Swedish Folk Zithers, by Ralph Lee Smith
If we know less than we would like to know about the fretted dulcimer, and less still about the scheitholt, we are somewhere near the beginning in gathering information about these other instruments. I hope that Beatrice Hole’s flyer will get us all going!

Computer Aided Learning, by Mark Alan Wade
I am by no means a computer guru.

My fellow band members are going to have a good laugh at my expense when they see I have written a technology article. Sure, I know what I use on the computer pretty well, but I tend to drag my feet when it comes to exploring new software and features. I love learning and music though, so two years ago I decided to give computer aided music instruction a try. There are a number of software programs that are easy to install and use that can greatly enhance learning and playing dulcimers.

Nutmeg Dulcimer Festival, by Sam Edelston
We held the first Nutmeg Dulcimer Festival in the fall of 2004. When our newly assembled team (Britt Goodman, Deborah Justice, Steve Miklos, and I) planned it, beginning in late 2003, we talked it through in great detail. While none of us had ever run a folk festival before, we all were musicians and had attended many other festivals. We drew on our own experiences and the best advice of numerous others. Underneath it all, as I see it, we aim to create a magical dulcimer community for a day and a half.

Community: Meadville, PA, by Carolyn Y. Turnbull
West End Elementary School is situated in the center of 40 acres of former dairy pasture fields in rural northwestern Pennsylvania. Stepping through one of the front glass doors on any late Wednesday afternoon, one might hear the sounds of Give Me the Roses or Morning Has Broken harmoniously drifting down the hall from the music room. Is it really mountain dulcimers, autoharps, guitars, fiddles, a string bass, a simple limberjack and maybe a washboard or two I hear? Are those parents and grandparents standing in the hall waiting for their youngsters to finish folk band practice? Are they really listening and hearing the next generation of youngsters playing songs that they once learned in their own childhood?

Community: Huntsville, AL, by Louie Beasley
Linda Berry, 4th Grade Science Teacher at Huntsville’s Randolph School, had made arrangements for Pat and Len Corley (from Alpharetta, GA), full-time players, teachers, and builders of mountain dulcimers, to bring pre-cut dulcimer kits to her school and assist her 57 science students in a dulcimer construction project (with the scientific aspects of wood, vibration, sound chambers, strings, levers, etc., provided by Linda). In the process of planning for this event, she enlisted the assistance of Joe Berry and me.

Quick Picks and New Music Reviews, by Neal Walters
Don't just read about the music in Neal's reviews, listen to it! Dulcimer Players News now includes a sample CD. (Available only to subscribers.)

Hammered Dulcimer Notes, by Steve Schneider
"Musical Necessity is the Mother of Technical Development" - I first heard the title phrase to the left about musical necessity from Bud Zenzen, a fine Michigan cellist and teacher. The phrase strikes me as both eloquent and true, as well as being a perfect argument for studying and learning music that is challenging in any number of ways. Musical necessity refers to the need to learn new skills in order to play music with unfamiliar elements. The premise here is that when you learn something new and different from the familiar, your technique and your musicianship develop. For example, Scott Joplin taught me how to play diminished arpeggios on the hammered dulcimer, simply because they are abundant in some of the rags I play (i.e., The Easy Winners). I had never played diminished arpeggios before I played Joplin, and now they are second nature to me.

Reviewing the Reviewer, by Norma Mahood
When, early in the program, Neal Walters and his wife, Coleen, sang, Lord, Don’t Let Me Die ‘til I’m Too Old to Die Young, the whole audience smiled and sat back, knowing they were going to enjoy a great concert. Some people think that performers just want to sing and play, get paid, and then go home. But on January 10, 2007, Neal and Coleen drew all of us into their songs and stories and music. I knew that I was in the right place for a rousing performance. “In fact,” I thought, “…Not Dying Until I’m Too Old to Die Young doesn’t sound like a bad philosophy.”

Music Theory 101: The Mode Map, by Steve Phillips
People often think of music theory as a bunch of dull and lifeless rules that someone in the ninth century made up to torture minstrels. But it’s not true. Music theory is your treasure map pointing the way for tonal exploration.

The Dorian Mode - The Folk Minor, by Karen Ashbrook
Take a look at the piano keyboard -- 7 white keys and 5 black keys in each octave. Play the white keys starting on C and you get a major scale. If you start on a D with the white keys you get a Dorian scale, the minor scale used in Jazz, Irish, Scottish & Appalachian music. Old-time musicians call it “modal.” Irish music doesn’t have a common way of referring to it. The Dorian mode has one more sharp than what classical musicians call a minor scale. E minor has one sharp but E Dorian has 2 sharps.

Finding Tunes on the Web, by Chuck Boody
There are more tunes and more versions of tunes available on the web than any of us will ever know. Almost any traditional tune can be found, and many newer tunes by still-living composers are also out there. In this artice I offer a few things to know and places to go to get you started searching for tunes.

Artist Profile: Steve & Ruth Smith, by Carl Tyrie
If there were a list of hammered dulcimer uses, “therapy instrument” might be included, at least as far as Ruth Smith of Boone, N.C., is concerned. During a winter-long recovery from November, 2001 kidney transplant surgery, Ruth turned to her dulcimer. “I found myself with some time on my hands, some unexpected time during my recovery,” she says, “and I started playing it and I absolutely fell in love with the instrument.”

Restoration, by Dan Landrum & Russ Richter
The subject of this restoration is a 14 course hammered dulcimer made by the Stroehlein company in 1911 (fig.1). Russ found it for sale through www.craigs-list.com. The instrument was in no way playable and most of the glue joints had failed years ago. Russ relied heavily on advice from Nick Blanton and Paul Gifford as he patiently began disassembly.

 

This issue's Sampler CD is packed full of great music. If you're not a subscriber you can listen to the May selections by clicking the play button on the player below (Flash Player required).

The buttons on the left are: | skip back | pause/play | skip forward. Volume is controlled with the slider on the right.

#	Title	Performer Links
1	Introduction	Dan Landrum
2	Lucy Long's Mystery	Ken Bloom
3	Little Billy Wilson	Burns/Ross
4	Shebeg Shemore	Linda Brockington
5	Park Avenue	Quintin Stephens
6	Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing	Mark Shelton
7	Sunday Morning	Bing Futch
8	Give Me Your Hand	Maggie Sansone
9	The Water is Wide	Lee Cagle
10	Swallowtail Jig	Karen Ashbrook
11	An Appalachian Aire	Steve & Ruth Smith
12	Crucaharan's Cross	Hills of Kentucky Dulcimer Club
13	Braveheart	Kathy Jerrell
14	Captain O'Kane	Rogue's Consort
15	By The Pond	Stephen Humphries
16	Harrison Town	Simmons Family
17	Locks and Bolts	Margaret MacArthur