Marcy Prochaska: Hammered Dulcimer

Last night The Hanshaw Trio got together for another recording and practice session. It’s been raining here for weeks, but by the end of our session there was snow on our cars.

The first snow came in October two years ago, too, and I ended up writing a tune called “October Snow” in response — thinking about the childlike excitement for the first snow, mixed with the dread of long months of darkness and cold. I don’t play the tune exactly like I first wrote it down, but the MIDI at least gives an idea of it.

Anyway, unaware of the coming white stuff, we began our session by revisiting Irksome Girl / Midnight Maze, a pair of original jigs. I wasn’t happy with our previous arrangement of this medley, so I’d made some changes.

First of all, we now start with a guitar intro, then dulcimer playing the A part twice, then fiddle playing the A part twice, then both of us playing the B part. Before, we’d also tried doing four A parts the third time through the tune, but I think it makes for a better transition to Midnight Maze if we just do the A part twice.

I had also been trying to play bass notes along with the melody. It’s hard to do that both accurately and expressively, and the bass notes tended to be too loud. So this time I left them out, and perhaps I’ll add them back in later by recording them on a separate track. That way I can also control their volume better relative to the melody.

For Midnight Maze, I ended up writing new fiddle parts to add syncopation and interest, and also to hopefully avoid the awkward bowing and fingering the melody involved. Jerry hasn’t had time to learn these parts yet, so he’ll add them in later, too.

I have three full takes and two partials (just Irksome Girl) to listen to; I hope they’re good enough to use this time — we’re all a little anxious to finish this project.

After recording, we started reviewing Christmas repertoire. Last year we developed trio arrangements of nine pieces from What Child Is This?. Two of them, Fallen and Easter Thursday, we play all year. Last night reviewed the others: The Lord at first did Adam make, Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus / Planxty Irwin, O Come O Come Emmanuel, He Shall Feed His Flock, Three Ships Medley, Noel Nouvelet / Wexford Carol, and Hewlett / Silent Night.

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Yesterday I worked up a new arrangement of the Irksome Girl / Midnight Maze medley.

Jerry had told me that the melody of Midnight Maze, particularly in the B part, involved some very awkward bowing and fingering, and I also thought it might be more interesting to make his part different from mine — in keeping with the theme of the dream world and its weird juxtapositions.

I didn’t want to take the time to really write the guitar part — who wants to notate strumming!? — so I only roughed it in for Irksome Girl in order to provide the intro and a sense of the chord structure and syncopation. The guitar will also play during Midnight Maze, I just didn’t bother writing it out.

Keep in mind that MIDI is a digital format — these sounds are just attempting to resemble a guitar, dulcimer, and fiddle.

Irksome Girl / Midnight Maze MIDI

So… yesterday I celebrated my fifth hammered dulcimer anniversary with a concert.

The venue was the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University. The concert was upstairs in a beautiful gallery, with a huge landscape behind us, a persian rug for kids (and flexible adults) to sit on, a couple of benches in the back, and chairs lining the sides.

The museum is a wonderful space acoustically; the instruments carried well, and the natural reverb made my voice sound nice. I felt that the trio’s faster pieces got a bit swallowed up in the big space — they didn’t feel as lively to me as they should have, but that may have just been my nerves.

The room was comfortably full; someone estimated maybe fifty people were there. I don’t think I’ve had more than thirty before, so that was great.

Many thanks to the museum director, Frank Robinson, and director of development, Lynne Williams, and other museum folks for making the event possible. To Sherj and Katherine for running the refreshments and CD sales; to Mary Ann, Sheryl, Stephanie, and Mom for making / bringing / mailing food; to Lisa’s husband for videotaping; to Lisa, Jerry, and Craig for their part in the performance; and, especially, to my patient and supportive husband.

Here’s the set list. Originals are marked with *. Except for the songs Rad Te Mam and In the Cool of the Day, all pieces feature hammered dulcimer:

Pas de Deux
(Duo with Lisa Fenwick, harp and flute)

• La Rotta / Bunch of Rushes / The Chanter (harp)
• Carolan’s Draught / Sleepers Awake (flute)
• Allemande (harp)
• In Him Will I Trust* (flute and voice)

No Loose Threads
(My first CD)

• Variations on a Three-Year-Old Theme*
• Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (flute)
• Rad Te Mam* (guitar and voice)
• Road to Lisdoonvarna / South of the James*

Unrecorded

• In the Cool of the Day* (guitar and voice)
• Praeludium for lute
• Sheep May Safely Graze (guitar and flute)
• Third Street Market*

break

What Child Is This?
(My second CD)

• Fallen* (fiddle and guitar)
• What Child Is This? / Menuet
• Easter Thursday (fiddle and guitar)
• Noel Nouvelet / Wexford Carol

The Hanshaw Trio
(With Jerry Drumheller on fiddle and Craig Higgins on guitar and mandolin)

• Out on the Ocean / Morrison’s / Kesh (fiddle and guitar)
• Staten Island / Julia Delany (fiddle, mandolin, and guitar)
• Irksome Girl* / Midnight Maze* (fiddle and guitar)
• Winter East and Kensington* (fiddle, flute, and guitar)

Encore:

• Dennis Murphy’s / John Ryan’s

On October 2, I went to a house concert: Carolyn Cruso, who plays hammered dulcimer, flute, and sings with guitar.

Joe Crookston, a recently-arrived local singer/songwriter, organized the event and also performed a short set of his own songs. I met him this spring when I was busking on the Commons; his little girl liked the dulcimer, so he stayed a while and we chatted a bit. He’s another one of those people who seems to be comfortable in his own skin. I saw him and another singer/songwriter, jazzy-folky Linda Stout, in a concert this summer. I really like his music. He’s got a driving rhythm, great guitar licks, a warm rich voice, and a way with lyrics.

The email “flyer” for the house concert said something about jamming afterwards, so I brought my dulcimer. No one else had brought an instrument, but the three of us — Carolyn, Joe, and I — jammed anyway. What fun! We did some traditional tunes — Morrison’s, Staten Island, Julia Delaney — and some Irish songs, and improvised in Am. That was the scary part, for me — but I managed to throw in some interesting ideas.

This morning Joe sent me this picture: