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What to Do....when you're snowed in.
by Linda Ratcliff
Most of you know I live full time in an RV. At the campground where we stay, they don't believe in plowing. And we live at the low end of the park. Early January, there was ice - on top of snow - on top of ice, with NO hope it would be cleared and we didn't even try to get out. Now most of you would have used that gift of time to practice your dulcimers. But I began going through our lessons one by one, and found some ways to make improvements.
•Right now, videos are loaded in a …
Most of you know I live full time in an RV. At the campground where we stay, they don't believe in plowing. And we live at the low end of the park. Early January, there was ice - on top of snow - on top of ice, with NO hope it would be cleared and we didn't even try to get out. Now most of you would have used that gift of time to practice your dulcimers. But I began going through our lessons one by one, and found some ways to make improvements.•Right now, videos are loaded in a …
How to Choose a Hammered Dulcimer
Criteria for Purchasing a Hammered Dulcimer
by Steve Eulberg & Linda Ratcliff
Steve playing a Prelude for an Ordination service. We are fortunate to live in the midst of a sustained dulcimer revival! Today, not only are there kits available for you to build your own, there are a good number of quality builders who have refined the process and are able to make instruments that are reliably good from instrument to instrument and who stand behind their work. In addition, there are also a good nu…
DulcimerCrossing & Music Education
As former public school educators, Linda Ratcliff and Steve Eulberg, have designed the DulcimerCrossing.com website to support Music Educators, students and Homeschool students and teachers.The National Association for Music Education has created nationwide standards for musical education for the United States of America.
DulcimerCrossing.com lessons are designed to equip students to be successful in demonstrating their proficiency on 6 of these 9 standards.
You can read more about our goals here,…
Comparing the Chromatic and Diatonic Fretboards
In this FREE SAMPLE LESSON from www.dulcimercrossing.com, Guest Instructor, Erin Rogers, compares the Chromatic Mountain Dulcimer Fretboard with the (close to standard) Diatonic Freboard.
This is the first in Erin's Chromatic Mountain Dulcimer Lesson Series on our site. And I just found this treasure: David Beede, the maker of Erin's Chromatic Mountain Dulcimer filmed some video on its actual "Birthday"! Take a look:
Erin will be teaching in Winfield at the Warm-Up Picnic on Saturday, Se…
Duet with Hammered Dulcimer Lead
Linda Thomas, one of our guest instructors at dulcimercrossing.com, plays a fine duet with Dan Delancey.
Here the hammered dulcimer takes the lead. Linda also teaches the entire tune on our site, together with tasteful hammered dulcimer backup to Dan's smooth guitar-picking lead.
Linda Thomas Interview (an excerpt)
When Linda Thomas and Dan Delancey were in our studio to film lessons, we had a chance to ask some questions and find out more about Linda and how she began playing the hammered dulcimer. Here is an excerpt of the interview:
The entire interview can be viewed on our website here.
Introducing our newest Guest Instructor: Don Pedi!
DulcimerCrossing.com is very pleased to welcome Don Pedi as a mountain dulcimer instructor on our site. Here is a video in which he talks about how he got started playing and introduces us to some of his influences.
We encourage you to take his lessons and let him become one of YOUR influences!
Back 2 School Special!
It is that time of year again, when we change our rhythms, get out the school clothes, take pictures of the first day of school, and pick up our instruments to play them after our summer vacations. Here at DulcimerCrossing.com, we want to help you further develop your skills and enjoyment in making and sharing the music in your soul. So we have a deal for you!
We've added new teachers, we've got lessons for both mountain and hammered dulcimers, we've got lessons for dulci-bro (slide dulcimer…
Chromatic Mountain Dulcimer--The Dark Side?
The debate rages between:
"traditionalists" who argue for a standard diatonic dulcimer ("I don't want no extra frets bygummit!");
"neo-traditionalists" who argue for a modified diatonic dulcimer with a 6+ fret ("well it is pretty standard these days");
"practical-neo-traditionalists" who are supporters of multi-modified diatonic dulcimer with 6+ AND 1+ frets; ("but I NEED that extra fret to play C and F chords!")
"people on the DARK side" who are supporters of entirely chromatic mountain dulcimers. …
"traditionalists" who argue for a standard diatonic dulcimer ("I don't want no extra frets bygummit!");
"neo-traditionalists" who argue for a modified diatonic dulcimer with a 6+ fret ("well it is pretty standard these days");
"practical-neo-traditionalists" who are supporters of multi-modified diatonic dulcimer with 6+ AND 1+ frets; ("but I NEED that extra fret to play C and F chords!")
"people on the DARK side" who are supporters of entirely chromatic mountain dulcimers. …
Benefits and Limitations of Different Tunings on Mountain Dulcimer? Part 1
by Steve Eulberg
So how does one choose between the benefits and the limitations of different tunings when playing mountain dulcimer? To me the most important factors in this decision are:
1) What kind of dulcimer do I have? Is it "traditional" (with no extra frets like 6-1/2 or 1-1/2)?
2) What kind of music do I want to play?
3) In what style do I want to play this music? Do I want to play in the traditional noter or drone style? Do I want to play back-up chords? Do I want to …
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