Lap Player’s view of Oberammergau by Butch Ross

“You’re going to hear the most amazing music you’ve ever heard,” Christie Burns said as our plane touched down in Munich. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the idea of listening to hammered dulcimer players for the better part of a week. But against the Bavarian Alps, with houses painted with depictions of fairy tales, Oberammergau is a pretty place. “Who cares if it’s a week of oompa bands and gypsy music?” I thought. “There’s German beer, hiking trails and beautiful scenery. I can cope.” Turns out, I did very little hiking, and even less “coping.” Outside the US, the hammered dulcimer, in it’s many and varied guises, is as seriously considered as the violin. Folk schools there can be as rigorous as Julliard is here, and the Cimbalom is a

It was explained that this music is the vanguard of classical standard instrument at the composition today, and thus it is symphony hall. You can probably important that the Cimbalom be imagine playing Mozart on your a part of that cutting edge. It was instrument, but do you ever think it sounds like the music was written for it? The Swiss group made me think just that. All week I was stupified by the level of musicianship, which is equally matched by their passion for the music and ease with which it is performed. If Joshua Bell played hammered dulcimer, he Butch, would’ve been here. with Paul Beck In four days I was taken on a virtual world tour of culture and music, all of it as good not, though, a humorless week of as it gets. Some of the music, classical recitals. I played Pipeline with particularly the Hungarian works, are angular and polytonal. American cimbalom player, Paul Extremely difficult to play, they Beck, and I Will Survive with can also be difficult to sit through. Cimbalom World Association

president Viktória Herencsár, before segueing into a whole set of negro spirituals. By the end of the week, I understood completely what Christie had loved about the 2003 conference in Switzerland, why it broke her heart to miss the Bejing conference in 2005, and why she is so passionate about exposing more American players to the CWA. The hammered dulcimer is a part of a vast and diverse family of instruments, with more fantastic music than can be absorbed in a lifetime. The CWA and the biannual congress allow all of this fantastic music to be shared in one place. Christie said I’d hear “the most amazing music I’ve ever heard.” As usual, she was right.

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ews Dulcimer Players N 45

ew 46 Dulcimer Players N

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D u l d c e i m w o er B by Ken Bloom

Choosing a Bow

f all the various things associated with the bowed dulcimer, the importance of the bow and how to choose one I think is the least understood. A bow is not just a long springy flatpick. The bow is at least half of your tone. People often wonder why violinists pay so much money for a bow, often tens of thousands of dollars. The answer is first tone and second handling characteristics.Fortunately for you bowed dulcimer players out there, it’s not necessary to take out a mortgage to buy a bow. Since there is so much available it can be very confusing, so let me try and give you some guidelines.

Peggy Martin, bowing at Unicoi

If you are someone who is trying out bowing by converting a lap dulcimer, then frankly any old bow will do. You can probably borrow an old fiddle bow from someone to try it out and see if bowing the dulcimer is for you. Do try and get a full length bow to start with. A shorter bow only means you won’t be able to sustain a note as long. If you have a bowed dulcimer then the search is on. First of all, I strongly recommend a cello bow. The extra weight adds a lot of richness to the tone. Again, you want a full size or 4/4 bow. Next, wood or carbon fiber? Definitely carbon fiber. You get more than twice the bow for the money. Wood bows are fine if you want to spend more than $1500.00 but I haven’t found a single bowed dulcimer player in this category yet. The reason is simple. A good bow is stiff but responsive. This takes very dense wood. The wood used for bows is pernambuco. All the old growth pernambuco is gone or in storage somewhere being hoarded by bowmakers and is VERY expensive. There is a wide range of carbon fiber cello bows available in prices ranging from around $100.00 up to around $3500.00. The difference is in the responsiveness of the stick and how it handles. There are many makers around. I will mention a few that I’m familiar with, keeping in mind that new ones come up every day. CodaBow is a make that prides themselves on consistency.

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ews Dulcimer Players N 47

Mike Huddleson Stringed Instruments

Handcrafted Hammered Dulcimers Since 1988 6622 West 35th St. So. Wichita, KS 67215 316-524-0997 mhuddleson@aol.com Read about our upgrade program at: www.MikeHuddlesonStringedInstruments.com

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ew 48 Dulcimer Players N

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Many BD players have their entry level bow, the Aspire. It plays well and has good tone. The bow that has become the norm for serious bowed dulcimer players is the Conservatory model or the Colours model, which is the same bow with a fancier finish. These have very good tone and handle very well. You can find the Conservatory model with a snakewood frog which is very handsome if you like a few extra gee gaws. The Coda highpriced model is the Concerto, and I think it isn’t that much better than the Conservatory model at almost double the price. Glasser makes a line of woven graphite bows that are comparable to the Coda Conservatory but have a bit more bite to them. If your bowed dulcimer is too mellow, this bow might be the answer. Musicary is another make that is worthy of mention. The

good thing about Musicary is that you can get them in different weights. Some people like a lighter or heavier

A bow is not just a long springy flatpick. The bow is at least half of your tone. bow. Musicary addresses this need and their bows are comparable to the above mentioned ones. The Jon Paul line also has some good ones. Their less expensive bows are the better value.

If you want the creme de la creme of carbon fiber bows, take a look at Arcus. They are pricey but will do things that other bows won’t. If you want a very light weight bow but with a big voice, Arcus is for you. I want an Arcus Conservatory when I grow up. To sum this up, stay away from inexpensive (under $1000.00) wood bows. Coda has been doing it longer. Glasser, Musicary, and Jon Paul offer some good alternatives. Arcus is the Rolls Royce of graphite bows. If you live near a serious string shop, go test out some bows. Tell them what your price range is and try out five or six. Compare them two at a time and you will find the one that suits you. If there is no good string shop near you, there are companies like Shar who will send you four or five bows to try. Keep the one you want and send the others back. You can find them on the web. A good bow for a bowed dulcimer will realistically run you from around $130.00-$450.00. It’s worth it and is a good investment in enjoyment and fine tone. Remember, half your tone is in the bow. A good bow makes playing so much easier. Fewer squeaks, squawks, and dying animal noises and more rich tones that turn heads in the most positive manner. When in doubt, e-mail me. kgbloom@advi.net. Happy bowing and I’ll look for you down the Great Bowing Trail. DPN Multi-instrumentalist Ken Bloom has introduced audiences to unfamiliar sounds in an entertaining way since 1974. When he’s not building the obscure instruments he plays, like the bowed dulcimer bandura and the kantele. he can be found teaching someone else to play them.

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ews Dulcimer Players N 49

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Lee Cagle’s

Tablature and Instructional CDs for Mountain Dulcimer

Blue Smoke Risin’ on the Mountain

A beginner’s guide to the mountain dulcimer & companion CD *OUSPEVDUJPO UP 'JOHFSQJDLJOH t $FMUJD 5VOFT t 'JEEMF 5VOFT $ISJTUNBT .VTJD t .PSF

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ews Dulcimer Players N 51

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 ew 52 Dulcimer Players N

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ews Dulcimer Players N 53

Technical Dulcimer

winfried goerge translated by nick blanton A Medieval Hammered Dulcimer in Carinthia and Slovenia

he people of the late Middle I‘ve studied 15th century frescos, Ages used a multitude of inmostly in small churches of Slovenia struments which are seldom seen and Carinthia. In the place of the in our present musical world. This “pigs head“ psaltery often I‘ve found wealth of musical equipment gives a slender, meter-long instrument us an inkling that , despite adversity, struck with two small hammers. It‘s our ancestors really knew how to a hammered dulcimer, with only a enjoy themselves. few strings. At first I paid little atBesides music for dance and festention to this instrument, because tivity, there was also a kind which I couldn‘t group it with the standard could be called Stade Musi, a muhammered dulcimer. Consulting the sic for listening, and edification. available literature gave little help. This can often be seen portrayed in The hammered dulcimer was clasthe art of the time, especially in the sified unmistakedly as such only painted panels and frescos found by the 18th century, and the earlier in medieval churches, where angel sources mixed the psaltery with the Fresco in the Mirna, musicians flock around the Virgin Slovenia parish church, c. 1470 string drum, which led to pointless Mary, or the infant Jesus in the manconfusion. I‘ve also up to now found ger, and/or in praise of God the father, Jesus Christ and the no way that the hammered dulcimer could have been Holy Ghost. The angel musicians are portrayed in detail, brought from the Orient. For many years I‘ve built “pigs enough to resemble actual musicians, as could be seen in head” psalteries and string drums, and in doing this I‘ve the local market. These are illustrations of instrumental never found a good connection between the psaltery and ensembles that the people of the 15-16th centuries would the hammered dulcimer. For me, after the 15th century, recognise. More often as not, there are five or six winged the hammered dulcimer joins the great crowd of musical musicians with portative organ, fiddle, lute, mandora, instruments of the time as a distinct instrument. harp, psaltery, or variants. My interest in medieval hammered dulcimers was Such ensembles are strongly remiscent of the Stuben- stirred again when I studied the fresco in the parish church musik of our Alpine region, just with somewhat different of Mirna, in Slovenia, which dates from around 1470. The equipment. Instead of portative organ, we now have dia- vault over the choir is painted with a large angel band, playtonic accordeon; instead of viele, violin, instead of lute, ing all the instruments we know of the time, and among guitar,instead of Gothic harp, the enormous pedal harp, them the long, slender dulcimer is being hammered. In and instead of psaltery, hammer dulcimer. This form of this case the instrument was depicted in detail in so many playing music seems to have come down to the modern day ways that it was immediately clear to me that here was a little changed. Since very few actual examples of these early playable hammered dulcimer, of an ingenious and logical, musical instruments have survived, for forty years I‘ve tried if unusual, construction. to build reproduction instruments, following the examples The design of this Mirna dulcimer is very much in in these angel bands, and I‘ve been rather successful. agreement with the music theory found in the culture of s

ew 54 Dulcimer Players N

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tunings Pythagoras named Lydian, Phrygian, and Dorian*. Now place, as Pythagoras said, two identically made Tetrachords opposite each reproduction of Mirna dulcimer, Winfried Goerge, 2005 other, one beginning a whole-tone the Greeks and Romans. Around 530 from the highest BC Pythagoras laid down the musi- note of the other, and you will have a cal system that is still one of the basic complete diatonic octave with eight elements of our music. His system notes. You will also have the first was fundamental to all western mu- stage of a hammered dulcimer. If you sic, even into the 16th century, and put yet another Tetrachord opposite we still find it in diatonic folk music the second one, starting one whole today. tone from the highest note of that, Pythagoras and his followers you have the complete tuning layout taught that consonant tones could be of the Mirna dulcimer: 12 notes on achieved on an oscillating string by only four string courses. mathematically dividing the string. Upon this system, 2500 years old, Dividing the string in a ratio of 2:1 I‘ve successfully built the Mirna dulciproduces an interval of an octave, 3:2 mer many times, in all three Pythagoproduces a fifth, and 4:3 a fourth. If rean tunings. These tunings bring out you subtract a fourth (4:3) from a fifth interesting harmonics, and, because (3:2) the remainder is a whole tone. of the resonant fifths, possess an asLay out a fourth on a string, take away tonishing sonority. two whole tones‘ length, and the reThe calculation of the size of the mainder of the fourth makes a half Gothic hammered dulcimer is no tone. With this, says Pythagoras, you problem. For a reproduction it‘s not can construct a Tetrachord, ( literally, advisable to actually measure the origa “four stringer”) which conforms ex- inal picture (if one reckons the size of actly to the first section of the Mirna the instrument based on the size of the dulcimer. musician). It‘s better to simply look at the physics. The various string metals ======================= like copper, iron,or steel have differ½ Tone ing densities, and changing the densi======================= ty of the stringing metal changes the Whole Tone possible vibrating length of the string. ======================= Since the length of the instrument is Whole Tone determined by the vibrating length, ====================== every instrument must be calculated according to the string metal. In the The half tone can go on top, in the *Translator’s note: these tunings do not middle, or on the bottom. These three completely correspond with the modes of Dorian, Lydian, etc. which are later.

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ews Dulcimer Players N 55

15th century this was also true. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s also hardly possible that the same vibrating length would be used for more than four string courses, for the higher-pitched strings would be overloaded with too much tension. On some depictions, the strings are painted with red. From this, I gather that the strings were non-ferrous metal. However, there also existed strings of brass, copper, bronze or iron. I could find what kind of wire was used, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s pointless to try to

d e

c Bb a g

Fig. 1

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obtain 15th century wire. To build an instrument you must resort to materials available today; strings for historical instruments that can be provided by the modern market. Doing this, as well as following the tuning, results in an instrument about one meter long, which is in good agreement with the Mirna Birth of Christ ( detail), Naples. fresco. Jakob van Oostzanen, 1512 Thus a small amount of information from the fresco still leads to real conclusions. reproduction the essence of this No measurements at the fresco are hammered dulcimer is perceived, necessary. However itâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s important to its character preserved, and we can know that even a careful reproduction reconnect to a lost tradition. Whether of a historic instrument is a product to tune it in Dorian, Phrygian or of our present time. Any single Lydian all depends on how you wish reproduction can and should only to use it. be one possibility. But by doing this

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Below are plans for the Mirna Dulcimer as designed by Winfried Goerge, full size .pdf’s are available at dpnews.com

approx. 215 mm 35 mm

((((((((((((((((((((((( ( ( ( ( ( ( P.O. Box 3395 ( ( ( ( Lake Jackson, TX 77566 ( ( ( ( 979-297-7015 ( ( ( www.helenjohnson.biz ( ( ( email:Helen@helenjohnson.biz ( ( ( ( ( Books of Mountain Dulcimer ( ( ( Arrangements ( ( 1) Favorite Christmas Carols ( ( ( ( 2) Favorite Hymns & Gospel ( ( 3) Tunes & Ballads ( ( ( 4) How Great Thou Art —Duets or Solos ( ( ( 5) Fiddlin’ Around ( ( 6) The Promised Land ( ( 7) Deep Roots—Easy Folk Songs ( ( ( ( w/demo CD ( ( ( ( ( DAD—Easy to intermediate level with ( melody line, tab, chords & words. ( ( ( ( —$15.00 ea+ s&h— ( ( ( ( CD including several of Helen’s ( ( ( ( arrangements. ( ( —$10.00 + $2 s&h— ( ( ( ( (((((((((((((((((((((((

Helen Johnson

10 mm

30 mm

35 mm 10

MATERIALS Frame, bridges top back bridge caps tuning pins hitch pins 180 mm 35 mm

hardwood (like beech) spruce, old-growth fir 5mm plywood (beech) 1/8 brass rod blue zither pins piano desk pins

STRINGS: b flat .018 #7 music wire a .020 #8 music wire g .022 #9 music wire f .024 #10 music wire Note: softer steel music wire, for historical keyboard instruments, may be difficult to obtain in the US. Regular music wire will work, but not as well. Brass or phosphor bronze wire may be used, if the instrument is tuned down from F to C.

b flat

c’’

b’

a’

g’

approx. 1,020mm

approx. 482 mm

approx. 323mm

approx

. 215 m

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ews Dulcimer Players N 57

I use every opportunity to get depictions and information useful to my work as a craftsman.

Jakob van Oostzanen, from the year 1512. Here is an instrument similar to the Mirna dulcimer, but now in two parts; the third section has been taken off and shoved under and between the other strings. This gives the player an advantage of being able to play lower, by adding reproduction of Oostzanen one lower string. The dulcimer, Winfried Goerge, 2005 clever designer has The frequency of depiction of these opted for a trapezoidal shape. The rectangular hammered dulcimers tuning scheme of my reproduction in Slovenia ( 12 times) neighboring is shown in Fig 1. Carinthia ( 9 times) and Italy is quite The design of the Mirna dulcimer remarkable. To me, this cultural is so simple, that it really begs to be area was the cradle of the European built. I’ve taken it upon myself to draw hammered dulcimer. up a measured plan (see facing page), The link between the Mirna to make it possible. Have courage, dulcimer and our modern hammered give it a try! You’ll get a lot of pleasure dulcimer can be seen in a painting from it. DPN of an angel band over the manger by

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Translator’s Note—A version of this article first appeared in the Bavarian folk music magazine, Sänger und Musikanten. Winfried Goerge is a noted builder of Gothic harps, psalteries and other Medieval instruments, living near Salzburg, Austria. One of his Mirna-style dulcimers was played at the Cimbalom World Congress this past October in Oberammergau, Germany. We should note that Paul Gifford, in his Hammered Dulcimer, A History independently arrived at the same conclusion about the tuning of the Mirna dulcimer. Thanks to Angelika Maier for proofreading. Nick Blanton is a well-regarded hammered dulcimer builder. He also plays a number of different intsruments well and is always looking for a good excuse to work his German.

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Festival Guide January 4–6 14th Annual Dulcimer Retreat Huntsville, TX Instructors: Linda Thomas and Dan Delancey, the Wrights and Charles Whitmer. Contact: Linda Evans, 409-866-0848 or SSDulcHse@aol.com. www. dulcimerhouse.com.

Clemmer, and Joe Collins. Contact: Joe Collins, 704-484-8414 or dulciman@ bellsouth.net. www. jcdulcimer.com/club/ festival08.htm

January 18—19 6th Annual Winter Dulcimerfest! Stroudsburg, PA Instructors: Dan Landrum, January 11—12 Thomasina, Bonnie Leigh, Suwannee Dulcimer Retreat Rob Brereton, AJ Bashore, White Springs, FL Art Cucinotta, Sam Edelston, Instructors: Karen Mueller, Carol Lehrman, Steve Steve Eulburg, Bing Futch, Miklos, Donna Missigman, Joel Paul, Mary Z. Cox, Susan Cliff Cole, and Rich Carty. Boyer Haley, Jan Milner, Contact: Norm Williams, Aaron O’Rourke, Doug 610-657-2597 or www.pdcFelt, David Beede, and Ray wdf.tripod.com. Belanger. Contact: Kelly January 20—25 Green, 386-397-4478 or John C. Campbell Folk kelly.green@dep.state.fl.us. School Intermediate www.floridastateparks.org/ Mountain Dulcimer Week stephenfoster/Events.cfm Brasstown, NC January 17—20 Mountain Dulcimer for 3rd Annual WCU Mountain Experienced Players led by Dulcimer Winter Weekend Lois Hornbostel. Receive Lake Junaluska, NC individual coaching as Instructors: Don Pedi, well. Contact: Sheryl Stephen Seifert, Flora Wiggins, 1-800-365-5724 or MacDonald Gammon, Bill programming@folkschool. Taylor, Lois Hornbostel, org. www.folkschool.org Kenneth Bloom, Betty Smith, January 25—27 Will Peebles, Joe & Marie Traditional Mountain Shelton. Contact: Bobby Dulcimer Music of Hensley, 828-227-7397 or North Carolina hensley@email.wcu.edu. Brasstown, NC www.dulcimer.wcu.edu Taught by Lois Hornbostel. January 18—19 This class is for mountain 7th Annual January dulcimer players with basic Dulcimer Gathering skills (“continuing level”) Memphis, TN and beyond.Contact: Sheryl With Larry Conger, Lee Cagle, Wiggins, 1-800-365-5724 or and Betty Dawson. Contact: programming@folkschool. Lee Cagle, 901-877-7763 or org. www.folkschool.com Lee@leecagledulcimers.com. February 1—2 www.LeeCagleDulcimers.com 5th Annual Colorado January 18—19 Dulcimer Festival 9th Annual Mid-Winter Fort Collins, CO Dulcimer Festival Instructors: Dan Landrum, Shelby, NC Karen Mueller, Kim McKee Instructors: Gary Gallier, & Ken Willson, Bonnie Steve Smith (NC), Michael Carol, Tina Gugeler and Shull, Jeff Furman, Mike Steve Eulberg. Colorado

Dulcimer Contest. Contact: Steve Eulberg, 970-222-8358 or steve@ owlmountainmusic.com. www.owlmountainmusic. com/dulcfest.htm February 8—9 Central Florida Dulcimer and Autoharp Festival Mount Dora, FL Instructors: Patty Looman, Neal & Coleen Walters, Heidi & John Cerrigione. Contact: Ruth Harnden, 352-735-4907 or dulcirah@msn.com March 5—9 Buckeye Dulcimer Festival Ashley, OH Instructors: Tull Glazener, Linda Brockinton, Steve Schneider, Tina Gugeler, Mark Wade, Joe Steiner, Cindy Funk, Shelley Stevens, Joyce Harrison, and Chris Cooperrider. Contact: Louise Ziegler, 740-747-2326 or buckeyedulcimer@yahoo. com. www.geocities.com/ buckeyedulcimer March 6—9 7th Lagniappe Dulcimer Society Fete Port Allen, LA Instructors Ken Bloom, Rob Angus, Jeff Furman, Denise and Don Guillory, Don Pedi, Mark Gilston, Kendra Ward, Bill Lee, and more. Contact: Dr. Peter Payne, 225-223-2361 or pdpayne@att.net. www. lagniappedulcimer.com March 7—8 20th Annual Mountain Dulcimer Music Fest Latham, NY Instructors: Sue Carpenter, Steve Eulberg, and Susan Trump.Contact: Lori Keddell, 518-762-7516 or lark119@ citlink.net. www.bhsinging. info/daa March 28—30 Upper Potomac Spring Music Weekend Harpers Ferry, WV

Instructors: Jenny Coxon, Karen Ashbrook, and Jody Marshall. English themed weekend. Contact: Joanie Blanton, 304-263-2531 or updf@earthlink.net. www. dulcimerfest.org March 28—30 Ohio Valley Gathering Owensboro, KY Weekend of concerts, jamming, workshops, and many vendors.Contact: Ron Barkley, 502-231-4914 or ronnanbarkley@webtv.net. www.louisvilledulcimers.org April 25—27 National Trail Dulcimer Festival 2008 South Charleston, OH Instructors: Butch Ross, Christie Burns, and Gary Sager. Contact: Dean Yoesting, 937-845-0846 or director@ nationaltraildulcimer.com. www.natinaltraildulcimer.com May 1—3 Southern Appalachian Dulcimer Association McCalla, AL Contact: Robert Angus, 205-987-7976 or raangus@ bellsouth.net. www.southernap

palachiandulcimerassociation.org

May 2—4 Branson Spring Dulcimer Social Branson, MO Instructors: Don Pedi and more! Contact: Cindy Muston, 800-338-2842 or mustoncompany@aol.com. www.musicmountaindulcimers.com May 9—11 Cumberland Gap Dulcimer Gathering Middlesboro, KY Classes, concerts, and jams. No fee. Contact: Terry Lewis, 276-861-2925 or terry@ terrylewisdulcimer.com.

www.terrylewisdulcimer.com

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ews Dulcimer Players N 59

index to Advertisers

&J n eidTi ish & oGh H reg Ce , W r

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For information contact Ruth Harnden dulcirah@msn.com

Central Florida Dulcimer & Autohop Festival Feb.8-9, 2008

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ew 60 Dulcimer Players N

back cover

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inside back

Classified Advertising Advertise in DPN Classifieds: Classifieds cost just 45 cents per word. All advertising is subject to approval. Send your ad to: angie@dpnews.com. We’ll email your invoice along with the approved text. Ad deadline for the Spring 2008 issue is February 15, 2008. American Lutherie, the world’s foremost magazine of string instrument making and repair information published by the Guild of American Luthiers. See our web page for photo previews of back issues and images of our many instrument plans: www.luth.org. Or contact GAL, 8222 S Park Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98408, 253-472-7853. Autoharp Quarterly, the international magazine dedicated to the autoharp enthusiast. Subscriptions: US-$24, Canada-$26, Europe-$28, Asia/South Pacific-$30. US currency, please. Stonehill Productions, PO Box 336, New Manchester, WV 26056-0336. ahquarterly@ home.com, www.fmp.com/aq. Banjo-Mer Website: www.banjomer. com. See the many Banjo-Mers and the new items! Phone 909-987-5701. Books by Carrie Crompton: Expressive Hammered Dulcimer, an instructional method ($25). Hammered Dulcimer Solos Volume 1 with CD ($22) and Volume 2 with CD ($25). Carrie Crompton, 11 Center Street, Andover, CT 06232. barolk@sbcglobal.net or www.carriecrompton.com. Courting Dulcimer for sale, excellent condition, mady by Jeff Sebens; CD-1, April 2001. Contact Joyce de Lucia at jdelucia@atmc.net. Cimbaloms. Large chromatic hammered dulcimer with pedals. New and reconditioned. Various prices. Alex Udvary, 2115 W. Warner, Chicago, IL 60618. www.cimbalom-master.com. Davis’ Dulcimer Delights Book 1 plus CD $20.00. For absolute beginner to advanced. DAD tuning. Davis’ Dulcimer Delights Book 2 plus CD $16.00. Three separate parts. DAD tuning. Beginner Bluegrass and CD $20.00. DAD tuning. Bluegrass Dulcimer and CD $17.00. DAD tuning. New: Polkas. DAD tuning. $10.00. Norma Jean Davis, 205 Engel Road, Loudon, TN 37774 865-458-5493.

Dulcimer Players News back issues - get them before they’re gone! Order online at www.dpnews.com or call 423-886-3966. E-mail: dpn@dpnews.com. Folk Notes Dulcimers, quality instruments and affordable prices! We select dulcimers with the best sound and quality for the price. Home of the Folk Notes BanjMo, the banjo dulcimer with an old time banjo sound. We carry mountain dulcimers by Black Rose, Butch Sides, Folkcraft, Folkroots, McSpadden, Noteworthy Woodworking, and TK O’Brien. We also have Rick Thum, Songbird, and TK O’Brien hammered dulcimers and Noteworthy Folk Harps. Accessories and books for dulcimer, harp, autoharp, tinwhistle, & other folk instruments. Mon-Friday, some Saturdays. Fort Wayne, IN. Call 877-273-4999 for information or appointments. www. folknotes.com. HYMNS for Hammer Dulcimer (10 hymns, 3 Christmas & 1 original tune) creatively arranged by Janet Harriman. $12 post pd. Order: 2956 S. Union St., Rochester, NY 14624 or JHComposer@ AOL.com. Laser Engraved Accessories;

Dulcimer

Since 1950, Sing Out! The Folk Song Magazine has covered the world of traditional and contemporary folk music. Each quarterly 200-page issue includes articles, news, reviews, festival listings, and instrumental “Teach-Ins” plus lead sheets for twenty songs. Subscribing Membership starts at $25/yr. Basic Membership (includes CD each quarter with all the songs in each issue) starts at $50/yr. Info: Sing Out!, Box 5253-D, Bethlehem, PA 18015-0253, info@singout. org, www.singout.org. Wonderful prices at Wildwood Music. We have over 400 new acoustic instruments in stock - including fine displays of mountain and hammered dulcimers. Wildwood Music, Historic Roscoe Village, Coshocton, OH 43812. 740-622-4224, www.wildwoodmusic. com. Are you a hammered or mountain dulcimer builder, teacher, festival or workshop organizer? Dulcimer Players News would like to send you recent back issues to give to your customers, students, or event participants at no cost to you. Contact DPN at 423-886-3966 or dpn@ dpnews.com.

Dulcimer Hammers, Music Holders, Jewelry, Dusters, I.D. Tags & more. Visit: www.laserelegance.com. Leo Kretzner – songs & tunes, festivals & workshops: leoleo1@verizon.net www. leokretzner.com.

PVC Musical Instruments And How To Make Them Harp, Violin, Cello, Slide Guitar, & 12 more. 120 pages of step-by-step plans and instructions.

Full Size Templates & Readily Available Parts

• Fun and easy to build and play • Low Cost—Great Sound • Most built in under 2 hours. • Includes a FREE CD of band tunes, solos & tunings $25.95 + $5.00 S&H

John Kovac—Harpmaker

148 E. High Spruce Road, Front Royal, VA, 22630 (540) 635-2534 www.johnkovac.com VISA and Master Card accepted

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A Note From Maddie

Beginnings and Beginnings

ery early into my teaching career at Warren County High School in Front Royal, Virginia, I decided that being a folksinger might be a better option for lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. Fortunately, soon after that stunning decision I was hired to perform six nights a week in the Mountain Room at Skyland Lodge in Virginiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Shenandoah National Park. I stayed there for six years, from 1972 through 1978, and the adventures and opportunities were many. Via the trails and friendships with the Parkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s naturalists I learned to recognize rare and mostly hidden wild flowers while becoming acquainted with stories of mountain folk who called those hills their home. I began my days there playing the guitar as an accompaniment to my singing, and most of my songs came

from the repertoires of Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins. I knew there was a dulcimer in the folk world, having heard some recordings, but had never seen or heard one in person. That changed in 1974 when I met Ralph Lee Smith. What a simple statement that is to write! Meeting Ralph literally changed my life. He insisted that I add the dulcimer to my musicâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and I did. Through Ralph I became more interested in Southern Appalachian folks and their music. Also in those Skyland years I met the hammered dulcimer and the Dulcimer Players News became part of my life. Around 1978 I began to think about taking my music â&#x20AC;&#x153;on the road.â&#x20AC;?

I loved the Park, but the same urges that drew me from a high school teaching career pulled me onward. I received a call (or letter) from Michael Wildermuth at Ohio State University, Lima campus. There was to be an event, called the Great Black Swamp

The Twenty-First Annual Gebhard Woods Dulcimer Festival June 14th and 15th 2008 Gebhard Woods State Park, Morris, Illinois Featuring: Gordon Bok and Carol Rohl, Ken Kolodner, Dan Landrum, Susan Trump, Mike Anderson, Bill Robinson and Friends, Sherri Farley Band, Diane Ippel, Rob Williams, and Steve Endsley

*OGPSNBUJPO t )"/%4 10 #PY .PSSJT *- t XXX HXEG PSH

Concerts â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Workshops â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Open Mic â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Old Time Dance â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Activities Instrument Crafters â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Musical Recordings & Accessories â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Food Vendors Sponsored by Hands of Illinois, Inc., a not-for-proďŹ t organization dedicated to preserving and promoting dulcimer music, in association with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the City of Morris. Partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

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Dulcimer Festival, and would I be the out-of-town guest. (He hadn’t heard me, but knew my name from Dulcimer Players News.) Travel to Ohio in my clunky vehicle? Play the dulcimer in front of people who knew the instrument—probably way better than I? Fortunately I swallowed my fears and said yes. At the end of the 1978 season in the Park I resigned, saying I was ready for the road and it was ready for me. Those turned out to be “interesting” days, both with the travels and with Dulcimer Players News. I had so much to learn all over again about making music—and publishing—my career. Here is one early memory of Dulcimer Players News. I called someone who worked with a folk publication—and I promise that I called only two or three times. I needed to learn about working with printers and printing basics. The last time he said, “Maddie, you and I need to talk seriously. A woman will never produce a successful journal. Why don’t you make it easy on yourself and just drop it.” Needless to say, I surely didn’t listen to him; he inspired me to continue with this voice of the dulcimer community. I’ve discussed beginnings. Where are those beginnings now? The Great Black Swamp Dulcimer Festival continued and grew into the 1990’s and I attended all or most of them. I had not been back to Lima, Ohio since—until

Dulcimer Players News is proud to welcome award-winning cartoonist Jerry King to our creative team. Jerry is one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world today. His work has appeared in thousands of greeting cards, magazines, web sites, books, newspapers, newsletters and children’s books. His client list includes Disney, American Greetings, The United States Golf Assoc., and many others. Jerry’s magazine credits include Better Homes and Gardens, Golf Digest, The Saturday Evening Post, National Enquirer, Woman’s World and now, Dulcimer Players News.

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September 2007 when I was scheduled to do a concert at the Allen County Museum. What a renewal of friendships! Dorothy and Clayton Welch traveled long miles to get there. I hadn’t seen Anna Selfridge, Michael and Sharon Wildermuth, Michael’s dad (who was instrumental in the beginnings of the festival and is now 91) and several others in many years. Best of all, I learned that the dulcimer is still on a growing path with new players in the area; new beginnings. During this September trip of close to three weeks I talked with several dulcimer folks about the new journeys of Dulcimer Players News, about the new gifts (such as the CDs) of the publication. They—and I—are so happy to experience the current life of the DPN, its new beginning. There is one more beginning from a beginning that I want to share with you. A few weeks ago I received a phone call from someone in Shenandoah National Park. My name had come up, and they were wondering what I was doing these days. A Google search brought them background and contact information. In November I performed at Skyland Lodge in the Mountain Room—for the first time in 29 years!

“Your craftsmanship is wonderful dear. However, your dimensions might be a little off.”

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Electric Eclectic Fantastic

Plugging your instrument into a new world of musical possibility doesn’t mean unplugging from tradition and quality. Every Greibhaus Dulcimer is meticulously formed from high-quality tonal and exotic woods and topped-off with an exquisitely hand-rubbed ﬁnish. But this beauty isn’t only skin deep. Tucked inside you’ll ﬁnd state of the art electronic components working together to blend shimmering natural tone with rich, warm sustain.

Go wild, or just go Wildwood Flower. This versatile tonal palette is well-suited for anything from Hymns to Heavy Metal. Order yours online today, or give Jerry Cripe a call and discuss a custom built instrument that is uniquely you.

j.cripe@worldnet.att.net

www.greibhausinstruments.com

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217-632-4551