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Nylon-String Mountain Dulcimer!
by Steve Eulberg
I am so excited to introduce you to this brand-new instrument. I have been waiting for it for over a year and it is finally here!
Robert Stephens of South Carolina (StephensLutherie.com) has been working with Aaron O'Rourke (of Chattanooga, TN) to develop a new fingerstyle dulcimer that can also work when strung with nylon strings.
Below is my happy introduction of this beauty to you!
Several lessons featuring this instrument for the F…
Tam Kearney Dulcimers
by Steve Eulberg
I was picking through my photo archives and was so delighted to uncover these photos!
Tam Kearney, co-founder of Toronto's Fiddler's Green and dulcimer-builder
Tam Kearney was a mainstay in the Toronto folk music scene after growing up in Glasgow and then moving to Canada in the 1960s. Unfortunately for us, he passed in 2013. (Read Ian Robb's eulogy in SingOut! Magazine here.)
I was on tour in Toronto in March of 2017 and was able to play a house concert for Lynn Westerhout, Tam'…
I was picking through my photo archives and was so delighted to uncover these photos!
Tam Kearney, co-founder of Toronto's Fiddler's Green and dulcimer-builderTam Kearney was a mainstay in the Toronto folk music scene after growing up in Glasgow and then moving to Canada in the 1960s. Unfortunately for us, he passed in 2013. (Read Ian Robb's eulogy in SingOut! Magazine here.)
I was on tour in Toronto in March of 2017 and was able to play a house concert for Lynn Westerhout, Tam'…
Historic Dulcimers in England
by Steve Eulberg
I was honored to be the American mountain dulcimer tutor for the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club's Fall Festival in Malvern, England last month.
Thanks to Geoff Reeve-Black, I was also able to see some historic mountain dulcimers from his collection that I am pleased to show to you here:
This one was built by Edd Presnell from North Carolina. Some people find the traditional wooden tuning pegs to be a challenge (and a chore!) but these operated smoothly, AND accurately, even though I was co…
I was honored to be the American mountain dulcimer tutor for the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club's Fall Festival in Malvern, England last month.
Thanks to Geoff Reeve-Black, I was also able to see some historic mountain dulcimers from his collection that I am pleased to show to you here:
This one was built by Edd Presnell from North Carolina. Some people find the traditional wooden tuning pegs to be a challenge (and a chore!) but these operated smoothly, AND accurately, even though I was co…
Learn More from Mistakes
by Linda Ratcliff
I Learn More from My Mistakes Than Successes. Do You?
The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing. - John Powell
I Learn More from My Mistakes Than Successes. Do You?
I love to play through a tune perfectly, time after time, but lets get real - in my world, that simply doesn't happen. I fail to play a tune perfectly more often than I succeed. But mistakes can be good. In every mistake, there is the potential for growth. They can help me, if I will just take time to do the work. For example ...
Mistakes help me…
Mistakes help me…
Shop Visit: Blue Lion Dulcimers
by Steve Eulberg A few years back my spouse, Connie, and I had a warm and welcoming visit with Janita and Bob Baker of Blue Lion Instruments in Santa Margarita, California. 
Watching people work through their rhythms and share their craft is a treasure and joy (for me: especially when there is a sawdust smell!) 
A hallmark of these beautiful mountain dulcimers is the inlay that Janita creates for the fretboards, at the request of the new owners of the instruments. (Picture above) But these hand…
Frank Proffitt
by Steve Eulberg In Pete Seeger's television series, Rainbow Quest, Episode 26, he hosted folklorist Frank Warner. At about 26:27 they begin discussing Frank Proffitt, including some film of him playing his banjo at the Newport Folk Festival (begins at 40:09) Frank is most well-known for preserving the song Tom Dooley, [UNFORTUNATELY THIS YOUTUBE ACCOUNT HAS BEEN TERMINATED.] Earlier in their conversation, Pete relates an exchange of letters between Howie Mitchell and Frank Proffitt about dulci…
Dulcimercrossing.wordpress.com Blog Year 2014 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog. 
Here's an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Click here to see the complete report. Thanks for reading and commenting and sharing this blog with others who love dulcimers! Let us know if there is something …
Building Your Own Instrument?
I've this said this over and over again:
"If I hadn't built my first dulcimers, I probably wouldn't be playing them."
I'm not kidding. I played piano, trumpet, harmonica, guitar and mandolin before I ever heard a dulcimer (of either kind.) I first heard both kinds of dulcimers in college, played by traveling musicians who performed for us. The sounds were deeply implanted in me, because now playing these instruments is a large part of how I make my living.
But I never felt I deserved (or could a…
"If I hadn't built my first dulcimers, I probably wouldn't be playing them."
I'm not kidding. I played piano, trumpet, harmonica, guitar and mandolin before I ever heard a dulcimer (of either kind.) I first heard both kinds of dulcimers in college, played by traveling musicians who performed for us. The sounds were deeply implanted in me, because now playing these instruments is a large part of how I make my living.
But I never felt I deserved (or could a…
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