Listening to the Spring Sampler

I got a little over-excited about taking up the Dulcimer. Other players understand what it's like to catch the bug, but my family is still a little wary about it. They don't know quite what to think or how long I will keep up my enthusiasm. With no dulcimer in my hands as of yet, I get by with what I can, by doing things like subscribing to the Dulcimer Players News. It came with a free CD too. Imagine that! A quarterly publication with great articles, dulcimer TAB, and a CD for only $30.00 a year? Well, of course I just had to subscribe right away. Then I got the latest issue right away as well. Sweet!

There are a full 11 songs on the sampler, and it includes hammered dulcimer tunes as well. I love the sound of a hammered dulcimer, I just don't think I'll ever learn to play one. I have plenty of work to do with the Autoharp and the Kantele...and soon the mountain dulcimer. Soon.

Sigh. Not soon enough to suit me, I grow a bit impatient with all this waiting. So the 2011 Spring Sampler CD is in the rotation on the stereo, along with Garden of Mysteries by Ruth Barrett which has two instrumentals with her on the dulcimer. The third and final CD that I use to keep me company while I wait for my new baby to arrive is The Wind that Shakes the Barley by Loreena McKennitt. Before I even realized I was going to take up the mountain dulcimer, I had started picking up CD's for inspiration. That last CD was one of those, because she goes back to her roots and sings a bunch of traditional Celtic songs. The music is lovely, but there are hardly any notes and no lyrics in the package, and I discovered that's one of the things that I love most about Loreena McKennitt's work. Her stories about the songs would transport me and help me share her perspective even as I find my own. Not on this one, I'm on my own.

I've also read two books to pass the time, my sister loaned them to me, along with a third. I think that's how I'll spend the rest of this evening as well. Reading and listening to music. I don't watch TV at all anymore. Why put up with the advertising when I can fill my heart with music and my mind with stories? With folk music the two combine as one, and I don't need anything else but others to share them with.