Got Us A Gig

The Shady River Band will be playing the "music of the season" soon at the Rogue Valley Retirement Center on "A" Street. The list of tunes we have chosen is as follows:

1. The First Noel

2. Silent Night

3. Angels We Have Heard on High

4. Go Tell It On The Mountain

5. Jolly Old St. Nick

6. Deck The Halls

7. Jingle Bells

8. Joy To The World

9. Oh Come All Ye Faithful

10. We Wish You a Merry Christmas

OBTW...Wendy called to report triumph in fixing her electronic tuner. She has a whole roll of black electrical tape, and is willing to take on any repairs involving non-functioning wires that you might have. We are certainly a multi-faceted group are we not??

Lynn is making the club house available to us for a Sunday night gathering. Mayilyn has emailed good directions to all. We look forward to meeting the new players, and learning how to play some chords so that we can "back up" a singer or instrument carrying the melody line.

Sally will be sending off our order for capos so please bring your money on Sunday eve if you have not already paid her. She figures with shipping they should run around $7.50 unless you are ordering one of the larger ones. We do not know how much more those will be yet.

Any of you observant enough to notice something special about the first image in this post? The peg box on this dulcimer has SIX tuning machines. The sound of six strings is, as you might imagine, much louder than the sound of three strings.

wild November

Wild November

Want a challenge? Think of another song that would fall into this minor tuning. See if you can ferret it out on the fretboard. We need to train our ears. Some of us are good at this already, some of us need to work on this important skill.

Wild November

Get yourself tuned to D-A-C. Remember to only change the pitch of the melody string. You will drop it one full step. You can use your electronic tuner....or sound the 6th fret on the bass string and make the melody string match that pitch. With these interesting tunings, accuracy is an absolute must. What should sound utterly lovely, will sound utterly awful-- if you are not tuned carefully.

So now you can play along with one of the devas on this tune. Wow--whooppee--we have become an interactive blog!!!

OBTW....on the subject of tuning...... after long lusting after the cord and contact mike that allows you to tune your instrument in a noisy room...today I bought one. Yup $12.95 at the local music store. They had one to fit my very old Arion tuner.

Sounds Heard Sunday

The Sunday group, that meets in Merlin, is racing through the book it seems. They have only three more songs to learn before they finish the book! Some are adding the bum ditty strum now too.




This is Dixie. She can read the notes as well as the tablature.

Sally's cockatiel sat on her granddaughter, Jessica's, shoulder and sang right along. So very good to see the next generation keeping the tradition alive. I will look in the back of the closet and see if I can find any more of the four cardboard instruments we had. If any of you still have a loaner out, let's round them up and have them available for visitors or beginners who don't have their own yet.

Suzanne is Sally's daughter. Her flute was a nice addition to the sound of the dulcimers. Did any of you tune to 1-5-7 and play Wild November again? The dulcimer can have so many voices. You are learning how to access them now. It was a real thrill to see and hear how you were able to sight read the new music last week.

Lyricist Amongst Us

Breda has written words to Southwind. Do you suppose it is her Irish heritage that enables such a poignant tale? The Irish do believe "There is Beauty in Tears." Nice job Breda. Adding voices to our tunes certainly does enrich them.

Spontaneous Exploration

Getting to have Nora with us is a rare treat. She liked the new tuning so very much she just would not quit playing the two tunes we worked on........over and over and over and over....hhhmmmmmmmm.......

Since Madelyn retired we have noticed a quantum leap in her playing abilities. GO Madelyn!

Carole found two 1-3-5 tunes in a book we have had for a very long time actually. The book is called Early Music for 3-string Dulcimer by Carrie Crompton. The book contains 23 pieces from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque periods. This style of music sounds very "right" on the dulcimer.

Sacajawea, (aka Carole) guided a small band of intrepid explorers into previously unknown territory. The 1-3-5 tuning has catapaulted the diatonic dulcimer to a place as close to chromaticism as it will ever have (with the present fretboard.)

There is a very ambitious web page that will keep you busy for a very long time reading and digesting a great deal of information on this tuning: www.mountaindulcimer-1-3-5.com/ There are 5 or 6 Christmas tunes offered in tab amongst those in their archives.

It has been suggested that this is the most important innovation in dulcimer playing in 50 years.

The usual 1-5-8 of D A D ....Myxolydian -- key--of D..... becomes 1-3-5---D F# A. You remain in the Myxolydian mode and the key of D but are now given many possibilites for using accidentals and creating otherwise not possible lush chords. In this tuning you are able to play in B minor, D major, or A major without retuning or using a capo. It certainly is worth our time and effort to see how it works and how we can use it.

Happy Halloween

These musicians are multi-talented. Their feet as well as their hands make music. Wednesday is the day that this group clogs before noon and then --- most of them----after sharing a lunch out---move on to wherever the group is meeting to play their dulcimers.









Marilyn has hosted the group at her home for quite some time. Madelyn has also had the group at her place, and now Mary has been so kind for a couple of weeks. Sally has the beginners group at her home on Sunday evenings. It would be nice for all of us to get together once a month or every two months to put that combined dulcimer energy out into the universe. Call Madelyn if you have a line on a meeting room large enough to house us all.









Maybe the Christmas music books we have ordered will arrive by next week so that we can start playing the list of songs we decide to work on. Be ready to speak up with your favorites.









Carole and Sylvia are preparing a couple of workshops on specific skills. The first one will be "Learning to use the basic chord positions in the key of D." The chords move up the fretboard in groups or "clusters." I do not have a scanner, so hope these pictures are clear enough that you can get started on becoming familiar with the patterns. I will have a hard copy hand out when we get together.

Don't forget that last 10 minutes of every class for solo-duet performance practice.

Do you have that extra set of strings yet? Carole says------melody----012

middle-----014

bass-----wrapped nickel 022

Jackie Joins the Sweet Music Community

Jackie has played wind instruments before finding the dulcimer. She and Lynne attended an Elderhostel in Vermont and were taught the East of the Rockies standard tuning of DAA. They are learning the Myxolydian tuning of DAD in our Oregon country. Some of us use a capo to change keys, and are exploring other ways of enlarging our capabilities without retuning.

Because Carole, our resident luthier, has given some of us frets at the 1 and 1/2 place we can play in the key of "C" while tuned to "D." This little wooden box is an endless source of discovery!

We are thrilled to welcome Jackie to our group. Those of us who have not been to the Monday eve session, are excited about meeting her in person.

Do any of you have any photos of yourselves playing you can send to me to add to the blog? Great fun to see the action.....we can include videos too you know.

New Stuff!

NEW PLAYER.................Welcome Lynn

NEW CLASS.................A new beginner's class has just started at Sally's home in North Valley. For anyone interested in learning the dulcimer, with or without a music background, give Sally a call at 218-8379 for directions and information. This group meets on Monday evenings.

NEW BOOK.................We have decided to do a group order for a collection of Christmas Music. Favorite Christmas Carols for the Mountain Dulcimer (and Friends) Helen Johnson has a number of books available. You can read about her offerings on the net at http://www.helenjohnson.biz/. Sally is placing an order for the group. Get in touch with her if you decide you want any of these materials.

The Wednesday evening group will move back to meeting at Marilyn's either the 17th, or the 24th. Call Madelyn or Marilyn to find the location for this coming Wednesday.

Phall Phenomenon

Only Marilyn was missing today from our gathering. We hear that she is finding all sorts of things "dulcimer" in Kentucky.This was a two guitar day with Lynn's visiting friend. Her other friend brought her listening skills to share. It was very pleasant meeting Rose and (sorry -- forgotten the other name.)
We've come a long way baby. Years ago, in desperation, Carole and I listed ourselves in the Dulcimer Players News as a club. We were. Any two gathered in the name of music -- can be a club. Camp Crescendo was the ONLY group listed to be active in Oregon. We did find a few compatriots through that help....none that stayed with it...but we did enjoy meeting new folks.

Usually wild growth occurs in the spring..............we are having ours now. There have NEVER been this many people in any room in Grants Pass -- that we know of-- gathered in the name of dulcimer! Fourteen people making sweet music. Thank you all for keeping alive a uniquely American instrument.

Be-ribboned and Holding Certificates

Wednesday is music and dance day for all of these gals. They gather to learn clogging in the AM --- and dulcimer in the PM.







Wendy's smile says it all. She is now proudly a Certified Dulcimist.







Joy's selection to play for us was Waltzing Matilda.



Trish actually built herself a dulcimer years ago. She keeps the group "honest" rhythmically, by playing banjo backup. She also adds another voice to the ensemble with her harmonica.


Sally is adding dulcimer to her list of musical skills. She already plays the violin.



Breda is able to play piano by ear and is learning the mandolin.

The newest group of "Sweet Music Makers" celebrate their
acheivement. Breda, Trish, Wendy, Joy, and Sally, are flanked by their instructors Marilyn, and Madelyn.

Carole is the real genesis of this group. She started building dulcimers many, many years ago. Lots of us play the three string model that she creates.






Breda and Bob offered not only their family room to us for the event, but also an opportunity to swim in their delightful pool.

Trish added banjo and harmonica to the list of instruments we were treated to hearing. She gave evidence of remarkable presence of mind as Cha Cha(Breda's dog,) stood on the back of the chair, and breathed into her ear as she was performing.

Alumni who play not only mountain dulcimer, but also hammered dulcimer, turned out to welcome new players into the community. Shan also plays harmonica and sings. Dean plays the organ too.

The M AND M School of Dulcimer Instruction produced not only a host of new musicians...but also this attractive program for the ceremony.

Class Motto..........."When you learn, teach. When you get, give." Maya Angelou