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Historical Music Printing

renaissancemusictypesetby Steve Eulberg

Now, for a taste of History!

Luís Henriques has posted a terrific video that illustrates and describes the challenge and results of printing music using a printing press in the Renaissance.

Understanding the challenges of musical notation in the printing process can help us better appreciate the tools that are available to us today as we produce original music, arrange music for playing with friends and create tablature to translate our ideas for playing on dulcimers.

Stay tuned for…

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Introducing a New Instructor!

DulcimerCrossing is excited to welcome Aubrey Atwater AubreyPoster_sm(of Atwater-Donnelly) to the instructional team. Aubrey teaches mountain dulcimer, from the Jean Ritchie family tradition. Visit the Teacher Page and watch her introduction video. Or, visit the Live Events page and watch the highlight video of her recent Premium Concert Window Show. Subscribe here, to have access to all of her lessons!  

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Neal Hellman Featured in Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast

Episode #014 The Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast features DulcimerCrossing teacher Neal Hellman

NealHellmanHeartsofDulcimer

Wayne Jiang and Patricia Delich host this informative conversation with players of the mountain dulcimer across the country and across genres.  This edition features samples of music from several of Steve's recordings:

Neal Hellman has played the mountain dulcimer for more than 40 years and is the founder, director, and one of the primary artists on the Gourd Music record label. Gourd Music recordings ar…

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Erin Mae Lewis featured in Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast

Here is another resource for mountain dulcimer players!

HeartsofDulcimerDVDcoverWayne Jiang and Patricia Delich, the producers of the Hearts of the Dulcimer DVD, have created a regular Podcast, called Hearts of the Dulcimer.

The most recent episode (#007) features our own DulcimerCrossing teacher,  Erin Mae Lewis, not as a Bond girl, but as the Secret Agent of Dulcimer herself! ErinMaeHeartsofDulcimerPodcast

Each episode features several explorations of the dulcimer, its history, its players, its past and its future.

This episode features the playing…

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Don Pedi featured in an article

DulcimerCrossing Instructor, Don Pedi is featured in this article on the facebook page:See Again Sunday:  (From Humans of Central Appalachia)

"When I moved back into the mountains, I moved back in with people who had lived there for generations. My neighbors to this day still plow with mules and horses."

Don Pedi, Renowned Old Time Mountain Dulcimer Player; Born in Boston, rambled around until he found his home in the mountains; Marshall, North Carolina:

“I got interested in traditional music throu…

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Dulcimercrossing.wordpress.com Blog Year 2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog. Here's an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report. Thanks for reading and commenting and sharing this blog with others who love dulcimers! Let us know  if there is something …

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Some Copyright Issues for Dulcimer Players of Music

by Steve Eulberg

May I offer a few musings on a recent conversation that has been seeded and is taking root in my brain?

Like many dulcimer players, I am just giddy when I discover that I can quickly play my favorite Jim Croce or John Denver, or Elton John or Blood Sweat and Tears tunes on the dulcimer I love! And....I get very confused when I am told that I have to respect copyrights when I want to share this music with others.

Copyright Laws were created to protect the intellectual property…

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Koto--the Japanese Cousin of the Mountain Dulcimer

by Steve Eulberg

Koto1I thought I had caught a glimpse of this long, distinctive instrument while passing by one of the Private (Guerilla) Showcases on the music floor of the Delta Chelsea Hotel in Toronto, but it wasn't until I was rewarded by meeting its owner in the hall in the early evening (before all the craziness of the late-night schedule of "concertettes" begins) that I was certain.

It WAS a Japanese Koto, in the hands of (and nearly as tall as) a Londoner who, after exploring his music degree…

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Lance Frodsham Plays Epinette

by Steve Eulberg On my recent tour of the Pacific Northwest, I was able to finally meet Lance Frodsham of Vancouver, Washington.  Lance is a teacher and performer of the mountain dulcimer with several recordings and books of music for dulcimers published by Mel Bay.  He is also one of the coordinators of the annual Kindred Gathering (which celebrated its 37th gathering in the Pacific Northwest this past August!) Lance and I have corresponded but had never met face to face, or had the opportunit…

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Playing Homer Ledford's Dulcimer

by Steve Eulberg While one tour this month in Bettendorf, Iowa, I was given the opportunity to provide workshops for hammered dulcimer players at the home of Linda & Reg Shoesmith. On the morning I was leaving, Linda brought out a treasured "find" to share: A mountain dulcimer built by Homer Ledford, one of the famous Kentucky builders of the 20th century! A unique feature of this instrument is that the only fret that went under all 4 strings was the 3rd fret. What an exciting opportunity! …

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