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Teaching the Old-Time Tunes...for fiddle!

Part 2 of the Update OSOTFWcoverCDbabyNow you already KNOW that DulcimerCrossing teaches lessons for both kinds of dulcimer, but did you know that the tunes on the Old School Old-Time FiddleWhamdiddle CD are being taught for fiddle players on Vi Wickman and Matthew Hartz's MyTalentForge.com? If you don't play fiddle, please pass this on to your friends who do!

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Fiddle Whamdiddle CD Old School Old-Time

OSOTFWcoverCDbaby

Psst...Here is part 1 of the update I promised you.

Vi and I recorded and released a recording of some of our favorite Old-Time tunes in December. Old School Old-Time is what we call it...and we even got to do our photo shoot in the oldest one-room schoolhouse in Larimer County, Colorado--the Upper Box Elder School!

We had a foot-stomping, hootin and hollerin' good time at Avogadro's Number in Fort Collins as a CD Release party, and now we're getting the word out about the CD.

Some people like it b…

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Fiddle-Tune-A-Day

IMG_5561Late in 2011, my fiddling pardner, Vi Wickam, committed to filming a Fiddle-Tune-A-Day throughout the year of 2012.  366 days...(it was a leap year!).  That's a lot of fiddle tunes!  You can see the entire collection on his Youtube Channel (which can be overwhelming)--OR, you can sign up on his email list to get one emailed to you once a day--for a whole year!

He played some old chestnuts, he solicited suggestions from people, he paged through Coleman's, he chose some he'd written, he found new e…

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Introduction to New Fingerstyle Lessons

Nina Zanetti, the 2008 National Dulcimer Champion, has provided us with a very clear and inspiring lessons on how to get started playing Fingerstyle Mountain Dulcimer.

Here is the Introduction to her Lesson Series on DulcimerCrossing.com:

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Don't Miss the Bus! Back to School Special

SAVE! You don't need new school clothes if you are choosing our homeschool method of dulcimer learning at www.dulcimercrossing.com! And with our Back to School Special (Aug 24-Sept 2), you can save even more AND build your dulcimer skills! 

Bridging the Gap between

what you know

and where you want

Your Music to go!

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Dulci-Bro: Where can I get one?

by Steve Eulberg We have begun a Lesson series on learning to play the Dulci-Bro and the natural question arises:  where can I get one? Homer Ledford is credited by at least one observer as being the originator of a resonator dulcimer.

(Alvey, R. Gerald. Dulcimer Maker: the craft of Homer Ledford. University Press of Kentucky, 2003.)

I ordered mine (many years ago) from Don Neuhauser, who quite simply, is an amazing dulcimer builder! Don is in Charlestown, Indiana. My dulci-bro is built with a…

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Why use the DAA tuning?

by Steve Eulberg

With mountain dulcimer, every tuning has benefits to recommend it.  Every tuning also has limitations.

Someone wrote to me recently to ask why we include lessons on the DulcimerCrossing website in the DAA tuning.  Here are the 4 reasons that I wrote back in response:
1)  Do-sol-sol or 1-5-5- (e.g. DAA) Tuning
1-5-5 is the most common original tuning for mountain dulcimers in the USA, and, on instruments with no 6+ or 6-1/2 fret, it is the only way to play the Ionian (Major) sca…

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Technique or Repertoire?

by Steve Eulberg



Here is the chicken-or-egg question, regardless of whether one is a student or a teacher.

Which is more important in learning to play an instrument:  Technique or Repertoire?

Both are necessary, of course, but how would you answer the question?

Perhaps one of these phrases describes you as a Student, whether you are working with a private instructor, or making workshop decisions when you attend a festival:

Student A:  "Tunes!  There are so many tunes!  I want to learn to play them al…

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Playing Authentic and Plagal Tunes

by Steve Eulberg

Here are two words that may be unfamiliar to you, but which I find most helpful for determining where to look to play tunes on both mountain and hammered dulcimers:  Authentic and Plagal. (for more on Plagal, see below)

Authentic Tunes are those whose notes are generally found between Do and the octave do.

Plagal Tunes (in a use of the term by ethnomusicicologists) are those which are centered on Do, from Sol below Do to sol above Do.  This is illustrated by the chart below:

Now ho…

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