Blog
hammered dulcimer
Are You Stuck?
If you live in one of the northern states, this time of year getting stuck in the snow is a real concern. If you’re retired, you just stay home when there’s a fresh snowfall that the city hasn’t yet cleared. But if you have a job, you have to get out in it anyway. And sometimes you get stuck.
The same can happen with your music. Let me ask you a few questions.
- Are you satisfied with the pace of your progress?
- Do you have a clear understanding of what you should be practicing next?
- Do you…
Harder Than You Thought?
Have you ever looked at the tab for a new tune and thought, “Now that doesn’t look so hard.” Then when you started trying to work through the piece, you discovered it was harder than you thought.
Yep, that’s happened to me too. I think I’m quite nimble with my hammers, and they get all tangled up trying to strike the right strings at times when I’m learning a new piece.
Then should I do? Do I just wad up the paper with my tabs or sheet music and throw it in the trash? OR, should I stick with…
Baaaaaad Habits
Here are some true facts about baaaaad habits.
You can play your dulcimer alone or along with others … in spite of bad habits.
You can get compliments from people about your dulcimer playing … in spite of bad habits.
You can reach some of your goals … in spite of bad habits.
However, when you play your dulcimer with bad habits, you are moving toward an invisible brick wall. Eventually, you’re going to be stopped in your tracks. I’m not making this up. You’re not going to be able to continue advancin…
Jam Tracks added to the Backing Tracks Library
by Steve Eulberg
Jam Tracks added to the Backing Tracks Library
Reflections
Christmas was over in the blink of an eye! And then the New Year’s fireworks in our area announced the beginning of 2024. I imagine some of us made some New Year’s resolutions that night or the next morning. And many of us have also taken time to reflect on how things went over the past year.
Let’s just take a moment to consider our musical achievements in 2023.
- New Skills: Was this your first year to play the dulcimer? Did you learn some new chords, new licks, or new techniques this year?…
Practice with PURPOSE
I made a lot of progress in sharpening up my dulcimer skills during December. I noticed my arpeggios got more accurate, some of the tunes I was dragging made it up to tempo, and my muscle memory improved (I didn’t have to keep my nose down on the strings!). In addition, my memorized repertoire of Christmas tunes became extended way beyond what I could play at a moment’s notice in October and early November.
What made the difference? Well, to be honest, peer pressure. I knew there would be Ch…
Looking for a Gift? Give Your Child/Grandchild a Dulcimer!
I read about a study about the brain and aging … since I have a brain and I am aging (78 last birthday!). The study was conducted by Brenda Hanna-P)lady, Ph.D., who is a neuropsychologist in Emory's Department of Neurology, and cognitive psychologist Alicia MacKay, PhD. The study was to determine if people who spent time throughout their lives playing a musical instrument would score better on cognitive tests than folks who never picked up an instrument.
The study tested 70 individuals age 60-8…
My Christmas Tree is Leaning
We got our Christmas tree up early, because we are expecting company. Well, actually, the company is a surprise for my husband but I’m in on the secret so … I had to get everything up and ready early. My son brought the tree over, and offered to help hang the decorations since he doesn’t want me climbing ladders any more. But I’m a bit OCD so I sad, “No, but thank you. I want to take my time and place every ball and decoration in just the right place.”
So I started with the lower branches, but …
An Encyclopedia of Live Workshops & Concerts Archive
by Steve Eulberg
Linda Ratcliff and I built DulcimerCrossing to be a resource for people like us, who lived beyond the boundaries of the dulcimer world (or sometimes at its edges) in order to support and equip people long to play and enjoy making music for themselves on the instruments they love.
So we have over 200 courses of lessons for mountain and hammered dulcimers, chromatic mountain dulcimers, dulci-bro and fiddle!
And, It just struck me how much MORE rich and full this resource is, ri…
Are You a December Musician?
I was listening to a sermon by Max Lucado, and he was talking about December Christians. These are the people who will tell you that the reason for the season is Jesus, not the gifts or the decorations. And these are the folks who go to church on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. But the rest of the year (well, except for Easter), you don’t hear or see much from them about their faith.
And as I was listening, my conscience was pricked. No, not about being a December Christian, but about being…
Categories
- News (8)
- Events (4)
- News (6)
- Events (4)
- subscriber news (233)
- mountain dulcimer (109)
- hammered dulcimer (112)
- uncategorized (6)
- lessons (189)
- mountain dulcimer (198)
- hammered dulcimer (154)
- history (22)
- music theory (40)
- octave (1)
- plagal cadence (1)
- dulci-bro (73)
- fingerpicking (3)
- fingerstyle mountain dulcimer (4)
- nina zanetti (4)
- aeolian (2)
- dorian (4)
- ionian (3)
- lydian (1)
- mixolydian (3)
- modes (2)
- traditional (2)
- tuning (4)
- music education (2)
- NSME (1)
- standards (1)
- drone (3)
- folk alliance (1)
- jonah brody (1)
- koto (1)
- chromatic mountain dulcimer (7)
- sam lee (1)
- scottish folk song (1)
- linda ratcliff (5)
- practice (26)
- chromatic mountain dulcimer (66)
- dulcimercrossing.com (2)
- erin rogers (7)
- building (8)
- black mountain (1)
- jerry read smith (1)
- Joshua Messick (1)
- song of the wood (1)
- don pedi (5)
- fiddle whamdiddle (9)
- miss mcleod (2)
- steve eulberg (30)
- vi wickam (9)
- buying (1)
- choosing (1)
- purchasing (1)
- orphan girl (1)
- copyright (1)
- amplification (2)
- contact pickup (1)
- eulberg (4)
- microphone (2)
- pickup (2)
- berkeley (1)
- colorado (2)
- festivals (4)
- kentucky (1)
- scholarship (1)
- western carolina (1)
- noter (2)
- clubfooted jib (1)
- dgd (2)
- dgd tuning (1)
- special event (31)
- david massengill (2)
- reverse ionian (1)
- chuck boody (1)
- concertina (1)
- deedee tibbits (1)
- dulcimer (7)
- evart (1)
- evart funfest (1)
- linda foley (1)
- michigan (1)
- original dulcimer players club (1)
- fingerstyle (11)
- gebhard woods (1)
- technique (1)
- harmonics (1)
- dan delancey (2)
- june apple (1)
- linda thomas (3)
- modal (1)
- expression (1)
- playing expressively (1)
- dulcimer pledge (1)
- christmas (2)
- nativity (1)
- DAC (2)
- minor more (1)
- mississippi sawyer (1)
- holiday (5)
- joy to the world (1)
- jingle bells (1)
- reverse ionion (1)
- hand independence (1)
- hand separation (1)
- lullabye of muffe (1)
- tina gugeler (1)
- absolute beginner mountain dulcimer (1)
- beginner (2)
- mountain (3)
- string-side up (1)
- absolute beginner hammered dulcimer (1)
- blog (2)
- dulcimercrossing. (1)
- topics (1)
- blues (4)
- resonator (4)
- dulcimer orchestra (2)
- kitty puss (1)
- mike clemmer (1)
- noter style (2)
- jam survival (7)
- butch ross (3)
- looping (1)
- intro (4)
- neal hellman (4)
- erin mae lewis (9)
- rehearsal (3)
- italian (1)
- lauda (1)
- irish (1)
- slipjig (1)
- rhythm (2)
- robert force (2)
- tuner (1)
- exercises (1)
- scales (1)
- devotions (3)
- hark advent (1)
- the glad sound! (1)
- chords (3)
- chromatic (4)
- erin (1)
- theory (7)
- advent (5)
- preparation (4)
- stir up (1)
- appalachia (4)
- hillbilly (1)
- mountains (1)
- traditional music (1)
- dampers (1)
- hearts of the dulcimer (3)
- patricia delich (2)
- wayne jiang (2)
- appalachian (1)
- John Jacob Niles (1)
- Live Events (28)
- Premium Level Membership (2)
- habits from the muse (1)
- progress (5)
- support (1)
- Anna Muckova (1)
- cimbalom (1)
- CWA (1)
- Czech Republic (1)
- Magdalena Muckova (1)
- nonsuch (1)
- Slovak Republic (1)
- podcast (1)
- aubrey atwater (2)
- jean ritchie (2)
- log-in (1)
- update (1)
- lucky (1)
- performance (8)
- preparing (1)
- study (1)
- dulcimers (1)
- wendy songe (2)
- bluegrass (2)
- growth (1)
- resolutions (2)
- risks (1)
- capo (1)
- snark (1)
- fiddle (61)
- criticism (2)
- judy klinkhammer (1)
- miles davis (2)
- wrong note (1)
- live and let live (1)
- style (1)
- barlow knife (1)
- old school old-time (2)
- marie kirby (1)
- bass mountain dulcimer (1)
- elaine conger (1)
- larry conger (1)
- practice smarter (5)
- musical journey (1)
- piano (1)
- calm (1)
- dog (1)
- su la li (1)
- bluebird cafe (1)
- inspiration (3)
- new input (2)
- trust (1)
- practice space (2)
- quite (1)
- how to practice (6)
- you are what you practice (1)
- workshop (5)
- rich chords (2)
- kaitlin pabo-eulberg (1)
- hooked on dulcimers (1)
- humor (1)
- blue water thinking (1)
- creativity (2)
- environment (2)
- original tunes (1)
- 1+ fret (1)
- chopin (1)
- classical (1)
- assessment (1)
- skill levels (1)
- waltz (1)
- caledonian club (1)
- ensemble (1)
- group (1)
- dulci-tune (1)
- tuning game (1)
- love (2)
- workout (1)
- learning (6)
- teacher (6)
- self-taught (1)
- how long (1)
- jam sessions (6)
- learn to play (1)
- strategies (2)
- fariña (1)
- mimi (1)
- pete seeger (2)
- rainbow quest (2)
- goals (1)
- planning (1)
- backing tracks (6)
- matthew dickerson (2)
- concert (1)
- erin mae (2)
- guitar (5)
- deborah hamouris (3)
- dj (2)
- freight and salvage (1)
- classic (1)
- licks (1)
- rock (1)
- berkeley dulcimer orchestra (1)
- premiere (1)
- banjo (1)
- frank proffitt (1)
- frank warner (1)
- tom dooley (1)
- baker (1)
- binding (1)
- blue lion (1)
- bob (1)
- gluing (1)
- janita (1)
- live (1)
- tips (1)
- spouse (1)
- amplified (1)
- DI box (1)
- digital interface (1)
- sound reinforcement (1)
- 2nd Set Concert (2)
- contest (1)
- flash mountain dulcimer brigade (2)
- JimJim & the FatBoys (1)
- Pecan Grove (1)
- walnut valley festival (2)
- winfield (1)
- wvfest (1)
- thinking (1)
- case (1)
- cross-legged (1)
- grip (1)
- safe dulcimer (1)
- sit (1)
- slip (1)
- stand (1)
- stool (1)
- strap (1)
- learn (3)
- mistakes (1)
- successes (2)
- herbie hancock (1)
- improvising (1)
- jazz (2)
- lois hornbostel (2)
- wrong chord (1)
- atlantic (1)
- barbara allen (1)
- frank profitt (1)
- scots-irish (1)
- chord wizard (1)
- diatonic (2)
- equi-distant (3)
- tom strothers (1)
- tool (1)
- busker (1)
- tsimbaly (1)
- ukraine (1)
- ukrainian (1)
- calendar (1)
- schedule (1)
- baritone (1)
- concert window (3)
- katie moritz (1)
- faq (1)
- frequently asked questions (1)
- logged in (1)
- navigation (1)
- old time (1)
- patreon (1)
- shape-note (1)
- special (1)
- carrell (1)
- geoff reeve-black (1)
- malvern (1)
- presnell (1)
- articulations (1)
- chicken reel (1)
- conger (1)
- soldier's joy (1)
- basic level membership (1)
- caring for your instrument (1)
- winter weather (1)
- god rest ye (1)
- rhythmic displacement (1)
- builder (1)
- tam kearney (1)
- toronto (1)
- don neuhauser (1)
- slide (1)
- ashley ernst (1)
- dan and angie landrum (1)
- dpn (1)
- dulcimer players news (1)
- dulcimersessions.com (1)
- maddie macneil (1)
- arkansas traveler (1)
- Mark Alan Wade (2)
- 3d playing (1)
- playing across the strings (2)
- chord symbols (1)
- understanding chords (3)
- dulcimer club (1)
- class (1)
- habits (1)
- skills (1)
- jimmy driftwood (1)
- failures (1)
- hours (1)
- youtube (1)
- arranging (1)
- bill robinson (1)
- cold winter night (1)
- karen mueller (3)
- jig (1)
- DAd tuning (1)
- hyfrydol (1)
- hymn (1)
- 2020 (1)
- premium (1)
- gounod (1)
- hitchcock (1)
- dan evans (1)
- spotted pony (2)
- steveeulberg (1)
- nylon-string (1)
- stephens lutherie (1)
- musical devotions (1)
- award (1)
- fernando sor (1)
- hammered (1)
- understanding (1)
- lent (1)
- leap forward (1)
- power of music (2)
- sharing (1)
- persistence (5)
- Practice (4)
- routine (1)
- tour (1)
- new website (1)
- arrranging (1)
- celtic (1)
- single jig (1)
- mountain dulcimer (3)
- busking (1)
- audio (1)
- playback (1)
- protection (1)
- adaptations (1)
- dulcimer acquisition syndrome (1)
- dulcimer acquisition disease (1)
- contests (1)
- lessons (1)
- identify (1)
- apps (1)
- motivation (1)
- hands (1)
- In Memoriam (1)
- guitar (1)
- archive (1)
- concerts (1)
- mountain dulcimer (2)
- hammered dulcimer (1)
- lessons (1)
- workshops (1)
- self-assessment (1)
- learn (1)
- greek (1)
- mindset (2)