Mountain Dulcimer Workshop Descriptions

pg. 1

CAROL WALKER 9:00am – M6 Adding New Dimensions or, Wow! I Never Knew a Dulcimer Could Sound Like That! Advanced

You've been playing your dulcimer for a while, but are now looking for a fresh, new approach that will bring your playing to a new level. With your right hand, you'll learn various ways to fingerpick and brush, coaxing out the melody against a supportive harmonic background. With your left hand, you'll master the subtleties of smooth fretting techniques, including vibrato, anchors and slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs, and adding unique chord shapes and colors. Your packet of music will include an extensive and varied collection of familiar favorites treated in a completely different way, along with new, unfamiliar tunes that will challenge you, and add a new dimension to your repertoire. The result will be exquisitely beautiful playing, stylistically reminiscent of the best classical and jazz fingerstyle guitarists; you'll create a mood that will have your audience exclaiming, "I never knew a dulcimer could sound like that!" (DAD tuning / Capo)

10:30am – M9 Baby Steps to Fingerpicking Novice As a new player back in the early days of my dulcimer exploration, I started looking for other ways to play the instrument beyond the strumming methods I'd been learning. The answer was to put down the pick and start using my fingers. We'll practice several different methods of fingerpicking, and apply these techniques to songs you already know. (DAD tuning)

2:30pm – M16 Professor Walker's Warmups Intermediate Warmups can do wonderful things to improve your playing, regardless of your level of experience. But if you've ever wondered what kind of warmups will give you the best result in the least amount of time, this is the workshop for you. (DAD tuning)

BILL COLLINS 9:00am – M2 “Bagpipe Tuning” for Dulcimer Beginner/Novice

Tuning your bass string down to low A gives you the closest thing to a bagpipe that you can get on a dulcimer. Using the two lower strings as octave drones and playing tunes in A Mixolydian produce an exciting sound. In this workshop, we’ll learn a variety of tunes, including “Skye Boat Song” and “Scotland the Brave,” plus explore how to improvise and ornament to add to the Scottish flavor of your playing. (Low A, A, D tuning)

10:30am – M12 Hornpipes for Mountain Dulcimer Advanced Like jigs and reels, hornpipes are one of the main categories of Celtic dance tune rhythms, and they are great fun to play. In this workshop, you’ll learn to flat-pick a number of great hornpipe tunes and develop an understanding of “long-short-long-short” that makes a hornpipe a hornpipe. You’ll also learn why the hornpipe is an “endangered species” and how to apply hornpipe rhythm and ornaments appropriately. (DGD, DAD, Capo required)

2:30pm – M17 Tunes in DGD Intermediate This workshop explores some of the advantages of DGD tuning, particularly when playing faster tunes such as flatpicked jigs, hornpipes, or reels. This 1-4-8 tuning is the easiest tuning alternative to DAD. The workshop shows the quickest way to get into and return from DGD (no need for an electronic tuner!) and we'll play a number of melodies that really lend themselves to DGD. Participants will also learn some useful chord shapes in this tuning. (DGD; capo required)

4:00pm – M23 Turlough O’Carolan Tunes for Dulcimer Intermediate/Advanced ` Though composed for the harp, Carolan’s beautiful melodies can be readily adapted to the dulcimer. After a brief

introduction to Carolan’s life and musical influences, we’ll learn several of Carolan’s lesser-known tunes. (DAD and DGD)

DAVE FOX 4:00pm – M22 The Minimalist Approach …or, Clean Up Your Act! Intermediate

Dave has developed his style of playing by combining ideas borrowed from other dulcimer players and also from his experience with many other types of instruments, styles, and music. His style of playing is not technical, it’s more simplistic and “clean”. He will present several thoughts, tips, and suggestions that will help you develop a style that won’t get muddied up by “too many notes”. (DAD; possibly some alternate tunings)

ELLEN PRATT 9:00am – M4 Singing with Your Dulcimer Novice/Intermediate

This workshop features easy chords in the key of D. Students will learn how to play the chords and listen for chord changes. We will sing a variety of traditional songs as we strum. (Come tuned in DAD)

10:30am – M10 Chord Progressions Novice/intermediate Knowing different positions for chords can add flavor to your musical arrangements. We will learn and practice several chord shapes up and down the fretboard in this class. (Come in DAD)

4:00pm – M19 Discovery 104 – Putting it all together NO experience This is the chance to take what you’ve learned so far and have some fun with it, looking at ways to practice once you get home and also ways to seek out others to play and learn with.

JEREMY SEEGER 9:00am - M8 Playing for family, open mic's or performing Experienced beginner and up

Explore what it takes to choose your repertoire, perform, be successful and feel good about yourself. You will get to try it out. Come having a song prepared to play. (Any tuning)

4:00pm – M24 How are you “wired" for music? All levels. How you make music is directly related to how your neurological wiring is. Bringing your goals of making music in alignment with that will create more pleasure making music and bring you into a better presence when you’re sharing your music with others.

Mountain Dulcimer Workshop Descriptions

pg. 2

JOE ROSOLEN 10:30am – M15 Hammer-ons, pull off's & other fun stuff! Novice/Intermediate

In this class, we'll explore some cool things that you can add to your bag of tricks and allow your playing to evolve forward. Hammer-ons, pull off's, trill's, finding chord (variations) in different positions on the neck, different rhythms for familiar songs, simple melodies and more. Mostly DAD tuning

4:00pm – M20 Taking the basic tunes for a ride around the dulcimer. Beginner + Let's take a few very well-known songs on the dulcimer playlist and take them for a ride! We will explore different rhythms, beats and volume, playing on the middle string as well as using different chord shapes for added color; we’ll also touch on hammer-ons and pull off's. Learn to feel comfortable enough with these two songs we all know so well and try something new with them. Discover what these songs (usually 1st learned) can do when allowed to flow and change while still retaining the essence of the original tunes. If you are relatively new to the dulcimer or already know some songs and want to "step out" and explore, give this workshop a try and visit these classics with a twist. We're going to take "Boil Them Cabbage Down", "I'll Fly Away", "Soldier's Joy", "Old Joe Clark", "Amazing Grace" and a few others if time allows. Tuning - DAD

JONAH TALBOTT 9:00am - M1 Discovery 101 - Let’s Begin! NO experience

While being introduced to your dulcimer, learn the basics of how to hold it, hold the pick, how to tune it, understand and read dulcimer tab and begin playing.

KIM JENNINGS 10:30am – M7 Discovery 102 - The Next Step - Strumming! NO experience

Take the next step with strumming; we will work on 3 different strumming patterns and incorporate them into different songs. See how strumming can change a song. We will also work on improving your basic skills while playing together as a group.

LORI KEDDELL 9:00am – M3 Songs & Tunes from the "Other Celtic Nations" Novice/Intermediate

Scotland and Ireland are not the only Celtic countries. We will learn at least one tune each from Brittany, Wales, Cornwall, Galicia and the Isle of Man. (Tuning: DAC)

2:30pm – M14 Adding Chords to Melodies Advanced Beginner Using easy 2 and 3 finger chords can enhance your playing and will add to the fun you can have with your dulcimer. We will learn major and minor chords in the key of D, and how to add these chords to tunes you may already know.

(Tuning: DAD)

NINA ZANETTI 9:00am - M5 Mysterious Melodic Connections Intermediate/ Advanced

Description: Tunes are living entities that change and evolve as they are passed along through different times and places. Let's explore the sometimes surprising history of several familiar tunes, some going back to the middle ages. Examples may include: "Redwing", "Barbara Allen", and "Carol of the Beasts", as well as some surprising musical relationships involving dulcimer favorites such as “Boil Them Cabbage” or Shady Grove (Tuning: DAD)

10:30am – M11 Music of the Renaissance (1400 – 1600) Advanced Description: With everything from sacred motets to popular madrigals, dances, and consort music, Renaissance music provides a wealth of wonderful music that can sound great on mountain dulcimer. Come learn a little about the musical styles and instruments of the time and learn a variety of period tunes. (Tuning: mostly DAD)

2:30pm – M18 Three String Choir Advanced Description: The beauty of choral music often involves the complex interweaving of “inner harmony voices”. We’ll use some advanced arrangements to explore how we can approach our three-stringed dulcimer as a choir of three independent voices, all contributing to the beauty and interest of the music. (Tuning: DAD, possibly others)

4:00pm – M21 Shape-Note Hymns for Mountain Dulcimer Novice Description: The vigorous melodies and haunting harmonies of this distinctly American style of hymn singing translate well to mountain dulcimer. Learn hymns like “Wondrous Love” or “Holy Manna”. (Tuning: DAD)

NORM WILLIAMS 2:30pm – M13 Discovery 3 – Adding Chords and playing chord-melody style NO experience

Taking some of the tunes we’ve learned, adding chords while playing the melody and incorporating the rhythms you’ve learned. We’ll also add a few new tunes.

RECORDING DEVICES ARE ENCOURAGED - A BATTERY-POWERED RECORDING DEVICE WILL BE MOST HELPFUL. (PLUGINS MAY NOT HAVE ACCESS TO A POWER SOURCE)

DEVICES COULD INCLUDE AN MP3 RECORDER, H2 OR SMARTPHONE