Blog
You Can STILL Do It
I have played musical instruments all my life. My grandmother was a concert pianist, and there was always an Everett piano in my childhood home. When my mother decided her hands were too shaky and she was too old to play any longer, she passed on her Everett piano to me. But that space in her home stood empty less than a month. She couldn’t stand it, had to have another piano, and continued to play even into her 90’s. So music is definitely in my blood!
Like many of you, I became interested in d…
Why Tune?
You picked up your dulcimer to run through a couple of tunes. There’s no one else listening. No one will care if your instrument is slightly out of tune. And you only have a few minutes to practice. Why bother to tune for that? This thought came to my mind a few weeks back. I had about 15 minutes of free time before I had to leave, and I wanted to start reviewing my patriotic repertoire – getting ready for impromptu performances for Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day. America the Beautiful, …
What About Busking?
I follow the adventures of a real-life, full-time, traveling busker, Lyle Rickards, on FB. Now “busker” is a term coined to refer to a street musician or performer, and Lyle fits this profile perfectly. He plays several different instruments, but I most often see him playing a harmonica and mountain dulcimer … both at the same time. Lyle is often broke and dealing with yet another difficulty, but he is dedicated to his lifestyle of busking and couldn’t imagine any other way of making a living. R…
The Fear of Going Too Fast
Sitting on the side of the highway waiting to catch speeding drivers, a State Police Officer observed a car puttering along at 22 mph. He thought to himself, “This driver is just as dangerous as a speeder!” So he turned on his lights and pulled the driver over. Approaching the car, he noticed that there were five passengers, all old ladies, two in the front seat and three in the back – eyes wide open and white as ghosts. The driver, obviously confused, said to him, “Officer, I don’t understand, …
Never Give Up
When we lived in Branson, MO, my husband and I went to see Mickey Gilley’s show several times at the Mickey Gilley Theatre, and we also saw him share his music in informal settings. We met Mickey personally and had a great admiration for him because we loved his songs. But we held him in high esteem even more because he had a “never give up” attitude. He loved to tell the story of how it took him 17 years to have a No. 1 hit. He learned to play that Louisiana rhythm and blues style on the piano …
Gotcher First Gig?
It’s only natural to daydream about your first gig … a small gathering of friends hoping to see you do well, spotlights , applause, a crowd of satisfied folks from the audience wanting to shake your hand and congratulate you after the event.
I hate to stick a pin in that daydream bubble, but first-time concerts don’t always run so smoothly. But, the good news is that, with just a little preparation, you can avoid many of the pitfalls that might spoil the dream for you. Don’t even think about st…
Colin Beasley Live Workshop
We are excited to host Colin Beasley for our May Live Workshop!
Colin Beasley (<-- Click on his name to learn more about him)
Thurs, May 19, 5 pm MDT
Playing Melody and Harmony Together:
Hand Independence
This is a hammered dulcimer-focused workshop (with mountain dulcimer translation!)
This workshop (and its recorded…
Connect Like a Rock Star
I am SO not a rock star. And you probably aren’t either. But when I’m playing my instrument, I’m a communicator and I want to connect with the person or audience for whom I’m playing.
With that in mind, do you ever feel like you’re not connecting with your audience … when you’re introducing your next tune … or when you’re actually playing your dulcimer? Do they look bored (out of their minds)? Are their toes stubbornly still, instead of tapping along with the beat? Does their body language reve…
Certificates of Completion
New DulcimerCrossing Feature:
Certificates Awarded for Completion of Courses!
We are excited to provide a celebration of your accomplishments when you complete
(and mark as complete) each one of our over 200 Courses on DulcimerCrossing.
The Certificates look like this:
We all know that a significant challenge for us as learners is to stay with the learning process and every bit of support we can get will help us reach our goal of:
"Bridging the Gap between what you know and where…
New Feature: Sample Lessons
NEW FEATURE: Sample Lessons
We've added a new feature on our DulcimerCrossing.com website: Sample Lessons by several of our instructors for each of the instruments for which we teach Courses.
Mountain Dulcimer:
These are sample mountain dulcimer lessons from DulcimerCrossing's curriculum, one from each level we teach:
Absolute Beginning-Level 1-Steve Eulberg
Beyond Beginning-Level 2-Butch Ross
Intermediate-Level 3-Neal Hellman
Advanced-Level 4-Nina Zanetti
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