Workshop Etiquette

To maximize what you can learn at a workshop, try these tips:
1. Record the Workshop – always ask permission from the instructor first before recording. The recording will be an invaluable reference to return to for those of us who try to take it all in and find our brains are too full at the end. I find that there are always certain parts that just don’t stay with me or I get the parts confused. Going back to the tape allows me to ask the ‘dumb questions’ in the privacy of my own home instead of calling someone who was in the workshop or the instructor for help.
2. Tune, Tune, Tune - Please take the time to tune your dulcimer before attending a workshop. To put it nicely, one cannot say this enough; and many have said it quite bluntly “Tune or Die”. Seriously, if your dulcimer is in tune, then your job of finding the right notes and sounding good will be a heck of a lot easier. It is a courtesy to yourself and your neighbor to have your dulcimer in tune, especially if you or your neighbor are learning a tune by ear.
Everyone understands the effort and time that it takes to tune a dulcimer. Trying to stay in tune with the temperature and weather changes is enough to tax even the patience of Job. As the saying goes, we ‘hammerers’ spend about 80% of our time tuning and the other 20% playing out of tune. If you can, tune your dulcimer the night before or that morning before you leave. Do a quick run through just prior to the workshop to catch that wayward string that just doesn’t stay tuned (usually the last 5 bass notes on my dulcimer). Everyone will appreciate your efforts.

3. Use Padded Hammers – We all know that double-sided hammers have a ‘hard’ wooden or ebony side and a ‘soft’ padded side that can dramatically change the tone and loudness of what we play. Please use the padded sides during workshops. Even if you have just 5 or 10 hammer dulcimers playing in a room, the nosie can be very loud. Give yourself, your neighbor and the instructor a break and play softer than usual.
I’ve been to too many workshops where each player is ‘pounding’ the heck out of their instrument “so they can hear themselves”. This only causes the surrounding people to hammer harder. If you can’t hear your neighbor, then you are playing too loud. If your neighbor is too loud, make a gentle request of them to play a little softer. Because I have a rather quiet dulcimer, I have found that using a personal amplifier with an earphone allows me to play with my softest hammers and still hear myself as if I was plugged into a microphone. I can also play along with everyone else at this quiet level and still hear myself, but no one else can hear all the mistakes I’m making. Another advantage of these personal pocket amplifiers is that they can pick up the sound of the instructor’s dulcimer very clearly if you are in that “dreaded front row”, so it’s like having a individual lesson.
4. Listen, Listen, Listen – If you are playing at the same time the instructor is talking, then you are not listening close enough to absorb what is being said. Playing over someone talking is like interrupting a friend in the middle of a sentence. It is disrespectful and down-right rude. For those of you who learn only by ear, it is essential that the music being presented is free of distracting ‘doodling’.
Most people will use a tape recorder to record the workshop session for future reference at home. While this is a great idea, I have countless tapes at home that are less than useful because someone is playing overtop of the instructor. Too many times, the crucial material I’m trying to hear is hopelessly lost in a jumble of wayward hammering of a few players. Be considerate of other attendees and rein in your impulse to get your hammers moving. If you can’t resist the urge to play when you have hammers in your hands, put them down or in the pocket of your overalls. We all love to play, but please be respectful of the instructor. They need your full attention when they are teaching.
I will be teaching by ear initially and providing the “dots” at the end. Everyone has their own learning styles, and some need to ‘dink around’ as the material is being presented. I will try to accommodate the different learning styles by allowing time for you to ‘echo’ the phrase. For those of you who just have to have something to anchor you, I will give the note names and positions on the dulcimer after we all try to find them by ear. If I forget to do this, please remind me so that you ‘get it on tape’.