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New Feature: Liking Lessons, Marking as Favorites

Liking Lessons in Courses NEW FEATURE

New Feature in DulcimerCrossing Lessons

Liking Lessons, Marking as Favorites

Liking Lessons in Courses NEW FEATURE

Once you have like or "favorited" a lesson, it shows up here when you click on your profile in the top right corner when you are logged in. 

FavoritesonDC

We've always had the Progress bar to mark our progress through the Lessons and Modules in different courses in DulcimerCrossing, but a new feature was just released this week:  Students can ALSO MARK FAVORITE LESSONS by clicking on the heart. 

This can help you recall a boo…

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The POWER of Your hands

SteveElectricMDHands

What if someone were to create a YouTube video on your hands? What if someone wanted to tell your story based on the life of your hands?

What would we see?

Like all of us, the story would begin with the shot of an infant’s fist, followed by a close-up of your tiny hand wrapped tightly around your mommy’s finger. Then what?

I would look through the photos in an old album your mother saved, and crop a picture showing your hand hanging on to a chair as you learned to walk. I might showcase your …

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Create a Portable Practice Space

Once you have established the perfect practice space in your home, it becomes difficult to envision practicing anywhere else. However, life occasionally necessitates being away from your designated space for extended periods of time (Steve can vouch for this!). In such situations, it is crucial to maintain your hard-earned and well-established practice routine. This is where the concept of a portable practice space comes into play.

Whether you find yourself needing to practice at work, school, o…

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Behind the Shower Curtain

Why is it that I can sing so well behind the shower curtain? My pitch is perfect, I remember all the words, and my vibrato is amazing. I feel like I could go on stage to be a professional vocalist. However, my confidence and perfect pitch go into hiding when I try to sing in front of someone.

It’s the same with playing my instruments. I have a great assortment of instruments and we moved recently to a new neighborhood. When my new neighbors come into the house for a get-to-know-you visit, they …

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The Value of Journaling

Throughout high school and college, I filled scrapbooks with souvenirs from the fun times I had. It held pictures, tickets, programs, and mementoes from my adventures. It was a treasure trove showing not only my exploits, but also the milestones in my life as I grew into adulthood. My scrapbooks served as tangible reminders of my favorite experiences and the joy I derived from them.

I don’t do scrapbooks any more. But I believe in journaling. It’s a fantastic way of documenting progress and rec…

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Why Don't I Practice More???

Weren't you totally excited the day you brought home your first dulcimer?  I imagine you practiced 'til your fingertips were sore, or your arms felt like they were falling off from wielding those two hammers.  But then, as days or weeks went by, the time you invested in practicing decreased ... maybe even stopped altogether.  You found excuses to push practice time to the back burner.  I wonder why this has happened to so many of us.  

Well, I have some thoughts about this (of course).  Let's ex…

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How to Memorize

As I’ve gotten older, I’m finding it more difficult to memorize music. And I need to memorize the music, because my eyes don’t work like they used to … and it slows me down when I'm trying to read the music. So I began to search online for techniques that would help me memorize music more quickly and easily. Here are some suggestions I found.

  • Stop telling yourself you can’t memorize music. Our brains are an incredible machine that have the equivalent of 2.5 million gigabytes of digital memo…

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WHY Are We Doing This?


I have spent all of my entire life encouraging people to take up learning an instrument. When I was an elementary teacher, I also had several piano students that I taught in my garage after school. I told parents that learning to play an instrument also helps with memory, cognition, motor skill, and attention span.

When my own children got to junior high and high school, they played in the band. I found high school students in band stayed busy and out of trouble.  They understood teamwork, they…

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Two New Dulcimer Events Planned for 2024!

ZoomRoomWorkshop

Mark Your Calendar for 2 Live Zoom day-long Workshops in early 2024.

by Steve Eulberg

Blues on Mountain Dulcimer, all day, Saturday, January 6, 2024

featuring: Bing Futch, Molly McCormack, Deborah DJ Hamouris, Steve Eulberg and more.

PlayingBluesMDCoversFront_truefire

4 Equidistant Dulcimer Day, all day, Saturday, March 2, 2024

featuring: Stephen Seifert, Heidi Muller, Neal Hellman, Hunter Walker and more.

4EquidistantHorizB

More details to follow.

 

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Starve Your Distractions

Why do some people advance quickly in their dulcimer skills, while others just get stuck? The difference may NOT be in the quantity of time that they practice. The difference just might be a deviation from focus and consistency.

For example, I have been retired for 3 weeks now. I had told myself for the last year, as we prepared for the move and this next season of our lives, that when I didn’t have to go to work anymore I was going to practice every single day. Has that happened? Uhhhhh … well…

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