Hammered Dulcimer Workshop Descriptions
Long-Term Workshops
For the past 13 years, I have been
privileged to be on staff at the
Buckeye Dulcimer Festival.
In addition to a traditional weekend festival, Buckeye offers an extended
session of 10 hours
of intensive instruction for five levels of hammered dulcimer. During this
time, I have taught
three levels of intensive instruction ... New Players,
Past Beginners, and Intermediate I.
New Players (10 hours)
Past Beginners (10 hours)
Intermediate I (10 Hours)
Mini Workshops
New Players/Beginners
Getting Started
(3 hours or more)
We'll start right at the very beginning.
We'll learn how to tune, hold the hammers,
strike the strings, find the scales in different keys and learn several
simple melodies.,
Beginners
Intro to Basic Fiddle Tunes
(Repertoire) (1
hour)
Start to build your fiddle tune jam tune list
by learning the very basic melodies of
Soldier's Joy, Liberty, Mississippi, Whiskey Before Breakfast, Old Joe
Clark, June
Apple. (As time permits)
Intro to Basic Waltzes and
other 3-beat tunes
(Repertoire)
(1 hour)
Start to build your 3-beat jam tune list by
learning the very basic melodies of
Westphalia
Waltz, Southwind, Rosin the Beau, and Ashgrove.
Past Beginners
Intro and understanding the
1- 4- 5 chords
(Technique) (1 hour)
Use Joyce's simple chord chart to find these chords
in the major keys. (Chart provided)
Beginning Embellishment
(Technique)
(1 hour)
Play the 1-4-5
Chords as 2-note chords, 3-note chords and arpeggios.
Enrich Basic Fiddle Tune
Melodies (Repertoire & Technique)
(1 hour)
Learn to put in those extra notes.
Embellish with the 2-note
chord, 3-note chord, and arpeggios
(Technique) (1 hour)
We'll play and embellish Prairie Flower, Southwind,
Westphalia Waltz and Mississippi
Sawyer as time permits.
Playing in Different Keys
(Repertoire & Technique) (1 hour)
We'll learn how to find and play a song in several
different keys.
Intermediate
Developing a 'Soft Touch' on
the Hammered Dulcimer
(Technique) (1 hour)
Explore dynamics and expression in your playing.
Handy Dandy Tricks of the
Trade (Technique)
(2 hours+)
Explore Ways to 'dress up' your favorite tunes.
We'll
learn about bounces,
drones, slides, grace notes, turn- arounds, triplets,
chords, arpeggios, flams,
changing keys, syncopation, three against two and
... doing nothing at all.
Embellish with bounces and drones (Technique)
(1 hour)
We'll learn and use the Irish tune, Road to
Lisdoonvarna, and (as time permits) the
old-time tune, June Apple to explore these
embellishments.
Embellish with chording variations
(Technique) (1 hour)
We'll learn take the dance tune, Jenny Linn Polka, and explore
various chording
techniques (two-note chords, three-note chords and arpeggios) to embellish.
Wedding
Music
(Repertoire) (1 hour)
We'll learn tunes that can be used as the
processional, recessional, Mother's
processional, Unity Candle and more
Intermediate/Advanced
'Bleshing' Tunes (Technique and
Repertoire) (1 hour)
Blend and mesh four distinct voices of a tune.
The Music of
composer/pianist, Rick Kuethe.
(Repertoire) (1 hour+)
We'll learn my two current Rick Kuethe favorites,
'The Playground Song' and 'The Meeting House'.
"About His Love",
Old-time hymn favorites. (Repertoire)
(1 hour)
We'll learn some
old-time hymns, embellished melodies and chordal backkup.
Embellish with syncopation (Technique)
(1 hour)
We'll learn how to put syncopation into some
repetitive tunes.
Be 'Flam'boyant
(Technique) (1 hour)
We'll learn and explore incorporating flams and rolling chords into the
O'Carolan
tune, Planxty Fanny Power
Explore
Chromatics
(Technique) (1
hour)
Make a tune more interesting
and exciting by inserting chromatic notes. Your hammered
dulcimer needs a C#, D# and G#.
8/01/08