Blog

NGFDA hosts DulcimerCrossing Teachers at their Fall Festival in November!

NGFDAFall2021Logo

DulcimerCrossing.com is honored to be a sponsor for NGFDA Fall Festival which happens online Nov. 18-20 this year.

We have a long history of providing sponsorship and scholarship support to festivals across the country because we know that there is no substitute for in-person learning.

We are also excited that several of our teachers are providing workshops for this festival!

Erin Mae Lewis

Butch Ross

Nina Zanetti

Karen Mueller

DJ Hamouris

Larry and Elaine Conger

Aubrey Atwater, and

ou…

Read more…

DulcimerCrossing Teachers at the QuaranTUNE Festival 5.0 in October

QTGraphicNoWords

DulcimerCrossing.com is proud, once again, to be a Gold Sponsor for the 5th QuaranTUNE Dulcimer Festival which happens online October 7-10th this year.

We have a long history of providing sponsorship and scholarship support to festivals across the country because we know that there is no substitute for in-person learning.

We are also excited that several of our teachers are providing workshops for this festival!

Erin Mae Lewis

Butch Ross

Don Pedi

Nina Zanetti

Karen Mueller

DJ Hamouris

L…

Read more…

The Blessings of Music

linda-playing-dulcimer
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind,
flight to the imagination and life to everything.”
- Plato

The Blessings of Music


I’ve been around music all my life, for as long as I can remember. In fact, I don’t think there’s ever been a time when I didn’t have a tune in my head or a piece of music (or instrument) in my hands.

Music runs in our family. My grandmother was a concert pianist and traveled all over Europe – even playing for the queen of England. We always had a pia…

Read more…

Getting Closer to the Launch!

Screen Shot 2021-08-07 at 12.54.08 PM

We are getting much closer to the launch of the new DulcimerCrossing Platform!

In design and planning since December 2019, and under construction for more than a year, we have sent out Beta Testers through the site to give us feedback and they are giving us both kudos and some key suggestions and design tweaks to help our subscribers' experience of learning the music they wish to play on their instruments.

Our staff has been working feverishly this summer to move all of the lesson content from…

Read more…

Leap Forward with Matthew Dickerson today!



National Hammered Dulcimer Champion and DulcimerCrossing instructor, Matthew Dickerson, will share his knowledge and experience in our March Leap Forward in Your Musical Understanding Live Event for Premium Members today.



Log in with your Premium Membership to access this lesson today:



4 pm PDT | 5 pm MDT | 6 pm CDT | 7 pm EDT



That Membership also lets you view the Archive Videos of the previous lessons:



Circle of 5ths/Ionian Mode Week 1





Dorian Mode Week 2





Aeolian Mode Week 3





M…

Read more…

Lent Musical Devotions


Once again Steve is offering to share a twice-a-week acoustic music devotions for the season of Lent beginning February 26th (Ash Wednesday).


Sign up here and they will arrive in your email inbox twice a week to accompany you on your journey through the season of Lent.


He also has created a Lent Devotions Playlist on Spotify if you want to have access on demand.

Read more…

Leap Forward Week 3

Performance Tasks/Learning Objectives from this lesson:





1. Find an E Aeolian Scale (Natural/Pure Minor) on your instrument 



2. Use that knowledge to Play God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen or Wayfaring Stranger



3. Name the notes that the student used to play this scale



4. Define the Aeolian scale 



5. For Mountain Dulcimer: What do I have and what Drones do I need?



A. If I use a Capo how do I tune and where do I start?



B. How can I re-tune and play Aeolian in some different Keycenters?



Aeoli…

Read more…

New Theory Quiz

Following our first two Live Music Theory classes for Premium Members of DulcimerCrossing.com, Erin Mae and I have a new Quiz, this time comparing the Ionian and Dorian Modes.



Click here to try it out and test your understanding!



Later today [4 pm PST = 5 pm MST = 6 pm CST = 7 pm EST] is the 3rd lesson, this one focusing on the Aeolian Mode.



Premium Members have access on the Live events page at DulcimerCrossing.com.



(Be certain that you have logged in and the background is blue and th…

Read more…

Leap Forward Week 2 Homework

Here is the Handout for this week's Class.



Student Assessment Lesson 2 Leap Forward in Your Music Understanding



Homework



1. Compare what we did in Dorian of E to Dorian of D



2. Look through your music and see if you can identify what key the songs are and whether or not they are in the Dorian (Mountain Minor) Mode.



3. Play Along with the Backing Tracks Library on DulcimerCrossing (listed above). 



4. Report back with questions, insights, “aha” experiences in the comment section of the Ho…

Read more…

Categories