On Sunday afternoon, November 4, a small bunch of us gathered to celebrate my twelfth dulcimer anniversary with a little concert.
(Picture by Ruthie)
John Sherck got the whole thing on video:
Concert videos, part i
My friend and harp-playing colleague Beth Pare’s husband Paul graciously agreed to film the concert yesterday. Please excuse the fuzz and buzz — the video was taken by a point-and-shoot digital camera from all the way across the room.
Scandinavian Walking Tunes
Polska efter Höök-Olle
Marenje
And here’s a video of the Masanga Marimba Ensemble covering the original by Mhuri Yekwa Muchena.
Slip Jig from Style, by Denis Carey
Some videos for students
O’Keefe’s Slide
Liberty — student version
Liberty — at tempo
I’m not sure what’s going on with the ringing / buzzing.
Easter Thursday
I am gaining confidence in “good enough” tuning — sometimes what doesn’t sound perfect to me right in playing position sounds just fine via a video, or if I’m on the other side of the dulcimer or a little further away.
I would want to be more exact in tuning for a CD, or for an important event like a concert or wedding ceremony. But for background music, especially outside, this tuning is good enough.
Easter Thursday is an English country dance tune, in 3/2 meter. The middle section is what I play if someone else is playing melody, but it sounds rather nice on its own as well.
A trio version is available on my Christmas CD, What Child Is This, with Craig Higgins on guitar and Jerry Drumheller on fiddle.
Sheep May Safely Graze
Tomorrow morning I am playing at the South Bend Farmers Market, outside, on probation. If approved, I might get to play there regularly, and inside.
I thought I would need to tune the beastie this afternoon, and didn’t get around to it before my student arrived. I noticed that it sounded fine as she played it, so I figured it would be fine for tomorrow as well. Whew! It’s always nice to avoid a tuning, especially when I’ve been doing a lot of work with my hands and don’t want to stress them. (I have hypermobility and not much strength, so they’re prone to injury; hence my special ergonomic hammers.)
Anyway, I rejoiced by practicing the obligato for Sheep May Safely Graze, and then decided to try recording it. I wasn’t able to get an errorless recording, but here it is anyway. Oh, and I’m sorry it’s rather quiet — I forgot how weak my camera’s mic is!
(I can’t play the obligato and the melody at the same time; check out this one to hear the melody sung beautifully.)
Shenandoah, and O Susanna
I have a student again — it’s nice to get back to teaching. She wants to learn Shenandoah and O Susanna, so we recorded basic melody for each in our lesson today.
