Dulcimer Players News - Current Issue

Volume 34, No. 3 - Summer 2008

The Summer 2008 edition of DPN features our most daring cover yet. It was painted by award winning artist Karen Cannon. Read the Editor's Column for more on this action capturing illustration of a couple of our favorite dulcimists, Bill Robinson and Bing Futch. Between the covers you'll find the usual quarterly dose of music, stories, instruction and festival guides to keep you connected to the ever changing dulcimer tradition.

Contributors to this issue include Rebecca Askey, Ken Bloom, Chuck Boody, Christie Burns, Sue Carpenter, Heidi Cerrigione,Joe Collins, Gary Gallier, Nancy Garrett, Jeff Hames, Stephen Humphries, Grahame Hood, Marya Katz, Dan Landrum, Joshua Messick, Roger Nicholson, Butch Ross, Steve Schneider, Mark Shelton, Ralph Lee Smith, Neal Walters, Mark Alan Wade, and Andy Young.

			The Summer 2008 Sampler CD, available to subscribers and advertisers, has over an hour of new and classic material. The selections are from our reviews and stories. Below you'll find the track listing for this issue's sampler CD.
Introduction—Dan, Butch, and Neal Headin’ to Evart—Bill Robinson Gold Trails Hotel—Bing Futch Walking in the Cradle of Our Land—Ooodoo William Tell Overture—Joe Collins and Mike McGee As the Day is Long—Stephen Humphries Morning Has Broken—Russell Cook Thomas Leixlip the Proud—Bill Collins and Nina Zanetti Travelin’ Shoes—Joe Collins and Mike McGee Valse De La Pluie/Les Enchantés—Lisa and Heather Malyuk Archibald McDonald of Kippoch—Ruth Barrett				Over the River to Feed My Sheep—Jean Ritchie Aunt Rhodie R.I.P.—Jean Ritchie Redwing—Mark Alan Wade Starry Lullabye—David Schnaufer Waltz for Wendy—Simple Gifts of the Blue Ridge Road to Lisdoonvarna/Swallowtail Jig —Dream Spirit Baroque Band Two-Part Invention in A minor —Martha Giles and Robert Wadsworth Star Spangled Banner—Dave Holeton Happy Land—Judy Klinkhammer Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway! —Steve Schneider

In This Issue...
	Defining Tradition - Dan Landrum A letter on my desk states, “You’re forgetting that these are simple instruments and traditions. You’re improvements in the magazine are costly and mostly for show. I miss the simpler DPN. How sad.” While I don’t look forward to letters like this, the opportunity they present and the questions they raise are a gift. In this article I attempt an answer.

	Arranging Music - Steve Schneider This is the third in a series of articles devoted to learning and arranging music for the hammered dulcimer, and we’re focusing on the Stephen Foster piece, Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway! In the last issue of DPN (Spring 2008), we explored the single-line melody and looked at some of the many practical considerations that lead to learning a new piece. Sprinkled throughout the article, I made certain observations about the music, some of them my own interpretation.

	Cymbalism - Andy Young For a long time I have loved playing and listening to the hammered dulcimer. Longer still, have I been a fan of jazz music, particularly in my younger days as a drummer. In more recent years I have taken an interest in Gypsy swing, that style of jazz pioneered by the master guitarist, Django Reinhardt. However, for the most part I have regarded the unwieldy, mostly diatonic, sustain laden instrument they call the dulcimer as fairly incompatible with the complicated, rather chromatic, improvisation-based genre known as jazz.

	People You Should Know, Malcolm Dalglish - Christie Burns Of all the different styles of music that get played on hammered dulcimers, few resonate so naturally as the original music of Malcolm Dalglish.

	How to Win at Winfield - The Champs Contesting is a great way to get your name around, meet people, and play at the peak of your ability. But what does it take to be a winner, how should you prepare, and why would you even bother to compete? To find out, we asked a number of contest winners, judges, and competitors to chime in on their experiences from the mother of all contests— Winfield. Some of the folks you’ll be hearing from are Hammered Dulcimer Champions Stephen Humphries (2007) and Joshua Messick (2003), Mountain Dulcimer Champions Joe Collins (2007), Jeff Hames (2006), Sue Carpenter (2005), and Gary Gallier (1987). Finally, Mark Wade offers a top ten list of perks that come from winning.

	Rolling - Mark Shelton Strike one course on the hammered dulcimer and listen. The sound sustains for several seconds but immediately begins to fade in volume. As dulcimer players, our chief means of sustaining a pitch AND controlling the volume is with a roll. A skill that is so necessary to most percussion performance is often overlooked and de-emphasized on the hammered dulcimer

Included Sheet Music	Ah, May the Red Rose Live Alway - Presented by Steve Schneider. Steve adds the base line in this issue. Beach Spring - This tune, attributed to Benjamin Franklin White (1844) has been carefully transcribed for mountain and hammered dulcimer by Rebecca Askey. Waltz for Wendy - An original tune by Marya Katz.

	Festival Fun - Ken Bloom Ken reports from the 4th annual Pilot Mountain Bowed Dulcimer Festival.

	Our Own Picasso - Ralph Lee Smith Ralph strikes gold (and swirls of orange) in search of the highly stylized Prichard Dulcimers (1839-1904).