The Details about my new Mountain Dulcimer

I need to share my excitement about how beautiful my new mountain dulcimer will be. Because I didn't want to purchase a McSpadden, mainly due to the use of plywood and no hard shell case, and it was a little bit more money, I went with Folkcraft to build my first dulcimer. I made the best decision I could based on my online research and a few tips from Karen Mueller. Karen actually recommends the McSpadden by the way, and it is played by Stephen Seifert, who teaches Mountain Dulcimer at DulcimerSchool.com. To be honest, I had already fallen in love with the beautiful things due to Bing Futch's playing on them, and his recommendation of them as well. He has a gallery of his dulcimers on his website, many of which were made by Folkcraft.

Since Karen said I shouldn't get a dulcimer with a lacquered fretboard, that ruled out the ready to ship FSH models. I was really concerned about that as well, so I contacted them and they said it would be no problem to build my dulcimer with a waxed fretboard, which is an option on their fully custom model.
She also mentioned that having a tuning head that is flat like a guitar would make it easier to change the strings than the more traditional scroll. Because I have a tremor, I did opt for that $50.00 upgrade, because stuff like that can be difficult for me at times. The Build Your Own option for the FSH model has lots of options to choose from, including sound holes. I couldn't resist the old folkie beauty of the hearts & vine option that is pictured at the top of this post. Hearts are traditional, and I love growing things. The fine woodburning around the pattern just adds another layer of texture.

Then there were the wood choices, just three to choose from, they did have a nice description on what the different tones would be like on the page:

The FSH Folkcraft teardrop dulcimer is a superb instrument for those that are budget minded. The black walnut creates a fat, mellow tone with great resonance. Or, you can select northern cherry which creates a bright full sound that has slight ringing overtones. Plus you can select the tone hole style that fits your personality. The FSH model is perfect for the beginner.

So I went with the Northern Cherry because one of the qualities I love about the dulcimer is the silvery tones of it over the mellowness of a guitar or the twang of a banjo. And that's the final picure I have is of the wood:



I think I compiled this entry for myself more than anyone, so I can come back and remember how I made my decisions, and so I can look at my options and imagine my new mountain dulcimer for the next few weeks. I am also collecting Dulcimer TAB that I will be adding to my music book. There will be many songs to learn.

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.

From Brigit with Love

Tomorrow night I will be attending the C.O.G. ritual celebrating the yearly return of fire, Imbolc. The goddess sacred to this ritual is Bhride, also known as Brigit. The days have become noticeably longer, and I'm happy to see the light returning. It's still solidly winter white here in Minnesota, which leaves me wishing and hoping for Spring more and more.

So I went online and downloaded some ideas for garden design, and I stumbled across this most glorious thing on my journey: a design of four seasonal gardens for Brigit's Garden on the theme of the Celtic festivals.

Imbolc (pronounced Im-ulk) is the old Celtic name for the spring festival on 1st February, now St. Brigit's Day. The birth of lambs and the first snowdrops herald this season of new life. In the Imbolc garden the path leads through hay meadow and orchard trees to a children's glade with its delightful basketwork swings. Further on, a carved triple spiral symbolises Brigit, who is often represented as three sisters or as the three patrons of poetry, smithcraft and midwifery.

Such is the nature of the imagination that I can take myself there, walk through the gardens and dream of creating my own sacred spaces on this old plot of land here in Minnesota. So tonight I will pick up my Stav and seek guidance from the Old Ones on how best to plan my garden. Such is the imagination of Nature herself that I should be given the dream. I will plan my garden to heal, to dance, to sing, to laugh, to play and make merry in.

There have been many challenges in my life lately, not the least of which is the looming "job transition" which is a nice way of saying lay off. It's to happen sometime in May, they are saying now. It could change, but whether it does or doesn't makes no difference to me. I will have a plan in hand to dig, shape, plant and create my own gardens to honor the Sacred Earth in my life. And I just may have some extra time to work on it as well.

So much thanks to Bhride for the inspiration and aid toward crafting visual poetry and stoking the fire of my imagination, so that I may bring into being a sacred space and pass that gift on.

I go to Stav Huathe, the Hawthorne Tree.

State of the Arts January 2010

It has been a long while since I really talked about art here on the blog. Mainly because I haven't been doing much of it. But now that the new website is in the works, AlfheimDesign.com, I think I should say a few words about where I'm coming from, and where I'm going artistically. After ten years of painting in oils, and redesigning my website year after year, I decided it's time to close the book on that phase of my life. Out with the old, and in with the new. The number 10 represents completion of an old cycle and the beginning of a new one. So here I am working in a totally new media, with a totally new website.

The old way was not suiting me any more. The dirty truth of the Fantasy Art business, and how impossible it was for me as an Empath and a Healer to continue in the field. My life's work is not in fantasy, but in truth, in the visions I have when I go deep into meditation. The visions I have when I pick up the Stav and start banging it with a stick. Here in Minnesota it's easy to see the lands of my ancestors in Norway and Finland, and they are beginning to find expression in my art. Not the art of romantic oil paintings, but the direct art of ink scratched away to find the pure white clay beneath, then brought to life with watercolors until they glow.

And while beyond here there may very well be dragons, they are not fantasies but true spirits of determination, vigor, and power come to show you the mirror of your soul. My life's work is yet to be done, and over the course of the year I will begin retiring my old images from my print shop.

I confess...I watch AI so this is hillarious

I must confess that I do like to watch American Idol...when they're doing the tryouts especially. Seeing all those people sing badly and the few who sing well is incredibly entertaining to me. This past week the Pants on the Ground song was broadcast. And now "Neil Young" has done a cover:

Uh oh...where did it go? Oh well, just search on YouTube and you will find it.

It was Jimmy Fallon as Neil Young and pretty funny stuff let me tell you!

[edited April 25,2011]