Marcy Prochaska: Hammered Dulcimer

“The River” Coffeehouse

On March 19, I performed for the second time at Bristol Christian Fellowship’s “The River” coffeehouse in Bristol, Vermont. I began with an Irish set followed by a selection of Lent and Easter pieces, then after a break I continued with tunes from No Loose Threads and a set of new material. Most of the music was instrumental, but I also sang a few with dulcimer and two with guitar. The Hardt family not only hosted me for the weekend, but their girls, Grace, Heather Rose, and Anna, helped me sing one of the pieces.

A May Wedding

In early May, I performed for a wedding at Belhurst Castle in Geneva. The ceremony was outdoors, followed by a reception inside. Things didn’t go quite as planned. For one thing, I broke a mic clip while setting up the pa outside; fortunately, I’d brought two mics so I still had one I could use. Then, as I was playing the indoor cocktail hour, I realized it was far too noisy a room to be playing without pa, but it was too late to stop and set it up again. Still, it was a beautiful wedding, with a gorgeous, if not warm, sunny day outside.

The CNY Dulcimer Circle

The Central NY Dulcimer Circle met for our Spring Session Sunday, May 16. Nic Hambas of Rochester joined us this time, bringing two instruments he’d built, a bowed mountain dulcimer and a hammered dulcimer. Next to him is Nancy. The next two photos show Keith and Marty Bryant and Liz Peters.

The circle meets four or five times a year for a jam session and dinner — we’re focused on hammered dulcimers, but other acoustic instruments and listeners are always welcome.

Holiday Celebrations

I enjoyed performing at a variety of events during this winter holiday season.

First, in November, was Christmas at Mom’s Place, a unique craft show featuring traditional American arts throughout the rooms of a lovely bed and breakfast.

There was also the Ithaca Craft Alliance show, three church functions, and the E.A.C. Montessori School’s holiday bazaar. And the annual holiday party at Cornell’s Johnson Museum, where these girls enjoyed trying my new psaltery.

A Rochester Wedding

After the holidays, a February wedding brightened up the winter.

Erin, daughter of a CNY Dulcimer Circle member, got married at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester.

I had a wonderful experience playing their ceremony music in such a place; the acoustics were amazing.

At Home in Ithaca

In August, we moved to Ithaca from Richmond, VA. I was excited to find many opportunities to play.

Two bookstores, Borders in the mall and Autumn Leaves on the Commons; busking at the Ithaca Farmers Market (pictured) or on the Commons, and the pick-up band “Your Friends and Neighbors” playing for Monday night contra dances.

These performances also helped connect me with brides, other event planners, and dulcimer players looking for a teacher.

Upper Potomac Dulcimer Fest

Thanks to Joanie’s performance and housing scholarships, I was able to go to this fall’s
festival, September 20-22, in Shepherdstown WV.

The housing scholarship allowed me to help with registration and concert CD sales in exchange for staying with a local host family. The performance scholarship is part of a grant program that reduces workshop costs for participants who provide a concert for an underserved audience. For my scholarship, I played at the local nursing home on Friday morning.

I arrived Thursday afternoon and went to visit Nick’s workshop, where he showed me an interesting instrument combination: a three-holed flute and a string drum (a sort of primitive hammered dulcimer, he says) called a tambour de bearne. Both are French instruments. Thursday evening, after the Blantons kindly invited me to join them for dinner, I went to O’Hurley’s for their weekly jam session, which was lots of fun.

The festival was a whirlwind, packed with classes, jams, and visiting with friends. It was good to see folks like Rick and Brandy Davis, Tim and Ro Seaman, Darlene Himes and her family, and others. I enjoyed my classes, including Tim’s composition class, Paul Oorts’ dulcimer ensemble, and Jody Marshall’s Scottish tunes class. I was particularly impressed with Jody’s exquisite expression; she makes an unadorned arrangement sound rich and meaningful. Saturday night’s concert with Steve Schneider and Paul Oorts, followed by Harmonia (featuring the cimbalom and Eastern European repertoire) was great, and a few of us had a nice “slow jam” afterwards. Definitely worth the long commute from up here in Ithaca.

Anniversary Concert

It was on a fall weekend that I became the proud owner of a hammer dulcimer, and as another
anniversary drew near, I celebrated once again with a concert.

This year, the title was Celebrations and Traditions. The first half included celebrations of my studies with Tim Seaman, musical memories from my pre-dulcimer years, and original compositions about favorite things. In the second half, there were sets from Baroque, Christmas, and folk traditions. Marie (clarinet and recorder) and Lily (violin) joined me for the Baroque pieces.

A “preview” house concert for folks from church took place Friday night, with the concert proper the following evening. The warmth and intimacy of both small gatherings was a great way to celebrate this anniversary.

Our Last Summer in Virginia

This was a bittersweet summer; sweet to perform with these wonderful people, bitter to be saying good-byes.

Kim Forquer (violin) and I met through our church. She’s the one who organized the seasonal coffeehouses. For our first and only gig together, we played classical music for her friend’s wedding ceremony at the Italian Gardens in Maymont Park. It was a pleasure to work with Kim, and it was a fun challenge to arrange Baroque pieces for dulcimer and violin.

Later in the summer, I had the great honor of performing with my dulcimer teacher Timothy Seaman for two wedding receptions. Pictured is the wedding of my friends Marty and Gordon at the William and Mary Alumni House. Marty is also a musician; she bought my first dulcimer when I bought a new Jerry Read Smith, and she plays and teaches piano, too.

The WoodSong Trio’s final gig was Carolyn’s friend’s wedding at the Manor House in Kings Charter. You know how you always forget something when you pack for a trip? Tom forgot his suit, and we didn’t have time for him to go back across town to get it. Fortunately, the DJ for the reception lent Tom his outfit for the ceremony.

It was hard for us to say goodbye when the time came. It’s rare to find ensemble partners who fit together both musically and personally like the three of us did, and we’ll miss playing together.

A New Dulcimer

Spring started early for me this year…

One February Sunday, I got a message from Jerry Read Smith announcing that Grande Concertmaster #780 was finished and ready to go home. The following Tuesday I drove down to Black Mountain, NC, to the Song of the Wood showroom. I got there earlier than expected, so I chatted a bit with the store folks and played some of the instruments on display. Then Jerry arrived with the dulcimer. He played a few things for me and told me about some changes he’d made to the string gauge chart, then it was my turn to play it. Amazing… this dulcimer was beautiful even beyond my high expectations.

A New Stand

I asked John Willmer to build a custom scissor stand for me like the one he made for Tom, along with a detachable music stand. John’s scissor stands are more stable than most commercial ones, with upper supports reaching further to the sides and back, and a wider footprint. Because the legs would stick out beyond the dulcimer, we also developed a shelf to brace the stand open. That way tripping over the legs wouldn’t collapse the stand.

A New CD Project

I’d started thinking about recording a CD about the same time I started thinking about a new dulcimer. I visited Henry Smith’s studio in November and recorded one medley, but then I decided to wait for the new dulcimer. Once it arrived in February, the project really began. The recording was done between February and May, then my sister and I completed the graphic design, and the finished CD arrived in July. Read more about No Loose Threads at the Recordings page.