Here's one for dulcimers

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 5:54 am

Oh boy. I get to start the first dulcimer thread. We have a few dulcimer players here. Off hand there's Missy, Chattiekathy, Byll, Brassblower, John(?). And me. I'm certain there are others.

I got to play my mountain dulcimer in public for the first time at last weeks Katrina benefit concert. A blast. I used a small pickup attached with sticky tack. Now I'm addicted to amplification. Because the mountain dulcimer is so quiet it's sometimes difficult to really hear subtle changes in expression. Even harder to practice. With an amplifier those expressions stand out. It's making me a better player.

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:22 am

Noooooo!

**Fights temptation**

I am very tempted to try dulcimer, but apart from being a little skint at the moment, I already have more instruments than I have time to practice. They look so intriguing and sound really cool.

Actually the look of the fretting scares me a bit (Huh? Where'd all my semitones go?).

peteinmn · Post by **peteinmn** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 8:38 am

In July, I bought my wife a hammer dulcimer from http://www.songbirdhd.com/index.html. I got her the 16/15 Phoebe model. She's a talented musician who has been away from music for a while because of our busy lives. She has really taken to this new instrument. Now we get to play hammer dulcimer and whistle together! Very cool. Only problem now is that she is a much better musician than I and I'm going to have trouble keeping up.

I also have a very nice mountain dulcimer on loan from a friend and a four string "walking dulcimer" I picked up as a lark on eBay recently. So many instruments, so little time.......

Bill Reeder · Post by **Bill Reeder** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 11:10 am

I was surprised last March to find out how well pipes and hammer dulcimer go together.

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:21 am

peteinmn wrote:In July, I bought my wife a hammer dulcimer from http://www.songbirdhd.com/index.html. I got her the 16/15 Phoebe model. She's a talented musician who has been away from music for a while because of our busy lives. She has really taken to this new instrument. Now we get to play hammer dulcimer and whistle together! Very cool. Only problem now is that she is a much better musician than I and I'm going to have trouble keeping up.

I also have a very nice mountain dulcimer on loan from a friend and a four string "walking dulcimer" I picked up as a lark on eBay recently. So many instruments, so little time.......

I've got a Songbird. It's a 17/16/8. I like it real well but it's so huge.
I really messed up. At the College Hill festival in Cincinatti a guy was selling a Songbird 12/11 for $200 including a gig bag and stand. I didn't buy it. What a dolt!!!!!!!

Buddu. The typical mountain dulcimer is diatonic. If you play whistle then the concept is similar. You can get them with extra frets and even fully chromatic. I have two and I'm thinking about having one made into a chromatic then use 4 strings instead of 3.

peteinmn · Post by **peteinmn** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 8:32 am

Flyingcursor wrote: I've got a Songbird. It's a 17/16/8. I like it real well but it's so huge.
I really messed up. At the College Hill festival in Cincinatti a guy was selling a Songbird 12/11 for $200 including a gig bag and stand. I didn't buy it. What a dolt!!!!!!!

Buddu. The typical mountain dulcimer is diatonic. If you play whistle then the concept is similar. You can get them with extra frets and even fully chromatic. I have two and I'm thinking about having one made into a chromatic then use 4 strings instead of 3.

Yep, they are a lot less portable than a whistle! Guess who gets to lug the dulcimer, stand and assorted other stuff in and out of the car? My wife now calls me her "roady."

Know where I can buy a reasonably priced adjustable height stand?

P.S. Your new avatar is very cool.

missy · Post by **missy** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 2:02 pm

MAW! The site ate my post!!! And it was a nice, long, informative one, too!

Ok - I play both kinds of dulcimer, but I play mountain WAY more than hammered.

For lots of dulcimer related things - check out our website (at bottom of post). Also check out http://www.everythingdulcimer.com if you've not found it yet.

Missy

AiglosCelt · Post by **AiglosCelt** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:47 pm

YAY!!!

I fool around with an Applewood Mountain Dulcimer, but mostly as a chord/percussion instrument. Good times!!

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 8:52 pm

Loads and loads of mountain dulcimer tab:

http://www.alltabs.com/dulcimer_tabs.php

Enjoy!

brianholton · Post by **brianholton** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 9:55 pm

I've played mountain dulcimer on and off since the '70s. I love the drones.

Bill, see if you can find an album by Sean MacAloon (sp?) - its was recorded in the late '60s, I think - he plays IP with a hammer dulcimer.
I used to hear tracks firm this on Ciaran Macmahona's RTE show.

brian

Bill Reeder · Post by **Bill Reeder** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 1:37 am

brianholton wrote:I've played mountain dulcimer on and off since the '70s. I love the drones.

Bill, see if you can find an album by Sean MacAloon (sp?) - its was recorded in the late '60s, I think - he plays IP with a hammer dulcimer.
I used to hear tracks firm this on Ciaran Macmahona's RTE show.

brian

Yes, I have an anthology cd with a few of the MacAloon pipes/hammer dulcimer tracks. I'd really like to get hold of the Joe McHugh/Barry Carroll recording sometime.

SteveK · Post by **SteveK** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:11 am

If you come across a source for the McHugh/Carroll recording, I'd like to know about it. While googling for it I came across a long article on the HD in Ireland. It's somebody's thesis.

http://www.corkdulcimerfest.org/Dulcimer_Thesis.pdf

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:35 am

I'm known to play the fretted dulcimer. I have a full-size hourglass dulcimer, with good volume, and I also have Cedar Creek's Dulci-Lin, which is a high octave dulcimer that I love the sound of. I started playing dulcimer along about the same time I took up whistle.

chas · Post by **chas** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:58 am

The mountain dulcimer was my primary instrument for 20-odd years. I made and sold them for a few years to suppliment my graduate school stipend, too. I finally bit the bullet and bought a Blue Lion rosewood dulcimer with internal pickup a few years ago, as well as a hummell/humle from Triskelion. Both are very cool.

Any other Kate Price fans out there? Anyone have any of her earlier (pre- The Time Between) recordings? Heck, while we're at it, how about any by Scartaglen?

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:56 pm

I love Kate Price!

**putting on Ren garb**

So I guess it's a foregone conclusion that I also like Loreena McKennitt, Blackmore's Night, Nightnoise and Ensemble Galilei.

I only have one of her albums: The Isle of Dreaming.