Announcements

Playlist for Monday, Aug 26 – 11-1:30 at the Griffin Fire Station.. Hope to see you there!

Warm Up

• Old Grey Cat on a Tennessee Farm
• Old Joe Clark
• Mes Parents

Songs

• TBD Special
• Black Mountain Rag
• Clementine
• Michael Row the Boat Ashore
• Buck-eyed Rabbit
• Oh, How Lovely is the Evening (Round)
• Shave the Donkey Waltz
• Sing Along with Stephen
• Sandy River Belle
• Soldier’s Joy 

Our Monday class has been extended to 1:30PM – the final hour 12:30 – 1:30 will be used for anyone who wants extra help, get answers to questions or just to hang out.

Dean created these 2 videos for everyone to watch / play along with — remember you can slow down YouTube Videos using the settings (gear icon) while learning!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfwjRV0O8KY (Hammer Ons/Pull offs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z45X3ljBpE (Here Comes the Sun 3 string version)

Our weekly class is meeting at Griffin Fire Dept., Monday from 11 – 1pm and is open to all levels. 

I’d like to do a couple of warm up tunes so how about Lisa Jane and Mes Parents. 

We will be continuing with Here Comes The Sun and I have posted an updated TAB for both 3 string and 4 string Equidistant on our Class page. Here they are as well:

Here Comes the Sun Part 2 – 3 String
Here Comes the Sun Part 2 – 4 String

Stephen will help us practice playing and singing and will teach an intro to music theory for dulcimer.

As a class we will work together to write the next phrases for our hammer on/pull off tune. Not only will we learn slides but we will begin learning techniques for writing phrases and assembling them into a tune. Over the course of the next few weeks we will finish writing our hammer on/pull off tune (and come up with a name), then we will start writing a new tune together. 

I will TAB out the tunes as we write them so everyone will have their own copy.

We are going to work from 11 – 12:30 with the final 1/2 hour for free time and to get additional questions answered. We’re covering a lot so we are going to start promptly at 11:00.

Also I want to remind everyone there will be no class, Monday July 29 as we will be recovering from KG (The Kindred Gathering) in Silverton OR.

More details and directions for the Kindred Gathering to follow.

Happy Strumming

Monday, July 15th at 11AM (At the Griffin Fire Station) will be a circle gathering for us rather than our regular class so we can practice tunes and songs with everyone that can attend.
(We are still meeting on Monday, July 8th at 11AM for class as usual)

Here is the proposed playlist for July 15th:

Old Joe Clark
Buck-eyed Rabbit
Old Gray Cat 
June Apple
Mes Parents
Mississippi Sawyer
Soldier’s Joy

For Sing along/Chords we could choose from:
This Land is Your Land
Clementine
For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow

Those last two (Clementine, For he’s a Jolly Good Fellow) aren’t in our notebooks but Ellen has tab/chords and lyrics. They’re easy and she will bring them on the 15th (even if we don’t use them, folks can have them).

Ellen contacted Griffin Fire Department but their scheduler is out for the week AND Monday is Memorial Day so the scheduler won’t be back until Tuesday.

As a result, we are tentatively scheduling as follows and will follow up if anything changes.

• Monday, June 3   Griffin Fire Department 11 to 1 Dulcimer Class
• Monday, June 10  Regular Circle meeting, Tumwater Library 3 to 5 p.m. 
• Monday, June 17, Griffin Fire Department 11 to 1 Dulcimer Class
• Monday, June 24, Griffin Fire Department 11 to 1 Dulcimer Class

Dear Dulcimer Friends

We have two opportunities to play and learn coming up in May. Dean and our library room are available for a special extra session!

Monday, May 13  Tumwater Library  10 to Noon

This is a regular circle with our typical warm up and list of tunes. 

May Playlist

Buck-eyed Rabbit
Gray Cat on a Tennessee Farm
Hills of Connemarra
Squirrel Heads and Gravy
Nutfactory Shuffle* 

Soldier’s Joy
Mes Parents
Blue Skies (new piece shared by our Joy K!)
Parson’s Farewell
Sandy River Belle

Songs with chords
Mississippi Sawyer

 * See Dean’s wonderful example on youTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLzR_isjMOk  and a rift version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1ng2OMNBsQ

Monday, May 20, Tumwater Library 10 to Noon

From Dean:

We’ll cover:

• How to take a tune from TAB to memory
• A variety of techniques to take that simple tune and play the melody in different ways to add color and interest
• Methods for playing with others even if you don’t know the tune
• How to write your own tunes using a variety of techniques
• Tips and tricks gleaned from 40 years of playing

Thank you, Thank you, to Dean and Elaine for helping our circle grow and stay connected! 

Our April play date is Wednesday, April 17 from 12:30 to 3 – at the Tumwater Library – Looking forward to seeing you all!

What makes a Play list?  We try for a combination of the old and the new plus the easy and the more challenging. For our Spring lists, we’ll take some things out of our history books and leave room for your new finds. Please DO bring along new pieces and we’ll give them a try.  Plan on 8 to 10 copies, please. (There is a copy machine at the library). 

Let’s begin here and add in as you like:

April 
Buck Eyed Rabbit
Old Gray Cat on a Tennessee Farm
Texas Waltz
Squirrel Heads and Gravy
Ashogan Farewell
Black Mountain Rag
Parson’s Farewell
Sing-A-long with chords 
Soldier’s Joy

Some of these are not in the binder distributed last fall but may be in your files. Extra copies will be available at each meeting. 

The next Old Growth Mountain Dulcimer Gathering will be Saturday, Feb 2 at the Tumwater Library from noon to 3 p.m. 

Please bring a capo! 

Our draft playlist is:

Warm Up

• Grey Cat on a Tennessee Farm
• Old Joe Clark

Revisiting Pieces

• Hills of Connemara
• Buck-eyed Rabbit
• Norwegian Woods (requires Capo)

Trying Something New

• Shady Grove in Dorian Mode (the “Mountain Minor”) — see the pdfs for this and Star of the County Down linked here. Thank you, Susan, for sharing these wonderful pieces!

Sing Along with Chords

• Something from Steven!
• I’ll Fly Away

Peoples Choice

• Whatever else suits your fancy. It could be Nutfactory Shuffle or Three Drunken Maidens or anything else!
• Speaking of the Nutfactory Shuffle – here is Dean Robinson playing the tune as promised to help you learn to play! https://youtu.be/VLzR_isjMOk

Other opportunities to know about:

Dulcimer Workshop in Portland  – February 23.  Heidi Muller and Bob Webb 
http://www.heidimuller.com/hmblog/2018/11/28/dulcimer-workshops-concert-portland-or-sat-february-23-2019/

Menucha Dulcimer Festival – April 8-11 Instructors will be Linda Brockinton, Don Pedi and Janita Baker
https://menucha.org/programs/dulcimer-festival

Dulcimer Camp in the Wallowas  — June 30 to July 6.  Featured teachers this year include Dave Hass, Sue Carpenter, Kristin Gitler and Bob Webb
https://wallowadulcimer.com

Steven Seifert Three Day Intensive – Sept 26-28 in Portland. https://www.stephenseifert.com/three-day-registration/

• January  16  Wednesday   12:30 -3:30
• February 2  Saturday  noon to 3 p.m.
• March 4 Monday from 10 a.m. to noon
• April 17  Wednesday from 12:30 to three

November Gathering:  We’ll be at the Tumwater Regional Library from noon to 3 p.m. on Wednesday,  November 7.

December Gathering:  Same location, this time on Saturday, Dec. 1 from noon to 3 p.m.

We’ll be playing requests and are open to new shared pieces.