The More You Play, The Better It Gets
Good Morning, Y'all & Happy Friday!
I hope your weekend is going to be utterly awesome, full of great music-making with friends and family. Don't get me wrong - I'm all in favor of solo music making, but in my experience, playing with other people is a lot more fun.
Musical Building Blocks
I recall that back when I was in fourth grade, I was taken to the organ store (keyboard instruments, not a butcher shop) at the McCain Mall in North Little Rock, Arkansas. I was then escorted into a back room, where I suffered through an organ lesson every week. For about a year. I sat at the organ playing alone, the teacher critiqued my playing, then I went home to practice, alone, until the next week, when the cycle repeated itself.
I would have been about nine years old, and even at that tender age, I had displayed an affinity, maybe even an aptitude, for music. So I took organ lessons, since we had an organ at home. In hindsight, it was a nice two-manual Hammond, with the classic spinning tonewheels. I learned the basics of music - notation in both treble and bass clefs, how to count rhythms. I learned how to practice, even. Foundational skills for my lifetime, starting in the back room of an organ store at the mall. What I learned was awesome, and shaped my life even to now.
I hated it. Playing organ was boring, and lonely.
After a year or so, I was withdrawn from organ lessons. My next foray into instrumental music was in seventh grade, when I was introduced to saxophone playing. Wow! I got to play with a whole room full of people, and it was awesome! Music was more fun than I had imagined, thanks to the group experience.
I went on to play a variety of wind instruments, always in an ensemble. Practicing alone wasn't a problem, since every few days I could make music with a group of people. I practiced quite a lot, and developed enough skill to get a music scholarship to college. I went on to become a music teacher.
Lessons Learned
But I never forgot the lessons of "playing alone can be boring" and that "playing with others is a lot more fun." As a K-12 school band director, I kept the school band going, but also encouraged my students to create various ensembles to practice (and ultimately perform) with outside of school hours. Trios, quartets, quintets. Anything to help them improve their skills.
I'm a firm believer, even now, that the more a person plays, the better they get. And the better a player gets, the more fun it is. And then the feedback loop starts - the more fun it is, the more a person plays. It's a wonderful cycle that feeds on itself, growing and growing. So how does this concept fit into mountain dulcimer?
1) Playing by yourself is fine, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. But playing with other dulcimer players is MORE fine. The camaraderie of working out a tricky phrase, together, is priceless. And there's always someone who can teach you something new, so you make improvements in technique much more quickly.
Woodburn Dulcimer Club in 2023
2) When you find someone to play WITH, so you don't have to be a "nobody's ever heard me play a dulcimer" kind of person anymore - and you have a practice goal. It could be as simple as "We're working on a new song next week, and I want to have a feel for how it goes before I see the group again." Or "the B-part of that song really messed me up last week, I'm going to work on it a bit before I see the group again." There's some accountability - practicing so as to not hold the group back. But there's also the pride of "I practiced last week, and I got this song so much better than before." You'll notice these things when you play with a group.
3) Musical ensembles usually have a social aspect, too. You get to know the other players, and find out about their families, their instruments, their cats and dogs, and everything else. My personal dulcimer group? We meet every Tuesday evening for two hours. We play for an hour, take a 20 minute break to stretch, and visit, then play for another 40 minutes. Some of the people in my club have been playing with me every Tuesday evening for over 15 years.
How do you get this to happen for you? I didn't used to have a group to play with locally. The closest groups for me would have been over an hour's drive. I could have driven a little farther to visit the Dayton dulcimer club, or a bit more to visit the Indianapolis group. So here's what I did: I started a dulcimer group. I advertised in the local paper, "Free Dulcimer Lessons, Learn To Play, Wednesdays 6:30 - 8:30 PM." I gave a starting date and an ending date.
Eight people showed up the first Wednesday. We started working through Joyce Ochs's "First Lessons" book (see link below). After about three months, we had half-a-dozen solid players. I announced to them that "Congratulations, you're now the Woodburn (Indiana) Dulcimer Club! We're meeting every Tuesday from 6:30 until 8:30. See you next week!" I repeated the ad, and started another Wednesday night beginner group, and moved that crew to Tuesday nights after a few months.
Voila! I had a dulcimer club. People to play WITH. Fun. Camaraderie. I would guess that without a group to play with each week, many of our club members would no longer be playing the dulcimer. We saw a membership decline when we were shut down in 2020 and 2021 and some players didn't come back when we restarted. They lost interest, playing alone for a year. Playing with a group is a wonderful thing!
It isn't easy starting a group. I had lesson plans to create, handouts to design. But it was absolutely worthwhile.
Woodburn Dulcimer Club playing at a concert in 2017
Make It Happen
If you don't have a group to play with, ideally each week, don't be like "organ-playing" Richard. Instead, start a group. You don't have to have a group of experienced players. Get a group of beginners started, and let them become experienced players. I hear, so often, "but I don't have a group near me." Now you know the solution! Make it happen, and your dulcimer playing days can become more enjoyable.
Thanks for reading. Now go and get your dulcimer, put it on your lap, and start making some noise! Even better, make some noise with another dulcimer player or two...
Richard Ash, luthier-who's-glad-his-name-isn't-Luther-because-that-would-be-confusing
FOLKCRAFT® DULCIMER PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: GAIL GARIN
Folkcraft: How long have you been playing the dulcimer?
Gail: I have been playing the mountain dulcimer since 1979, when I bought an instrument at a Renaissance Fair for the outrageous price of $65 (those were the days!) I have had a number of dulcimers made by other luthiers over the years, but I have to say that my Folkcraft dulcimers, obtained within the last 10 years, are my favorites, both for sound and ease of playing.
Folkcraft: When did you get your first Folkcraft dulcimer?
Gail: My walnut Folkcraft was purchased from Dave Haas at the Dutchland Dulcimer Festival in PA by my spouse. It is a 27" VSL and she soon discovered that it was too large for her short fingers, and she gave it up for a 23" VSL. Lucky me! It became mine! Then, in 2022 I had a custom dulcimer made to specifications best for fingerpicking, which I do more than strumming, particularly to back up my singing.
Gail: I play and sing with the dulcimer, and do my own arranging. I play at church and have done programs for Senior Centers. I live in a retirement community and regularly play with residents in the Assisted Living and Medical wings. And I love to play...
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF GAIL'S INTERVIEW AND ABOUT OTHER FOLKCRAFT PLAYERS LIKE GAIL & YOU!
HELLO FOLKCRAFT® PLAYERS - WE LOVE HEARING FROM YOU!
We are delighted to welcome Gail Garin to our global, online dulcimer community today. Welcome to the family, Gail!
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!
This Week's Featured YouTube Video:
This week we’ll take the song "London Bridge" and learn it two ways. We will play it first on the melody line, then we will move onto those other two strings and get them involved! Try and take any song you have learned and pick it out somewhere else. Have fun! Just 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.
THE PICKIN' PORCH
by Dana Gruber
Maybe you don't have a dulcimer club to play with yet? But maybe you do have, as your newsletter editor does, a guitar player (or a half-dozen) and even an excellent fiddle player to make music with. This excellent book is set up for all of you to enjoy playing songs together. It is sure to have you pickin' and strummin' to perfection in no time.
It includes both standard notation and dulcimer tablature, plus guitar chords for versatile jamming. It has songs in the key of D, G, and A (some retuning and capo required) the latter two keys being favorites with guitarists and fiddlers. Classic porch-picking fun awaits! (No porch required.)
This book is published by Fingers Of Steel, and is made available here as an authorized, licensed download.
SONG LISTING
Arkansas Traveler (Easy Version) - DAD Tuning
Arkansas Traveler - DGD Tuning
Black Cat In A Briar Patch - DAD Tuning
Camp Meeting On The Fourth Of July (Easy Version) - DAD Tuning
Camp Meeting On The Fourth Of July - DAD Tuning
Chicken Reel - Joseph M. Daley - AEA Tuning
Dubuque - DGD Tuning
Fisher's Hornpipe - DGD Tuning
Folding Down The Sheets - DAD Tuning
Hangman's Reel (Melody Version) - AEA Tuning
Hangman's Reel (Harmony Version) - AEA Tuning
John Stinson #2 (Capo 3) - GCD Tuning
Joke On The Puppy (Capo 3) - GDG Tuning
Liberty (Easy Version) - DGD Tuning
Liberty - DGD Tuning
Nail That Catfish To The Tree - DAD Tuning
Red-Haired Boy - ADA Tuning
Red Hills Polka - DAD Tuning
Rundown Boot - DAD Tuning
Shove That Pig's Foot A Little Further In The Fire (Easy Version) - DGD Tuning
Shove That Pig's Foot A Little Further In The Fire - DAD Tuning
The Girl I Left Behind Me - DGD Tuning
The Irish Washer Woman - GDG Tuning
Turkey In The Straw - GDG Tuning
Under The Double Eagle (Easy Version) - DAD Tuning
Under The Double Eagle - DAD Tuning