Dulcimer Music For The Month Of Love
Good Morning, Y'all
Happy Friday, and Happy Dulcimer Playing!
It's almost February now, the month of love. Lots of people proposing marriage to each other, so now's the time to be preparing your repertoire with traditional wedding tunes. We have three books of traditional wedding music in stock. One by Dana Gruber (our best selling book of dulcimer wedding music), another one by Madeline MacNeil, and a third by Larry Conger.
Here's a link to all three WEDDING BOOKS. Personally, I would enjoy "Spotted Pony," or "Whiskey Before Breakfast," as music for a marriage ceremony, too, but these books all focus on more traditional wedding classics.
Dad's Progress Making Scroll Heads
Last week, I showed you Dad's project, which was making scroll heads. He started with planks of walnut, cut the planks down to our desired dimensions, and then started drilling holes for the machine heads. He also cut notches on the top and bottom edges for an (eventual) fretboard and back.
Here's where he is on this project today:
They've all been notched top and bottom, drilled for four machine heads, and have been cut to (rough) shape. Today, Dad's working on putting the slot down the middle of the scroll heads. This slot allows the player to actually install strings.
This photo is "before the slot":
And this photo is "after the slot":
Next step? Using a series of sanders to give the scroll head a decent finish. Saws, drills, and router bits do fine work, but sandpaper makes it all blend together. At this point, I would say that each head is about 50% finished. In case you forgot, this is what our finished heads will look like in another few days.
Dulcimer DAZE
Do you remember last week, when I mentioned that you should play your dulcimers on days of the week that had vowels in the name? Friday is a good day, it has both an I and an A, so you are definitely allowed/encouraged to play your instruments on a Friday. Well guess what? Tomorrow is Saturday. THREE vowels, so you get to spend extra time tomorrow playing your dulcimer. Woo hoo!
Still Moving To Michigan
We're still moving tools from our Indiana wood shop to our Michigan wood shop. Some tools are pretty manageable. But some of the shop tools are heavy - thousands of pounds. Pictured below are two of our side benders. These were built by Howard Rugg in (approximately) 1972. We use these side benders for all of our dulcimers that have a California body. Cheyenne used a couple of 2x4 scraps to attach the legs of the stands to a pallet. Now a person working alone can get the side bender into a trailer, up the Interstate, and then out of a trailer. Safely. (for both the side benders, and the person)
Here's the pallet with two side benders attached:
These two side benders were built in Felton, California, then moved to Winsted, Connecticut, in 1989, when David Marks bought FolkRoots Dulcimers from Howard Rugg. When I bought out David Marks back in 2007, I moved these side benders, along with a slew of other tools, from Connecticut to Indiana. Now these side benders are destined to live in Michigan, once they're loaded on my trailer for the next trip north. I was in fourth grade when Howard built these side benders, and was in my 20's when David moved them to Connecticut. I moved them to Indiana in my 40's, and nearly 20 years later, I'm moving them to Michigan.
Maybe when I'm in my 80's, I'll move them to Florida? But not on a day of the week with vowels, I'll be playing my dulcimer that day...
Thanks for reading, Y'all - Have a great, dulcimer-music-filled weekend!
Richard Ash - luthier-who-really-enjoys-days-of-the-week-that-include-vowels
FOLKCRAFT® DULCIMER PLAYER OF THE WEEK: TINA BROWN
Folkcraft: How long have you been playing the dulcimer?
Tina: I’m a member of the Woodburn Dulcimer Club, the home of Folkcraft Dulcimers. This is where I play in our Tuesday night jams. Being part of this club with a group of awesome people including Richard Ash, our facilitator, is fortunate for me. I’ve been playing a bit more than 5 years. Once I learned the Dave Haas’s songbook, and could keep up with the fast playing, I liked playing fast. These days I’m happy to play several fast songs before I long to slow it down and play some beautiful melodies. I like to play in parts and I do that with the North Webster Players. Adding rhythm instruments is fun. Speaking of rhythm I’m rhythm challenged. Carol Walker patiently helped me with that over Zoom while I learned lots of other cool songs, along with fingerpicking. I especially like Carol’s arrangements. And her teaching.
Folkcraft: When did you get your first Folkcraft dulcimer?
Tina: I have two Folkcraft dulcimers. The first is a beginning dulcimer, cost-wise, with a bright sound. I was happy with it for many years. My recent second dulcimer is a Custom Series Cadillac of a Folkcraft dulcimer. The ebony fret board feels wonderfully smooth for my fingers as I do slides and general fingering. The rosewood body and sitka spruce top is...
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF TINA'S INTERVIEW AND READ ABOUT OTHER FOLKCRAFT PLAYERS LIKE TINA AND YOU!
FOLKCRAFT® PLAYERS - WE LOVE HEARING FROM YOU!!!
No new player to add to our world-wide, online dulcimer community today. Thought we were really on a roll there... But we're happy to re-feature Woodburn Dulcimer Club member, Tina Brown. Maybe it could be you next week?
Who's Going To Write In Next? Keep The Family Growing?
It really is super-easy to join our online dulcimer community. Just three easy steps:
1) Send an email to: newsletter@folkcraft.com
2) With the answers to the four questions below
3) Attach a photo of yourself with your Folkcraft dulcimer(s)
We look forward to receiving your submission & featuring you in our newsletter real soon!
1. How long have you been playing the dulcimer?
2. When did you get your first Folkcraft dulcimer?
3. Where do you enjoy playing your dulcimer?
4. What other hobbies, or interests, do you have besides playing dulcimer?
WE'RE OFFERING A $25 FOLKCRAFT GIFT CARD TO ANYONE WHO ANSWERS THE FOUR EASY QUESTIONS LISTED ABOVE, AND SENDS IN A PHOTO (OF YOU WITH YOUR FOLKCRAFT DULCIMER). IT'S REALLY SO EASY TO DO!
WE JUST LOVE HEARING FROM Y'ALL!
This Week's Featured YouTube Video:
Here's a refresher course on how to do a string-change and cleanup on your scroll head dulcimer. Mandy will walk you through it step-by-step. You can do it! Click on the image below to listen & learn.
We have a slew (that's a fancy luthier word for "bunch") of videos for you to watch on our YouTube channel. Click here to see the full list. Be sure to comment on a video, and subscribe to the channel - either action helps us a LOT with YouTube's suggestion algorithms.
MOUNTAIN DULCIMER ARRANGEMENTS - FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC
by Neal Hellman
Mountain dulcimer arrangements, straight from the mind of the one and only Neal Hellman - to your fingertips. (If only it was that easy!)
This book has 35 amazing arrangements - far more than the usual "melody-line-only" versions of these tunes you usually find. They're full and rich, but not terribly complicated. Neal has taken the time to notate all of the hammer-ons, pull-offs, pitch bends, and the other nuances that make for a great arrangement. (85 pages)
This book is published by Folkcraft Instruments, under the Fingers Of Steel imprint, and is made available here as an authorized, licensed download.
SONGS INCLUDED IN THIS BOOK:
A Maid That's Deep In Love
Allemande
Arkansas Traveler
Bravery, Courage And Fearless Men
Bridget Cruise
Colored Aristocracy
Concertina Reel
Dark, Plaintive Youth (The)
Death Of Queen Jane (The)
Farewell To The Creeks
Fiddlin' Bagpipes
Gary Owen
Girl I Left Behind Me (The)
Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier
Kingdom Come
Leaving Lismore
Loch Lavan Castle
Merrily Kiss The Quaker's Wife
Minuet
My Lagan Love
Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore
Port Dalaigh
Pretty Saro
Rain And Snow
Sailor's Alphabet (The)
Sandy River Belle
Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down
Silly Bill
Skye Boat Song (The)
Tater Patch
Tripping Up The Stairs
Voi Ch'amate Lo Criatore
Wayfaring Stranger
When Adam Was Created
The Pythagorean Monochord