DAD - Dulcimer Acquisition Disease

There is a longing in my heart right now that sings out to the tune of "Basketball Jones" only with Dulcimer in the place of the basketball, and I've got it bad. Last night I cleaned my dulcimer, oiled the fretboard and changed the strings. My sweet Mary Jane looks and sounds wonderful. A week from tomorrow will be my 5th Annual Fall Music Party, and I am very excited to have a bunch of friends over to play and listen. We always welcome both Pickers (musicians) and Grinners (audience) to the party. It's always potluck and BYOB and loads and loads of fun.

So in preparation, I'm taking care of my main instruments. Last week I tuned my autoharp after several months of it sitting idle, it took an entire hour. Now I've got my sweet mountain dulcimer in tip top shape. But the Jones, aka Dulcimer Acquisition Disease or DAD, did not go away because of these activities...and it is so strong. It is an instrument acquisition Jones. I recognize the symptoms.  That longing after something Other than what I already have. There are no funds for a new instrument, I have other plans for my money at the moment such as pay off my credit card, buy a love seat and rug for the living room, and the long term goal is to pay off my student loans.

I think a new dulcimer would be a suitable reward for that final payoff. Don't you? That way I can quietly look at all the dulcimer options available to me, savor the yearning for a new instrument for a good long time, and when the time is right...scratch that itch and get a new dulcimer. There are lots of options out there. Six string, baritone, hourglass, different woods, sound holes and so much more. And you know what? I found the ultimate Mountain Dulcimer porn site. Tons of photos of different models, they even have a Kantele that I can dream about acquiring. It is the same place I bought my sweet Mary Jane from, and the Folkroots travel dulcimer I reviewed last spring.

It doesn't help that I had a dream the other night that I went to a folk festival and met Bing Futch, a spokesperson for their dulcimers, and host of the Dulcimerica Podcast. I don't remember much about the dream, it was about finding my room and getting registered and stuff. So I think a Dulcimer Festival will be in my future at some point as well. I have lots of things to dream  about, like this little beauty:

This sure would make a sweet addition to my little instrument family. Learning new songs and techniques helps take the edge off the Jones temporarily, so I will do what I can to be worthy of such a beautiful dulcimer someday!

Jammin' at Merlin's Rest

Last Tuesday night I resolved myself to be brave and join in the Tuesday night jam at Merlin's Rest. When I arrived with my dulcimer, book, and purse, I would have awkwardly stumbled in through the door, but a waitress opened it for me. I've known about the Jam for a long time, but I just never got the courage to join in until now. This was a big step for me, as there usually are some very fine musicians who show up.

Musicians Open Jam Session: 8:30
If you are a musician and want to share your talents or maybe learn some new ones – stop in every Tuesday. A fantastic evening of listening and joining in with some of Minnesota’s top musicians

So I was there at 8:30, and a hammered dulcimer player, who also plays guitar was there, as well as one other guitar player. I asked if it was OK to join them, and open means open, so I sat down to play. The hammered dulcimer player did not want to lead in any songs right away, so I alternated with the guitarist. I led in three songs: Wild Mountain Thyme, Diamonds & Rust, and Where Have all the Flowers gone. Actually I was kind of nervous, but not as nervous as I thought I would be.

My quiet dulcimer did not do well against all the noise of the bar, but I got a little applause starting out anyway. Sometime after my second song, the hammered dulcimer player wandered off. I played anything I had that wasn't a ballad, so I began packing up at around 9:15 and the other guitarist went for a beer break. Minnesota Ren Fest starts this weekend, so I'm guessing that may have affected how many musicians were showing up, or how few. I might try showing up again when I am confident of a couple more "bar friendly" songs, and with heaviers strings and pick in hand to try and combat the noise. All in all, it was a successful night for me, if a short one. My new autoharp might be a better choice regarding the noise, and it has more chords, so I'd be less limited in a jam environment.

We'll see if I go next week.

Itchy Fingers

It's summer and I have itchy fingers. They are itching on a daily basis for the Autoharp that I have on layaway. It will be several weeks yet before I get my new baby, but they are itching nonetheless. This malady is coming with increasing frequency and intensity as the day of arrival draws near. Visions of songs dance in my head, the ones that I learned on Autoharp that I never learned on Dulcimer, and the ones I had planned to learn...all are popping into my mind as I wait for my new Autoharp. Tonight I write the check for the fourth of five payments, and I'm amazed at how quickly time has passed since I made my decision in April.

A lot has happened since then. I've written another song on the Dulcimer, and learned two new lovely standard folk tunes: "Southwind" and "The Storms are on the Ocean" which I play just about every day. It's fun learning just the melody on the mountain dulcimer and not worry about the words.  Maybe I'll learn the chords and lyrics when I get my Autoharp, so I'll have two different versions to choose from on my different instruments. And as much as I enjoy practicing my dulcimer, and it sits so joyfully on my lap, I long to embrace my new Autoharp. Nothing can compare with the intimacy of that instrument, as it vibrates against my body, my heart can't help but respond. So much joy these zithers have brought to my life! They are like members of the family, as much as the cats are. I learn to care for them, play with them, and share them with others. And then there are the long moments we spend alone together, getting to know our abilities and strengthening them together, my zithers and I. It is a mystical relationship, and I feel connected to the Bards of Old as I learn tunes played hundreds of years ago.

The feelings go so deep, I feel as if there are strings on my soul that I awaken as I strum my zithers, a resonance and mystery fills me as I play. I wonder what songs I will write on the Autoharp, and how will she feel under my fingers? I can only imagine and long for the end of summer to come, darkening evenings and hours by candlelight to practice. It's so exciting! I feel like I'm off on a new adventure.

Kantele Spring

It's another beautiful Spring day in Minnesota. The sky is blue and the breeze is blowing dandelion fluff all around. Too bad we don't like dandelions too much in these parts, I liked them well enough as a child. In the neighborhood I grew up in, we would pick the dandelions when they were in full seed, make a wish and blow them off the stem. If the seeds traveled all the way around the world and back again, your wish would come true.

The wish I have now is to take some of the traditional Finnish tunes I've learned on my lovely five string kantele, and create TAB for the mountain dulcimer with it. I've tried struggling with MusEdit, which is a free program with some nifty features. The problem is it doesn't always do what I tell it to do, and since it's free, there isn't a manual. Let's just say it has a few glitches that are not about to go away. In fact the website appears to be gone, so it looks like it's time to get real and pay for TablEdit.

My order has been placed, so I know what I will be doing on the rainy days this Spring, getting all my music down in TAB format. It's a wonderful tool, and now that I've written 1 2/3 songs (really, can't seem to get the middle part of that second song down yet) I'm excited to see them written in music. It's an exciting time for me while I wait for my Dream Autoharp. They have received my first payment, so they can start building it any time. For some reason the mail took it's own sweet time, so the check sent on the 24th of April didn't arrive until the 10th of May. So my dream was in limbo during that wait, now it's in Pete's capable hands. So my zither obsession continues, complete with dreams of obscure instruments in the zither family that never existed. Really, that's how deep these stringed instruments get for me, right on into my subconscious.

Well, it's not raining now, so I've spent enough times tapping away at this keyboard.

Next Week: MUSIC PARTY!!

Still Point

Every once in a while you come across a rare and wonderful piece of work. Since 2009, I have been taking lessons on the autoharp and then on the dulcimer from Karen Mueller. During that time, I have been slowly collecting her albums. Still Point was released in 2000, and like most folk/world albums it is timeless. I was looking to listen to her play the dulcimer, since that is the instrument I am concentrating on learning right now. As a zither enthusiast, I just love to hear someone with her skill level play. This has some dulcimer tunes, but it also features other instruments that she plays as well, including autoharp.

The album opens with "30-Year Jig" which sets the tone for the entire work. On that song, Karen plays both the mountain dulcimer and the autoharp. The title for the album is a quote:

"At the still point, there the dance is..." - T.S. Eliot

For me, it emphasizes the listener. While we are still, her fingers do their lively dance on the strings of multiple instruments. This is the magic of recording, where Karen can play multiple parts on a single song. I think everyone should have this album. It has a good amount of Celtic classics along with some contemporary tunes. There are fourteen wonderful tracks, with the final song being "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" which is a joyful way to end the album, finishing everything with a statement of her incredible talent. Years of music making went into this, and it shows. Sometimes the magic is in the dedication. Being willing to focus on being the best you can be at whatever instrument you pick up. It's a great inspiration to me, and I'm looking forward to buying her newest CD Landscape of the Heart next.

The oddest part of all this for me is, right now I'm not even taking lessons! For the next few months I'm pinching pennies to pay for my Dream Autoharp, so I'm really starting to miss my visits with Karen at Homestead Pickin' Parlor. But I'm keeping myself busy with practicing my mountain dulcimer, and listening to some good music while I'm at it!

Practice, Practice, Practice

I have plenty of songs to play in my home-made book of Dulcimer tabs, and I've enjoyed exploring new ones on almost a weekly basis. But it's time to get better, to really learn to play some songs well and by heart. So I am practicing every day, and every day songs get a little smoother. I still have some transitions to work through on "Edelweiss" and "Finlandia", but I can play them roughly without having to look at the music. This Tuesday I have another lesson, and I plan to leave my dulcimer behind to get that 1 1/2 fret added to it, which will open up some more chords and therefore more songs that I will be able to play.

I've had a cold with a cough for the last 2 1/2 weeks, so my voice is pretty much shot for singing at the moment. Still, I try and work through my singing songs some as well, but it isn't as fun because I can't get into the lyrics. The practice is worthwhile though, as I'm getting smoother on my finger picking. Eight months with the Mountain Dulcimer, and four months since my Autoharp became un-tunable, and I'm finally getting the hang of some of these songs.

My dear friend Denise gave me a couple of instruments recently, a cardboard dulcimer and a one string strum stick. Those and my Kantele will keep me entertained while my new fret is being added. So I will still be able to practice the dulcimer, but I sure do appreciate my beautiful Folkcraft instrument when I compare it with the cardboard one. But at least I won't get rusty between lessons. It looks like I've managed to get weekly posts in here lately, and I'm glad. It lets me track my progress and keep a record of what I'm working on. Soon I hope to be able to start singing again, and then watch out! I'll be making use of that extra fret in no time and adding to my repertoire.

Instrumental Roots

I am 100% Minnesotan, with equal amounts of Norwegian and Finnish ancestry. My mother was 100% Finnish and was born in Minnesota from Finnish parents, and my father was 100% Norwegian. Naturally, when my musical inclination led me to find the Finnish national folk instrument, the Kantele (pronounced KAN-te-leh), I had to have one. It was so exciting when my Kantele arrived, my Autoharp was with a luthier at the time getting some work done, and I had been without an instrument for a couple of weeks. She looked just like the pictures on the Kantele shop, and is made out of pine and birch, two trees common both in Finland and Minnesota.

My lovely 5-string Kantele has been my quiet companion ever since. I play her outside and at home when ever the mood hits me. I had discovered this lovely little folk instrument when I was searching for Autoharp music online. I found some recordings of the concert Kantele, a 36 string instrument, and was intrigued by the similarity to the Autoharp. Why did I take up the Autoharp in the first place? Maybe the music was in my blood all along. Both intruments are part of the zither family, so I realized that I really liked zither instruments, and my ears would prick up and I would pay attention any time a zither was mentioned.

One instance was at a concert by Ruth Barrett, when she said the fretted dulcimer is also a zither. The difference  is that it has a fret board running the length of the instrument. Aha! And my interest in the mountain dulcimer began. It turned into a mild obsession when I discovered the Dulcimerica Podcast on Youtube. And the rest is history, as I am now the proud companion to a beautiful mountain dulcimer.

But wait, there's more. It seems the origins of the American mountain dulcimer trace back to European Zithers, specifically the scheitholt, which was brought over from the old country by the Pensylvania Dutch. The Scotch-Irish of the Appalachian mountains adopted and adapted these zithers, using the same fretboard and drone quality creating the wonderful folk instrumenet we know today as the mountain dulcimer. It turns out there is a Norwegian instrument in that family, here's what Wikipedia has to say about it:

There exists a variety of box zithers in Europe. The German scheitholt and the Swedish Hummel have been suggested as the predecessor of the langeleik. However, in 1980 a langeleik dated as early as 1524 was uncovered on a farm in Vibergsroa, Gjøvik, Norway. This instrument predates any documented occurrences of the scheitholt, the hummel or any other similar instrument.

And so my instruments of choice have roots in my ancestory on both my mother's and father's sides. I was raised to be musical, starting with the piano when I was just five years old. Music is part of my heritage, and I'm very excited to be exploring the folk music of my ancestry. Minnesota is also a haven for folk musicians generally. Something about the long cold winter causes us to want to sing across the dark night skies with one another, I think. For me, my zithers give me great joy even just playing by myself. The cats seem to like it too.

Musically Restless

The other night I had a dream that my sister had left an unusual guitar at my house. It had a very wide and short neck with seven strings. On a whim I picked it up to play, and I immediately started playing some lovely tunes. No such guitar exists, and it is just an indication that I am restless in my current musical endeavors. The Mountain Dulcimer practicing is bearing fruit, but more slowly than my early efforts. Adding chord melody playing, fingerpicking and other techniques adds to my learning time. The mountain dulcimer, like the Autoharp, takes a few moments to learn to play and a lifetime to master.

I think I'm doing pretty well at seven months, but there is so much that I want to be able to do RIGHT NOW...sigh. I actually was considering putting the guitar on my new instrument wish list, but I've come to my senses after last night's lesson. I have a ton of songs I'm learning, it's helping with my skill level, but I really want to get ten or so up to performance level within the next few months. So the guitar is off the list and the Autoharp is back on, and my savings has quite a long way to go before I make that kind of a purchase.

Normally my next lesson would be in two weeks, but 'Tis the Season, so my teacher will be off. This will be a good time for me to get that extra fret added to the dulcimer, and I will then embrace my Kantele to tide me over while my darling Mary Ann is in the shop. But I won't be sending her off until after the holidays, it's her first Christmas with us after all! She should be around to enjoy it. :)

Six Months with the Mountain Dulcimer

This morning I woke up with music going through my head, it's the perfect thing for a Saturday morning, I think. Tomorrow marks the six month anniversary since my Mountain Dulcimer arrived on my doorstep. My fingertips on my left hand and the side of my thumb are now nicely calloused, and I'm just so happy to have my darling Mary Ann, I think I will commemorate the anniversary with a photo today, as the weather promises to be absolutely beautiful. I think it's time I recorded her details from her build as written on the label inside:

Handcrafted by
Folkcraft Instruments
http://www.folkcraft.com/
model: Folkcraft FSH
serial #: 20111636
luthier: S.J. Ash   date: 4/19/2011

She is my own darling dear, and I play her just about every day. Just over a week ago I wrote my first tune which I've titled Kari's Song, in honor of my friend who inspired it. I'm building a nice play list, with seven songs solidly memorized, and three more on the way I've made good progress. I'm still working on my technique, with chord transitions not going as effortlessly as I'd like, and my fretting not as clean as I want. I'm thinking it might be about time to change the strings, and maybe giving her a good oiling before winter sets in.

There is a very fun thread going on in the beginner players group over on Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer called "Cure for dulcimer shortage" which I am finding quite amusing. I am currently without a working Autoharp, and as I've mentioned before, have decided I want one that is luthier made rather than factory made. Two reasons for this: I love my luthier made mountain dulcimer and kantele, and I don't want the same problem to happen again with the bridge lifting like it did on my Oscar Schmidt. I have yet to obtain a quote on having extra frets added to my Mary Ann, but I will email Hoffman guitars to find out. Their website shows that they charge $90.00 an hour for labor, so it might be more than I am willing to pay to modify my current instrument. In that case, I might just want to get a second Mountain Dulcimer with extra frets. But I have plenty of time to ponder the situation as I save my nickles and dimes up in my new instrument fund.

1 1/2 Fret - or more than you wanted to know about a Mountain Dulcimer

As I struggle to play C as a bar chord on the 6th fret, my Mountain Dulcimer teacher took a moment to mention to me, that my life might be easier if I have a 1 1/2 fret added to my dulcimer. What's that you might ask? It's an extra fret between the 1st and 2nd fret. This would enable me to play a C chord as an easy transition from Em, AND play an F chord, which does not exist on my lovely diatonic dulcimer tuned to D A D. I told you it was more than you wanted to know. Why do I love obscure zither instruments anyway? Why couldn't I have just tried taking up the guitar...again.

Well the guitar route failed me twice, and I do so love the sound of an Autoharp, the drone of the Mountain Dulcimer, and the ringing of a Kantele. So here I am, learning a song that would be so much easier with a 1 1/2 fret. For now I must do it the hard way, but once my music party is over, she might be put into the hands of a luthier to make my life that much easier. Because I want to play in the key of C as well, without having to re-tune. Call me crazy, but I think that variety is the spice of life. The instrument pictured above has both a 1 1/2 and 8 1/2 fret.

Also, an instrument doesn't have to be hard to learn to play to make beautiful music. The mountain dulcimer provides that, and as it turns out, allows for a little more customization in order to play it the way you want it. My first custom change was to remove the second melody string, turning my four string into a three string, it simplifies chording and allows equal play on all three strings for the melody. Now I want to add an extra fret. Technically, I already have 2 extras, the 6 1/2 and the 13 1/2 which are very common on modern mountain dulcimers. Heck, you can even get a fully chromatic one these days, which is kind of like taking up a guitar.

So, I will check with Hoffman Guitars, and see how much they would charge to add an additional fret...or two.

The Truth About Taking Up The Mountain Dulcimer

While looking in on the Fingerpicking group on Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer, I discovered another beginner like myself who has learned an interesting fact: the more you play, the dirtier your house gets. It's true, the dulcimer calls to me much more often and loudly than the dishes, the laundry, the toilet, even my thirsty plants aren't getting enough attention. It is so common that there's been a song written about it, "Cat Hair on My Fretboard" recorded by TNT. They even have the TAB for sale. So cats are common as well among dulcimer enthusiasts, interesting.

With a big music party coming up, I need to get my practicing in, but the house will need to be kept clean as well. Being the persnickity person that I am, I have devised a plan. For every hour that I spend cleaning each day, that's how much time I get to practice my dulcimer. Please do not take this statement lightly, because I certainly don't, in fact I have a form that I will be logging my time in. That way I won't cheat myself out of a clean house. It's for my own good really, and I just might be stubborn enough to get something accomplished. I'm turning over a new, and neater, leaf this Autumn!

And because it's all about folk music for me, I thought it would be fun to end this post with an amazing video of Butch Ross singing his original tune, "I like Singing Folksongs"



It really describes a life doen't it? There's so much talent out there in the Mountain Dulcimer community. Down to earth, real people with a passion for this kind of music. That's why I'm doing it too, nothing speaks to my soul more than Folk Music. It's best live and with a room full of friends.

A Grey Day

Tonight after work I stopped at Homestead Pickin' Parlor and scheduled my next dulcimer lesson with Karen. When I walked in the door, right before my eyes, were a couple of albums by Mimi & Richard Farina. After updating the dulcimer page on the blog here, I knew I had to get my hands on some of their music. I chose the cheaper album which also features an autoharp. There are several instrumental songs on the album, which is exacty what I wanted.

The title suits me as well. "Celebrations for a Grey Day" fits my mood of late when I'm not happily strumming away at my dulcimer. It's been too long since I've seen some live folk music, and I will have to remedy that soon. Having a lesson will perk me up a bit as well, I'm sure. Visiting HPP always is a welcome retreat from the pristine world of my corporate job. They're an old school mom and pop shop with an old fashioned cash register, so after sitting all day in front of a computer with my wireless earpiece taking customer service calls, the low tech world really appeals me. I'm actually longing for old style phones with chords and everything. Oh to have a rotary phone! One of the big heavy black ones that were made out of some kind of ceramic/plastic hybrid. Glorious days of old. As I sit here at my home computer, listening the album I just Ripped to my hard-drive, I sit and wonder at the passage of time. Richard died in a motorcycle accident a few months before I was born, but here I am listening to his music.

The title track to the album is playing which is a medley jam of an assortment of tunes. It somehow works and I'm looking forward to the day when I know enough songs to choose some for a medley of my own. The liner notes are an interesting ramble, wrapped up with a folk musician's point of view.

"Time, tide, and the accident of what the statisticians call birth have conspired to provide us with a tradition barely ours and hardly it's own.  Music, if it has a mind to, can sing about things like that, and maybe set one or two of them straight, yes?" ~ Richard Farina

A passage through time forms between the drone of the dulcimer and the bass strings of the guitar. So many days pass with nothing but work, but in the evening all is music. It is my refuge in so many ways. We are having warm days this week with highs in the 80's, twenty degrees above normal for the start of an October in Minnesota. Some days I just want to go away to the woods for a while, like maybe the rest of my life, and play my dulcimer and snuggle with cats. Life has gotten so complicated, I want something simpler, something full of stories and song.

Harder Than It Looks

I am currently working on learning the chords and singing along to "The Parting Glass" which is a wonderful closer at the end of a night of making music. It's a lovely tune, and I'm getting better bit by bit. Mind you, if my autoharp hadn't gone all un-tunable on me I might not be doing this right now, I'd still be working on my repetoire on the more familiar instrument. String changing is a long weekend project, and since I just had to pay to repair a flat tire on my lovely little PT cruiser, I'm lacking the funds for the new strings anyway. So out comes the mountain dulcimer, on it's fancy new stand, which is just lovely, from Ray Lynn Woods. I actually bought the book before the dulcimer arrived last Spring, as I figured Slow Airs would be just my speed starting out.

As you know, I started with the Dulcimer School, and my subscription to that is about to end now that I have a few of the basics down. So I picked up the book and went through it again and found, what I thought, was a good song to start with. Each verse ends with the toast "good night and joy be with you all" and it looks as if I might actually be able to learn this one before the next music party. My fingertips are toughening up once again, and I'm practicing more now too. Now that the cool Autumn temperatures are coming in, I'm really looking forward to making music in my little cottage with my friends. I will be honest with you, I was thrilled with the beautiful cover art on this book as well, it is by the very talented Rachel Arbuckle. My thirst for music, history, song, and instructional notes is thoroughly quenched, and it even comes with a CD to give you an idea of how some of the songs go. This will give me hours of pleasure this winter, and I'm taking a staycation when October switches to November. You may or may not see me blogging about my progress here, depending on my mood. That will be ME time that I sorely need.

So the title of this entry is it's harder than it looks, because Neal makes it look so easy as he plays on a beautiful Folkcraft teardrop dulcimer, a couple of laments.

Beautiful, I have hours and hours of practice ahead of me, but it's music like this that makes me so glad I took up the Mountain Dulcimer.

Wishing on a Star

It is day seven with my Mountain Dulcimer, and after I went to see open mic night at the 42nd Avenue Station, I came home for my practice session. First I put the kitties to bed, and then I sat down and tuned my dulcimer. After playing for a week I was pretty out of tune, just getting the strings going here folks! I'm working on developing my personal version of "Bile Them Cabbage Down" and just getting to know "Liza Jane" so there's plenty to do. I find that I keep missing the melody string when I go fast, and some of my noting gets a little buzzy, so I decided to slow it down and just work through things methodically.

My fingertips are toughening up nicely, so much so that I can easily do slided with at least my left index finger. I'm also working on some L shaped chords so I can get the side of my thumb used to this business as well. After seven days of play I am getting some song-like things coming out of my little beauty, and I am still trying on some different names for her as well. Tonight I was playing around with noting, and I stumbled upon that old familiar tune "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" along the way. As I played I concentrated on strumming cleanly and gently, and getting a good tone with my left hand. The sweet melody was so pure and reminded me so much of summer days when I was a little girl it actually brought a tear to my eye.

Where once I was wishing on a star to get my dulcimer, now we wish together as I get to know her form and tone. My mountain dulcimer is my BFF for sure, it's no wonder the group I joined is called Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer! She is my constant companion in the evening, and when I'm ready I will share her with some of my other friends. I like what Bing Futch has to say on his dulcimer blog Nowhere,Nevada:

From the music made to the sights seen, with the spark of inspiration to the joy of being around folks that have tapped into this mystical little instrument and claimed it as their own personal totem...

Which is what she is quickly becoming. There is a spiritual quality to music, as is well known. It communicates and carries a message from one soul to another. Sometimes the instruments seem to have a voice of their own as well. Each dulcimer sounds a little different. The type of wood that goes into them makes a huge difference in the tone they give, and then every player plays a little differently too. We are creating a symbiotic voice, she and I. She really is a mystical little instrument. :)

My New Mountain Dulcimer

At long last my mountain dulcimer arrived safe and sound! When I heard the knock on the door I took the necessary 15 steps to get there and open it, only to see the FedEx driver running back to his truck. Naturally I ran outside and jumped up and down yelling "Hey" while flailing my arms. He pointed to the side door and I found the box.

At this point, I knew I wanted to record every step of welcoming my new instrument home. So I got the camera out, it was bright overcast that day, and it had sprinkled a bit in the morning. Friday May 13th was my lucky day! I grabbed a small knife out of the kitchen and carefully opened the box.

There it was in the hardshell case, and a flyer for the Indiana Dulcimer Festifal for July 23 & 24th 2011. My vacation time is already scheduled out for the summer, so I won't be able to attend. At this point I'm very glad I had the day off to get started on my gardens, that way my new baby wouldn't be sitting all lonely by the side of the house. Of course, since it was not yet noon, I figured I wouldn't get much gardening done!

She's even more beautiful than I could imagine, I love the way the sound hole vines & hearts seem to follow the grain of the wood. Five hearts on each side, it arrived on our fifth wedding anniversary. Cradled safely in her case, my new mountain dulcimer has come home as a welcome addition to our family. Since the fifth anniversary is the wooden one, David pitched in towards the cost. The rest of it is me spoiling myself rotten, but it's been my obsession the past few months, the mountain dulcimer.

I was correct in that I did not get much gardening done that day, instead I starting going through the Fundamental lessions at DulcimerSchool.com thrilled with my new instrument. She sounds wonderful. A full sound loud enough to carry but not so loud that it competes with my voice. Just as I suspected it's the perfect compliment to it. It has some of the bell-like quality as my Kantele does as well, but better volume, and of course lots more notes to play with.

I took a few more pictures of her as well, so that all the details can be seen.

Spring is Here!

Spring is here in Minnesota finally, despite numerous instances of snowflakes spotted on May Day in Minneapolis. I am looking forward to many occasions to play music around a campfire this year. Tomorrow I am going to call Folkcraft and check on the status of my new Mountain Dulcimer. I really find it hard to believe that I've held out this long actually. Since I have the two days off of work BEFORE it is scheduled to arrive, I'll ask about maybe getting it a little earlier. Over the past month, I'm pretty sure I've watched all 186 episodes of the Dulcimerica podcast. At least that's what I tried to do.

Tomorrow I will post the result of my conversation, with the ETA of my instrument, and anything else I can think of regarding my Mountain Dulcimer.

Musings about Music

It seems like a day doesn't go by when I don't find myself contemplating music. Yesterday I put a post up about FolkThyme internet radio. I love having it playing while I write my blog posts, it reminds me how diverse and how meaningful folk music can be. But in this post I want to talk about my love for my autoharp, and about my history with it. When I was in grade school we had both a piano and an autoharp in the music room. This was back in the 70's and I lived in a nice suburb of upper middle class families.

I remember I had the opportunity to take the autoharp home and play it. I laid it out on the living room floor next to the piano, and pushed buttons and strummed away on it. I strummed and strummed with the pick until it leapt out of my fingers and right down the hole in the autoharp. From what I can remember I was pretty upset about this, tried to shake the pick loose, but it just didn't work. So I strummed and strummed some more with my fingernail until my little 9 year old fingers hands were sore from holding the buttons. As I recollect I only had it for the weekend. The other thing I remember was June Carter Cash playing the autoharp on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, holding it upright. When I asked my music teacher about playing that way at school, she told me that the correct way to play the autoharp was with it lying flat.

Remember when I said that I put it on the floor next the piano? Well, my first instrument was the piano, I think I was six when I first started taking lessons. It was fun at first, but later I was made to continue because I had to learn to commit to something. Some kind of life lesson my parents wanted me to know. I finally quit when I was about nine or ten. Then it was time to sign up for band, and I wanted to play the flute, but all little girls wanted to play flute so I was steared toward the clarinet. So for four years I played in band, but it was a small band and the Senior High band members were all also the schools marching band. This I did not want to do. But music was a part of me now, so I joined the choir.

Singing became my main musical outlet, and in my teens my sister and I each got guitars. I struggled with it with my soft girly fingertips. I loved my guitar for at least one whole summer, but I never took lessons, though my sister did. But I kept singing and my guitar collected dust, I wanted pretty long nails, which seemed more important to me. Later in college I flirted with the piano again as an elective class. I really liked it. A lot. But pianos are kind of big and expensive and hard to get up the stairs to an apartment. Then at some point I took up the twelve string guitar because I always loved the sound. I spent a good year with it, but only barely learned 3 songs though I practiced a lot. Again I didn't take lessons.

The next musical transition was trading my twelve string for a flute. Because, you see, I wanted the flute not the clarinet all those years before. This time I did take lessons. It was really fun, and I wonder where my flute music went to. The flute is in a closet somewhere. You would think that I would learn something by now, get a smattering of music theory or something. Well, I can read music for the most part, but there are all kinds of complexities out there that are way above my head. I've got some pennywhistles lying around here somewhere which I have an audio tape and book.

Finally the Autoharp comes back into my life. I saw my friend Becca Leathers playing one with her band Riverfolk. Now, it had been some time since I'd seen live music. It's funny how time passes when you are dealing with trying to be an adult. It was so wonderful, and they are so good, that I fell immediately in love with their music and enchanted with the idea of taking up the Autoharp. That was June of 2009, and I'm still playing my Autoharp. Thanks in part to taking some lessons so I'd learn how to play it properly.

And here I have to say that I feel spoiled, priviledged, and honored to have the opportunity to take lessons from Karen Mueller: 1986 International Autoharp Champion & 2006 Autoharp Hall of Fame. While living in Lawrence, Kansas, Karen took first place in the Kansas State Dulcimer Championships in 1984 and 1985, and was a finalist at the 1985 National Dulcimer Contest in Winfield. She lives here in the twin cities and teaches at Homestead Pickin' Parlor. She travels all over doing workshops as well. And she gave me a mountain dulcimer lesson on her instruments so I could try before I buy. As I said in a previous post, I have signed up for The Dulcimer School due to financial considerations. But I'll take lessons from her again, when I get stuck and need some extra help with either the Autoharp or the Mountain Dulcimer. I'm on my own with the Kantele, but for the book and what I can find on the internet.

A long post, but I just needed to work through the steps in my journey through instruments as I stand on the verge of taking up yet another one. And I forgot to mention the doumbek that I took up for a while. Still have one, they're too fun not to have at a music party.

Practicing the Autoharp

With all the excitement of the Advent of My New Mountain Dulcimer, I've neglected my Autoharp. Sad but true, it had been sitting in a chair cheerily waiting for me to pick it up for the past couple of weeks. Over the weekend I went into Dulcimer Input Overload, and I just can't bring myself to watch another dulcimer video for a few days. For a while I was practicing my Kantele, an essential part of toughening up my fingertips in preperation for the dulcimer. So my autoharp languished in it's chair expectantly waiting. Tonight I decided to at least tune it, then I had to make sure it was in tune by playing a song. I frustrated myself by playing one that I don't have the cord changes down completely, and then I played one I new a little better, and another, and another. Before I knew it an hour had gone by.

Yes, I still love my autoharp, and I need to get a couple songs down better over the next few weeks, because when my dulcimer arrives, it will have to take a holiday again. I am impatiently waiting, and feeling a little frustrated. I am taking a couple of long weekends in May, to get my gardens in order and then finally, finally, play with my new Mountain Dulcimer. I'll add details about that in my next post. A girl needs to gush about her new toy after all.

Learning More about the Mountain Dulcimer

I am approximately 23 days away from holding my new dulcimer in my hands. After spending time on Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer, and reading some recommendations of other beginning players, I decided to sign up for Dulcimer School. It's the closest thing to Hogwarts I can find for learning to play my new Mountain Dulcimer. After spending a few hours watching the foundational videos, I'm certain I made the right choice. The classes are taught by Stephen Seifert, who is one of the worlds foremost instructors on the mountain dulcimer, and I love watching him play.

So far I've learned how to hold the dulcimer, how to change strings, tune, and play a melody note. Of course it will be much better to have the instrument in hand, but for me, I really do like to watch it through one time before I try a technique any way. I did think long and hard about taking classes with Karen Mueller at Homestead Pickin' Parlour. She did give me a lesson on her instrument so I could try it out to see if I would really like it, and of course I LOVED it. My decision was made mostly due to budget and time considerations. Starting out I really wanted to have the information I needed right in front of me, and this is a way for me to do that, and one month is less than one half-hour private lesson.

Based on my history with learning the Autoharp, I would tend to focus on it in spurts, practicing constantly some weeks, and very little or not at all other weeks. With the online school I will be able to work with that kind of eratic learning curve and really take advantage of my energy curve when it comes to learning. If I ever get stuck on something, I can always take a drop in lesson with Karen as well. This is going to be a really fun spring and summer I can tell you!

New Venues

When I was searching YouTube for Autoharp inspiration several months ago, I ran across the Dulcimerica podcast. Now mind you, when I was thinking of taking up the autoharp I was also considering the Mountain Dulcimer. Both looked easier to learn than the guitar, which I tried picking up a couple of times only to give up in frustration after practicing for months and only learning a song or two. I watched a couple of episodes and stored it in the back of my mind, until one day about a month ago, I decided to look at it again. Then I was hooked.

The instrument that I thought was mostly a kit for woodworking hobbyists to put together has become my new obsession. I've watched episode after episode on YouTube, joined in on Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer, subscribed to Dulcimer Player News, and ordered a dulcimer from Folkcraft.com. And in case there are any doubts, this is a spectacular instrument which as easy or hard to learn as you want it to be.

Tonight I went to visit an open mic night at the 42nd Avenue Station, a coffee shop a quick 10 minute drive from my house. I didn't play myself, I'm not ready for that kind of behaviour yet. But I was really delighted when a mountaint dulcimer player got up and played Arlo Guthrie's "Garden". He was playing a McSpadden that he got from a friend of his who had it shut away in a closet. Primarily a guitarist, she wanted it to go to a home where it would get used. Now he has the mountain dulcimer bug and I showed him my copy of Dulcimer Player News which just came in the mail today.

With the new focus of my life, on music and the growing family of zither instruments that I'm playing, I'm glad to have found a new venue to see live music every week. Maybe someday I'll get the courage to stand on the other side of the mic. But for now, I'll just be a good audience and get to know some more musician folk.