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music theory
Benefits and Limitations of Different Tunings-Mountain Dulcimer, Part 2
by Steve Eulberg
In the first post addressing this topic, we examined the kind of instrument you have. Now we'll look at the second point: the kind of music you want to play.
Here are some examples that I suggested that reflect the different modes, that different tunings make possible, or easier to play.
In the first post addressing this topic, we examined the kind of instrument you have. Now we'll look at the second point: the kind of music you want to play.
Here are some examples that I suggested that reflect the different modes, that different tunings make possible, or easier to play.
A respondent suggested that I provide sound links for some tunes as examples.
Click on the links to hear and/or see them below:
Ionian (1-5-5, commonly DAA): Joy to the World, Barlow Knife
Mix…
Busted & Rusted
by Linda Ratcliff
Practice will clean up the rust and put the shine back in your playing. - Linda Ratcliff
Busted & Rusted
Call me old-fashioned, but I love old things with a bit of rust on them. Sometimes we wander into antique stores, and I always gravitate to the instrument section. I wonder about who owned the instruments, how they ended up in the store in such bad condition, and whether or not I could restore one of them.
Some of you may recognize the guitar below - its name is Trigger and it …
Practice will clean up the rust and put the shine back in your playing. - Linda Ratcliff
Busted & Rusted
Call me old-fashioned, but I love old things with a bit of rust on them. Sometimes we wander into antique stores, and I always gravitate to the instrument section. I wonder about who owned the instruments, how they ended up in the store in such bad condition, and whether or not I could restore one of them.
Some of you may recognize the guitar below - its name is Trigger and it …
Beginner to Expert
by Linda Ratcliff
The expert in anything was once a beginner. - Helen Hayes
Beginner to Expert
The opening quote for this page, "Every expert was once beginner," is attributed to Helen Hayes (1900-1993). She was an actress who is one of the few in her career to win an Emmy, a Grammy, and an Oscar and a Tony. If anyone became an expert in her craft, it was Helen Hayes.
Haruki Murakami is a Japanese author born in 1949 who writes novels and short stories. He said, "If everyone waited to become an exp…
The expert in anything was once a beginner. - Helen Hayes
Beginner to Expert
The opening quote for this page, "Every expert was once beginner," is attributed to Helen Hayes (1900-1993). She was an actress who is one of the few in her career to win an Emmy, a Grammy, and an Oscar and a Tony. If anyone became an expert in her craft, it was Helen Hayes.
Haruki Murakami is a Japanese author born in 1949 who writes novels and short stories. He said, "If everyone waited to become an exp…
Ask Questions
by Linda Ratcliff
A truly wise man always has more questions than answers. - Wilson from Home Improvements
Ask Questions
Below is a series of questio…
A truly wise man always has more questions than answers. - Wilson from Home Improvements
Ask Questions
Your sub-conscious works day and night to answer any questions you ask. So asking yourself open-ended questions puts the sub-conscious to work. Answers often come "out of the blue", as ideas or notions that you might not have had otherwise. When practicing, why don't you put your subconscious mind to work by asking questions about your progress?
Below is a series of questio…
Historical Music Printing
by Steve EulbergNow, for a taste of History!
Luís Henriques has posted a terrific video that illustrates and describes the challenge and results of printing music using a printing press in the Renaissance.
Understanding the challenges of musical notation in the printing process can help us better appreciate the tools that are available to us today as we produce original music, arrange music for playing with friends and create tablature to translate our ideas for playing on dulcimers.
Stay tuned for…
Quantity vs. Quality
by Steve Eulberg
Which is more important in art:
We want to have qualities of timbre and phrasing in music, quality of graceful movement in dance, qualities of taste and smell in cooking, qualities of joy and cleverness in humor, qualities of color, depth and placement in visual art.
So, choosing the end goal of this discussion as…
Which is more important in art:
Quantity or Quality?
Very often in the artistic world some believe we have settled this classic debate by choosing the benefits of quality over the benefits of quantity.We want to have qualities of timbre and phrasing in music, quality of graceful movement in dance, qualities of taste and smell in cooking, qualities of joy and cleverness in humor, qualities of color, depth and placement in visual art.So, choosing the end goal of this discussion as…
Sweet Harmonies
by Steve Eulberg We play dulcimers, whose name incorporates the Latin word for "sweet" (dulce). So when I talk about sweet harmonies, in a broad sense, they are the beautiful tunes that we play on our lovely instruments. However, in a more specific way, there are harmonies that reflect the intervals between notes that, at least to Western ears, trained to expect Western harmonies, that are "sweet." The space between two notes that are played simultaneously, or one after the other, is called an …
Upcoming Lesson: Playing with a Backing Track
Coming soon from the DulcimerCrossing editing bay: A new lesson series with coaching and suggestions for playing along with a Blues Backing Track. Using the example from the Backing Track Library for our members, Steve Eulberg demonstrates the power of the Pentatonic Minor Scale as a strategy for playing along with recorded music (without any written tablature!)
If you really want to dig in deep and understand what is going on inside the blues and how the mountain dulcimer is particular…
Playing with a Backing Track
Steve Eulberg demonstrates the beginning of a new Lesson Series at DulcimerCrossing.com: Playing Mountain Dulcimer with a Blues Backing Track.
He will demonstrate the Pentatonic Minor Box and how to move it around the fretboard to find the notes that will work for playing Blues in the key of E on an instrument tuned to DAd. (He also describes this process in his book, Playing Blues on the Mountain Dulcimer, which is available for sale on his website here: OR, Free to his Patrons on Pa…
Chords on Chromatic by Erin Mae Lewis
Erin Mae Lewis Finding and Building chords on a Chromatic Dulcimer. In her chromatic lessons series, Erin, shows how she maps out and builds chords, both the I-IV-V chords for playing progressions, but also the rich chord additions (minors, 7ths, major 7ths, minor 7ths and 6ths, diminished, suspended and augmented) [Note: this lesson uses both Diatonic and Chromatic Fret Numbers] Here Erin introduces the lessons:
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