Jouranl two - I have reached lesson three

February 8^th -9^th, 2014

Dulcimer Journal entry 2

Hello everyone, I have not posted every day, but I do keep a written journal of my activities. As most of you may know, my handwriting is to be desired and one may need a specialist to decrypt most of what I am trying to convey. Therefore, I will translate everything into this journey.

I have been practicing about an hour or more per-day. I tend to stay away from the CD that accompanied the lesson plan until I think I may have the sound of the song completely wrong. However, thus far I have learned to discipline myself to in completing lesson plans one, two, and three each day. I figure that if I start with the basic it will act as a good warm up and muscle memory.

The songs that I have typically played are:

Melody only:

1. Boil them cabbage
2. Hot Cross Buns
3. Go Tell Aunt Rhody

Strumming and using multiple chords:

1. Boil Them Cabbage
2. Hot Cross Buns
3. Go Tell Aunt Rhody
4. Merrily We Roll Along
5. London Bridge

Strumming and plucking:

1. Frere Jacque
2. Skip to My Lou
3. Down in the Valley
4. Three Jolly Fisherman

 

 I am currently stuck on “Polly Wolly Doodle” and “Simple Gifts” They are progressively fun to play, but there are a lot of missteps.   In addition, I have attempted to play “Kum Ba Ya” which is surprisingly simple and difficult. It calls for G and F chords that make you use two fingers and stretch the forefinger. Now given the limited space and my Vienna sausage fingers has proven to be an ever increasing challenge.

One may have noticed that most of the songs are children’s songs. However, It allows me to see a gradual progression and they are familiar enough to be fun when you hit the right note.  It is even better when you think you have actually played it correctly. There is a complex chord change (for me) in “Down In the Valley” where you pluck and maneuver down the scale and then have to stretch your fingers from the D to the an A . I can remember when I though I nailed it. How exciting.

I will stay the course. It is interesting that since I have been playing, even for such a short time, that I hear music differently. I can sometimes visualize myself playing the same chords. My only concern now is , am I developing bad habits in the location of my fingers and the technique. I know that it varies from person to person. However, it is still of a concern.

I do plan to update the page as frequent as I can and I will also be including an historical narrative concerning the Dulcimer. It is a fascinating instrument with a very long history dating back to biblical times. This is not to be confused with the Appalachian dulcimer.

The dulcimer I am currently playing is an Appalachian style dulcimer that was made in Romania. At this point I can also address the one concern I had when I first picked up the instrument: it no longer sounds like a ukulele.

That is it for now. Have a wonderful day and stay tuned.

P.S. I am working with the tech department to see alternatives to uploading video. As of now my phone, camera, and video camera record in a format that consumes an abundance of memory that is disrupting my uploads:  Wish me luck.  Anyone with advice on this matter please do not hesitate to let me know.