Question Of The Week: Do You Play With A Club?

And now it's time to add your own two cents to the Folkcraft newsletter.

Do you play with a club? Tell us all about it!

How many people do you have in your group? What instruments do you all play? How often do you meet? And for how long? Ever have any gigs? What about matching outfits?

The Woodburn Dulcimer Club meets on Tuesday nights, practices
and jams in the Folkcraft concert hall, and has a gig every now and then

You get the picture. We want to hear about the clubs that are out there, and maybe even see you all in action. Tell us your stories. Send us your pictures. Share amongst the group... we all want to hear from you!

Do you play with a club? Tell us all about it!

The answers to this week's "question of the week" will be published in next week's newsletter.

Your Answers

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thanks to all who took a moment during the holiday to answer our weekly question.

Do you play with a club? Tell us all about it!

Name: Wayne Anderson
Location: Kingston, ON Canada
"We do not have a formal group set up but there is 14 players on my email list, and usually of that number 6 of us get together on a semi-regular basis, it is a mix of Mountain Dulcimer and Strum-sticks. Occasionally one of the members, who is multi-instrument, will drop in with an autoharp, or a walkabout dulcimer, and guitar. Not organized into a formal group, but we do have a bit of fun."

Name: Lora A.
Location: Nashville, TN
"The Grand Old Dulcimer Club meets monthly in Nashville. Across the community there are various smaller groups that meet weekly, and all come together to meet at the Buchanan Log House on a Sunday afternoon. We are mostly mountain dulcimer players, but also have members who play penny whistle, recorder, guitar and fiddle."

Name: JLT
Location: Sacramento CA
"We meet twice a month. Usually it's two or three guitars, an autoharp, a mandolin (shared) and maybe a bass or keyboard. Between three and six of us show at any given night."

Name: Vickey S.
Location: Blue Ash, OH
"I am the teacher for Buckeye Strings in Cincinnati OH. We practice every Tuesday night with Beg class from 5:30 - 6:30 PM and everyone else from 6:30 - 8:00PM at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Blue Ash, OH. Classes and gigs are FREE with most of our gigs at nursing homes, retirement centers, historical societies, etc. We have 42 in the group and average about 20 every week. I am very big in adding other instruments to the group to give us a fuller sound. We have members who have now gained the confidence to venture off and try other instruments..... dulcimers, bowing the dulcimers, psaltery, banjammers, guitars, ukes, autoharp, bodhran, flute, bass guitar, bells, washbass tub, and we have some times added a kazoo. We have limberjacks who dance into our audiences hearts at some of the gigs. We do wear matching t-shirts when we play.. red or blue. I found that it gives them a feeling of belonging more. We go out to eat every Tuesday after practice and have potlucks and picnics, celebrate holidays with themed dinners. We have guest artists come to our classes occasionally to teach us something new with a potluck afterwards. We have been fortunate to have visit us Bing Futch, Joe Collins, Dana and Hank Gruber, Alan Darveaux and Annie McFie, Butch Ross. We go on 2 road trips a year. Spring is OVG and then in the fall which varies. We are always looking for new people who want to learn to play the dulcimer and become part of our HAPPY FAMILY. I offer loaner dulcimers to try before investing in their own. Once they try it they are usually hooked!!!!! All in all we just love to have fun. When the day comes that this becomes more work than fun then that will become the day that I retire."

Name: John Y
Location: Orrville Ohio
"I play with the Wayne County (Ohio) Mountain Dulcimer Club. We usually meet the 4th Monday of the month (except December). We usually play for about 2 hours. From time to time we play at nursing homes, church groups and whoever invites us to play for them. I have been part of the group for 4 or 5 years but it has been going many years. Most of our instruments are mountain dulcimers but some members bring a second or a third or more instruments. These might be guitars, auto harp; one person brings either a penny whistle or recorder and I usually bring a pickn stick. We are a relatively small group, usually 8 to 10 people and sometimes a few more. Being part of the club has been a great way for me to continue learning new music and practicing familiar songs. An added bonus is that I have gained another circle of great friends!"

Name: Yvonne M
Location: Eldridge, ND
"I wish my answer could be yes...but unfortunately I appear to be the only one playing a Mountain Dulcimer in North Dakota. In the past I did have opportunities to play with Dulcimer clubs, twice in Indiana and once in Florida. I do enjoy my dulcimer club with one member though, and that would be me:-)"