2008-04, Dulcimer Players News Vol. 34 No. 4

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ulcimer D layers P The Journal for Dulcimer Enthusiasts

Volume 34 Number 4

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Fall 2008

$10.00

Tales From

A Harmonious Blacksmith

Paul Van Arsdale

Just Like Grandpa Did It

Blanton & Clemmer

Making A Difference With Reclaimed Wood

Jean Ritchie Stories

Reviews

Sampler CD: 21 Songs

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In This Issue

Fa l l 2 0 0 8 Jean Ritch ie

Va Paul

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Stories Nancy Johnson Barker

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The good old days are just a story away. Nancy Barker shares how her musical world was influenced by her travels with Jean Ritchie.

Tales and Traditions

Living History

Dulcimer Players News

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Dale Palacek Paul Van Arsdale learned to play hammered dulcimer from his

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grandfather, who played in the Henry Ford Orchesta.

Volume 34, Number 4

Ralph Lee Smith Have we found an historic dulcimer from the famous Wilderness Road?

Fall 2008 © 2008 • All rights reserved

The Birmingham Pluckers

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ISSN: 0098-3527 Publisher

Dulcimer Players News, Inc. Post Office Box 278

Christine Smith Deep in the heart of now-not-so-rural England reside a number of dulcimer players who are neither mountain dulcimists nor hammered dulcimists.

Stephen Foster

Signal Mountain, TN 37377 (423) 886-3966 Email

dpn@dpnews.com

Web

www.dpnews.com

Making Arrangements Part 3

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Editor Dan Landrum

Steve Schneider Steve introduces the concept of musical spelling and what it means for building chords.

Production Team Angie Landrum Contributors

Nancy Johnson Barker Nick Blanton Nancy Giles Tull Glazener Dale Palacek Susan Parry Steve Schneider Christine Smith Ralph Lee Smith Neal Walters 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.

Editor's Column Letters Stories - Nancy Johnson Barker Living History - Dale Palacek The Birmingham Pluckers - Christine Smith Tales of a Harmonious Blacksmith - Martha Giles Making Arrangements - Steve Schneider Tales & Traditions - Ralph Lee Smith Two Stories of Luthiers Making a Difference Building with Reclaimed Lumber - Nick Blanton The Caring Cades Cove Dulcimer Maker - Susan Parry Reviews Sheet Music The Harmonious Blacksmith Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway!

Shenandoah Falls Brian Boru's March Just A Closer Walk With Thee Festival Listing - DPN & EverythingDulcimer.com Index to Advertisers Classified Advertising Funnies Please do not reprint or redistribute without permission. Contact dpn@dpnews.com.

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Editor’s Column

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e get a lot of "How Many" questions at Dulcimer Players News. How many subscribers do we have? How many magazines do we print each quarter? Are there more fretted or hammered dulcimer players, and the big one, just how many dulcimer players are there? No one can really answer that last one, but I believe there are a lot more than any of us know.

Records show DPN's subscription numbers peaked in the late 90's at around 37 hundred. The years immediately following the 9/11 attacks saw the most precipitous decline in these numbers. By Fall 2006 the subscriber base was down to around 26 hundred.

The good news is we're on our way back up.

by

Dan Landrum

We currently print 4 thousand magazines per quarter and mail around 34 hundred to subscribers and advertisers. The remaining magazines either go to stores or trickle out to new subscribers and those who realize too late that they've let their subscription lapse. The bottom line is we're eventually selling out, and reaching our goal of zero waste.

The greatest number of magazines go to Ohio, with Michigan and Florida following close behind. The fewest go to Hawaii and North Dakota. Around a hundred magazines are shipped to overseas subscribers.

Where do we go from here? Our goal is to build the DPN subscriber base to 10 thousand. We'd also like to see the page count go from the cur-

rent 64 pages (sometimes 72) to 100 pages. These are not arbitrary numbers. They represent a significant economy of scale that happens within the publishing industry. The cost per issue drops significantly which would allow us to include more sheet music, stories, and pictures. One of the hardest aspects of putting together DPN is deciding what we have to leave out of each issue. It also wouldn't be out of the question for us to transition to a bi-monthly publication.

I believe these goals are reachable with a little hard work on our part and help from our current subscribers.

Will you help us spread the news so we can improve DPN for all of us?

Lofty goals? Sure, but aim for nothing and you're sure to reach it.

Dulcimer Players News Subscribers By State Most

Least

Alaska and Hawaii Please do not reprint or redistribute without permission. Contact dpn@dpnews.com.

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I

really like the new look of the magazine. You have transformed it into a very professional, up-scale format.

My self-imposed task of catching up on my reading is actually a pleasure when it's a DPN I hold in my hands.

I used to just tear out whatever pages had the most meaning for me. Now I find that I have reason to save the entire issue. The inclusion of the CDs is a very generous bonus on your part.

Thank you for doing this.

I hope that you are able to sustain this new level of publication. You have set a new standard, and it would be a real shame to lose it due to cost restraints. Good luck to you!

Donna Merkle, IA

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Sin g

Hear Her

ou ntil Y ok U - And Wait

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have mixed feelings about the new format. It's colorful and slick. Some of the articles are interesting. TAB is lacking. Sheet music doesn't do everyone good. Not enough music in the magazine. Like the CD though. Price is too high!

L.S.F., CA

Go

I

am in love with DPN. I have been playing MD for almost 2 years now and my husband recently gave me a Blue Lion. I have learned so much from DPN and feel I know you personally. Whenever I have had to call you, I am treated like an old friend none of the stuffiness that other publications have.

I enjoy the CDs and the printed music and have grown to truly appreciate and love a form of music I had never heard before. What a wonderful asset it is to us. Thanks again, Liz Kelly, TX

Y

ou have made a great magazine into a truly remarkable one! I especially enjoy the CDs and the printed music contained in each issue. The color photos and advertisements are so much more eye appealing, too.

Thanks for all of your hard work in making this magazine into a professional piece of art.

Linda White, OH

ke A Secon ad. Ta dL e h A o

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wanted to let you know how much I appreciated the cover art of the recent DPN [Vol. 34, No. 3]. The artwork was striking. I'm so glad you happened to meet Karen Cannon, and she was willing to design the cover. And both Bill Robinson and Bing Futch are worthy cover men.

I also think you were right on about how much the cover said about the constant push and pull in the dulcimer world between tradition and innovation. I think it's a creative and productive tension that we can enjoy.

Music is like a spoken language. It won't stop changing as long as folks are speaking it, and I sure wouldn't want dulcimer music to become a dead language. At the same time, I very much appreciate the research and attention to detail of the many folks interested in documenting, preserving and playing traditionally.

If most pictures are worth a thousand words, I'd say this one is worth at least a million.

Annie King, CA

DPN Readers

www.TimbreHillDulcimers.com

Letters

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ver since I subscribed to DPN, I have grown more appreciative with each issue. I especially like the recordings that come with DPN. Though

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I can read music, I find it very helpful to hear the tunes played by the fine HD and MD players. I find the subjects discussed in articles published in DPN stimulating and thought provoking. I especially appreciate the support you and DPN have given to Sam Edelston and all of us who serve on the Nutmeg Dulcimer Festival team, through publishing the article written

by Sam in the May 2007 issue.

John Cuylor, CT

C

ongratulations on your new format. We look forward to each issue. Especially like "how to" tips and construction information. Have subscribed off and on since the first issues in the early 70s.

Vern and Janet Nordstrom, FL

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just wanted to send a quick note to say how amazing your work on

DPN is. The articles have substance and use, the imagery is dynamic and interesting (not to mention colorful!), and there's a good amount to digest every time. I hope you're getting a response in readership that recognizes all this. You should!

We are ever impressed by the sheer range of stuff you take on. And you do it all very well! Thanks to you both for significant contributions to the vitality of the dulcimer world.

Sue Mooers, Dusty Strings, WA

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ot my first DPN in the mail today... it's now 2:00 am, and I just finished reading it, cover to cover. I purchased two instruction books from Mark Wade, and (because of your glowing recommendation) I am calling tomorrow to order the Russell Cook Book and tape (they don't take internet orders).This DPN thing could break

me. Great work on a great publication.

How have I missed it all these years?

J.D., MS

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hanks so much for the renewal reminder. It had totally slipped my mind! When I received the post card I sat right down and wrote out my renewal check. I love DPN and look forward to each issue. It is such a well-done, high quality magazine!

Keep up the great work!

Karen Rogers, SC Editor's Note: We received quite a few messages about the August 2nd death of Dr. L. Allen Smith, author of Catalogue of Pre-Revival Appalachian Dulcimers. Our own Ralph Lee Smith will take a look at the life and work of Dr. Smith in the Winter 2009 issue of Dulcimer Players News.

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Editor's Note: Stories—we love to tell them and hear them.

Those who take time to really listen know that stories hold the keys to getting to know each other and understanding the world around us. This article kicks off a new series for DPN where we invite you to tell us your stories.

We'll chose the most interesting and share them in these pages.

We're happy to kick things off with a few stories about Jean Ritchie, as shared by Nancy Johnson Barker.

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first time I heard Jean Ritchie’s music I was seventeen. Like many others across the country, I was caught up in the folk music explosion, listening to Vanguard records—Bob Dylan, Joan Baez. My first Jean Ritchie album was a sweet bouquet of songs ranging from age old instrumentals to songs my mother had taught me as a child. Mom had grown up in eastern Kentucky, same as Jean, and the familiar music drew me in, away from the Beatles and Mick Jagger, and into the music that would become such an important part of my life—and to the mountain dulcimer, the instrument that would define it. he

Jean was raised in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, the baby of 14 in a family that celebrated music as an important part of their daily lives. Music was in the morning’s chores and in the evening’s entertainment on the front porch when the day’s work was done.

It echoed through the hills and hollers and etched itself into Jean’s very being, became a part of her, like her red hair, like her crystal voice.

The dulcimer traveled from the Kentucky hills by way of Jean’s music and was found in coffeehouses, living rooms, and on front porches everywhere. Her early recordings made it into the record players of a new gen-

Stories Travels With Jean

by Nancy Johnson Barker ews 8 Dulcimer Players N

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borrow for the rest of his set. I handed him up mine! It was that kind of event, informal stages with the audience close, yet the top folk musicians in the country were there.

I couldn’t seem to find Jean, things were so eclectic with performances happening everywhere. Then, right at the end of the afternoon, as I was walking to the ferry to head back, I heard that unmistakable voice singing Cool of the Day. She was on a small stage at the bottom of a natural amphitheater, with listeners sitting on the hill around her.

I was too shy to say anything to her at the end of her performance, but it was

so beautiful and a perfect end to the day. It is surreal to me that she sings that song at my festival almost every year.

Personally, my acquaintance with Jean began in 1976 when I offered to coordinate a folk festival at the Iroquois Amphitheater in Louisville, Kentucky to celebrate our nation’s bicentennial. Hired by the City of Louisville, I set about to find musicians to bring Kentucky’s traditions to the stage. Jean immediately came to mind.

I had a phone number that someone had given me, but didn’t realize it was her home phone. Imagine my surprise Photo by George Pickow

eration of young people searching for their heritage and gaining an appreciation of traditional music and this unique instrument.

Chances are, if you play dulcimer, you learned it from someone who learned about it from listening to Jean or from someone who learned from someone who learned through Jean. There are too many of us to even count who can trace our musical lineage back to Jean and her early recordings.

I bought my first dulcimer, a birdseye maple, wooden tuner, arched bridge beauty, made by Tom Deason in Louisville, after listening to Jean’s records. I tried to imitate that sound, the strumming sequence—the accents and vocal backup techniques.

It took me another two years before I was brave enough to play for anyone. Although my style has changed over the years, the strong rhythmic background is still there, and the ability to switch from lead to backup is, too. That harmony backup playing, to cradle her voice, is one of Jean’s trademarks.

I don’t remember how, but I heard about the Mariposa Folk Festival, a great little event on an island off the Toronto, Canada shore. Jean was on the list of performers so I packed up my 1970 Volkswagen camper, aptly named Amelia Earhart, and off I went!

You had to ride a ferry to get to the island—a beautiful place dotted with many small stages in a lovely park setting. There was an immediate communication between the artists and the audiences that had come to listen.

Dave Van Ronk (blues artist) broke a string on stage and hollered out if anyone had a Martin guitar he could

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when she answered, fryin’ chicken for dinner. My musical heroine told me to hang on a minute while she turned the chicken down!

She agreed to come and started a 32 year tradition of performing at Kentucky Music Weekend, always held the last weekend in July at the Amphitheater. She has only missed two, I think, and thousands have gotten to see her—for some a lifelong dream fulfilled, for others—an introduction to Kentucky’s musical matriarch.

Over the years I’ve had the fortune of priceless moments with Jean.

I played with her once on a side stage during the Weekend. We had never tried to play together and I was, well— I admit it—trying to play my best and not embarrass myself. I started Old Joe Clark as fast as I could. About half way through, still going full speed,

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Jean turned to me and said, “Nancy, quit killin’ snakes!”

She meant I was whoppin’ away with that pick like I was whackin’ at a snake, as hard and fast as I could, as though my life depended on it! For those of you who have never come across a copperhead while walkin’ down a country road, you probably don’t know what I mean…but, believe me, she was right on with the imagery!

Several years later, Blake Barker and I were performing a concert in Harlan, Kentucky. I looked up and Jean and George Pickow, her extremely talented, award winning, videographer/photographer husband, were coming into the audience. Of course, it caused quite a stir having them walk in—most everyone recognized them!

To say I was surprised is quite an un-

derstatement, but it meant so very much to me personally for Jean to be there.

They invited us to visit them at their cabin the next day. While George and Blake discussed the ins and outs of building a log cabin, Jean and I sat in her front porch swing, the mountains stretching out before us. As we rocked slowly back and forth, Jean started singing. There are moments in our lives that stand out to us, that we can recall with exact clarity as though they just happened yesterday. They carry with them a feeling, a sound, a smell that is easy to remember— the impact was so great. Jean singing on that swing, with only me and the mountains to listen, is one of those capsules in time for me.

Another special memory took place at the Great American Dulcimer Convention (a great festival held the last weekend in September at Pine Mountain State Park in Kentucky) when Jean and George celebrated their 50th anniversary.

The concert hall was packed during the Saturday evening performances. Secretly, Anne McFie had passed out words to the audience of one of Jean’s play-party songs, March Down To Old Tennessee (and Married We Will Be). Jean and George were asked to stand down in front of the stage and the audience and performers gathered ‘round them. On stage, David Schnaufer led the performers that were accompanying the song and everyone sang together in this musical tribute that seemed more like a family reunion.

When the line, “Come and give me one sweet kiss to remind me of you,” was sung, Jean leaned over and gave George a kiss. It was a priceless

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moment, but just one of many that night.

After that public celebration during the festival, a smaller party of festival performers gathered back at their cabin. Jean and George were given king and queen crowns, and there were presents and lots of food. David Schnaufer had brought an old courtin’ dulcimer for them to play, and we were all thrilled when they obliged us.

As things started settling down, Anne McFie asked Jean how she and George first met. They didn’t hesitate and just started talking about their meeting, courtship, marriage, and life together. Both are natural storytellers, and in the blink of an eye, more than an hour had passed. The ten or so of us were privileged to this glimpse into their lives and their love. It was like a bell jar was over that cabin and I’m sure no one who was there will ever forget it.

One year, Alice Burton (the hammered dulcimer player in Kentucky Standard Band) and I found ourselves with Jean headed to Lois Hornbostel’s mountain dulcimer festival in Boone, North Carolina. Lois had hired both Jean and myself that year, and we were thrilled to be Jean’s transportation to the event. Jean dubbed us the Three Misquiters, chose the shot gun seat, and off we went! “Floor it, Nancy” was

heard more than once during that trip!

Somewhere in Tennessee, road work had us stuck for hours on the highway, inching along in bumper to bumper traffic. To top it off, it was about 96 degrees and the air conditioning in my van gave out! Alice and I were in a panic, worried about Jean roasting on this highway oven. But nothing bothered Jean—she just went right along, didn’t skip a beat. We sang, joked, laughed and it was just not a big deal.

She’s like that, you know. I’ve never seen her bothered by much of anything. Her joyous spirit comes through and just brings you along with it!

I’ve been fortunate to have these and more wonderful times with Jean Ritchie, my musical guide. She has enriched my life so much, and her music has touched millions. I was just lucky enough to have the privilege of getting to know her, an insight into her music, and an introduction to my constant companion, the dulcimer.

As I play the old songs, or a new one just written, I thank Jean for opening that world for me, and for countless others. We all owe her more than can be put into words.

If you want more info on Jean, her web site is www.jeanritchie.com. You can find out more about her from that DPN site.

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Bill Robinson and Paul Van Arsdale (L to R) at the 2008 Evart Funfest

Photo by Dale Palacek

Living History

by Dale Palacek

I

f you spent any time this past year at the annual dulcimer festival at Evart, Michigan, you are sure to have walked down the dirt tractor roads from the workshop and camping areas past the ODPC Pavilion on your way to the vendor area or the grandstand.

As you passed the open sided pavilion, you would have heard the lively sounds of two hammered dulcimer legends. The wooden benches would have been full of listeners, starting at nine or ten in the morning and going till late at night. s

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Inside the ODPC Pavilion, Bill Robinson and Paul Van Arsdale, accompanied by a cast of musicians, happily hammered away, trading tunes, for up to ten to twelve hours a day.

“Let’s play the Happy Acre 2 Step,” one would say. “Then how about The Irish Washerwoman,” the other would say.

They played the jigs, reels and waltzes they learned from their ancestors. Bill is a 3rd generation player, beginning with his paternal grandmother, Emma Van Fossen, who taught his dad, who taught him. Paul learned from his grandfather.

These two were quite a sight, since Paul is 87 years old and Bill is in his 60s. They played with a joy unmatched by players much younger. Both were smiling and their hammers were flying. Bill plays his dulcimer with wiry hammers made from corsets. Paul’s hammers are just as flexible. He builds his out of old hacksaw blades shaving them down to get the spring he wants.

Next, they hammered out Wheels and Grandpa’s Waltz.

Grandpa’s Waltz: this was one of the tunes Paul’s grandfather Jessie Martin played. Paul is not sure of the actual title, so he named it after his grandfather. Jessie Martin was invited to come to Detroit to play for Henry Ford. Ford did not like the dance mu-

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sic of the 1920s, so he was trying to revive the old-time square dances. He put together an orchestra to play the old-time music, complete with a caller. That is why Henry Ford was interested in having a dulcimer player. He heard about Jessie and invited him to come and demonstrate what he could do.

“In the 1920s, when things were booming, grandpa had an orchestra and he was playing on the road,” said Van Arsdale. “He played on stages in

ment. “I think what had a lot to do with it was the fact that if you were a fiddle player with 4 strings, you could go anywhere and tune in 2-3 minutes”, said Paul. “With a dulcimer, and this was long before electronic tuners, you probably might spend a half to an hour really getting a hammered dulcimer in shape.”

In a 1983 publication, Nancy Groce of the Smithsonian writes, “From about 1930 until the folk revival of the mid 1960s there were virtually no

sonian.

Van Arsdale’s friendship with Bill Robinson began around 1991. Bill and Sam Rizetta were on the way to a festival in West Virginia and they thought they would stop in to see Paul, who was recovering from a health issue.

“Of course, I heard about Paul for several years,” Robinson says. “Even before I met him, and just listening to his music, I thought, my gosh there has got to be a connection here some place because there are so many things

He would rather sit there and play all day instead of eating. new recruits to the instrument.” Fortunately, musicians like Jessie Martin and Emma Van Fossen took the time to pass on the craft of playing the hammered dulcimer.

Around 1977, Paul was discovered

by Nancy Groce and the Smithsonian and was asked to play at the National Folk Festival and some special Smithsonian festivals in Washington D.C. “I got invited to the National Folk Festival for 3 or 4 or 5 years, I went to the one in Lowell, Massachusetts and they had one at Wolf Trap.”

Paul was also recorded by the Smithsonian, but does not know what they did with the recording.

Before Paul did any recording on his own, he played a medley of 2 tunes on the 1980 legendary album release by John McCutcheon called Barefoot Boy With Boots Paul learned hammered dulcimer On. Paul credits from Jesse Martin, his grandfather, John for introducing him to who played in the Henry Ford Nancy Groce Orchestra in the 1920’s. at the Smith-

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Henry Ford - Used with permission, Hartsook\National Photo Company Collection.\Copyright by Keystone View Co., Inc., of N.Y

between movies. They would have a film and in between the shows, there would be a stage act.” Another way that Jessie Martin made a living was to build dulcimers. “In those days, he would go and live with a family, build a dulcimer and teach whoever was interested in it. He would stay with them 2 or 3 weeks, and that was part of the way he made his living, building a dulcimer and teaching them how to play it.” Originally, Martin ordered dulcimers from the Lyon and Healy piano company in Chicago, and the early models he built were of a similar design.

After the stock market crash of 1929, Jessie came to live with Van Arsdale’s mother and father. “At that time, I was about 10 years old and I took an interest in the dulcimer. He had 2 or 3 dulcimers and I would sit by one beside him and he would sit by the other and he taught me quite a few tunes.”

As music was changing, the popularity of the hammered dulcimer was dwindling. Both Paul and Bill agree that one of the main reasons for this was the difficulty of tuning the instru-

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we play the same. We know a lot of the same tunes, even if we play them a little differently.” In 1993 or 1994, Bill was able to have the Gebhard Woods Festival in Morris, Illinois extend an invitation to Paul to come play. In 1994, they recorded 24 tunes live and the songs were released on a cassette.

This year, the tunes were digitally remastered on a CD for a limited edition of 500 copies by Bill and the proceeds were used to help bring Van Arsdale to Evart.

Bill’s wife offered to get Bill and Paul some sandwiches during one of their marathon hammering sessions at Evart. “You know, he’s just like you”,

she told Bill. “He would rather sit there and play all day instead of eating. I asked him what he wanted to eat and he said anything is OK and went back to playing music.” Bill chuckles when he talks about this and smiles and says, “Well…you know, to sit there and play that instrument is better than any meal you could ever buy.”

This was Paul’s first visit to Evart.

“I’ve heard about it and wanted to come several times and I think I almost waited too long because at 87, I am starting to lose some of my abilities,” said Paul. “I don’t believe a word about that,” quipped Bill. They continued to hammer away, Bill using his

corset hammers, like the ones his grandmother used, Paul using the hacksaw blade hammers, playing like Jessie Martin was sitting with him.

“Let’s play the Clarinet Polka.” “How about the Liberty Two Step?” The audience at the OPDC Pavilion agreed DPN with Bill.

Dale Palecek is a long time bluegrass musician who has recently discovered the joy of hammering out fiddle tunes. He plays the hammered dulcimer with the Roller Mills String Band and lives in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

Photo by Glenn Jerrell

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by Christine Smith

D

eep in the heart of now-not-so-rural England reside a number of dulcimer players who are neither mountain dulcimists nor hammered dulcimists.

These plucked dulcimists follow in the footsteps of late18th and early-19th century musicians in and near the city of Birmingham who played dulcimers characterized by curved front and back rails. In time, the city gave its name not only to this style of dulcimer construction but also to a unique style of tuning and playing.

An Old Dulcimer From Stoke Prior UK

Essentially the same shape and size as a hammered dulcimer, the traditional Birmingham-style dulcimer had continuous bridges and a special tuning scheme in the bass section (more on this later).

It is uncertain whether players of that time in the Birmingham area knew one another due to the lack of today’s personal communication tools and modern transportation; nevertheless, a few dedicated players contributed to survival of the skill of plucking, or stroking, the strings that developed mainly in the Midlands area.

(It should be noted that some Scottish players also pluck the strings but tune their instruments differently from the Birmingham style.)

Formation of The Nonsuch Dulcimer Club* in 1992 encouraged a recent resurgence of interest in the dulcimer in the United Kingdom, although some individuals have continued to play on their own.

Fred Woodley, who lives in the Birmingham area, is one such individual. Having learned from his father how to play and make dulcimers in the Birmingham style, Fred continued in this vein for many years in relative isolation until a chance encounter at a folk festival led him to join the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club. Nonsuch opened the door for him to greater contact with the “outside dulcimer world.”

His discovery was at the same time a revelation to others who were probably unaware of the Birmingham style of play or, if aware, that the tradition remained alive and well.

Fred admits that his grandfather hammered his instrument. The courses were close together, and the hammers found with the instrument were quite small, he says. Fred’s father, however, plucked his dulcimer, and so the tradition passed down in his family.

Why pluck instead of hammer? How did this method develop? While pictorial records of dulcimers being played with hammers date from the 14th and 15th centuries, the existence of pictures from that era of a dulcimer being plucked is uncertain. Perhaps its ancestry traces back to zithers.

Whatever the historical truth, those who pluck the dulcimer, rather than hammer it, open a unique world of sound to the listener. The plucked dulcimer offers a gentle tone, somewhat more sustain, a flowing, fuller sound and chords that can be more complex and harp-like. It stands well as a solo instrument and is very restful to hear, although playing can be loud and rhythmic if required or desired.

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According to Fred, the term “plucking” in the Birmingham style is a misnomer, as this implies literally “picking” at the strings in a possibly claw-like manner with several digits. Birmingham-style players actually “stroke” across the strings, usually with some type of pick or plectrum held between thumb and index finger.

Fred also has constructed what he calls “octave” dulcimers with three strings per course. Two of the strings are tuned at the same pitch while the third string is tuned an octave lower to give even greater fullness of sound.

Birmingham tuning allows the player to “swipe” or “draw” the plectrum in the right hand across the bass strings and then immediately across the strings of the same note on the right side of the treble bridge, so taking in two octaves in one fell swoop, so to speak.

For example, the dulcimist can play across the C strings on the left side of the treble bridge with the left hand and, at the same time, swipe across from C on the bass bridge to C on the right side of the treble bridge with the right hand, which gives three pitches of C. (See accompanying chart on Birmingham tuning.)

If the reader would like to try “stroking the strings” without retuning the instrument, the familiar song The Bells of St. Mary’s lends itself well to this method of play. Fred recommends it as a good Fred uses old clock springs as plecstarting point for the “would-be plucker.” Adtra, and the other three fingers of each ditional songs to try are Beautiful Dreamer Fred’s First Dulcimer hand damp the strings. This method, (Stephen Foster, v1864), Grandfather’s Clock combined with the Birmingham style of tuning, produces (Henry C. Work, 1876) and Don’t Laugh at Me (words and the flowing sound. music by Norman Wisdom and June Tremayne).

Distinctive curved rails characterized Fred’s first dulciFor those more adventurous who wish to retune to the mer, made by his father, and the first dulcimers that Fred Birmingham style, a tuning chart for a 14-13 instrument is himself made. He moved on to make dulcimers very simi- shown. Good luck and enjoy! lar in shape and size to today’s hammered dulcimer.

More details on the structure and tuning of dulcimers Today’s pluckers play instruments that are still tuned in can be found on Fred’s excellent and informative website: the distinctive Birmingham style, with the bass section an www.fred.woodley.btinternet.co.uk. He provides links to octave lower than the treble. other areas of his own history, references to well-known English pluckers, and sites worth a visit to hear some of the music.

Thanks to Fred for allowing the use of information from his website, for his time and patience in explaining details of the Birmingham style and for describing the techniques DPN involved in stroking the strings.

Christine Smith, wallacetoo@tiscali. co.uk. is a hammering and plucking member of the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club which has a membership of 214, twelve of whom profess to be pluckers. There are, no doubt, more players of all types in the UK who do not belong to the club. www.nonsuchdulcimer.org.uk

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by Martha Giles

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ccording to legend, George Frideric Handel once took refuge from the rain in a smithy, and was inspired to write his famous tune by the sound of the blacksmith’s hammer on the anvil. The story is completely false. The Harmonious Blacksmith was not the name given by Handel; that name did not appear until sixty years after Handel’s death. Yet the tune (and its accompanying legend) attained such popularity in Victorian England that Charles Dickens mentioned The Harmonious Blacksmith in two of his novels, and the anvil of the mysterious blacksmith was on display in a British museum.

a clavichord to an upper room of his house, practicing while the family slept. True story, I believe!)

Our 21st-century ears are accustomed to a wide spectrum of instrumental sounds, and the hammered dulcimer’s resonance no longer offends. In fact, the dulcimer seems the perfect instrument for adding warmth to The Blacksmith’s harpsichord-like clarity.

Hammering a tune about a hammering blacksmith (even if that is not what Handel had in mind) seems especially fitting!

One of the things I love about learning music—beyond the music itself—is delving into the behind-the-scenes stories. When Bob Wadsworth and I decided to learn and record The Harmonious Blacksmith for our project Inventio, I began to read about Handel and his time—a time which was quieter (without cars, planes, or television), but changing dramatically. The Age of Enlightenment had begun, bringing excitement, curiosity, and a new freedom to use one’s own intelligence. For Bach, Handel and other Baroque composers, this translated into exuberance and emotion, but with control and discipline.

Handel wrote The Harmonious Blacksmith for harpsichord, whose strings are plucked by quills when each key is pressed. The clean, crisp sound of the instrument matched the thinking of the Age of Enlightenment. The hammered dulcimer’s long-ringing tones, unfortunately, did not meet this ideal; it had been relegated primarily to the lower classes. (Handel’s special affection for keyboard instruments began in childhood. Forbidden by his father to practice music, young George Frideric secretly brought

When Bob and I first considered The Harmonious Blacksmith for a dulcimer duet, we looked at the original version. Handel, entitling it Air and Variations from Suite No. 5, had composed it in the key of E Major. We chose to transpose it to G Major, a dulcimer-friendly key which seemed to retain the original light, frolicking mood. Because Bob’s dulcimer has more of a low range than mine, he took the bass clef part (for a keyboard player’s left hand) and I took the treble clef (right hand) part. The scores of some of our other duets had needed further adjustments, such as moving phrases up an octave to accommodate the dulcimer’s range, but The Harmonious Blacksmith needed only transposition. Thankfully, Bob could transpose on his computer; my hand-drawn notes would have taken much longer.

We live one hundred miles apart, so our next step was to separately learn our parts, planning to schedule a recording date when we both felt ready. For me, this meant an intensive practice session every day, memorizing the piece section by section, studying the phrasing and dy-

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namics and working with a metronome. (Daily walks in the woods, mentally playing through the tune in my head, helped, too.) My chromatic dulcimer was away at the time having dampers installed, so I practiced on my first dulcimer, a 12/11. Amazingly, every note I needed could be found on that small instrument! Bob and I exchanged an occasional e-mail about tempos, dynamics and ornamentation, but most details remained to be worked out on the recording day.

After weeks of serious independent work, we were ready to try recording. For several months we had sporadically been recording classical duets, alternating between his city and mine. This time, I loaded my dulcimer and recording equipment (portable digital eight-track recording unit, microphones, stands and cables, mic preamp, headphones, etc.) into my car and headed to Bob’s home, prepared for a long, demanding day.

Bob and I are not experienced recording artists or engineers. Inventio was actually our first recording project, so each session was an intensive learning experience.

Sessions were usually spaced several weeks apart, allowing time to learn the music; therefore, we always seemed to be starting over—having to relearn about microphone placement and remember how to set the recording unit’s many knobs.

On this recording day we set up, tuned, made the house as quiet as possible, and began to make artistic decisions.

Writing for the harpsichord, Handel gave no indications for dynamics. The hammered dulcimer, however, is a remarkably dynamic instrument; pianissimos and fortissimos are possible, as well as subtle crescendos and diminuendos. As an air with variations, The Harmonious Blacksmith lends itself to varying dynamics and tone quality. By experimenting, we decided to play the air—a simple, central melody—with two-sided hammers, flipping from hard sides to soft sides between phrases, then to play Variation 1 with hard hammers, flipping them over for Variation 2. For Variation 3, we chose to use dampers. My dulcimer had newly-installed dampers, but Bob’s had none, so he improvised by weaving strips of felt over and under his strings. Recording had to stop while the felt strips were removed and the instrument re-tuned.

Timing is a critical and difficult aspect of duet playing. Weeks of practicing with metronomes helped to keep the beat even, yet on recording day we still had to

Autoharp Quarterly® magazine is published four times a year and is sent First Class mail the first week of November, February, May and August to subscribers world-wide. Each issue contains articles and music covering such subjects as Beginners, Children, Classics, Chromatic, Diatonic, and Jamming. Also included is a Sacred ’Harp feature and an Interaction Lesson in which players can get a personal critique from an accomplished artist. Each issue contains artist’s schedules, festival listings, reviews of new recordings, news of the autoharp community and technical and/or how-to articles. There is a MarketPlace which offers autoharp-related CDs, books, and accessories for sale.

US, $24; Canada, $26; Europe, $28 and Asia (including New Zealand and Australia), $30. All rates are in US Dollars. Sample copies are sent on request and gift certificates are available in any amount. We accept checks, money orders, VISA, MasterCard and American Express.

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Stonehill Productions P. O. Box 336 • New Manchester, WV 26056-0336 (304) 387-0132 • ahquarterly@comcast.net www.autoharpquarterly.com

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work very hard, re-recording until the timing was satisfactory. Two dulcimers needed to work together as one, like two hands on a keyboard.

On the recording, you will hear contrasting hammer surfaces, and phrases damped and not damped. It is impossible to describe all of these details here, and, of course, no one needs to follow our example literally. I recommend experimenting with The Harmonious Blacksmith to find the sounds that are most pleasing to you, and feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.

The Harmonious Blacksmith is a delightful piece, both challenging and joyful on the dulcimer. I hope that our recording communicates at least a bit of that joy, and that we have inspired a few dulcimists to give it a try. The classical world is filled with wonderful music waiting for dulcimer players to explore. By looking back to the days of the great Baroque composers (Handel, Scarlatti, and Bach were all born in the same year!) we find real musical treasures…

DPN and learn intriguing tales along the way!

Martha Giles lives in Virginia Beach, where she has taught joyful music lessons to children for more than twenty years. Martha plays French horn in Symphonicity (formerly the Virginia Beach Symphony) and The Tidewater Winds, a professional concert band. She is currently recording Baroque music for solo unaccompanied hammered dulcimer. (E-mail: music@marthagiles.com) Robert Wadsworth is a long-time acoustic guitar player who has also had classical training on piano, cello, and organ. Bob discovered the hammered dulcimer in the late 1990s and has become an avid performer and teacher in the Richmond, Virginia area. He is currently creating an album of instrumental holiday music. (E-mail: bob@ robertwadsworth.com) Inventio: Transcriptions for Two Hammered Dulcimers includes The Harmonious Blacksmith, all fifteen of Bach’s Two-Part Inventions, plus other works by Bach, Telemann, Scarlatti, Tárrega, and Saint-Saëns. For more information, visit www. marthagiles.com.

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The Harmonious Blacksmith - Page 2 The Harmonious Blacksmith - Page 1

Track

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The Harmonious Blacksmith - Page 4 The Harmonious Blacksmith - Page 3 Please do not reprint or redistribute without permission. Contact dpn@dpnews.com.

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by Steve Schneider

Making Arrangements: Step Three his is the 3rd in a series of articles devoted to learning and arranging music for the hammered dulcimer while focusing on Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway! by Stephen Foster.

You can find the single-line melody and the melody with added bass notes in the previous two issues of Dulcimer Players News and also on my website, steveschneider.com.

This series is particularly geared for players who have not done much or any arranging on their own. My ultimate goal is for the reader to be able to create his or her own arrangements using the concepts presented here. As we learn, our music can seem stiff and limited—but musical freedom and fluency is based on understanding how it all works and then being able

Thanks To Readers I want to thank Nancy Underwood of Preston, MO, for sending me a copy of the music she found in a Stephen Foster songbook published in 1946. The book, A Treasury of Stephen Foster, mentions that Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway! was not particularly successful. Over a period of seven years, Foster reaped a total of $8.12 representing sales of just over 400 copies of the music.

In addition, it was noted that the song was composed 3 months before his marriage to Jane McDowell, and there is speculation that he possibly used it in his courtship.

I would also like to thank Mary Lou Jubin from Norton, OH, for sending me a different copy of the piano music that was published in 1939. The notes accompanying this music refer to Foster as the founder of popular songs in the United States, saying that he was “the echo of the hopes and fears in the hearts of all the people of the time, and he was the first truly American composer.” Possibly this is one of the reasons why a great deal of his music is so well suited to the hammered dulcimer.

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to translate that understanding into living music. Over the next couple of issues, we’ll begin to pick and choose from our growing bag of arranging tricks, and ultimately end up with something pretty amazing that you should then be able to apply to lots of other music as well.

Supporting the Melody: Three Note Chords In the last two issues of DPN we explored ways to more deeply understand, learn, and play the melody of Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway!, and then to begin to arrange it by adding low bass notes. In this issue we introduce the concept of adding 3-note chords for the purposes of supporting the melody, varying the degree of tension within the arrangement, and adding some contrast.

You can create beautiful arrangements with an intuitive understanding of music theory, but the greater your conscious and practical understanding the greater your range of creative possibilities. With this in mind, let me offer a warning or a disclaimer—this is not easy material for anyone who is unfamiliar with it, and it’s especially difficult to develop a complete understanding of the mechanics of chord theory from an article such as this one with such a limited scope. And, additionally, as we learn more about music in general, we are then faced with learning where on our hammered dulcimers to apply our newfound knowledge. This is a separate issue, and is beyond the scope of this article as well.

I heartily recommend, yet again, the book Music Theory for Practical People by Ed Roseman to anyone wishing to learn more about the inner workings of music. And if you’re interested and motivated, I suggest that you find a music teacher who can guide you on your path of discovery and who can answer all your questions. Music is a language, and, as such, needs time and practice to fully develop and understand. Learning music theory is a great way to enhance your understanding and mastery of music on all levels.

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Within the genres of popular, folk, and traditional music, a chord usually refers to 3 notes that are played simultaneously or in quick succession (as chords are played on the hammered dulcimer). Three-note chords, also known as triads, are essentially composed of 3 notes built upon a “root” note that serves as the foundation of the chord.

For example, the root of a G Major chord is G, the root of an A Minor chord is A, and the root of a B Minor chord is B. As you can see, chords are named for their root [See Fig. 1]. Root position chords, where the root of the chord is on the bottom, are the most basic chords in our music vocabulary.

In order to “spell” any chord (see Spelling Lessons on Page 28), we start with the scale of the key we’re in. Find the root of the chord you want to spell, skip every other note in the scale until you have 3 notes. For example, to spell a G Major chord from its root, start from the G; then skip the next note (A) up from the root to get B; then skip the next note up from B (C) to arrive at D. A G Major chord in root position is therefore spelled (from the bottom up): G-B-D. The intervals of a chord are always spelled from the bottom up, where the root, being the first

note of the chord, is always 1. In a G Major chord, G = 1, B = 3, and D = 5.

Here’s the G Major scale with the notes of the GM chord highlighted: GABCDEF#G In m. 2 of Fig. 1 we see a triad built from an A, which is the next note in the G Major scale. Starting with the root, A, skip a note (B) to the C; and finally skip a note (D) to the E. Therefore, A =1, C = 3, and E = 5, and the A Minor chord in root position is spelled A-C-E. Here’s the G Major scale with the notes of the A Minor chord highlighted: GABCDEF#G Still looking at Fig. 1, we see that the next chord, B Minor in root position, is configured in the same way. Start with the root of the chord, B, skip a note (C) to the D, and skip a note to the F# (the F must be sharped since it’s sharped in the key signature of G Major). A B Minor chord in root position is therefore spelled: B-D-F#. In a B Minor chord, B = 1, D = 3, and F# = 5.

Here’s the G Major scale with the notes of the B Minor chord highlighted: GABCDEF#G

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Spelling Lessons Chords are numbered by the position of their root notes within the scale they come from. In the key of G Major, the G Major chord is the first chord since it’s built on the first note of the G Major scale, and therefore it’s known as the I chord. (Chord numbers use roman numerals to differentiate them from scale or interval numbers.) The next note in the G Major scale is an A; the triad built on the A in the key of G Major is a minor, and is also the ii chord (we write minor chords with lower case roman numerals). The major chords within a chord scale are the I, IV, and V chords. In G Major, these are the G Major, C Major, and D Major chords.

Musical wizard Chuck Boody had questioned my notation of chord and note names in a past issue. Now, thanks to the additional questions, quizzical looks, and brilliant suggestions from my son, Zac, I’m reverting to the following notation standards: In notated music, I’ll still use capital letters for major chords and lower case letters with a small m for minor chords. When writing about chords and notes, I’ll always use capital letters, and indicate major chords with the word Major, and minor chords with the word Minor. Note names are all capitalized, and triads are written G-B-D and should be read from the bottom up: G, then B, then D. I really hope this is clear(er).

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The basic chords that occur within a particular piece are derived from the key signature in which the piece is written. As we know, Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway! is in the key of G Major, and therefore the chords within the piece are built from and based on the G Major scale (G A B C D E F# G) [see Fig. 3]. As we did above with the G Major and B Minor chords, to form a triad from any note in the scale you simply build up from that note, skipping the notes in between, until you have 3 notes. Chords built up in this way are in “root” position, and the root of the chord is the lowest note of the chord. When we build triads in root position using the notes of the G Major scale as their roots, we get the G Major chord scale in root position [see Fig. 4, top line].

Triads have 3 basic configurations: 1) root position, when the root is on the bottom, followed by the 3rd and then the 5th of the chord, thus 1-3-5 [see Fig. 2, mm. 1, 4, 7]; 2) first inversion, when the root has moved to the top of the chord so that now the 3rd is on the bottom, and the configuration is now 3-5-1 [see Fig. 2, mm. 2, 5, 8]; and 3) second inversion, when the 3rd of the chord now moves to the top, leaving the 5th on the bottom, and the configuration is now 5-1-3 [see Fig. 2, mm. 3, 6, 9].

Our G Major chord in root position is therefore spelled G-B-D; in first inversion it is B-D-G; and in second inversion it’s D-G-B [see Fig. 2, line 1].

Our A Minor chord in root position is A-C-E; in first inversion it’s C-E-A; and in second inversion it’s E-A-C [see Fig. 2, line 2].

Our B Minor chord in root position is B-D-F#; in first inversion it’s D-F#-B; and in second inversion it’s F#-B-D [see Fig. 2, line 3].

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We’re now ready for our next step in building our arrangement, which is to add chords to the melody. If the music is notated correctly and clearly, you have all the information you need in order to chord a piece, but only if you know your chords. For now you can use the formulas above to figure out almost any chord you’ll need within a particular key.

Using the G Major chord scale [Fig. 4] as a guide, we can now begin to add chords to our piece. Whenever you see a chord written above a melody note, you play that chord with the melody note being the highest note of the chord.

The melody notes without chords written above them are simply played as melody notes.

Chord names are written in the music on the beat in which they should be played. In m. 1 of Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway! we would therefore play a G Major chord with the melody note D on the top (on the first beat). Consulting the G Major chord scale, we find that this would be the very first chord, a G Major chord in root position with a D on the top. The topmost note is always the melody in this system, and it must be played a little louder than the first two notes of the triad. So the D on top must really sing, while the G and B below it are simply played as accompaniment and should be played softer.

Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway! of course gives us a number of exceptions to the rules, and we see in m. 2 that we’re supposed to play an E Minor chord along with the melody note A. Using the G Major chord scale as a guide, we see that an E Minor chord is spelled E-G-B. The E Minor chord doesn’t contain an A so we need to figure out how to incorporate it so that it sounds good. We see that the melody note after the A in m. 2 is a B and we know that B is a note in the E Minor chord. This means that we can replace the B of the E Minor chord with the melody note, A, and when the melody then moves on to the B it will sound like a full E minor chord. Checking our chord scale, we see that E Minor with a B on the top is in root position and would be spelled E-G-B. Therefore, as I’ve written in the music, in m. 2 we’ll play E-G-A since A is the melody note, and it moves next to the B which then completes the E Minor chord.

The next chord is a C Major chord within m. 2. The top note is an E, and our chord scale tells us that this would be a C Major chord in 2nd inversion, spelled G-C-E [see Fig. 4, line 3, m. 4]. The rest of the chords are now possible to find in this way, except for 2 chords: the A Major chord in mm. 12 and 15, and the D Major chord in m. 3 that has a C s

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as its melody note. A Major is not a chord in the G Major chord scale since it contains a C#, which is not found in the key of G Major, so in order to play it we need to know that A Major in root position is spelled A-C#-E (which is how we’ll play the chord in m. 12 since it’s an A Major chord with an E melody note on the top). In m. 15, we have an A Major chord with a C# in the melody, so this will be played E-A-C# (second inversion).

The D Major chord in m. 3 with a C in the melody will be played as a D Major chord in root position with an added C. This is a D7, a 4-note chord that we’ll deal with in a future article. For our purposes right now, the D chord with a melody note C in m. 3 will be spelled D-F#-A-C. I’ve simplified the chord names in the music for the sake of the focus and purposes of this particular article. I’ve removed some complicating factors in the chords for greater clarity in order for us to simply add the basic chords to the melody. You can hear me playing the melody with the chords on the DPN website, www.dpnews.com.

To summarize, when playing from notated music that gives you the melody and chord names, you can always add the appropriate triad with the melody note on the top of the chord. The melody note will dictate in which configure you’ll play your chord, and you can use the G Major chord scale (Fig. 4) to both find appropriate chords in the key of G Major, and to use as a model to create chord scales in other keys.

I hope you’re enjoying learning to arrange this music.

When you’re finished adding chords to Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway, do the same with some of your favorite waltzes or slow airs. Try to accept any confusion you may have about the concepts in this article, and use that energy to find answers to your questions. Confusion is not a bad thing if it ultimately leads to greater understanding, and these are not concepts that come easily to some. Ideally, material of this nature is presented in person, so find someone who can help point you in the right direction.

Please direct any questions or suggestions or anything else to me at steve@steveschneider.com. I’ll also have my hammering patterns posted there, too, so you can see how I DPN play it. Be well, and stay in tune.

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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Tales & Traditions A Coincidence or a Design Tradition?

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Pineville is the site of the Cumberland Ford, a famous landmark on the Wilderness Road.

One wonders–is it a dulcimer of the Road?

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Did it see the Ford in its heyday when thousands of people crossed?

Warren began making dulcimers in 1972. In 1978 he was approached by a man who owned the dulcimer and wished to exchange it for a new Warren May dulcimer. Warren agreed. At that time, his dulcimers cost $125. Warren later learned that the man had found the old dulcimer in a junk shop in Bardstown, Kentucky, and had paid $35 for it.

Warren says he doesn’t regret the trade!

From the time I saw the instrument in 1993 until a month ago, I had never seen another one with flat, coffinlike sides at its widest point. Then I received an email from Elsie Cameron of Raeford, North Carolina, who had been in my dulcimer class at Appalachian State University in 1997. “Check out this dulcimer on Ebay,” she wrote, and

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In 1993, I visited the great dulcimer maker, Warren May, at his shop in Berea, Kentucky. The dulcimers crafted by Warren that were hanging on the wall were beautiful, but I also noticed one of the instruments was an antique. At my request, he took it down for me to examine. It was the instrument illustrated on this page. A photo of the dulcimer also appears on the cover of my book, Songs and Tunes of the Wilderness Road, published by Mel Bay in 1999.

The instrument is made of poplar. Its many remarkable features include holes drilled all over the top and sides, two small facing chevrons cut midway down the top, and a marvelous decorative tailpiece that is mounted on the body. The sides are flat at the body’s widest point, giving it a coffin-like shape. The pegbox is surmounted by a small, stubby scroll. Perhaps most remarkable of all, the instrument’s eight frets are movable!

When the dulcimer entered Warren’s possession in 1978, it was accompanied by a slip of paper stating that it had come from Pineville, Kentucky.

by Ralph Lee Smith

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Jeff Furman

Dulcimer with straight sides at its wide point and a stubby scroll, owned by a man who lived in Boone, North Carolina.

Jeff Furman is an award-winning mountain dulcimer and clawhammer banjo player who is known for his melodic and rhythmic style and his ability to combine this energy with sensitivity and expression.

PRETTIEST GIRL IN THE COUNTY On this latest CD, Jeff is joined by the band Well Strung Wood to create a collection that ranges from slow airs and waltzes to rousing fiddle tunes and traditional ballads.

“I can’t remember enjoying a new CD as much as I have been enjoying yours.” - E.S.

JORY’S LADDER The mountain dulcimer, in the right hands, is capable of producing an amazing array of sounds and emotions.

With traditional music and original tunes, Jory’s Ladder is not just for lovers of the mountain dulcimer, but for all lovers of wonderful music.

“The music is beautiful…it truly touched my soul.” A.J.

To order send $15 + $2 s/h to: Jeff Furman · 120 Conner Dr. Chapel Hill, NC 27514 email: dlcmr@yahoo.com · www.jefffurman.com

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added that Hope Mills, North Carolina, the seller’s address, is not far from Raeford.

I looked, and was bowled over. Here was another dulcimer with straight sides at its widest point! And it also had a stubby scroll on top of its pegbox! The instrument is shown above.

Other features of the instrument associate it with the Virginia tradition, which found its way south of the Virginia-North Carolina border. These include sound holes drilled into the fret board and absence of a strum hollow

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Length: 30 ½ inches—very short.

Vibrating String Length (VSL): 24 ¾ inches, within the 24-26-inch VSL found on most Virginia-style dulcimers.

Width: 5 ⅞ inches.

at the foot of the fret board. I emailed Carilyn Vice, a leading collector, who bid and won. Carilyn asked the seller for all the information he could supply about the instrument.

The seller replied: “We were on the other side of a town called Sanford here in NC when we ran up on a sale there, Saturday. We stopped in. All we know is that this was an elderly man who had passed away and the kinfolk were selling off his personal belongings. He had lived mostly around the Boone area [all] his life and was pretty much a loner from what his kids said. He was in his 90s when

passing away.”

Is the fact that both of these instruments have straight sides and stubby scrolls a coincidence, or are we getting a misty look at a shared design tradition despite the many differences in the instruments? What’s your guess? DPN Ralph Lee Smith is a leading authority on the history of early Appalachia, on traditional Appalachian music, and on the Appalachian dulcimer.

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ews Dulcimer Players N 35

Two Stories of Luthier

Pia n gh tcl ub Ni ed on nd Ab a An

Reclaimed wood is grabbing the attention of U.S. woodworkers and instrument makers.

Through Web sources, the resourceful shopper can buy reprocessed redwood timbers from demolished water tanks, re-milled chestnut beams from barns in North Carolina and ancient birch logs fished from the bottom of Lake Erie.

Why the interest?

First of all, the quality can be excellent. Reclaimed wood is often old-growth, which means it’s likely to be denser and more stable than newer wood. It frequently bears the marks of use, such as iron stains from metal fasteners, and often has an interesting story to tell.

(This summer at the Common Ground festival in Westminster, MD, I met a guy from England playing a guitar made mostly from the oak of a whiskey barrel. It sounded pretty good, too.)

Finally, it’s almost unavoidable to use reclaimed wood nowadays if we aim to be good stewards of the earth. Water tanks and wine vats were often constructed with clear, quarter-sawn, old-growth redwood when the material was plentiful. Now that it’s almost a crime to cut down oldgrowth redwood, people are dismantling the old tanks.

At the prompting of hammered dulcimer player Jody Marshall several years ago, I built an instrument for her with redwood reclaimed from a California wine vat. I’ve since made more of them. Sanding this wood fills the air with the smell of fermented grapes, which is pleasant even though the odor often draws fruit flies. These instruments sound just as good as those built from my other redwood stock.

How little do you need to build an instrument? In Zaire’s capital city of Kinshasa, a place with sparse infrastructure and a collapsing economy, Maurice Mazanza has been making guitars since 1967. Forced to find a way to build ever more cheaply in order to survive, he now uses plywood for the instruments’ bodies, and copper stripped from electrical wiring. He wraps music wire with copper stripped from electrical wiring to produce wound strings.

He even cuts and files steel concrete-reinforcing rods into tuners.

The result is not what we would call a really good gui-

o

Building Instruments with Reclaimed Lumber

Continued on page 38 ws 36 Dulcimer PlayersNe

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by Nick Blanton

rs Making A Difference The Caring Cades Cove Dulcimer Maker

What could have become a forgotten item of the past

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by Susan Parry

Mike Clemmer built this mountain dulcimer with salvaged wood from a demolished historic home in Cades Cove, TN.

will instead live on as something remarkable, thanks to the insight of caring people and the exceptional skill of a talented individual.

When renowned musician and dulcimer-maker Mike Clemmer of Townsend, TN heard that the Cades Cove Preservation Association (CCPA) had salvaged materials from the house of Kermit and Lois Caughron, the last residents of historic Cades Cove, TN, he offered assistance.

“I got the idea for something I could do to help the preservation efforts at Cades Cove," he explained. “I asked for several boards so I could create and donate a dulcimer they could sell at auction. The dulcimer has long been an important part of Southern Appalachian culture, so one made from the Caughron’s home would have unique historical significance.”

“I have never done anything exactly like this, but I try to help preserve the rich and living history of the Smoky Mountains and the mountain dulcimer,” he continued.

Some of the logs from the house have been documented to be 200 years old. Before the building was moved to its final location at Cades Cove, within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and became the Caughron home, it was used as the Chestnut Flats Laurel Springs School and the Cable School.

The materials used in this dulcimer are especially precious and rare because, Mike explains, “In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, you cannot even pick a flower or take a rock out of the park.”

“The Cades Cove dulcimer, a Tennessee fiddle-side mountain dulcimer, has a beautiful, red spruce top with a distinctive bear-claw pattern. Other parts of the dulcimer are made from local black walnut,” he described. Because some of the house boards were in rough condition, Mike added wood from his own inventory to enhance the instrument’s appearance and sound.

“Working with the grain and texture of fine, old, vintage wood is like nothing else I have ever done. It is so gratifying to play something you have taken from an old, rustic piece of lumber to a rich-sounding instrument.”

Continuing his description, Mike said the dulcimer “has the traditional Tree of Life carved on the fingerboard

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Continued on page 47 ws Dulcimer Players Ne 37

tar, but selling for about $20 each, his guitars have afforded many people in Kinshasa the opportunity to buy an instrument and play music. Who can argue with that?

While in South Africa, my buddy Mike ran across this guitarist in a pedestrian shopping area [see photo right]. Yes, that’s a Castrol oil can forming the guitar body. He is not playing this particular instrument, however, because he has nothing else available; you can see a perfectly good Epiphone sitting next to him. He plays this one because it attracts attention, and it works.

Practically speaking, there is a limit to the materials a recycler can use. It would be costly to clean and reuse old music wire or to make your own casein glue out of cheese. It makes sense to save a redwood tree by buying part of a wine vat, but it doesn’t save much energy if you ship it by truck from California. What can be done to build instruments from under-utilized local sources? I thought it would be fun, for the purpose of this article, not only to recycle but also to think locally.

Here’s a note from Russell Cook, a man ahead of his time: “In 1978, while driving a schoolbus, I spotted an old, upright piano under a shade tree begging me to do something wonderful with it. Well, the first instrument it birthed was far less than wonderful and is still lying around somewhere, but the second one was wonderful to me—it worked!

“I used the sound board, which was gorgeous, some of the oak bracing and the tuning pins. With the help of David Lindsey, my brotherin-law, who had just discovered the instrument as well, I completed my first successful hammer dulcimer in s

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Photo by Mike Tweedy

the spring of 1979 and won a talent contest on it 10 days later.”

I wanted to quote Russell here, just in case you thought I was only being a fan of the Marx Brothers when I state that I have “de-constructed” four pianos.

It’s not sacrilege. Even if it’s not stored outside under a shade tree, a typical piano in a normal climate, i.e., not as dry as a desert, will last about 100 years. After that, it will need to be completely rebuilt, with new strings, flanges, hammer heads, damper felts, felt bushings, etc. This is a very big job.

Grand pianos, ones named Steinway or Mason & Hamlin, may be

worth the thousands of dollars required to rebuild them, but what about that generic, battered, 600-pound upright with moth-eaten felts, rusted strings and broken keys? Probably not.

The big boom in piano manufacture occurred circa 1900, meaning many 100-year-old, derelict, upright pianos now populate the nation. They can be a great source of hardwood (the frame, the lid, the fallboard), spruce (the soundboard), poplar and other softwoods (the panels and sides). I have fashioned tables, shop fixtures and other items from old piano wood and have used the spruce soundboard for dulcimer braces and bowed psal-

teries. I have never made stringed instruments completely from old piano wood.

Though I had some piano wood on hand, I needed more. I called Carlos.

He once owned a car repair business with a great slogan: “We’re Expensive, But We’re Slow.” (I even had the Tshirt.) Now he buys and restores old houses. As part of the business, he and his crew find and throw away a lot of junk.

“Carlos,” I said, “I’ve a good use for a bad piano.”

“Not a bad use for a good piano?” he asked. (Carlos appreciates music.)

“No, a junk piano,” I replied.

He didn’t have anything at the moment, but a few weeks later, he called back. He had purchased a club in Martinsburg, WV that had been closed for about 20 years. Roof leaks damaged the building, and the piano sat not far from one of the leaks; the scene was not pretty.

“You’ll have to come in the back because there are issues with the floor,” Carlos cautioned me.

The “issues” turned out to be a scattered absence of floor, with some of the holes large enough to swallow a SmartCar. Despite the obstacles, we shoved the piano into a light, safe place. Sam Rizzetta arrived to help and to take photos, and we commenced the project.

The most useful tools [left] for piano de-construction: A brace drill fitted with a good-sized, sturdy, flat screwdriver bit, a two-pound hammer, a sledge hammer and a steel wedge.

Strong wire cutters, an electric drill and a cordless reciprocating saw with an all-purpose blade are also extremely handy.

Deconstruction Photos by Sam Rizetta

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ws Dulcimer Players Ne 39

There’s no -- absolutely no -question of anyone anywhere ever fixing this piano anytime anyhow.

%BODJOH UP UIF 4QJSJU PG UIF 8PPE A unique gallery featuring artisan crafts, jewelry, dulcimer items, and one-of-a-kind gifts Introducing Sarah Elizabeth’s newest recordings: $15.00 each, shipping included

Beyond The Limits

We’re All In This Together ...Sarah is also finding her own unique voice - both figuratively and literally, as this CD includes a number of vocals by Sarah.

These include the title cut, as well as Red Rocking Chair, and an astounding acapella vocal arrangement of End of the World.

Move over Allison Kraus!

This CD also showcases the instrumental talents we have come to expect from Sarah, which continue to grow and evolve as she continues her musical journey. ~ Tull Glazener

s

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Sarah has blazed new dulcimer territory with her rendition of Malaguena, pointing a new direction for future explorations.

She speaks with a powerful and evocative voice with her originals like Hide and Seek. It is sung with convincing conviction. Mature statements from one so young. ~ Ken Bloom

Beyond the Limits

Sarah Elizabeth

Dancing to the Spirit of the Wood 127 Walton Ferry Road • Hendersonville, TN 37075 • 615 824-8680

www.dancingtothespiritofthewood.com

Visit our new Online Webstore all items protected under © copyright

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The method here is simple: hunt for wood screws and remove them. Lid, fallboard and other pieces are removed.

Use the brace drill with a tuning pin bit to slack the strings quickly. We don’t want the instrument under any tension, and when we cut the strings, we don’t want them to jump out and bite.

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ews Dulcimer Players N 41

The keys are pulled up and off.

Black ones are sometimes ebony, though often just black-dyed hardwood; both will be useful. White keys are white pine with celluloid covers and, alas, not even fit for a wood stove, since they would burn too hot.

Ivory key covers are rare and definitely worth saving. Poke a red-hot needle into the material; if it melts, it’s celluloid; if it stinks like burnt bone, it’s ivory.

The sides are removed by driving a wedge into the glue joints. They are almost always veneered. Save the wood beneath by splitting through the thin cover. With the keys and balance rail under the keys removed, we can go after the sides of the keybed. Most of the pieces in and around the keybed are screwed in place, so it’s necessary to hunt for screws from all angles.

s

ew 42 Dulcimer Players N

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The strings are clipped closely to the tuning pins and pulled off, a few at a time, then carefully coiled into a can or metal bucket. It’s even better to uncoil the strings from the pins and unscrew the pins with an hp electric drill. This makes it easier to separate the plate and pin block but takes a good bit of time and trouble. We will not reuse the big piano tuning pins for our small hammered dulcimer, but if they’re not corroded, they could be reused for big dulcimers, such as cimbalims.

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ews Dulcimer Players N 43

ws 44 Dulcimer PlayersNe

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Once everything in the front of the piano is unscrewed and removed, a cast-iron plate, wood frame, pin block and strings remain. This massive slab, weighing a couple of hundred pounds, rests on several casters.

Ask several friends to hold the slab and lower it safely to the floor, unless (as in this case) the floor is in such bad condition that a toppling piano would not make it any worse.

This must be arranged in advance, before the de-constructor finds himself standing alone, balancing the innards of a piano and wondering, “What on earth am I supposed to do now?” (Don’t ask how I know this.) With the slab flat on the floor, the cast-iron plate can be unscrewed.

With the cast-iron plate unscrewed, its narrow sections just below the pin block are notched with the reciprocating saw and then knocked with the sledge hammer to break off the lower part over the soundboard.

That massive chunk, in turn, is broken into smaller pieces. The plate may look massive, but cast iron is brittle and cracks easily.

Oh, dear! The part of the soundboard unencumbered by bridges is warped. We will not have enough soundboard to build a hammered dulcimer; I’ll need to use additional piano spruce already in the shop.

A pile of reclaimed lumber, a piano action, chunks of cast iron and odd bits of wood, turned columns and mouldings, all loaded in the truck. The cast iron, steel parts, and strings go to the local recycling site; the pieces of wood and moulding can be retained for future furniture projects. The moldy piano action and the massive pin-block assembly must either be thrown out or taken apart for the fasteners, with the remains discarded. (One method is to simply start a bonfire and reclaim the metal parts from the ashes.) Anyway, it’s all to be taken back to the shop. A prospective dulcimer kit. Time to clean the wood and see what’s here.

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ws Dulcimer Players Ne 45

Hurrah! Cleaning the battered veneer (left side of photo) shows these pieces are made of chestnut. (Right side) It’s not good enough for soundboard but is acceptable for a back.

The soundboard is cut into strips, so the braces can be removed easily with a band saw and the wood cleaned with a jack plane.

This is not the prettiest spruce, but it has personality.

The frame is elm, a decent choice for the pin blocks and frame. Although not truly classified as a tonewood, the elm is old, quarter-sawn, clear and straight-grained.

We will use it for the body of a sheitholt. Some of the spruce soundboard will work for the sheitholt top.

All the roughed-out pieces are now stacked for months of drying. Time to stop.

To be continued —Nick DPN

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Clemmer - continued from Page 37 and other markings on the sides and back and head-stock.

With Grover tuners, maple bridge and bone-nut, it is set up to be a player’s dream. The finish is nitrocellulose lacquer finished off with a hand-rubbed wax. The action is light, and the sound is full bodied and very resonant.”

Mike’s appreciation for the preservation association as well as personal connections to the Cades Cove area merged into his inspiration for crafting the instrument.

“CCPA is a nonprofit organization that does some of the best historic and cultural work anywhere. But, like many non-profit folks, they could always get more done with a little more funding. One hundred percent of the proceeds from selling this dulcimer will go to the CCPA,” he said.

Proceeds will help CCPA preserve cemeteries, churches, old photographs and other Cades Cove cultural items.

“I have a personal connection to Cades Cove; my greatgreat-great-great-grandfather lived in an adjoining community. I have good memories, such as the time I saw my first bear there when I was a child. Cades Cove’s pioneers are truly admirable. They were strong-willed and self-sufficient people who should not be forgotten.”

Mike owns and operates Wood-n-Strings Dulcimer Shop in Townsend. He loves to share his passion for music with others.

“The mountain dulcimer is so easy to play and sounds so good with so little effort. I was a guitar, bass and man-

dolin player when I found the mountain dulcimer, so it was a natural fit to add to what I enjoyed. I think now I am a dulcimer player who also plays the other instruments.

“I made my first dulcimer in 1976 and started building dulcimers as a business in 1996. It has been a lot of fun.

Crafting handmade dulcimers is a true love. You cannot get rich at it, so you had better love it."

“In making dulcimers, I mostly use local hardwoods and some exotics to get the right sound. Finding wormy chestnut and good black walnut is getting harder and harder. I find that my stock of ‘wow’ woods is getting more valuable every day. When I find something that is right, I buy as much as I can."

“To my ears, the handcrafted dulcimer sounds richer and fuller than a mass-produced one simply because of the closeness of the craftsman to the work; but all dulcimers have their own voice and style. There is a place for all dulcimers. The best one is the one you play!”

Opening with a bid of $750, the auction for Mike’s oneof-a-kind historical instrument is set for Oct. 31, 2008.

“I would like to encourage anyone interested in this truly one-of-a-kind dulcimer to bid quickly and generously. I have my own bid in!” Mike added. “This is a true piece of history that you can play and enjoy, then pass on to your family for them to cherish and play.”

DPN

Anyone interested in bidding on this significant piece of history can find information at these sources:

http://cadescovepreservationtn.homestead.com/dulcimer.html http://cadescovepreservationtn.homestead.com/dulcimerbidform.html clemmerdulcimer@bellsouth.net Wood-N-Strings Dulcimer Shop e-mail: CCPADulcimer@aol.com Ruth Caughron Davis P.O. Box 383 247 E Leatherwood Dr 865-982-3051 7645 E Lamar Alexander Pkwy Walland, TN 37886 Townsend, TN 37882 CCPA Museum at the Thompson Brown House e-mail: CCPADulcimer@aol.com 865-448-6647 865-982-0705 www.clemmerdulcimer.com

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ews Dulcimer Players N 47

MUSIC REVIEWS Christmas Card

Butch Ross- reviewed by Tull Glazener

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e r CD m pl ↓ sa

ach Christmas season, I start hunting through my CD collection for appropriate holiday music to help get me in the proper spirit for the upcoming season. Usually, I’ve not listened to s track # icate on much of that music since the previous year, so it may take il nd me a while to locate them all again (where did I put that ck copy of the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas CD Tra Volume 6?). But I’ll have no trouble locating my copy of Butch Ross’s Christmas Card CD this year. That’s 18 because it has remained in my regular rotation of noter style of playing—with jaw harp and guitar. A bouncy version listening CDs ever since I got mine last year. of Jingle Bells and Here Comes Santa Claus are supported with bass, The primary instrument throughout is the guitar, and percussion. A solo dulcimer performance of O Little Town mountain dulcimer, and through the magic of of Bethlehem uses the lush chords available from the 1-3-5 tuning, and multi-tracking, Butch also adds bass, guitar, a gentle lullaby of Away in A Manger is accompanied by guitar and jaw harp, banjo, and various percussion banjo. instruments. But he is careful to make sure In addition, Butch includes a couple of not-so-traditional the dulcimer always stays “right up front” in the mix. There are 13 cuts in all, mostly seasonal tunes, such as incredible arrangements of My Favorite traditional Christmas favorites. But this Things and the jazz tune Linus and Lucy (from the Charlie Brown is not your father’s Christmas CD. The Christmas Special). The final track is Silent Night introduced by arrangements are so fresh and unique that the sound of crickets, and accompanied by an “angel chorus”, they make for fascinating listening all year ideas inspired by, and dedicated to, the memory of David Schnaufer. round.

In keeping with the Christmas spirit, Butch has made the entire For example, it starts off with Good project available for listening from his website as his gift to all of us— King Wenceslas, which Butch does using a absolutely free! Of course, like me, you’ll want to order your own copy European cousin of the mountain dulcimer, on CD as well, to be able to take with you, and to share this remarkable a Hungarian zither called the citera. Then he music with friends and family. For that purpose, it’s available for layers in bass, adds a tasteful splash of jaw harp purchase in a unique Christmas card packaging format, as well as and tambourine, and blends it all together into standard CD packaging. something that really rocks! www.butchross.com I admit to being especially drawn to the minor butch@butchross.com mode Christmas tunes in this collection (What Child Tull Glazener has been sharing the music is This, We Three Kings, and a uniquely jazzy version of the mountain dulcimer since 1984. He has of God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman). My favorite cut tends performed and led workshops throughout the to change with each listening, but I’ve hit the repeat button mid-west and south. Tull enjoys arranging more than once to listen to his absolutely astounding mountain aires, waltzes, ragtime, traditional, old-time, dulcimer arrangement of Carol of the Bells. contemporary, classical, and jazz for the It includes other standards, each featuring a different style of dulcimer mountain dulcimer. playing, and each with its own unique and compelling rhythmic groove.

For example, Hark The Herald Angels and Joy to World are done together in the

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MUSIC REVIEWS

Tra ck

9 Masters of the Mountain Dulcimer Produced by Susan Trump with various artists reviewed by Neal Walters

I

ensemble arrangements. In short, if you are searching for something that showcases the mountain duclimer in a wide variety of styles and moods, this recording will most certainly fill the bill. Most of the material was recorded specifically for this project and, while I’m sure the tunes were recorded in a variety of different studio settings, the engineering and mastering by Charlie Pilzer at Airshow is superb.

It’s a relief to to know that I have at least some of my Christmas shopping planned for 2008. Thanks Susan!

Susan Trump Music

t’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas, and Susan P.O. Box 313 Newtonville, NY 12128 Trump’s most recent production may be calling your name! This is www.susantrump.com the third installment in Susan’s Masters of the Mountain Dulcimer Series and it’s a total delight from start to finish. Featuring 18 of susantrump@aol.com the best dulcimer players in the country, this recording is bound to include something to delight anyone on your Christmas list.

The performers include the Nashville Dulcimer Quartet, David Beyond The Limits Schnaufer, Sue Carpenter, Janita Baker, Tull Glazener, Sarah Sarah Elizabeth, -reviewed by Neal Walters Elizabeth, Lois Hornbostel, Maureen Sellers, Lorinda Jones, y previous editor’s choice cuts have Beth Lassi, Nina Zanetti, Susan Trump, Lorraine Hammond, focused upon pioneers of the mounStephen Seifert, Steve Eulberg, Linda Brockinton, Karen Mueller, tain dulcimer. Sarah Elizabeth is a pioneer and Gary Gallier. With this lineup of talent, you’d expect every cut of a somewhat different sort, using the dulto be a gem and you’d be right. It’s very difficult to pick a favorite or even cimer as a vehicle to showcase her maturing two or three. Most of the performers are household names to readers talent as a master instrumentalist, emerging of this magazine, but this is the first recording to my knowledge of songwriter, creative arranger, stellar performer Beth Lassi and Nina Zanetti who specialize in duet arrangements. and community activist on behalf of abused chilThey do a wonderful version of Angels We Have Heard on High. dren and victims of autism in particular.

Tull Glazener’s reggae version of Mary’s Boy Child was another Beyond the Limits is a wonderful recording highlight for me and perhaps just different enough from Track that deserves the “buzz” we’ve all been hearthe rest of the album to really stand out. As you may have ing about Sarah. I’ve heard on the internet, “your mileage may vary” in terms 2 chosen Malagueña for of your own very favorite cuts, but I would rate each the sampler CD, but it was and every performance as nearly perfect. Stylistically, hard to choose, since there the playing varies from gorgeous fingerpicking to are so many good cuts on extremely hot flatpicking and the material this project. I expect we’ll ranges from the modern to the medieval.

Ed be hearing a lot more from SarSome are solo efforts and some are Ch itor’s oice ah but, in the meantime, these are worth a careful listen. Enjoy!

M

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ews Dulcimer Players N 49

MUSIC REVIEWS Unfinished Houses Esther Golton reviewed by Dan Landrum

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e’ll never know how many mind bogglingly good musicians exist outside the radar of the pop music world, but I think we s ’ should shout it from the roof itor Edhoice tops when we discover them. Esther Golton is C worth the shouting.

Esther is a singer songwriter who lives in Talkeetna, Alaska. Her debut studio production proves yet again that mountain dulcimer lends a beautiful and unique voice to contemporary music. Esther’s playing is smooth and supports her song writing with cool chord progressions that feel natural but still manage to surprise.

She also plays piano and flute on this project. Other instrumentation includes guitar, cello, trumpet, oboe, accordion, bassoon, piano, slide guitar and more. The musicianship is top notch on all the tracks and the fretless bass playing by John Keech which is heard on several tracks is especially noteworthy.

Mountain dulcimer fits nicely in this rich pallet of instruments. Ten of the songs on this CD are her own compositions. They are topical songs about everyday life and the joy—and sometimes sadness, that it brings.

Her lyrics are thoughtful and poetic. As an example, the following lines open and close the song Louise:

MUSIC REVIEWS Esther says, “I’m glad there are so many of us out there writing and singing. What a gift to humanity. Each singersongwriter is like a tulip in a field of tulips. Every single flower has its own individual beauty, there’s not one tulip you’d say should not be blooming. And who knows? I might just be the slightly crinkly flower that leaps out into your particular ears and a connection is made. That’s the food for me.”

If as a fan of mountain dulcimer you also appreciate great singer songwriters, then this is a must have album.

It is hard to believe that this is Esther’s first studio project and I’m eager to hear what she does next.

Unfinished Houses is available as a download through iTunes, or as a download or physical CD through CD Baby: www.cdbaby.com/cd/golton2/from/jkloss Additional Musicians: Robin Dale Ford (bass, banjo, background vocals), Pat Fitzgerald (drums, acoustic guitar, background vocals), John Keech (fretless bass), Pam Emerson (background vocals), Alex Clarke (acoustic slide guitar), Isaac Paris (accordion), George Rydlinski (bassoon), Candy Rydlinski (oboe), Bobby Bursiel (cello), Corwyn Wilkey (muted trumpet), Pete Heitzman (electric guitars), Karen Savoca (background vocals) Track List: Reasonland (written by Antje Duvekot), Going To Shadu, The Hoedown Philosopher, Happy All The Time (written by Danny Schmidt), Unfinished Houses, Emily Has Compassion Fatigue (written by 3 Blind M Alex Grayson & Lyndon J. Connah), Louise, Love Is Easy, Sugar All The Room I Need Primordial Soup (lyrics written by Esther Golton and Bela Bodnar) Fog Keli Mahoney

And in the end, if I have found esther@esthergolton.com www.esthergolton.com that straight things can be round, the music in all sound, the feel of fertile ground, Track I would have lived a good life, 5 oh, a good life. s

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The Duo Project two roofs

He says the key to fluency in improvised music is learning the language, "There are countless complexities within Max ZT the music and compositions, but the core element of the reviewed by Dan Landrum music (and this group) is communication. It's very easy ow would you like your to just play music, it's much more difficult to hear it and hammered dulcimer speak it. Not only does this communication make the mumusic? Sweet? Tradition- sic more accessible, but it also tells a story. This is someal? Just the classics? How about some driving rhythmic thing that we are trying to address in our compositions grooves reminiscent of a drum circle!? and performance."

Max Zbiral-Teller (he goes by Max ZT) is helping to Many of the cuts on this CD sound like their straight redefine where our wire covered percussive trapezoid fits out of a movie soundtrack. They're all certainly good in the World Music scene. It only takes a few min- Track soundtrack material for imagination. I imagine if you're utes of listening to tell that he’s having a great time a hammered dulcimer player that wants to hear some while he’s at it. of the best technique ever recorded, you're going to 3 Max became interested in hammered dulcimer want this CD. as a child, studied for 10 years with Kat Eggleston, and has Track List: my eyes are working, juice, djigee, walking journeyed to Senegal three times where he studies West blues, martino, saya, turquoise African Mandinko culture and percussion. He says a key www.maxzt.com element in his training has been Kora technique which uses planned improvisation, ambidextrous leading, and composing around structures. This training, he says, "really pushed the style."

In 2005 he won the National Hammered Dulcimer Championship in Winfield, KS. He now resides in Brooklyn, NY where he’s hammering out his life as a full-time gigging musician.

Max teams up with friend and fellow percussionist Luke Notary to present an album of groove based playing where melody does not take a back seat. It is hard enough to master such complex grooves, but harder still to carry out the tricky hammering these rhythms require while still allowing the melodic line to reign supreme. After countless hours with hammers in hand, it seems to be coming as second nature to Max.

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Submit Your Project For Review In DPN The place to start is with email, or a good old fashioned postcard if you don’t have computer access. Drop us a short note and we'll respond with current deadline information. We'd prefer to have all information submitted electronically, but we still accept written submissions too. Complete guidelines are available by download from dpnews.com. Here's what we need: • Artist Statement: 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!

• CD Titling Info: List the CD title and all performers on the CD. Correct spelling is a must, since this is how they will appear in the magazine.

• Your Recommendation: Tell us which track you’d like to see on the review CD, and in your own words explain why you chose this cut. List all the performers on the track(s).

• Dulcimer(s) From Recommendation: This is new. We want to begin including specific dulcimer information in future reviews. List the builder, age of the instrument, and any interesting history.

• Release Forms: Download, fill out and return the IPR Waiver and Release Form.

(Forms available at www.dpnews.com) • Track Lists: List the title for each track on the CD. • Project Artwork: We can scan your CD or book cover but a high quality, electonic file will look much better.

• Contact Information: Include your phone number, website, email and postal mailing address.

Send your project to:

Dulcimer Players News Post Office Box 278 Signal Mountain, TN 37377

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IR

t's Working . . .

esponse to the revised Dulcimer Players News CD submission guidelines has been just short of Track overwhelming.

Thank you for participating, and # keep them coming.

You'll notice we squeezed a few more selections on the Fall 2008 Sampler CD by leaving off the spoken introductory track. We've added a new track number symbol to each review in the magazine to make it easier to find the artist on the CD. The abundance of material has also forced us to place a few audio files on the dpnews.com website. Check it out for additional content including the current version of Steve Schneider's ongoing arrangement of Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway!

www.dpnews.com

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Album/Song Appalachian Winter Appalachian Winter Beyond The Limits Malaguena The Duo Project: two roofs Walking Blues Playing from the Heart Swinging on a Gate Unfinished Houses Love Is Easy When the Fish Fly When the Fish Fly An Obair Captain O'Kane Ed Henry Plays Hammer Dulcimer Moving On Masters of the Mountain Dulcimer Down in Yon Forest Dance All Night, Fiddle All Day Star of the County Down Florida Banjo Shenandoah Falls

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Driving By Moonlight

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Driving By Moonlight Nit unsere zĂŽt

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Veris Dulcis Pearls—Hymns of Patriotism & Faith

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Spanish Hymn Medley Music To Read By

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From The Top Of The Hill Inventio

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The Harmonious Blacksmith Christmas All The Time Oh Come, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen The Dulcimer Christmas Card Carol of the Bells Heaven & Angels Sing Angels We Have Heard On High Invite the Light: World Music for Winter God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Christmas On The Canal Carol Medley

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When the Fish They Fly… Vooks Caroline Dijkman (vocals, mountain dulcimer), Steven Schoevaart (vocals, acoustic bass guitar), Rinie HoubenLoenders (backing vocals, percussion), Maurice Hundscheidt (guitar), Irene Koster (violin), Petra Nelissen (recorders), Hans de Wilde (cello), Fionn and Luke (children’s vocals on Swing a Lady), Jean Innemée (vocals on bonus track)

LONG-DISTANCE-LEARNING Your chance to work with a master teacher in your home no matter where you live.

L-D-L, with renowned player

and teacher Steve Schneider, is designed to facilitate your musical growth through personally tailored hammered dulcimer lessons -- in your home, at your convenience, and you choose the goals for each lesson.

Lessons are conducted through an exchange of audio or video tapes, and can target any areas of your music that you want to improve. Receive constructive and valuable feedback, new ideas, personalized exercises, and new music -- all in your own home.

Artist Statement Collectors of folk music travelled extensively into the English countryside and the USA. For their first album Vooks chose fourteen of these traditional folksongs. Caroline sings most of these musical stories. Mountain dulcimer, acoustic bass guitar, violin, recorder, guitar and cello play an important role in the arrangements of Rinie Houben-Loenders.

The Bloody Gardener, The Keen Stars , Sally Buck , The Two Brothers , Lovely Joan, All of a Row , Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies , The Mermaid , Polly Oliver , Two Sisters , Nelly the Milkmaid , Little Gypsy Girl , Swing a Lady , The Grey Cock or the Lover’s Ghost , Bonus track: Ain’t No More Cane on the Brazos.

Stichting Vooks, Postbus 1004, 6460 BA, Kerkrade, The Netherlands www.vooks.nl vooks@planet.nl

For more details, contact Steve Schneider at 1-888-DULCIMER or lessons@steveschneider.com, or visit his website at www.steveschneider.com.

G G S  A s

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L T P M E

D Y M

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Playing From the Heart String Side Up Michael Connelly, Kay Connelly, Carol Kuznacic, Landon Hall Artist Statement Our group has been playing together for 4 years. Our audiences have commented that our music is very relaxing and always requested a CD so we made one. We called it Playing from the Heart because we hope all who listen will feel the music as we do, from the heart.

Reel of Mullinavat, Cliffs of Moher, Frankenstein’s Reel, Swinging on a Gate, St. Anne’s Reel, Over the Waterfall, Dunmore Lasses, Cuckoo’s Nest, Glass Island Reel (Ethan HazzardWatkins), Blackberry Blossom, Bonnie at Morn–aka Jonah’s Lullaby, Cold Frosty Morning/The Gale (Susan Conger), Flop-Eared Mule, Sleep Sound Ida Morning, Whiskey Before Breakfast, The Zipper (Jim Schultz) Kay Connelly, 1104 North Prairie Lane, Raymore, MO 64083, 816-331-5728 www.myspace.com/stringsideup e-mail: connelly@kcnet.com

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Two From Erin Rogers

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Dance All Night, Fiddle All Day

Quiet Sunshine

Scenic Roots Artist Statement Scenic Roots is Erin Rogers on MD and piano, Amber Rogers on fiddle, banjo, and HD, and Doug Rogers on guitar and mandolin. This spring, we decided to record some of the music that has kept us dancing through our trials.

This is a collection of old-time music and modern music with an old-time groove. We hope as you listen, you will be inspired to get up and dance.

Erin Rogers Amber Rogers, Doug Rogers, Ben Piper, J.F. Stover Artist Statement In August 2007, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and music became a place of refuge for me, to get away from the worries and pain of each day. Now that I’m cancer free, I decided it was important to share some of the music that kept me going. That’s what this CD is all about.

Fall On My Knees, Sally Anne, Tripping Up the Stairs/The Burnt Old Man, John Stenson’s #2, Angel Band, Seneca Square Dance, Winder Slide, June Apple, Chicken Head Set, Young Emily, Nail That Catfish to a Tree, Blue Jig, Great High Mountain, Sandy Boys, Angeline the Baker, Arkansas Traveler, Soldier’s Joy, Star of the County Down

Fiddle Tune Medley, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, In the Bleak Mid Winter, Spotted Pony, Elk River Blues, Arkansas Traveler, Sweet Hour of Prayer, Dill Pickle Rag, Julie’s Waltz, Popcorn Behavior, Childgrove, Shenandoah Falls/Gold Rush, LePetit Negre , Be Thou My Vision/Come Thou Fount, I Rest In You, Cherokee Shuffle

420 E 13th St, Concordia, KS 66901 scenicroots@yahoo.com www.scenicroots.com erindulcimer@yahoo.com www.quietsunshine.com

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Christmas All the Time Ruth Dunfield Artist Statement I am a singer/songwriter who plays guitar and Hammered Dulcimer.

This Christmas CD has 12 songs of traditional, contemporary and original songs of which six tracks include the hammered dulcimer. The cover art is by my artist brother Don Sutherland who also plays the hammered dulcimer.

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Feels Like Christmas, O Come O Come Emmanuel/ 17 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Christmas All The Time, Precious Promise, King Of Kings, What Child Is This, Christmas In the Trenches, It Wasn’t His Child, Away In A Manger, Childish Eyes, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/I Saw Three Ships (instrumental), Christmas Morn

Ruth Dunfield, 24 Augustus St., St. Andrews, NB Canada, E5B 2G2, 506-5293823, www.ruthdunfield.com, ruth@ruthdunfield.com

Christmas on the Canal The Towpath Players Jeanne Bornefeld and Bev Williams Artist Statement The Towpath Players (Jeanne Bornefeld and Bev Williams) are from Ft. Wayne, IN. They play an assortment of instruments including harp, Indian flute, Irish whistle, mountain dulcimer, hammered dulcimer and bowed psaltery. All of these instruments and more are used on this CD of traditional Christmas carols.

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Christmas on the Canal, Carol of the Birds, Hush My

Babe, Huron Carol, Cranham, Stille Nacht!, Heilige Nacht!, Wassail Medley, We Three Kings, Shepherd’s Cradle Song, Greensleeves, Carol Medley chopinbw@aol.com

Ed Henry Plays Hammer Dulcimer Ed Henry Artist Statement Why a solo hammer dulcimer CD? To delight listeners, showcase the instrument and my arrangements (each tone selected, no tones obscured by other instruments), present some attractive Irish/American dance tunes (three, to the best of my knowledge, not previously recorded) as well as my five best dulcimer compositions.

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O Carolan’s Concerto, Convenience Reel, O Caro8 lan’s Dream, Reaping the Rye & Scolly Casey’s, Pinnacle, Star of County Down & Anonymous, Bank of Turf, Banks of Loch Gowna, & Tobins’s Jig, Fantasy, The Crow in the Sun, Lady Athenry & Miss Noble, Sally Ann, Mississippi Sawyer, & Devil’s Dream, Kind Sister, April Waltz, and O Carolan’s Welcome, Eighth Day of January/ Ebenezer, Love in America, Dulcimer Stride, Lady Hamilton, Little Girls, Blind Mary, Morning Dew & Pigtown Fling, Moving On, Bridgid of Knock & Boys of Ballycastle Ed Henry, 619-460-4794 ehenry@mail.sdsu.edu

Invite the Light: World Music for Winter Banshee in the Kitchen Brenda Hunter (fiddle, hammer dulcimer), Jill Egland (flute, accordion, whistle, bodhran), Mary Tulin (sixand twelve-string guitar, bouzouki)

Artist Statement We have wanted to make a holiday album for longer than we’ve been Banshee in the Kitchen. True to Banshee form, our fourth album (of five) is eclectic, the holiday spirit diverse, and yes, Brenda Hunter’s hammered dulcimer is beautifully present throughout.

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God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Huron Carol, 20 Hashivenu, Bring A Torch, Jeanette-Isabella, Bottom of the Punchbowl/I Saw Three Ships, Le Sommeil di L’Enfant Jesus, Cook in the Kitchen/Pull the Knife and Stick It Again, Late Winter Waltz, Captain O’Kane, Lagao Meri Naiya Satguru Par, Avinu Malkeinu Mary Tulin, 661-747-4701 www.bansheeinthekitchen.com booking@bansheeinthekitchen.com

Pearls-Hymns of Patriotism & Faith Maureen and Brian Barnes Artist Statement This is our first professionally produced CD and contains both solos and duets. It is performed on mountain and hammered dulcimer. We dedicate it to our nation’s pearls–our veterTrack ans.

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Praise to the Lord, My Savior’s Love, Bright Mansions Above, Come Thou Fount, Ivory Palaces, All Hail to the Days, I Have Found a Friend in Jesus, Nearer My God to Thee, Lead on O King Eternal, At the Cross, Were You There?, Spanish Hymn Medley, I’ll Fly Away, Children’s Hymn Medley, When We All Get to Heaven, Patriot’s Medley 2719 Essington St, Bloomington, IL 61705 www.dulcimerdreams.com dulcimergal@earthlink.net

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Nit unsere zît?

SüBholz Ansgar Halfkann and Carsten Müller Artist Statement The thirteen songs and instrumental pieces on the album span a period from 12th to 16th century. Both Latin songs from Carmina burana and Middle High German songs by various minnesingers to Neo-High German songs of the 16th century are therefore brought back to life.

Nit unsere zît?, Veris dulcis, Totus floreo, Maienzît, Under der Linden, Einen gekrönten reien, Allemande, Je ne fus jamais si aise, Die Nachtfahrt, Schlemmerlied, Schirazula, Der Schreiber im Korb, Trinklied Prof. Dr. Carsten Müller, Neuer Markt 22, 26721, Emden, Germany www.suessholz-dulcimer. de.vuDerRotheHahn@web.de

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Heaven and Angels Sing A celebration of Christmas Madeline MacNeil Sam Rizzetta (hammered dulcimer), Michael DeLalla (guitar), Ralph Gordon (cello), Jessica Frost (pedal harp), Lois Hofmann, Connie Robeson and Susan Davis (handbells), Charlie Casabona (mandolin), Genevieve O’Loughlin (Celtic harp), Becky Lidgerding (flute), Kristin Hopper (voice), Kitchen Chorale: Connie Robeson, Maddie MacNeil, Laura Lofton, Ruth Anne Troxell, Christopher Gatesman, Tim Mayfield, Rhodes Woolly, Marty Mayfield, Bob Sherwood Artist Statement My grateful thanks go to Robert Barnes, Janita Baker, Sam Rizzetta and Nicholas Blanton (builders of my hammered dulcimer), Rick and Linda Hopper, Mike Sprenger, and to all of the musicians,

Track and Bill McElroy for the sharing of their incredible talents. My thanks go also to my family, with special thoughts of those who have gone before. This recording is dedicated to my precious brother, James MacNeil, who died in October, 2007. His love of music, especially Christmas music, has always encouraged and inspired me.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, In the Bleak Midwinter, Ave Maria, Angels 19 We Have Heard On High, Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming (canon), What Child Is This?, Joy to the World/ Bells of Christmas, O Holy Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Ding Dong Merrily on High/Silent Night

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PO Box 515 Berryville, VA 22611 dulcimer@hughes.net madelinemacneil.com

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An Obair Andi Wolfe

Andi Wolfe, Craig Caldwell, Stuart Brand, Steve Wolfe, Mary Bertke, Sid Omasta, and Rick Nelson Artist Statement This is my first solo CD. I've appreciated the music of Turlough O'Carolan ever since I began to play traditional Irish music. O'Carolan's music translates very nicely to the hammer dulcimer and I've enjoyed arranging his tunes to go with traditional Irish tunes and original, contemporary Celtic music.

Ocarina's Welcome/An Obair, 179/ Mrs. McDermot Roe, Field in the Forest/The Grail Bird/The Dipper Stream, Where are you tonight (I wonder)?, Morgan Magan/O'Carolan's Concerto, Captain O'Kane, 180/Hugh

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ews • Reviews • Reviews • Reviews • Reviews • Reviews • Reviews • Reviews • Reviews • Revie

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O'Donnell, The Next Market Day, Fanny Power, Lord Inchiquin, The Fairy Queen/ Dinny O'Keefe's Slide/Star Above the Garter/Dennis Murphy's Slide, Squire Wood's Lamentation on the Refusal of His Halfpence, Roger the Miller, George Brabazon/ The Boys of Ballysodare/Reaping the Rye, O'Carolan's Farewell to Music/The Monaghan Jig 614-579-1601 Website: www.Aisling.us Email: AndiWolfe@yahoo.com

Driving By Moonlight Paul Imholte Paul Imholte (hammered dulcimer and cello), Tim Churchill (string bass) Artist Statement

In Driving by Moonlight I have paired the hammered dulcimer with the low strings of cello and string bass to play original material, traditional tunes and composed pieces by Scottish fiddle masters. I even threw in an arrangement of an Allegro by Vivaldi for good measure.

Driving by Moonlight, Blackberry Blossom, Rose Acre, Fair Eloise, Allegro from La Prima12 vera, The Gypsy Lodger, For the Rain, November in the Cards, Saturday Night's Waltz, Napoleon's Dream Left Behind, Pocket Full of Fish, Moraine, Lady Charolette Campbell, Andante

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email: paulimholte@charter.net www.paulimholte.com mailing address: Paul Imholte P. O. Box 7802 St. Cloud, MN 56302 320-253-8749

An Appalachian Winter Steve and Ruth Smith Artist Statement As the first snowflakes begin to fall each year across the Appalachians, a serene hush comes upon these ancient mountains. The stark, yet peaceful beauty of an Appalachian winter is captured here with gentle instrumental music featuring hammered dulcimer and guitar along with flute, pennywhistle, Celtic harp and percussion in a special collection of songs for the Christmas season.

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An Appalachian Winter, The Cherry Tree Carol Medley, I 1 Wonder as I Wander, In the Bleak Midwinter, Winter's Finale, Carol of the Bells, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming, Hush My Babe, Snow Angels, Come Before Winter, What Child is This?, Angels We Have Heard on High, One Wintry Night, Silent Night www.SteveandRuth.com

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Florida Banjo Mary Z. Cox

Artist Statement

Mary Z. Cox, Bob Cox, Ellen Sheppard, Kerry Blech, Lo Gordon, Jim Crozier Florida Banjo is our newest CD that combines 8 different kinds of banjo with guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bowed bass, and mountain dulcimer on our current favorite tunes. Besides the Shenandoah Falls banjo/dulcimer duet, several tunes are recorded in D that would be fun to play along on the dulcimer. Shenandoah Falls, which is on the enclosed DPN Sampler CD and displayed in TAB on the opposite page, is a banjo/mountain dulcimer duet played string band style on my walnut and sassafras Kurt Simmerman concert dulcimer tuned in EAA, and my gut string Goldtone Elite Classic banjo tuned in a low A tuning. I bought this dulcimer (on an impulse) the week before Kurt passed, and I wanted everyone to hear what a fine job he did on this dulcimer. I tuned my dulcimer into A and added the duet to the banjo.

Ponce De Leon, Spanish Fandango, Cluck Old Hen, Ragtime Annie, Yearling in the Canebreak, Shenandoah Falls, Frankie's Blues, Yellow Rose of Texas, Chinquipin, Waterbound, Wind that Shakes the Barley, Peach Bottom Creek, Hail Against the Barn Door, Turkey in the Straw, Loch Laven Castle www.MaryZCox.com

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Shenandoah Falls

Tab by Mary Z. Cox

Track Not a Review, Just a Great Idea

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Bill Troxler was asked by the board of the Chincoteauge Island, Virginia Library to help them raise money for a badly needed library expansion. He decided to answer the call by producing a CD that features a variety of Island musicians.

Participants include a carpenter, a retired radiologist, an auto mechanic, and many others. The music on the CD ranges from blues, celtic, and blue grass to Mozart and new age and yes, Bill managed to slip in a few dulcimer tracks.

It took nine months to get the whole thing recorded and produced. The result? They quickly sold out of the first pressing, raising $15,000 for the library. A second pressing was made to provide continued income. Bill's strategy of using local musicians to help raise money for community projects could work for all types of causes.

Good idea, Bill!

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Hammered Dulcimer Music for Special Occasions Peggy Carter Artist Statement For years I’ve been arranging and performing music for weddings, funerals, public schools, retirement centers, and worship services and I realized that as the dulcimer world is growing…I’d like to share these with other players. I’m really proud of the index which lists the tunes in alpa order, by ability level, by style (i.e. jigs, waltzes) and by theme. You never know when you might need tunes for a Toga Party or a Victorian Street Fair.

[Editor's note: Peggy graciously provided Brian Boru's March

(opposite page), as a sample from her new book. More samples are available at her website.]

Song list: Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, After The Ball, Amazing Grace, Blow The Wind Southerly, Boghill Frolick, Brian Boru's March, Carolan's Dream, Chinese Rocking Song, Cliffs of Moher, Cold Frosty Morning, Congress Reel, Dark Island,

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Drinking Song, Fairie's Reel, Fig For A Kiss (A), Flower Of Them All (The), Four Russian Tunes, Foxhunters Jig, Galacian Waltz, Give Me Your Hand, Glise de Sherbrooke, Greek Tune Medley, Green Grow The Rushes-O, Greensleeves (What child Is This), Harvest Home, Hobart's Transformation, Holy Manna, Horevoun Oi Nisiotes, How Can I Keep From Singing, Isle Of Crete Dance, Jammin' Up A Storm, Jessica Waltz, John Stinson #2, Johnny's Gone To France, Julie Ann Johnson, June Apple, Korobuska, Liberty, Lladaw, Maggie, Maid Behind The bar, My Shepherd, Nightingale, O'Carolan's Draught, Ode To Joy, Old Folks At Home, Over The Sea To Skye (Skye Boat Song), Planxty George Brabazon, President Garfield's Hornpipe, River Shannon Moon, Road to Lisdoonvarna, Rodney Glory, Saint Denis, Shenandoah, Si Bheag, Si Mhor, Slumber My Darling, St. George, Star Of The County Down, Teig Marie's Daughter, Trippin' Up The Escalator, Troika, Unclouded Day, Water Come 'a Me Eye, Welsh Jig, When They Ring Those Golden Bells, Wild Mountain Thyme, Willow Tree, Yellow Bird 16142 Hexham Dr., Spring, TX 77379 281-370-9495 www.peggycarter.com Samfest97@aol.com

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Hammered Dulcimer Music for Special Occasions

Brian Boru's March From Peggy Carter's Book:

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The Mountain Dulcimer Plays Classic Country, Vol. 1 John Sackenheim Artist Statement After publishing two artist specific tab books, I wanted to do a general country music book. This book contains 16 country songs written and/or recorded during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. It includes tab for the mountain dulcimer as well as the music notation (melody notes only) and back-up chords.

Back Street Affair, Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain, (Now and Then There’s) A Fool Such As I, Georgia on My Mind, The Great Speckled Bird, He’ll Have to Go, Have I Told You Lately that I Love You, Have You Ever Been Lonely (Have You Ever Been Blue), I Can’t Stop Loving You, I Don’t Care, The Long Black Veil, My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You, (There’ll Be) Peace In The Valley (For Me), Pick Me Up on Your Way Down, Since I Met You Baby, Walking the Floor Over You [Editor's note: All of the sheet music in John's new book is copyrighted so he was unable to provide a sample for DPN. The

sheet music on the opposie page, Just a Closer Walk, is from his book, The Mountain Dulcimer Plays Patsy Cline. Not long

before we went to press, John released another new book: The

Mountain Dulcimer Plays Johnny Cash. It is also available through www.johnsackenheim.com]

John Sackenheim, PO Box 220 Okeana, OH 45053 513-738-3167 Sack@eos.net

Submit your book or recording for review in Dulcimer Players News.

Instructions are on page 52 and all the forms you need are available for download at:

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Festival Guide October 3-5 Winter Creek Reunion

Bennington, OK Contact: Laurel Hamrick, 903-465-9081 or 903-640-0003, rrvdc@texoma.net, 212 S. Burnett Ave., Denison, TX 75020, www. texomalinks.com/rrvdc. Location: 654 Acorn Lane, Bennington, OK 74723

October 11 Red Hill Music Festival

Sumner, IL Instructors: Tull Glazener, Chris Carlisle, Molly McCormack, Jon Hall, Guy George, Bob and Sherry King, Marilyn Barrett, and Dennis Jackman. Contact: Jerry Pacholski, 618-943-5610, jerrypacholski@verizon.net, 508 20th St., Lawrenceville, IL 62439, www. geocities.com/rhdulcimers,. Location: 400 S Christy Ave., Sumner, IL 62466

October 17-18 30th Archie Lee Memorial Dulcimer Festival

Tishomingo, MS Enjoy a week of camping and jamming with performances and vendors on Saturday. Contact: Floyd Cook, 850-6380550, dulcimerfloyd@yahoo.com, 19800 Yarbrough Rd., Athens, AL 35613. Location: Tishomingo State Historical Park.

October 23-26 Stringalong Weekend

Oconomowoc, WI Instructors: Muriel Anderson, Bill Staines, Joel Mabus, Special Consensus Bluegrass Band, Kim Robertson, Neal Walters, Karen Mueller, Randy Sabien, Karen Ashbrook, and more. Contact: Schuyler Schmid, 414426-3655, skyeschmid@aol.com, 2960 N Marietta Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53211. www.

StringalongWeekend.com. Location: 1350 Royale Mile Rd., Oconomowoc, WI 53066

November 7-9 2nd Annual Music by the Bay

Waretown, NJ Instructors: Ken Kolodner, Lorraine & Bennett Hammond, Norm Williams, Rich Carty, David Field, and more.

Contact: Pola Galie, 609-698-7231, pola@musicatbarnegatbay.org, PO Box 56, Waretown, NJ 08758, www. musicatbarnegatbay.org. Location: 7th St. and N. Navajo Drive, Waretown, NJ 08758

November 14-16 Smoky Mountain Dulcimer Retreat

Townsend, TN Instructors: Maureen Sellers, Anne Lough, Dave Haas, Stephen Seifert, Cathy Barton, Rick Thum, and Dave Para. Contact: Nancy Basford, 865-483-1121,jbasford@earthlink. net, 18 Montclair Rd, Oak Ridge, TN 37830, www.discoveret.org/kadc/ Location: 7726 E Lamar Alexander Pkwy, Townsend, TN 37882

November 14-15 Suwannee Dulcimer Retreat

White Springs, FL Instructors: Butch Ross, Bing Futch, Mary Z. Cox, Susan Boyer Haley, Aaron O’Rourke, David Beede, Dan Landrum, Ray Belanger, Will Smith, and Cheryl Belanger. Contact: Kelly Green, 386-397-4478, kelly.green@ dep.state.fl.us, PO Box G, White Springs, FL 32096, www.FloridaStateParks.org/ stephenfoster/events.cfm. Location: Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, US 41, White Springs, FL 32096

November 20-23 NGFDA Fall Festival - Unicoi Lodge

January 2-4 15th Annual Huntsville Dulcimer Retreat

Huntsville, TX Instructors: Guy George, David Moran, Scott Odena, Joe Morgan, and Charles Whitmer. Contact: Linda Evans, 409-8660848, ssdulchse@aol.com, 11129 Hwy 90, Beaumont, TX 77713, www.dulcimerhouse. com. Location: Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX

January 8-11 Western Carolina University Mountain Dulcimer Winter Weekend

Lake Junaluska, NC Instructors: Larry & Elaine Conger, Lois Hornbostel, Bill Taylor, Anne Lough, Stephen Seifert, Wayne Seymour, Ken Bloom, Don Pedi, Mike Anderson, Will Peebles, Joe & Marie Shelton. Contact: Bobby Hensley, 828-227-7397, hensley@ email.wcu.edu. WCU Educational Outreach, 138 Camp Bldg, Cullowhee, NC 28723.

Location: Lambuth Inn, Lake Junaluska, NC

January 9-11 Kentucky Music Winter Dulcimer Weekend Bardstown, KY Instructors: Maureen Sellers, Terry Lewis, Steve Eulberg, Rick Thum, Stephen Humphries, and more. Contact: Nancy Barker, 502-348-5237, KYTreeFrog@aol. com, PO Box 86, Bardstown, KY 40004, www.kentuckymusicweek.com. Location: Quality Inn, Hwy 31-E South, Bardstown, KY 40004

January 16-17 7th Annual Winter Dulcimerfest

Cleveland, GA Stroudsburg, PA One of the largest dulcimer festivals in the Instructors: Stephen Seifert and Ken eastern US. Open to NGFDA members Kolodner. Contact: Norm Williams, 610November 7-8 only. Visit www.ngfda.org for membership 657-2597, dulcinut@ptd.net, 7724 Hamilton 14th Annual Traditional Music info. Contact: Mike Van Demark, 404-822- Blvd, Breinigsville, PA 18031, www.pdc-wdf.

Festival 3666, ngfda-fall-festival-2008@comcast.net. tripod.com/winter_dulcimer_fest.html.

Elizabethtown, KY Location: Unicoi State Lodge, Cleveland, GA Location: 915 North Fifth St, Stoudsburg, PA Instructors: Reel World String Band, Christie 30545 18031 Burns, Butch Ross, Heidi & John Cerrigione, Lorinda Jones, and the Heartland Dulcimer Are you a festival director? Dulcimer Players News and EverythingDulcimer.com have made it easy for you to get Club. Contact: Claudia Tamplin or Lorinda your festival posted online and in DPN. Go to www.EverythingDulcimer.com, click the Festival tab at the top of the page, set up your password protected account, and enter your information. It will be verified and posted by DPN. Our Jones, 270-737-6933, Cbtamplin1@aol.

Festival Guide pages are assembled with this verified data so you control the accuracy of the information. com or Lorinda@lorindjones.com, 606 Elm Road, Elizabethtown, KY 42701, www.

Dulcimer Players News and EverythingDulcimer.com heartlanddulcimerclub.org. Location: 1016 Better Together Pear Orchard Rd, Elizabethtown, KY 42701 s

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Festival Guide February 6-7 Colorado Dulcimer Festival

Ft. Collins, CO Instructors: Christie Burns, Aaron O’Rourke, Bonnie Carol, Tina Gugeler, Steve Eulberg and more. Contact: Steve Eulberg, 970222-8358, steve@owlmountainmusic.com, 1281 E. Magnolia, Unit D #188, Ft. Collins, CO 80524, www.owlmountainmusic.com.

Location: contact Steve Eulberg.

February 13-14 Central Florida Dulcimer & Autoharp Festival

Mount Dora, FL Instructors: Tish & Greg Westman, Peggy Carter, Susan Trump, Heidi Muller, Bob Webb, Aaron O’Rourke, Rick Thum, Kendra Ward-Bence, Eileen Kozloff, Neal Walters, and more. Contact: Ruth Harnden, 352-7354907, dulcirah@embarqmail.com, 6 Marlene Court, Sorrento, FL 32776. Location: 31205 Round Lake Road, Mount Dora, FL 32757

February 26-28 2009 Southern Strings Dulcimer Festival

Hattiesburg, MS Instructors: Jeff Hames and others.

Contact: Karen Mims, 601-583-6424 or 601-606-1848, kom_dbc@hotmail.com, 33 Steele Rd, Hattiesburg, MS 39402, www. mississippidulcimer.com. Location: Multi Purpose Center, 962 Sullivan Rd, Hattiesburg, MS 39401.

March 11-15

18th Annual Buckeye Dulcimer Festival

Ashley, OH Instructors: Jan Hammond, Doug Smoot, Jeff Furman, Janita Baker, Susan Trump, Joan Thieman, Chris Cooperrider, Joyce Harrison, Bonnie Carol, Timothy Seaman, Guy George, and more. Contact: Louise Ziegler, 740-7472326, buckeyedulcimer@yahoo.com, 232 W High St., Ashley, OH 43003, www.geocities. com/buckeyedulcimer. Location: Recreation Unlimited, Ashley, OH.

March 12-15 8th Lagniappe Dulcimer Society Fete

Port Allen, LA Instructors: Joe Collins, Laurie Thompson, Bill Reed, Bob Tauton, Denise & Don Guillory, Bill Bryant, Margaret Wright, and more. Contact: Pete Payne, 225-223-2361, pdpayne@att.net, 12703 Landon Drive, Walker, LA 70785, www.lagniappedulcimer. org. Location: Community Center/West Baton Rouge Museum, 845 N. Jefferson Ave, Port Allen, LA 70767 March 20-22

Upper Potomac Spring Dulcimer Festival

Shepherdstown, WV Instructors: Alejandra Barientos, Hector Larios, Karen Ashbrook, Nick Blanton, Paul Oorts, and more. Contact: Joanie Blanton, 304-263-2531, updf@earthlink.net, PO Box 1474 Shepherdstown, WV 25443, www. dulcimerfest.org. Location: 210 N King St., Shepherdstown, WV 25443.

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index to Advertisers

Autoharp Qarterly

21

Jeremy Seeger Dulcimers

16

Peggy Carter

11

Backyard Music

58

Jody Marshall

54

Pinelands Folk Music Center

66

BB Hammers

59

Joellen Lapidus

41

Pocono-Winter Dulcimer Fest

53

Beth Lassi

71

John C. Campbell Folk School

Prussia Valley Dulcimers

52

Bing Futch

32

John Kovac

71

Raylynnwoods.com

55

Blue Lion Musical Instruments

61

John Sackenheim

43

Rick Thum

Buckeye Dulcimer Festival

61

Jonathan Dowell

19

Ron Ewing Dulcimers

44

Butch Ross

19

Joyful Noise Music

32

Salient Music Works

54

Kendra Ward & Bob Bence

14

Shannon Baughman

28

Carey Dubbert

7

Inside Front

32, 62

Central Florida Festival

43

Lagniappe Dulcimer Festival

64

Shelley Stevens

58

Cliff ’s Custom Crafts

71

Laurie McCarriar

14

Shenandoah University

63

Colorado Dulcimer Festival

53

Lee Cagle

16

Spring Fling Rendezvous

19

Coog Instruments

71

Linda Brockinton

22

Stephen Humphries

72

Dancing to the Spirit

40

Linda Thomas

34

Steve and Ruth Smith

10

David’s Dulcimers

62

Lorinda Jones

44

Stewart MacDonald’s Guitar

69

Debbie Porter

61

Madeline MacNeil

55

String Fever Music

64

Dulcimer Shoppe

35

Maggie’s Music

56

Stringalong Weekend

Dulcimerican Music -LarryConger

19

Mark Alan Wade

28

Sue Carpenter

56

Dulcitilter

16

Master Works

Back , 56

Susan Trump

44, 56

Dusty Strings

38

Maureen & Brian Barnes

41

Suwannee Dulcimer Retreat

58

Elizabethtown

14

Maureen Sellers

51

Sweet Sounds Dulcimer House

60

Glee Circus

69

Mike Huddleson

63

Talisman Music

71

Gourd Music

38

Missigman Music

32

Thistledew Acres

6

4

Moons & Tunes

42

Timbre Hill

7

Guy George

22

Music Folk Inc.

69

Western Carolina MD Week

2

Harp Doctor

44

Music for Healing & Traditioon

66

Whamdiddle

42

Heartland Dulcimer Club

52

Musicmaker’s Kits

21

Windy River Dulcimer Shop

59

Helen Johnson

41

Neal Walters

34

Wood-N-Strings

Heritage Dulcimer Camp

62

Off-the-Wall Dulcimer Society

59

Jeff Furman

34

Owl Mountain Music

11

Greibhaus Instruments

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7

Inside Back

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.

An exquisite, like brand new, top of the line rosewood Blue Lion mountain dulcimer. Full fret board of gorgeous inlay design—roses and vine, hummingbirds, and a cross.

Has barely been played. Needs new owner to make appreciative use of this beautiful, HEIRLOOM QUALITY INSTRUMENT! Includes built in pick-up and pre-amp, strap, extra strings, deluxe case. . .THE FINEST OF EVERYTHING! A TRUE WORK OF ART! Asking price: $1950.00 Please contact: Marilyn Johnson mljmusicare@iglide.net (507-3453863) Astounding Inventory 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.

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. Hammered Dulcimer Solos Volume 1 and Volume 2, solo repertoire. 11 Center Street, Andover, CT 06232. barolk@ sbcglobal.netorwww.carriecrompton. com.

Cimbaloms.

Large chromatic hammered dulcimer with pedals. New and reconditioned. Various prices.

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Classified Advertising Alex Udvary, 2115 W. Warner, Chicago, IL 60618. www.cimbaloms.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, 865-4585493.

Dulcimer Accessories: Laser Engraved hammers, Jewelry, Music Holders, Dusters, Flexible Hammers, Wheelz dulcimer carrier. All items can be seen at: www.laserelegance. com. Big Bob 626-798-7077.

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.

Hammered Dulcimer For Sale. One beautiful, like new, Russell Cook (Master Works) 16/15 chromatic hammered dulcimer. Rosewood stained sound board, with artistic contrasting woods.

Includes grey case with Master Works logo, tuning wrench, and built-in pick up. A TRULY PROFESSIONAL INSTRUMENT, IN PERFECT CONDITION! Asking price $1350.00, plus shipping and insurance. Please contact: Marilyn Johnson mljmusicare@ iglide.net (507-345-3863)

Since 1950, SING OUT! has covered the world of traditional and contemporary folk music. Each BIG quarterly issue includes indepth features, 20 traditional and contemporary folk songs, instrumental teach-ins, news, reviews, festival listings and more. For only $60/ yr., Basic Members get an exclusive sampler CD each quarter with all of the songs from each issue. Magazine subscriptions are only $30/yr. Sing Out! P.O. Box 5460-D, Bethlehem, PA 18015-0460, <info@singout.org>, <www.singout.org >.

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

DPN 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 Winter 2009 (January) issue is November 1, 2008.

Dandy Duster

Leo Kretzner - songs & tunes, festivals & workshops: leoleo1@verizon.net, www.leokretzner.com.

Over 4” static free hog bristles set in a wooden handle. Comes in a storage tube.

Master Works hammered dulcimer Russell Cook Edition 16/16 with dampers and case. One year old. $1500 (paid $2400) 802-297-2551 or vtdana@ verizon.net.

$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

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John earned a degree in Fine Arts from the University of South Florida. His works have been published nationally and displayed at the New Orleans Worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fair. His interests include the mountain dulcimer, movies, cartooning and pecan pie. John lives in Florida with his lovely wife, Yoko, Ferggie, the cat, Elvis, the dog and the 11 dulcimers that his wife knows about.

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Please do not reprint or redistribute without permission. Contact dpn@dpnews.com.

Please do not reprint or redistribute without permission. Contact dpn@dpnews.com.

Please do not reprint or redistribute without permission. Contact dpn@dpnews.com.