BRINGING BACK THE NEWTON BEGINNER MOUNTAIN DULCIMER CLASS: Erin Mae will begin hosting monthly beginner lessons for mountain dulcimer players at First Christian Church in Newton. They will be held on the third Wednesday of each month, from 2:45-3:45 p.m. This will start in October. Participants are also invited to stay and play dulcimers with the youth of First Christian Church from 4:00-4:30 p.m. There will be no cost to attend these classes. Questions? Contact Gary Bell or Erin Mae
Did you know that one cannot sit on a mountain dulcimer without breaking it? The reader might be surprised of the number of mountain dulcimers who have dragged their broken little bodies into my shop because some hapless human did not look where they sat and in so doing crushed a poor defenseless mountain dulcimer! How could anyone not see a mountain dulcimer?! Alright, maybe its owner should not have put the dulcimer in the chair! But then again, one does not usually want to set their dulcimer on the floor, nor stand them in the corner ("Nobody puts Baby in the Corner!"). We have all done it. You stop playing for a moment. You look for a "safe" place to set your dulcimer and you see that bi
As September begins, musicians worldwide are headed to Kansas for the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield! This festival is known as "Picker's Paradise" because of its constant campground music-making-merriment. At any given time, you can hear dozens of musicians "jamming" together. To help you join in the fun, I compiled the following list of Jam Session Tools a few years ago. Tool #1: Prepare in advance Learn chords. Be able to play in multiple keys. Know standard chord progressions. Learn basic guitar chord shapes so you can "read hands". Tape-record yourself and play along or practice with a metronome. Make a list of tunes you are comfortable leading. Tool #2: Observe Does eve
