Workshop Schedule

(All Levels except New Players): Let’s get the festival started with a variety of favorite songs that celebrate the moon, including early popular music, jazz, traditional and rock styles. Practice your chords and rhythm strumming while enjoying familiar favorites in tab or chord chart formats.

(Complete Beginners): You want to play the mountain dulcimer. Let’s get off to a great start. In this class we will learn to tune, strum, fret, take care of our dulcimer, read tab and play our first tunes. It will all involve loads of excitement, information, and laughs! Fasten your seatbelts and let’s take off into a wonderful new world! Bring your instrument, a Snark or Korg tuner, and a pick!

(Adv): I wanna show you how to loosen up and liven up your playing. I’m gonna give you the tools to be able to make up interesting and musical things on the fly. We’ll start with learning two ways I approach improvisation. Then I’ll be
teaching a simple tune with lots of room to experiment, then using these approaches to improvise within the structure of the tune. Knowledge of chords and/or chord shapes will be very helpful for the class. DAD tuning.

Kick out your inner critic so you can make music with joy and freedom. I think we all struggle with some form of an inner critic, and sometimes that jerk can really inhibit creativity and undermine confidence. We’ll discuss different ways our inner critics present themselves, and ways to silence them so you can get on with the joy of music making and enjoy the growth you deserve.

(Beg): We’ll start at the very beginning in this workshop. First, we’ll discuss how to tune your instrument successfully, which is a great way to get familiar with all the note locations. Then we’ll dive into the details of the hammered dulcimer layout, discuss different ways to think about it, and find some basic scales and chords. By the end of the workshop, you should have more confidence moving around and understanding the notes on your dulcimer.

(Int+): Have you ever learned a song and wanted to do more with it? Make your music come to life with arranging techniques that include musical dynamics, dulcimer tricks, chord substitutions, and melodic variations.

(Int): End up playing your DAD tab in 2 keys – both A & D. Transposition tools will be presented and practiced, including both melody & chord progressions. Learn the notes available in both DAD & AEA tunings, along with linear & cross-string scales in D, G, & A to assist this process. End up with a couple of tunes and new skills for future transposition! AEA tuning.

(All levels): Inspired by Jean Ritchie’s book “Singing Family of the Cumberlands,” this workshop offers recollections that transport us to another era.. Consider these songs front porch favorites as you imagine a family gathering at the end of the day to recount the day’s activities and to bring in the twilight. Several tunings will be presented, including DAD, DAA, and DAC.

 (All Levels/Instruments): Are you sore or tight after playing your instrument? Does your practice or playing time get cut short because you’re hurting? This workshop will create awareness around how you’re using your body, and help to alleviate discomfort during and after playing. We’ll discuss and practice safe and gentle movements, many done seated, to reset the body and create healthier and more relaxed posture overall, both in the practice room and out!

(Adv Beg/Int): One of the best patterns to perfect when you’re starting to add ornaments to a melody line is a triplet followed by a melody note. This can be done on consecutive notes in a scale to create a melodic ornament, or over a chord to support the harmony. We’ll talk about where and how to fit these ornaments into tunes, practice the hammer technique, and work on some exercises to help you perfect these ornaments.

(Int): Dulcimers sound great together with other dulcimers, especially with harmony playing. We’ll start off with a couple of duets that are already written, and then work on ways to create your own. Techniques include using parallel harmony, chord inversions, and flatpicking.

(Int/Adv): The focus of this class is to give you the tools you need to feel confident and comfortable playing the mountain dulcimer with other instruments. We’ll focus on how to play in multiple keys and switch keys quickly, tips on how to heard when playing with louder instruments, and the role the dulcimer can play in a band situation. DAD tuning, capo needed.

(Int): A sense of pulse is the heart of any well-performed piece of music, whether it’s the gentle pulse of a waltz, the energetic lift in a Bach minuet, or the deeply groovy drive of a fiddle tune. All too often music is performed flat, leaving the listener (and often the musician,) dissatisfied. We’ll explore ways to infuse your music with pulse and movement by learning techniques and concepts such as phrasing, micro and macro dynamics, arc, and more, You’ll have the opportunity to work on a piece of your choice later in the workshop, and also to play small parts of it for the other students if you desire feedback.

(Int): Over two hours we’ll explore: a Victorian song with a chord/melody arrangement and arpeggiated back-up; an original etude with standard or baritone duet back-up; an early-music dance medley; and an antique Italian dance tune. These should fill your next season with a variety of music to play and share. AEA and AEG tunings.

(Int+): Demystify improvisation with handy tips and tricks for making up melody lines over familiar chord progressions using scales, arpeggios, riffs and more. Participants will receive recorded backing tracks of the progressions to continue to use after the workshop.

When it’s time to sit down and practice, what do we do?  Most of us have no idea!  We will be looking at things to do and ways to use your practice time wisely to get the most benefit out of that time.  I’ll give you some ways to use the metronome not only for keeping steady time, but to help perfect your music, and some tried and true practice tips to get those songs under your fingers!