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Dulcimer experiences, news, memories, snapshots, playing styles, tuning and tablature methods, favourite songs, opinions, advice and information on the Appalachian dulcimer.
Madeline MacNeil's performances are characterized by her effortless vocals and impeccable mountain and hammered dulcimer playing. In this book she reveals some of the secrets of her success with the mountain dulcimer. Early on, she reminds the reader that the dulcimer is not a toy or a stringed kazoo but a serious, expressive musical instrument capable of stretching as far as the imagination. She endorses both playing by ear and learning to read standard notation. In easily-understood language she manages to explore some very complex, even esoteric concepts, making this a particularly valuable book for the beginning instrumentalists. You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer is simply a great fundamental book. Twelve intensive lessons in 95 pages. Standard notation and tablature. Illustrated with photographs and drawings.
Dulcimer making has long been considered an art. The exquisite design is also functional, and the best instruments sound as beautiful as they look. Homer Ledford, a legend among dulcimer makers, is known for his innovative but traditional craftsmanship. A biography and a step-by-step guide to dulcimer making, this classic book illuminates and celebrates the work of a master craftsman, musician, and folk artist. This new edition presents a foreword by Ron Pen, director of the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music at the University of Kentucky, and an enlightening afterword featuring a conversation with Ledford. In an era when Americans are rediscovering their musical roots, Dulcimer Maker offers a unique look at a bluegrass legend.
Dulcimer a La Mode takes the mystery of out modal tuning and playing for the mountain dulcimer player by presenting four common tunings (DAA, DAG, DAD, and DAC) with instructions for tuning, finding the scales and chords, and learning traditional tunes in each of the four modes. This book will encourage players to retune their instrument and learn more of its versatility. Each tune is presented as a melody with a drone in the mode indicated with strumming and rhythm guides. for most tunes, an optional arrangement or accompaniment is also provided using more complex chords and reflecting more traditional Western harmony. As a further learning tool, the accompanying CD allows the listener to play along with the song as presented in the book.
This book is a treasure-trove of information and music for all players of the hammered dulcimer. Phillip Mason has written the definitive text on the history, tuning, playing technique, harmonic dimensions, construction, and repair of the sweet-voiced instrument. In an extensive essay, he also shares his thoughts on the fundamentals of singing with the hammered dulcimer. Concepts revealed here would be useful to anyone who aspires to sing, or improve ones singing technique. Music and lyrics for 34 songs are included in the Music Section followed by construction tips and plans for building your own hammered dulcimer.
Historically, music composed specifically for the hammered dulcimer has been rare. Here are 56 Rizzetta original pieces, including reels, waltzes, hornpipes, jigs, rags, blues, boogie, airs, and music for meditation and healing, that explore all the depth, power, versatility, and emotion of this ancient and expressive instrument. the book includes background about the people, places, and events that inspired each composition. While some pieces require a 16/15 chromatic dulcimer, many fit a 12/11. Melody lines are in standard notation with chord symbols. Many have variations with advanced ornamentation; some have alternate arrangements for four octave chromatic dulcimers. In addition to solos, there are six ensemble arrangements, including quartets, which are useful for groups and workshop teachers. While this collection is most appropriate for intermediate and experienced players, advanced beginners will be able to play some of the tunes. the collection includes originals from the Sam Rizzetta CDs Dulcimer Boogie, Saving Trees, Trapezoid, Flowing Waters, Ocean's Edge, Bucks & Does, and Seven Valleys.
Perhaps no instrument better represents the music of Appalachia than the fretted dulcimer. The instrument was no longer confined to back porches and local music halls when Jean Ritchie so melodically thrust herself and her dulcimer into the national limelight during the folk revival of the 1950s. But where did the dulcimer, known to exist in no other folk culture in the world, come from? In The Story of the Dulcimer, Ralph Lee Smith traces the dulcimer's beginnings back to European immigration to America in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. As German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania and Appalachia, they brought with them scheitholts, a type of northern European fretted zither. As German immigrants intermingled with English and Scotch-Irish immigrants, the scheitholt, which was customarily played to a slower tempo in German cultural music, began to be musically integrated into the faster tempos of English and Scotch-Irish ballads and folk songs. As Appalachia absorbed an increasing flow of English and Scotch-Irish immigrants and the musical traditions they brought with them, the scheitholt steadily evolved into an instrument that reflected this folk music amalgamation, and the modern dulcimer was born. In this second edition, Smith brings the dulcimer's history into the twenty-first century with a new preface and updates to the original edition. Copiously illustrated with images of both antique scheitholts and contemporary dulcimers, The Story of the Dulcimer is a testament to the enduring musical heritage of Appalachia and solves one of the region's musical mysteries.
In the American imagination, "Appalachia" designates more than a geographical region. It evokes fiddle tunes, patchwork quilts, split-rail fences, and all the other artifacts that decorate a cherished romantic region in the American mind. In this classic work, David Whisnant challenges this view of Appalachia (and consequently a broader imaginative tendency) by exploring connections between the comforting simplicity of cultural myth and the troublesome complexities of cultural history. Looking at the work of ballad hunters and collectors, folk and settlement school founders, folk festival promoters, and other culture workers, Whisnant examines a process of intentional and systematic cultural intervention that had--and still has--far-reaching consequences. He opens the way into a more sophisticated understanding of the politics of culture in Appalachia and other regions. In a new foreword for this twenty-fifth anniversary edition, Whisnant reflects on how he came to write this book, how readers responded to it, and how some of its central concerns have animated his later work.
The last quarter of the twentieth-century saw a renewed interest in the hammered dulcimer in the United States at the grassroots level as well as from elements of the Folk Revival. This book offers the reader a discussion of the medieval origins of the dulcimer and its subsequent spread under many different names to other parts of the world. Drawing on articles the author has written in English as well as articles by specialists in their own languages, Gifford explains the history and evolution of the instrument. Special attention is paid to the North American tradition from the early 18th-century to the 1970s revival. Drawing from local histories, news clippings, photographs, and interviews, the book examines the playing of the dulcimer and its associated social meanings.