Dulcimer Resources
It is a rainy spring afternoon as I sip on a cup of tea and write the April update, so I thought I’d share some of my favorite rainy-day dulcimer-related resources.
Dulcimer Player News is a quarterly magazine chalk-full of resources for both kinds of dulcimers. Each edition includes articles to help your playing technique, sheet music, information about the history of our instrument and its players, and a CD of beautiful performances. To subscribe, visit www.dpnews.com/ or call (423) 886-3966. (Autoharp Quarterly can be found at www.daigleharp.com/aqorderform.html)
Hearts of the Dulcimer is both a film documentary and a podcast. Wayne Jiang and Patricia Delich are a husband/wife, mountain dulcimer-playing team. Together, they collect and tell stories of the mountain dulcimer. The Hearts of the Dulcimer film is an excellent documentary about the dulcimer boom of the 1970’s along the West Coast. The Podcast features interviews with current mountain dulcimer players (including me!) about the past, present, and future of the instrument. Find it all at www.dulcimuse.com/
Dulcimer Crossing and Dulcimer School provide on-line subscription-based video lessons for mountain and hammered dulcimers. Both offer a plethora of resources to help you improve your playing at your own pace. Steve Eulberg and Linda Ratcliff produce Dulcimer Crossing; Dan Landrum and Stephen Seifert produce Dulcimer School. Both also feature a variety of guest instructors. Visit www.dulcimercrossing.com/ and dulcimerschool.com/ for all the details.
Dulcimer Geek Podcast is for folks who like to hear music nerds talk about their instruments. Dan Landrum, Stephen Seifert, and Aaron O’Rourke talk all things mountain and hammered dulcimer in a living-room-style conversation each week. It is always full of humor, friendly arguments, and tips for becoming a better musician. Find it on your favorite podcast player, or at www.dpnews.com/dulcimergeekpodcast/
Online Forums for dulcimers can be found in several places.
Everything Dulcimer (MD & HD)
Dusty Strings (HD)
Facebook Groups:
What am I missing? Do you have favorite dulcimer-related resources to share? Send me an email and I’ll include them in future newsletters!
Enjoy your rainy day (or any day!) music-making!
-Erin Mae, VP
