We are excited to announce that we have a new Fiddle Lesson posted on DulcimerCrossing.com. The 8th of January is a tune that was written to celebrate and commemorate Andrew Jackson’s victory over the British in the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.
This tune appears on Steve & Vi’s Fiddle Whamdiddle recording Not My Monkey. (The mountain dulcimer lesson is on the production list for recording.)
In the 1936 Jimmy Driftwood was teaching high school in the Ozark mountains of his home state of Arkansas and he wrote lyrics and set them to this tune in order to interest his students in learning history. The Battle of New Orleans won the 1960 Grammy Award for Song of the Year.
Jimmy Driftwood’s commercial success helped to bring resources to the northeast corner of the state of Arkansas and established the Ozark Folk Center with its Ozark Opry Stage in Mountain View, AR. (Steve has performed on that stage and taught for several festivals there.)
Watch Vi’s introduction above and subscribe to DulcimerCrossing.com to have access to all of the episodes in this lesson set.
A New Year is like a blank book, and your dulcimer is in your hands. It is your chance to write a beautiful story for yourself.
By Linda Ratcliff
New Year’s Resolutions for Dulcimerists The New Year is coming up in just a few days, and now is the perfect time to make some musical resolutions! As usual, I’ve made a list of resolutions that are fun, and they will support any practical music goals you’ve set for yourself.
Establish a regular practice time. It’s not as easy as it sounds to get into a regular routine. Too often, life gets in the way and practice falls on the back burner. But try to find a window of time you can dedicate to practice.
Expand your practice time by just a little. If you normally practice about 20 minutes, try playing for 30 minutes. If you play for 30 minutes, consider playing for 45 minutes. You will see very steady growth in your skills.
Start taking lessons, or start AGAIN. There are so many benefits to having a music teacher, If you feel like you’ve come to a dead end, gone about as far as you can go, find a teacher in your area or join Dulcimer Crossing for online lessons.
Explore new repertoire. We all have a few favorites when it comes to music genres. But if you always play pieces that sound the same, it can slow down your progress. Step outside the box. Try learning to play the blues, classical music, or bluegrass.
Play more with others. Jamming with a small group of peers gives you extra practice. In addition, you will probably get some valuable feedback – especially if there are sections that are tripping you up.
NO MORE SELF-JUDGMENT! Your fear of making mistakes is holding you back. Connect with your music, and don’t worry about who might be listening.
The sky is the limit when it comes to learning to play your dulcimer. Whatever resolutions you decide to make, the hardest part will be sticking to them. We believe in you! Happy resolution making, and Happy New Year!
This fall I decided that I wanted to put together some one-month class offerings that would let people take a single class with daily lessons to work on a specific skill, figuring that if it takes 21 days to set a habit, in 31 days we galvanize it!
So, today I launched my first class: 31 Days to Fingerstyle Mastery (this focuses on 6-String Guitar, but the same principles apply to any plucked, stringed instrument. I have already begun putting together the plans and resources for a mountain dulcimer class along these lines, so keep you eyes peeled for that.
If you are like many of us who play many instruments and have always wanted to play Fingerstyle Guitar, there is still time for you to join the class. Click here for all the information. It is not too late for you to join (But all the back-row seats are taken, don’t you know?!)
As we’ve been watching all the dulcimer groups on Facebook, we have noticed the same question keeps popping up everywhere.
People who are new to playing the dulcimer, and those who have just moved to a new community, are looking for a dulcimer club to join. Since EverythingDulcimer.com is no longer active, our handy list for finding clubs has gone away.
And so we have made it our personal mission to create a complete and up-to-date list of all the dulcimer clubs in existence – not only in the United States, but also worldwide.
You will see that we have listed as many clubs as we know about so far, but hesitate to also post the contact details as the information we have may not be current.
To publish accurate contact information, we have included a form on the Dulcimer Clubs page so you can send us the correct information for your group.
It is best if you have a public “face” to which we can link. If you could provide the link to your webpage or Facebook page, that would most suitable. However, if you don’t currently have this set up for your club, we are requesting your permission to upload an updated name, phone number, and email address as the contact information for your club.
We have already made great progress with the page for Texas (since Linda lives there), so you could click on that state to see our vision for how the finished pages will look.
Any help you can give us with getting this worthwhile project off the ground surely will be appreciated.
A Chord (by definition a triad) is made up of 3 specific pitches (1-3-5 steps of the scale.)
A Chord Symbol is short hand for which steps are intended.
1. When a Single Capital letter is used, it indicates a Major chord (no alterations in the 1-3-5 plan)
e.g. C = C-E-G
2. If there is a lower case “m” next to the Capital letter, that indicates a minor chord (1-b3-5) with the 3rdstep of the scale lowered a half step.
e.g. Cm = C-Eb-G
Any combination of these notes, grouped as close together as possible (close voicing) or as far apart as possible (dispersed voicing) still produce these chords.
3. If there is a number added to the chord symbol it indicates an additional note added to the triad:
The most common is the dominant 7(b7 step of the scale) which is so dominant we don’t even call it dominant. The next most common is 6.
e.g. C7 = C-E-G-Bb (1-3-5-b7)
e.g. C6 = C-E-G-A (1-3-5-6)
Amajor 7 chord has the regular 7thstep of the scale (also called a “leading tone”) added to the triad:
e.g.
CMaj7 or CM7 or C∆7 =
C-E-G-B (1-3-5-7)
4. These numbers can also be added to the minor chords as well to indicate minor 7chords:
e.g. Cm7= C-Eb-G-Bb (1-b3-5-b7)
e.g.
Cm6= C-Eb-G-A (1-b3-5-6)
e.g. Cm∆7 or CmMaj7= C-Eb-G-B (1-b3-5-7)
5.
Sometimes a 2 is
added:
e.g. C2 = C-D-E-G (1-2-3-5)
6. Sometimes a 9 is added:
e.g. Cadd9 = C-E-G-D (1-3-5-9)
7. A ninth chord builds on the Dominant 7thChord:
e.g. C9 = C-E-G-Bb-D (1-3-5-b7-9)
8.
Suspended Chords
means that the 3rd
step has been replaced either by a 4 or a 2:
e.g. Csus4 = C-F-G (1-4-5)
e.g. Csus2 = C-D-G (1-2-5)
9.
Diminished Chords
means that the 5th
step of a minor chord has been lowered a half step:
e.g. C° or Cdim= C-Eb-Gb (1-b3-b5)
10.
Augmented Chords
mean that the 5th
step has been raised a half step:
e.g. C+ or Caug= C-E-G# (1-3-#5)
11. Slash Chords indicate a different bass note than expected. This is particularly important for Bass Players (instrument) or players of Bass parts in an ensemble:
e.g. C/D = C Chord with a D in the Bass (non-chord tone)
e.g. C/E = C Chord with an E in the Bass (chord tone, but not the
tonic)
e.g.
C/G= C Chord with a G in the Bass (chord tone, but not the
tonic)
We are excited to announce a new Mountain Dulcimer Lesson Series by Bay area teacher Deborah DJ Hamouris. Deborah teaches at the famed Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse in Berkeley and is the Director of the annual Berkeley Dulcimer Gathering which takes place in May.
In this lesson, Deborah takes us beyond playing melody only with a drone. You will be playing melody, harmony, and ornaments – and she calls this the 3D Method.
Amazing Grace, 3D Method is demonstrated here by DJ. She plays the final version through for us.
When you become a subscriber at DulcimerCrossing.com, you have access to all of DJ’s lessons all of the time!
We are excited to have national champion, Mark Alan Wade, aka the Professor, share music for our monthly Live Eventfor Premium Members of DulcimerCrossing.com
This is a secret (ssh!) show, but you can tune in here.
The transition from competitor to colleague is often a very quick and smooth one in the dulcimer world. I first met Mark as a competitor at Winfield this is certain true in our case. We have worked together at several festivals and I am in awe of his performance, his teaching and tickle by his sense of humor!
Mark is a freelance musician based out of North-Eastern Ohio. An orchestral trumpeter by trade, Mark has a doctorate in Trumpet Performance from The Ohio State University and has played in a dozen orchestras in the US and in Europe.
Mark is also a National Hammered Dulcimer champion (1998) and performs all over the world on hammered dulcimer, mountain dulcimer, trumpet, piano, guitar, and penny whistles.
Join DulcimerCrossing.com to have access to all of the lessons all the time, so you can play like Mark!
