Mountain Dulcimer Workshop Descriptions pg. 1 CAROL WALKER 9:00am – M6 Adding New Dimensions or, Wow! I Never Knew a Dulcimer Could Sound Like That! Advanced You've been playing your dulcimer for a while, but are now looking for a fresh, new approach that will bring your playing to a new level. With your right hand, you'll learn various ways to fingerpick and brush, coaxing out the melody against a supportive harmonic background. With your left hand, you'll master the subtleties of smooth fretting techniques, including vibrato, anchors and slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs, and adding unique chord shapes and colors. Your packet of music will include an extensive and varied collection of familiar favorites treated in a completely different way, along with new, unfamiliar tunes that will challenge you, and add a new dimension to your repertoire. The result will be exquisitely beautiful playing, stylistically reminiscent of the best classical and jazz fingerstyle guitarists; you'll create a mood that will have your audience exclaiming, "I never knew a dulcimer could sound like that!" (DAD tuning / Capo) 10:30am – M9 Baby Steps to Fingerpicking Novice As a new player back in the early days of my dulcimer exploration, I started looking for other ways to play the instrument beyond the strumming methods I'd been learning. The answer was to put down the pick and start using my fingers. We'll practice several different methods of fingerpicking, and apply these techniques to songs you already know. (DAD tuning) 2:30pm – M16 Professor Walker's Warmups Intermediate Warmups can do wonderful things to improve your playing, regardless of your level of experience. But if you've ever wondered what kind of warmups will give you the best result in the least amount of time, this is the workshop for you. (DAD tuning) BILL COLLINS 9:00am – M2 “Bagpipe Tuning” for Dulcimer Beginner/Novice Tuning your bass string down to low A gives you the closest thing to a bagpipe that you can get on a dulcimer. Using the two lower strings as octave drones and playing tunes in A Mixolydian produce an exciting sound. In this workshop, we’ll learn a variety of tunes, including “Skye Boat Song” and “Scotland the Brave,” plus explore how to improvise and ornament to add to the Scottish flavor of your playing. (Low A, A, D tuning) 10:30am – M12 Hornpipes for Mountain Dulcimer Advanced Like jigs and reels, hornpipes are one of the main categories of Celtic dance tune rhythms, and they are great fun to play. In this workshop, you’ll learn to flat-pick a number of great hornpipe tunes and develop an understanding of “long-short- long-short” that makes a hornpipe a hornpipe. You’ll also learn why the hornpipe is an “endangered species” and how to apply hornpipe rhythm and ornaments appropriately. (DGD, DAD, Capo required) 2:30pm – M17 Tunes in DGD Intermediate This workshop explores some of the advantages of DGD tuning, particularly when playing faster tunes such as flatpicked jigs, hornpipes, or reels. This 1-4-8 tuning is the easiest tuning alternative to DAD. The workshop shows the quickest way to get into and return from DGD (no need for an electronic tuner!) and we'll play a number of melodies that really lend themselves to DGD. Participants will also learn some useful chord shapes in this tuning. (DGD; capo required) 4:00pm – M23 Turlough O’Carolan Tunes for Dulcimer Intermediate/Advanced ` Though composed for the harp, Carolan’s beautiful melodies can be readily adapted to the dulcimer. After a brief introduction to Carolan’s life and musical influences, we’ll learn several of Carolan’s lesser-known tunes. (DAD and DGD) DAVE FOX 4:00pm – M22 The Minimalist Approach …or, Clean Up Your Act! Intermediate Dave has developed his style of playing by combining ideas borrowed from other dulcimer players and also from his experience with many other types of instruments, styles, and music. His style of playing is not technical, it’s more simplistic and “clean”. He will present several thoughts, tips, and suggestions that will help you develop a style that won’t get muddied up by “too many notes”. (DAD; possibly some alternate tunings) ELLEN PRATT 9:00am – M4 Singing with Your Dulcimer Novice/Intermediate This workshop features easy chords in the key of D. Students will learn how to play the chords and listen for chord changes. We will sing a variety of traditional songs as we strum. (Come tuned in DAD) 10:30am – M10 Chord Progressions Novice/intermediate Knowing different positions for chords can add flavor to your musical arrangements. We will learn and practice several chord shapes up and down the fretboard in this class. (Come in DAD) 4:00pm – M19 Discovery 104 – Putting it all together NO experience This is the chance to take what you’ve learned so far and have some fun with it, looking at ways to practice once you get home and also ways to seek out others to play and learn with. JEREMY SEEGER 9:00am - M8 Playing for family, open mic's or performing Experienced beginner and up Explore what it takes to choose your repertoire, perform, be successful and feel good about yourself. You will get to try it out. Come having a song prepared to play. (Any tuning) 4:00pm – M24 How are you “wired" for music? All levels. How you make music is directly related to how your neurological wiring is. Bringing your goals of making music in alignment with that will create more pleasure making music and bring you into a better presence when you’re sharing your music with others.