Musician and Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer Maker
Posted in Dulcimer, Hammered Dulcimer, Music on Jan 27th, 2010
CD Baby is the firm that handles my online CD and MP3 download sales. They are currently donating $1.00 for each CD or album download towards Haitian Relief Efforts.
This offer applies not only to my recordings but to thousands of independently produced albums.
From CD Baby:
CD Baby will donate $1 toward Haitian earthquake relief for [...]
Posted in Dulcimer, Hammered Dulcimer on Jan 8th, 2010
I really should be asleep by now.
I was going to drive to Columbus, Ohio this evening and continue in the morning to Bardstown, Kentucky for the festival.
It snowed all day and into the night. Reason caught up with me. I decided it would be best to drive straight to the festival in the morning. It [...]
Posted in Dulcimer, Hammered Dulcimer, Lutherie, Music on Jul 31st, 2009
I find instrument making and playing to be intimately linked together. I enjoy doing both equally. Sometimes I lean more one way than the other for a while but the focus always swings back and forth and more or less balances itself out.
I also find myself focused on different instruments as well and the same [...]
Posted in Dulcimer, Friends, Fun, Hammered Dulcimer on Jul 23rd, 2009
I’m starting to pack for a road trip. I’ll be setting up a booth and showing my dulcimers at The Cranberry Dulcimer and Autoharp Gathering near Syracuse, NY. I’ll also be offering a hammered dulcimer workshop. The last time I played at this festival was in the late 1980’s or the early 1990’s. Should be [...]
Posted in Dulcimer, Hammered Dulcimer, Lutherie, Quotes, Thoughts, Tools on Mar 6th, 2009
The first sign of Spring coming was noticing my wooden jack plane now has a twisted sole. Ah yes, the weather is changing!
I keep the humidity in my shop relatively stable by using a humidifier during Winter and a dehumidifier in the Summer. A hygrometer helps me tweak everything to keep the environment between 45%-50% [...]
Posted in Dulcimer, Hammered Dulcimer, Music on Feb 6th, 2009
My old dulci-buddy (is that a new word?) Lois Hornbostel edits DulcimerSessions.com, a bi-monthly blog about all things dulcimer.
I am delighted to have my arrangement of “Texas” featured. The article includes mountain dulcimer tablature, standard notation for hammered dulcimer or other instruments and an mp3 of “Texas” from my latest mountain dulcimer CD, “Songs From [...]
Posted in Hammered Dulcimer, Music on Feb 3rd, 2009
This book was out of print by the time I had heard of it. I remember seeing a copy at a friends house in the 1980’s and wishing I could find one.
The friendly folks at The Smithsonian Institution have made it available for free as a pdf file! I suggest you download the high resolution [...]
Posted in Hammered Dulcimer on Dec 9th, 2008
I have been thinking of making hammered dulcimers primarily because I have some ideas for the design of an instrument I would like to play. This is how I began making mountain dulcimers many years ago.
Thinking is how the design process begins, then comes looking for sources of inspiration followed by making drawings.
I generally have [...]
Posted in Hammered Dulcimer on Dec 7th, 2008
Here’s an Edison cylinder recording of a hammered dulcimer solo recorded in 1908! No big, fancy dulcimer with extend range, additional chromatic notes or damper pedals here, just the skill of a player on an instrument that sounds like it had between 9 and 12 treble courses and possibly a smaller number of bass courses.
I [...]
Posted in Dulcimer, Hammered Dulcimer, Lutherie, Tools on Oct 24th, 2008
Physical therapy is a wonderful thing. It has helped me continue to play dulcimer and hammered dulcimer as well as standing at the bench and working with hand tools.
I have a chronic physical challenge I have to deal with but many aging musicians, woodworkers and luthiers face a similar issue; doing something you love causes [...]