WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:01.699 Good morning, friends. 2 00:00:03.199 --> 00:00:06.420 Welcome to the Wednesday livestream from Dulcimer Crossing. 3 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:09.620 I'm Erin May. I'm your hostess today. 4 00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:12.019 I just wanted to let you know, 5 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:16.945 if you've been following Steve, Eulberg had surgery last week, and, 6 00:00:17.325 --> 00:00:18.625 he got to come home 7 00:00:19.085 --> 00:00:20.465 from the hospital yesterday. 8 00:00:21.005 --> 00:00:25.585 He's doing fine. He's focusing on healing and recovering well. 9 00:00:25.805 --> 00:00:29.189 If you wanna read more about that, he has a CaringBridge 10 00:00:29.570 --> 00:00:31.590 page and you can find that information. 11 00:00:32.450 --> 00:00:35.030 He posted an update yesterday, but, 12 00:00:35.809 --> 00:00:40.629 he's doing well. I just get to be here while he works on his recovery process. 13 00:00:42.225 --> 00:00:43.985 So I went on, 14 00:00:45.905 --> 00:00:52.165 deep dive down the rabbit hole last night that took me into learning about, 15 00:00:53.105 --> 00:00:53.605 bowing 16 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:56.260 mountain dulcimers. And so 17 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:00.180 I'm gonna share a little bit about what I found, 18 00:01:00.720 --> 00:01:06.880 because that sounds fun to me. When I go down a rabbit hole, then I like to share what I found. 19 00:01:06.880 --> 00:01:10.665 So hopefully, you enjoy that too. So I'm gonna start by just 20 00:01:11.365 --> 00:01:13.785 bowing my dulcimer a little bit 21 00:01:14.325 --> 00:01:15.465 so you can hear it. 22 00:02:11.735 --> 00:02:12.235 Okay. 23 00:02:12.615 --> 00:02:13.115 So 24 00:02:15.040 --> 00:02:16.260 I was using 25 00:02:16.640 --> 00:02:19.100 a bow from a bowed eulberg. 26 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:20.180 Actually, 27 00:02:20.480 --> 00:02:25.380 that's the bow that I have. I've tried violin, fiddle bows before, and 28 00:02:25.760 --> 00:02:27.360 there's kind of pros and cons to both. 29 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:33.215 And when I looked up pictures and videos of people using bows on dulcimers, I saw both kinds of bows. 30 00:02:33.215 --> 00:02:34.755 Actually, most of the historic 31 00:02:35.295 --> 00:02:35.795 pictures 32 00:02:36.335 --> 00:02:39.955 we have of, like, early bows being used were 33 00:02:40.335 --> 00:02:43.875 sort of curved bows like this, not the straight bow you would see, 34 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:46.819 with a violin bow. So I, 35 00:02:47.920 --> 00:02:53.620 and I also read that if you hold it more in the middle than on the end of the bow, 36 00:02:53.920 --> 00:02:58.580 because of bowing forward and backward, that actually gives you better control. 37 00:02:59.005 --> 00:03:02.785 My bowing technique is not great. So that's definitely 38 00:03:03.085 --> 00:03:08.465 a work in progress for me. You may also have known that I wasn't playing on my regular dulcimer. 39 00:03:09.325 --> 00:03:14.225 So the rosin that you put on the bow to make it grip the strings 40 00:03:15.020 --> 00:03:15.840 is sticky, 41 00:03:16.379 --> 00:03:18.319 which is what makes it grip the strings. 42 00:03:18.620 --> 00:03:20.959 And it leaves behind some sticky residue. 43 00:03:21.180 --> 00:03:25.760 So what I have done is I've taken this cardboard dulcimer, which, 44 00:03:26.220 --> 00:03:28.239 was a dear friend of mine's, and 45 00:03:28.974 --> 00:03:33.555 I have decided that this is my dulcimer I'm gonna try bowing on. 46 00:03:33.694 --> 00:03:36.035 And so then I don't have to worry about 47 00:03:36.575 --> 00:03:40.035 picking with my pick over the sticky residue from the rosin. 48 00:03:40.415 --> 00:03:45.250 You can also just clean your strings with a cloth after you play with a bow. So, 49 00:03:45.550 --> 00:03:47.730 it's fine to use all one dulcimer, but, 50 00:03:48.990 --> 00:03:50.850 that's the reasoning for that. 51 00:03:51.950 --> 00:03:56.690 So I was first introduced to the sound and the concept of the bow dulcimer 52 00:03:57.055 --> 00:03:58.115 through David Schnaufer. 53 00:03:59.055 --> 00:03:59.555 His 54 00:03:59.935 --> 00:04:06.115 project, the Tennessee Music Box, included bowed dulcimer sounds, and he would often 55 00:04:06.815 --> 00:04:08.355 tour with a 56 00:04:08.735 --> 00:04:15.320 Tennessee Music Box style dulcimer, and he would sometimes bow it when he did his concert. And so 57 00:04:15.700 --> 00:04:20.440 I heard him bowing the dulcimer. And the story that I remember him telling is that 58 00:04:22.275 --> 00:04:25.095 in his research, they started finding these 59 00:04:25.715 --> 00:04:29.015 box shaped dulcimers. So they were just rectangular 60 00:04:29.555 --> 00:04:35.015 boxes as opposed to having the curves, and they were finding them largely around 61 00:04:35.950 --> 00:04:38.050 middle and eastern Tennessee. 62 00:04:38.590 --> 00:04:41.810 And so in that part of the Appalachian 63 00:04:42.190 --> 00:04:46.850 region, you got the boxes. So they're often now called Tennessee music boxes, 64 00:04:47.230 --> 00:04:52.575 and he started collecting them, trying to seek them out, find them, and learn more about them. 65 00:04:53.595 --> 00:04:56.175 And they started to notice that some of them 66 00:04:56.795 --> 00:04:57.295 had 67 00:04:57.675 --> 00:05:04.975 white powdery kind of residue under the strings where you would normally strum, and it wasn't matching up with 68 00:05:05.970 --> 00:05:06.710 the kind 69 00:05:07.250 --> 00:05:08.950 of flex off of 70 00:05:09.650 --> 00:05:13.350 a quill, a turkey quill that you would get. It was sticky. 71 00:05:13.490 --> 00:05:18.230 And so they did some more research and figured out that it was rosin 72 00:05:19.055 --> 00:05:24.194 and realized that they were probably being played with a bow. So he started trying it, 73 00:05:24.655 --> 00:05:30.675 and the sound that you get from bowing the dulcimer with all of the drone strings simultaneously 74 00:05:31.694 --> 00:05:33.020 is pretty similar to a 75 00:05:33.480 --> 00:05:33.980 bagpipe. 76 00:05:34.440 --> 00:05:35.340 And so, 77 00:05:36.920 --> 00:05:37.420 there's 78 00:05:39.320 --> 00:05:40.380 some information, 79 00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:44.060 from him about that. 80 00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:45.400 So, 81 00:05:47.384 --> 00:05:51.245 I wanted to play you just a little bit of that 82 00:05:51.785 --> 00:05:55.004 recording that was my first recording with the 83 00:05:55.305 --> 00:05:55.965 a Tennessee 84 00:05:56.345 --> 00:05:57.865 Music Box being played with a bow. 85 00:05:57.865 --> 00:06:02.580 So this is David Schnaufer's recording of 10,000 charms off of the Tennessee Music Box album. 86 00:07:19.675 --> 00:07:21.615 Alright. So that's David Schnaufer. 87 00:07:22.315 --> 00:07:23.535 I also found 88 00:07:23.915 --> 00:07:24.815 a video 89 00:07:25.275 --> 00:07:27.215 of Steven Seifert bowing, 90 00:07:27.755 --> 00:07:29.215 Tennessee music box. 91 00:07:29.835 --> 00:07:32.735 So you can actually watch and see the technique, 92 00:07:33.115 --> 00:07:35.215 and he would have learned that technique 93 00:07:35.610 --> 00:07:37.550 pretty directly from David. 94 00:07:38.970 --> 00:07:39.470 So 95 00:07:40.169 --> 00:07:40.830 I'm gonna 96 00:07:41.370 --> 00:07:43.550 show you that one in a second. 97 00:07:48.955 --> 00:07:52.014 So you can just see a little of it. And I'll put these links in the chat 98 00:07:52.315 --> 00:07:53.375 comments too. 99 00:07:55.275 --> 00:07:59.055 It took me a while to find this one because he doesn't say Beau Dulcimer in his title. 100 00:08:45.665 --> 00:08:46.165 Alright. 101 00:08:48.065 --> 00:08:48.805 So that's, 102 00:08:49.265 --> 00:08:50.165 Steven Seifert 103 00:08:50.785 --> 00:08:54.404 playing a Tennessee music box, and you can see from that video 104 00:08:54.945 --> 00:08:59.720 that he was using a fiddle bow. You can see that he had it on a table in front of him. 105 00:08:59.720 --> 00:09:04.460 And that's always how David played it too. It was actually in on a table in front of him. 106 00:09:05.160 --> 00:09:05.660 And 107 00:09:06.360 --> 00:09:10.940 the frets were only under the melody string, which was typical of the earliest 108 00:09:11.865 --> 00:09:12.845 mountain dulcimers. 109 00:09:13.305 --> 00:09:18.205 Yes. I will I will put the links to the videos in the chat after I 110 00:09:18.585 --> 00:09:21.005 after I finish up. Yeah. For sure. 111 00:09:22.185 --> 00:09:24.605 So they're not fretted differently. 112 00:09:25.089 --> 00:09:31.890 The Tennessee music boxes they found with the rosin and the Tennessee music boxes they found without them were basically the same. 113 00:09:31.890 --> 00:09:35.110 So the instrument itself was not constructed any differently. 114 00:09:35.730 --> 00:09:36.790 So then I went 115 00:09:37.265 --> 00:09:41.205 diving a little bit into what are these sort of ancestral 116 00:09:41.585 --> 00:09:42.085 instruments 117 00:09:42.625 --> 00:09:46.565 that came before the mountain dulcimer as we know it in Appalachia, 118 00:09:47.345 --> 00:09:47.845 and 119 00:09:50.980 --> 00:09:54.360 would would there have been bows involved in any of those instruments? 120 00:09:54.660 --> 00:09:59.800 So I picked up my copy of Ralph Lee Smith's The Story of the Dulcimer 121 00:10:00.180 --> 00:10:01.160 book, which 122 00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:05.640 is the second edition is still in print. That's what this one is. 123 00:10:06.100 --> 00:10:07.535 And so you can 124 00:10:08.714 --> 00:10:12.654 check out that book. It's a cool resource because he has lots and lots of pictures 125 00:10:13.035 --> 00:10:14.975 of the instruments that probably 126 00:10:15.835 --> 00:10:17.214 led to the development 127 00:10:17.995 --> 00:10:18.735 of the 128 00:10:19.269 --> 00:10:20.890 mountain dulcimer. And these 129 00:10:21.990 --> 00:10:24.250 are in sort of music cataloging 130 00:10:25.110 --> 00:10:25.610 systems, 131 00:10:25.990 --> 00:10:27.529 generally referred to as schtteholt. 132 00:10:27.589 --> 00:10:34.410 But one of the interesting things in this book is that he found no record of anyone in America 133 00:10:34.845 --> 00:10:36.464 actually calling them a Scheitholdt. 134 00:10:37.005 --> 00:10:44.385 And when I was in Germany, I found very few people referring to any of these instruments by the name Scheitholdt. 135 00:10:45.165 --> 00:10:51.440 That seems to be more of an academic name for it than a colloquial or folk name for it. 136 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:56.000 So he said in in some places there's no reference to what it was called. 137 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:59.779 It just was an instrument that they had. So I find that really interesting. 138 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:03.300 But here's a picture of these schaitholds on the top 139 00:11:03.839 --> 00:11:07.595 and you can see that there's a short bow 140 00:11:08.615 --> 00:11:14.154 next to one of them. And these were all found in the United States. You can see in the top two, 141 00:11:15.095 --> 00:11:16.235 on this end, 142 00:11:16.695 --> 00:11:18.394 there was sort of a short 143 00:11:19.480 --> 00:11:25.420 stick, or I think they were a piece of bone, actually, from what I've been finding, 144 00:11:27.079 --> 00:11:34.045 like a, like a rib bone or, or something from, you know, an animal that they had butchered, and they would save the parts, right? 145 00:11:34.045 --> 00:11:37.265 And they would use all of the parts, and they would use those as plectrums 146 00:11:37.885 --> 00:11:41.345 in some places. And then of course we see the turkey quill as a plectrum, 147 00:11:41.805 --> 00:11:43.505 but the bow shows 148 00:11:44.459 --> 00:11:46.959 up with that instrument in this picture. 149 00:11:47.500 --> 00:11:48.000 So, 150 00:11:48.459 --> 00:11:49.120 and then 151 00:11:49.899 --> 00:11:53.279 underneath of that are some different shapes they found of, 152 00:11:54.300 --> 00:11:57.680 historic instruments that led to the development of 153 00:11:58.695 --> 00:12:00.315 what we now call mountain dulcimers. 154 00:12:02.375 --> 00:12:07.435 So, yeah, the frets were only under the high string and all of those early instruments, 155 00:12:08.535 --> 00:12:11.515 not all the way across the fretboard. And they were often like 156 00:12:13.580 --> 00:12:16.720 fence staple or something, so they were pretty rough hewn. 157 00:12:18.940 --> 00:12:19.440 Yeah. 158 00:12:20.140 --> 00:12:28.845 So then I went digging and everywhere that historically I had heard of shiteholdt, I had only seen it played with a feather quill. 159 00:12:29.785 --> 00:12:34.765 And like I said, I found that one picture in the Ralphie Smith book that had it. And then I found, 160 00:12:35.865 --> 00:12:39.565 a video of someone playing what they refer to as a shiteholdt 161 00:12:40.370 --> 00:12:41.589 with a bow. 162 00:12:46.130 --> 00:12:49.269 And so I'm gonna try to share a little bit of that 163 00:12:53.570 --> 00:12:55.670 and and singing with it. 164 00:13:02.615 --> 00:13:04.455 Let me make sure it's sharing the sound. 165 00:13:04.455 --> 00:13:09.675 Hopefully, you'll be able to hear this one a little bit better because I think I didn't press all the right buttons before. 166 00:15:10.189 --> 00:15:10.689 Okay. 167 00:15:12.029 --> 00:15:12.269 So, 168 00:15:15.495 --> 00:15:21.915 current video of someone playing a replica schreithold instrument, you could see that it had 3 strings, 169 00:15:22.535 --> 00:15:26.635 just like our mountain dulcimers now tend to have 3, sometimes 4 170 00:15:27.080 --> 00:15:32.200 strings, and it also had the diatonic fretting and only under the melody string. 171 00:15:32.200 --> 00:15:39.580 And, actually, the fretboard was only under the melody string in that one, and the other two strings didn't even have, like, the fretboard underneath them. 172 00:15:39.720 --> 00:15:43.035 In the Tennessee Music Box, you saw the fretboard 173 00:15:43.655 --> 00:15:47.755 had all the strings under it, but the frets were only under that one string. 174 00:15:48.215 --> 00:15:49.435 So those are just little 175 00:15:50.055 --> 00:15:53.115 different kind of developmental things that happened. 176 00:15:53.895 --> 00:15:57.200 We also know that one of the related 177 00:15:57.580 --> 00:15:58.080 instruments 178 00:15:59.020 --> 00:16:03.680 to the current day mountain dulcimer is the Icelandic langspiel, 179 00:16:04.300 --> 00:16:06.000 and the langspiel was 180 00:16:06.300 --> 00:16:06.800 historically 181 00:16:07.180 --> 00:16:11.685 always played with a bow or usually played with a bow as far as 182 00:16:12.625 --> 00:16:13.605 I have seen. 183 00:16:23.040 --> 00:16:28.560 I apparently didn't save that video where I could grab it really, really quickly. So I will, 184 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:34.820 I will look up a video of the lang spiel and and send to you. 185 00:16:36.745 --> 00:16:43.325 I also went deep down the rabbit hole of langolikes, which are not a bowed instrument, but are the kind of Swedish and and Norwegian 186 00:16:44.345 --> 00:16:44.845 ancestry 187 00:16:45.225 --> 00:16:45.625 instrument. 188 00:16:45.625 --> 00:16:49.885 And I'm finding all of my links about the langolike and not all of my links about the langolike, 189 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:51.500 But, 190 00:16:52.040 --> 00:16:59.020 I first learned about the Lang spiel actually at the Walnut Valley Festival in Windfield, and there's a group of people from Iceland 191 00:16:59.560 --> 00:17:02.300 who tend to come to that festival. 192 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:13.295 And, the first time I met them, they asked me what I play, and I said mountain dulcimer, and they kind of stared blankly at me, which is not surprising because even in America, very few people actually know what it is. 193 00:17:13.295 --> 00:17:16.494 I certainly didn't expect someone from Iceland to know what it is. 194 00:17:16.494 --> 00:17:21.750 And I pulled it out of the case and their eyes lit up, and they said, it's a Langspiel. 195 00:17:22.929 --> 00:17:23.750 And we've 196 00:17:24.210 --> 00:17:27.250 they're almost have almost died out in Iceland. 197 00:17:27.250 --> 00:17:30.790 There's almost no one playing them, but we know this instrument 198 00:17:32.210 --> 00:17:34.950 as an Icelandic folk instrument. And so 199 00:17:35.375 --> 00:17:40.915 I thought that was really cool and really special to be able to share that kind of cultural connection 200 00:17:41.695 --> 00:17:42.435 with them, 201 00:17:43.215 --> 00:17:46.335 between Iceland and the United States. And, 202 00:17:46.815 --> 00:17:49.235 again, the lang spiel was always bowed. 203 00:17:51.299 --> 00:17:53.000 Then there's also the development 204 00:17:53.380 --> 00:17:57.639 of Ken Blum's bowed dulcimers, which he designed 205 00:17:58.100 --> 00:17:59.559 as sort of a crossover 206 00:17:59.860 --> 00:18:00.360 instrument 207 00:18:00.740 --> 00:18:05.799 specifically to be played with a bow and to create an easier to play 208 00:18:06.259 --> 00:18:07.775 sort of threaded 209 00:18:08.075 --> 00:18:10.655 version of a violin or cello. 210 00:18:11.195 --> 00:18:13.695 And I found a really cool documentary 211 00:18:14.395 --> 00:18:18.095 with him where he kind of talks about how he 212 00:18:20.010 --> 00:18:20.510 started, 213 00:18:22.410 --> 00:18:24.910 getting into this idea of playing 214 00:18:25.610 --> 00:18:27.390 of of building these boat dulcimers. 215 00:18:28.170 --> 00:18:32.910 So I'm not gonna play the whole thing of that, but I just wanted to play, like, a little smidgen of that 216 00:18:35.795 --> 00:18:36.535 for you. 217 00:18:54.580 --> 00:18:55.820 Bow dulcimer 218 00:18:56.020 --> 00:18:56.520 is 219 00:18:57.380 --> 00:19:00.520 a modern form really of the viola da gamba. 220 00:19:01.460 --> 00:19:02.360 It's a 221 00:19:02.660 --> 00:19:03.720 bowed instrument 222 00:19:04.635 --> 00:19:05.295 that allows 223 00:19:05.755 --> 00:19:09.375 people who don't have huge amounts of time, cash, 224 00:19:09.715 --> 00:19:10.215 or 225 00:19:10.555 --> 00:19:14.655 inclination to devote themselves to the violin, the viola, or the cello 226 00:19:15.115 --> 00:19:18.160 to get a reasonable sound out of a bowed instrument 227 00:19:18.539 --> 00:19:21.440 and do all those things without too much hassle. 228 00:19:23.500 --> 00:19:24.000 Okay. 229 00:19:24.620 --> 00:19:29.820 The documentary that little bit of a documentary, it's only 4 minutes long. It's worth checking out. 230 00:19:29.820 --> 00:19:31.520 It's called the Bode Dulcimer Project. 231 00:19:31.845 --> 00:19:35.625 I'll put the link in the chat, but I wanted to let you guys hear 232 00:19:36.485 --> 00:19:41.145 how Ken Bloom plays the the Bode Dulcimer and how it sounds. 233 00:19:42.245 --> 00:19:43.544 So here's a snippet 234 00:19:44.005 --> 00:19:44.505 of 235 00:19:46.470 --> 00:19:47.610 Ken Bloom 236 00:19:47.910 --> 00:19:48.410 and, 237 00:19:49.830 --> 00:19:50.330 Rachel 238 00:19:50.790 --> 00:19:51.290 Sprinkle 239 00:19:51.670 --> 00:19:52.970 who has studied 240 00:19:53.510 --> 00:19:54.570 the bow dulcimer 241 00:19:55.030 --> 00:19:56.650 technique under Ken, 242 00:19:57.430 --> 00:20:01.365 playing a duet of of the Scottish tune, the slocket light. 243 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:14.580 It's really pretty. I could keep listening to that for 244 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:15.780 one time. 245 00:21:17.280 --> 00:21:24.740 So that's the bow dulcimer, and the viola da gamba was a sort of renaissance era instrument that was essentially a fretted violin. 246 00:21:25.235 --> 00:21:31.895 And so this idea of sort of combining the idea of, like, a zither instrument with a fretboard down the center of the instrument 247 00:21:32.915 --> 00:21:33.735 and the bowing 248 00:21:34.355 --> 00:21:38.695 and the viola da gamba kind of idea of having a fretted 249 00:21:39.110 --> 00:21:41.770 bowed instrument merges in Ken Blum's 250 00:21:42.070 --> 00:21:43.450 version of the 251 00:21:44.070 --> 00:21:44.810 bowed dulcimer. 252 00:21:46.470 --> 00:21:48.250 And, you know, he'll say 253 00:21:49.910 --> 00:21:50.650 he created 254 00:21:51.030 --> 00:21:59.075 that particular instrument, but he created it out of ideas from these historic instruments, which is the same thing that happened with the mountain dulcimer. 255 00:21:59.535 --> 00:22:02.195 And when you kind of go back and forth from 256 00:22:02.655 --> 00:22:04.595 records we have of old instruments 257 00:22:04.975 --> 00:22:07.760 and forward to the way, like, traditions 258 00:22:08.220 --> 00:22:11.520 have developed over time, you can see all of these intersections 259 00:22:11.820 --> 00:22:12.800 between the different, 260 00:22:14.060 --> 00:22:15.760 cultural ideas. And 261 00:22:16.220 --> 00:22:19.440 Ralphie Smith says in the story of the dulcimer book that, 262 00:22:20.265 --> 00:22:23.005 it's pretty clear that the German 263 00:22:25.625 --> 00:22:28.045 would have been the primary 264 00:22:29.225 --> 00:22:36.110 instrument probably that was influencing the development of the Appalachian dulcimer just because of the prevalence of finding 265 00:22:36.570 --> 00:22:37.310 the historic 266 00:22:37.690 --> 00:22:41.870 schightholdt in the same regions that you then find the new 267 00:22:42.250 --> 00:22:44.670 new versions of mountain dulcimers developing. 268 00:22:47.425 --> 00:22:47.925 But 269 00:22:48.305 --> 00:22:51.205 you also sometimes find the Swedish instruments 270 00:22:51.585 --> 00:22:55.925 and the Icelandic instruments, and certainly there were mixing and molding 271 00:22:56.465 --> 00:22:59.205 of cultures and ideas. And it's, 272 00:22:59.620 --> 00:23:02.520 I don't know, really beautiful and fascinating to me 273 00:23:03.220 --> 00:23:07.399 to put all of those pieces together and see how modern traditions 274 00:23:08.500 --> 00:23:14.760 develop and keep changing and keep developing and new things come forward. And, actually, Jamie, 275 00:23:15.145 --> 00:23:16.445 I love that you were, 276 00:23:17.865 --> 00:23:27.245 posting the links to your videos because your videos of how how you were experimenting with different kinds of bows on your dulcimer were also some that I watched in this process 277 00:23:27.860 --> 00:23:30.120 of delving into the information. 278 00:23:30.500 --> 00:23:34.840 And the the guitar bows that Jamie tried were, like, really, really short. 279 00:23:35.700 --> 00:23:36.440 And the 280 00:23:37.460 --> 00:23:44.095 the bowed sultry bow is, for me, the right length for a bow if I'm sitting the instrument in my lap, 281 00:23:45.035 --> 00:23:50.475 which is how I've been taught to play the mountain dulcimer right as an instrument that sits in your lap. 282 00:23:50.475 --> 00:23:55.870 But a lot of the earlier instruments that we've found and that we have documentation 283 00:23:56.809 --> 00:23:59.630 of, we're pretty sure they set them on a tabletop. 284 00:24:00.490 --> 00:24:01.070 Right? And 285 00:24:01.450 --> 00:24:02.270 the Langelay, 286 00:24:02.730 --> 00:24:04.750 the Swedish one, when I was 287 00:24:05.050 --> 00:24:11.554 looking at pictures of it, there's actually a picture of the the bottom side of it, Langley, and it doesn't have a back on it. 288 00:24:12.174 --> 00:24:13.715 It was just like 289 00:24:14.095 --> 00:24:14.914 the top 290 00:24:15.215 --> 00:24:18.274 and the sides of the instrument and the back was nothing, 291 00:24:18.575 --> 00:24:24.580 and then they would set it on the table and the table would become essentially the bottom soundboard for it. 292 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:26.419 I also heard a story 293 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:27.299 about 294 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:30.100 a place in Belgium 295 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:31.059 where 296 00:24:32.080 --> 00:24:34.260 the barns would have a loft 297 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:37.355 and the musicians for the dances 298 00:24:37.655 --> 00:24:39.115 would play in the loft 299 00:24:39.575 --> 00:24:46.795 and the dulcimer player or the maybe they would call it Hummel or it might have been called an epinette des Vosges in that region. 300 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:48.900 Again, the names 301 00:24:49.280 --> 00:24:50.740 kind of go with regions, 302 00:24:51.040 --> 00:24:54.580 but not super concretely from what I can tell there. 303 00:24:57.840 --> 00:25:00.660 They would actually take the instrument and they would 304 00:25:01.280 --> 00:25:02.580 it had, like, little 305 00:25:03.794 --> 00:25:07.095 nails basically sticking out of it and they would 306 00:25:07.715 --> 00:25:09.335 put it into the floorboards 307 00:25:09.794 --> 00:25:10.294 of 308 00:25:10.674 --> 00:25:11.254 the hayloft. 309 00:25:12.034 --> 00:25:12.855 And, so, 310 00:25:13.235 --> 00:25:15.174 the whole entire loft 311 00:25:15.720 --> 00:25:17.100 became the amplification 312 00:25:17.480 --> 00:25:18.780 for this dulcimer 313 00:25:19.320 --> 00:25:20.299 like instrument. 314 00:25:20.919 --> 00:25:30.540 And so this very quiet instrument, this quiet unassuming instrument that sits on your lap, when you put it into the floorboards of the hayloft, 315 00:25:30.975 --> 00:25:34.995 was loud enough to be the primary melody instrument for the dancers 316 00:25:35.615 --> 00:25:41.315 without any kind of amplification and electricity. So I thought that was really fascinating. 317 00:25:41.375 --> 00:25:45.250 We kind of we kind of associate dulcimer with, like, quiet, 318 00:25:45.790 --> 00:25:46.290 peaceful. 319 00:25:46.670 --> 00:25:50.530 It's it's among the quieter of all the instruments, but 320 00:25:50.910 --> 00:25:53.010 it might not have always 321 00:25:53.310 --> 00:25:57.490 been the quiet instrument, and I find that really fascinating too. 322 00:25:58.830 --> 00:25:59.330 So, 323 00:26:00.315 --> 00:26:00.815 yeah. 324 00:26:02.155 --> 00:26:06.975 Bowing a dulcimer. Why not give it a try? I'll play you one more little 325 00:26:07.355 --> 00:26:13.500 little bow dulcimer ditty. Again, I'm not the best at it, but it's fun to play. Why not? 326 00:26:18.380 --> 00:26:20.880 So I have this dulcimer tuned to DAA 327 00:26:21.500 --> 00:26:25.920 right now, just like a stand a standard mountain dulcimer tuning. 328 00:27:02.845 --> 00:27:07.105 The tune that just came out was that was the a part of Nell the Catfish to a Tree. So 329 00:27:07.485 --> 00:27:09.345 that's actually a modern tune, but 330 00:27:09.965 --> 00:27:13.164 it fell fell out of my dulcimer and sometimes that's the way you catch them. 331 00:27:13.164 --> 00:27:14.400 They just fall out and you 332 00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:16.900 pick 333 00:27:17.600 --> 00:27:18.100 them 334 00:27:18.800 --> 00:27:19.300 up. 335 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:20.180 Alright. 336 00:27:21.280 --> 00:27:25.620 Bowing the dulcimer. If you go try it, let me know how it goes. Jamie, 337 00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:31.245 I can't wait to see what you come up with with the new bow that you just got. So that's awesome. 338 00:27:32.424 --> 00:27:33.565 Bow sultry bow, 339 00:27:34.345 --> 00:27:38.924 fiddle bow, whatever kind of bow with some horsehair you can find laying around. 340 00:27:39.945 --> 00:27:43.164 Give it a shot. See how it goes. I would love to hear. 341 00:27:43.544 --> 00:27:45.990 Maybe there'll be a whole resurgence of 342 00:27:46.790 --> 00:27:47.290 bowing 343 00:27:47.670 --> 00:27:49.210 mountain dulcimers and 344 00:27:49.670 --> 00:27:50.730 even more of kimblooms 345 00:27:51.030 --> 00:27:52.490 bow dulcimers out there 346 00:27:53.030 --> 00:27:54.090 it is pretty fascinating, 347 00:27:55.190 --> 00:27:57.929 to listen to the different sounds that you can make so 348 00:27:58.785 --> 00:28:03.205 thank you for joining me for the Dulcimer Crossing Wednesday livestream. 349 00:28:04.225 --> 00:28:08.065 We are playing it by ear on whether I'll do the livestream next week or Steve will. 350 00:28:08.065 --> 00:28:12.485 So it'll be a surprise. You don't you won't know it in advance. We'll just 351 00:28:12.840 --> 00:28:15.419 have to you'll have to tune in and see, 352 00:28:16.600 --> 00:28:21.659 upcoming events that you should be aware of. The registration for Quarantine, 353 00:28:22.679 --> 00:28:26.965 the big online dulcimer festival just opened on Sunday. 354 00:28:27.025 --> 00:28:31.525 So their registration is open now, and there are lots of available workshops. 355 00:28:32.065 --> 00:28:33.525 The dates for Quarantune 356 00:28:34.705 --> 00:28:35.525 are February 357 00:28:36.625 --> 00:28:37.125 13th 358 00:28:37.425 --> 00:28:38.325 through 15th. 359 00:28:39.665 --> 00:28:40.859 The next Dulcimer 360 00:28:41.080 --> 00:28:41.580 Crossing 361 00:28:42.600 --> 00:28:43.820 live workshop 362 00:28:44.759 --> 00:28:49.179 will be on Thursday, January 23rd with Sarah Minor. 363 00:28:49.720 --> 00:28:53.259 Sarah Minor has placed in the top 5 in the National Mountain Dulcimer 364 00:28:53.715 --> 00:28:56.855 contest the last 2 years. She's a Texas player, 365 00:28:57.315 --> 00:28:59.975 and she has a really cool system 366 00:29:00.275 --> 00:29:01.815 she uses for, 367 00:29:02.674 --> 00:29:03.655 helping visualize 368 00:29:04.035 --> 00:29:05.255 how standard notation 369 00:29:05.635 --> 00:29:06.135 and 370 00:29:06.580 --> 00:29:13.640 mountain dulcimer tablature and playing intersect using a color method. That's really awesome. So, 371 00:29:14.500 --> 00:29:21.535 if you're interested in learning more about how Sarah approaches her dulcimer playing and music making, 372 00:29:22.075 --> 00:29:23.775 check out the, Dulcimer 373 00:29:23.915 --> 00:29:24.415 Crossing 374 00:29:24.795 --> 00:29:25.295 workshops. 375 00:29:25.675 --> 00:29:27.535 That's the next live workshop. 376 00:29:28.795 --> 00:29:32.335 And then Dulcimer Crossing is in the process of 377 00:29:32.715 --> 00:29:33.215 planning 378 00:29:33.515 --> 00:29:34.015 and, 379 00:29:35.050 --> 00:29:36.510 putting together the first 380 00:29:37.530 --> 00:29:44.110 all day hammered dulcimer day event called hammered dulcimer bells and whistles, and that will be in March on March 8th. 381 00:29:44.490 --> 00:29:46.350 And registration is open 382 00:29:46.650 --> 00:29:53.895 now for that. If you check out the dulcimer crossing website, you can find the details for the 1st 383 00:29:54.434 --> 00:29:57.575 hammered dulcimer day, an all day event featuring 384 00:29:58.035 --> 00:30:01.895 hammered dulcimer instruction from 6 different hammered dulcimer players. 385 00:30:02.275 --> 00:30:04.515 So those are the things to look forward to. 386 00:30:04.515 --> 00:30:09.470 We'll see you back here next week for the Wednesday livestream. Thanks for being here. Bye y'all.