March 8th 9-7:45 pm CST

(in Central Time)

9-10 am Forum: Introduction, Welcome and Teacher's Roundtable hosted by Mark Alan Wade

10:05-11:05 am Workshop 1:   Mary Lynn Michal

Add Some Bounce to Your Playing

Some of my favorite "bells and whistles" techniques on the hammered dulcimer are bounces. Bounces embellish your tunes and make them sound fancier and more interesting. Unfortunately, many hammered dulcimer players end up scrunching the hammer into the string and making a harsh sound. We will examine how to play bounces, valley rolls and bounced triplets and how to improve your sound.

11:15-12:15 Workshop 2:  Colin Beasley

Decoration Crash Course

Take your tunes and playing to the next level with fun, colorful melody ornamentations! This class will cover several hammered dulcimer specific ornamentations and how/where to use them. By the end, you will have a library of new, interesting sounds to explore and use in your own tunes!

12:30-1:30 pm Workshop 3:  Karen Ashbrook

Tripping Upstairs - a rollicking Irish jig with a fun accompaniment

Celebrate St Patrick’s month with learning the lively dance tune Tripping Upstairs. The A Part is in D and the B Part goes into B Minor/Dorian. The arpeggiated melody is easy to vary and harmonize (duets anyone?) and you’ll even learn rhythmic 6/8 back up. The perfect addition to your March repertoire and an excellent jam tune!

Lunch / Student Sharing / Open Mic / Optional Break Out Rooms

2:30- 3:30 pm Workshop 4:  Stephen Humphries

Dampers, Accents, & Groove

Got dampers? Thinking about getting dampers? Come discover ways to get comfortable using dampers in no time. We’ll explore how to expand your sound palette by emphasising certain notes and contributing to the overall musical groove the hammered dulcimer. No dampers? No problem! We'll also look at different ways to dampen and create special effects without dampers. Handouts with exercises & tips will be provided.

3:45 - 4:45 pm Workshop 5:  Ken Kolodner

Filling space (but not too much!):

Arpeggio fills, drones, melodic runs, and tremolos. Much like the guitar and piano, on the hammered dulcimer, we have an attack of a note and a subsequent decay. One of the most satisfying arranging ideas is using arpeggio fills to communicate the chord progression, much like a finger-style guitarist. We will focus on methods to fill space without, hopefully, overdoing it! We will use one piece to illustrate the various techniques.

5:00 - 6:00 pm Workshop 6:  Tina Bergmann

Arranging without special equipment!

We’ll take the gorgeous Irish piece, “She Moved Through the Fair” from the medieval period and learn to make a beautiful arrangement that is fluid and varied. We’ll discuss and experiment with several different ways to put chords on the strong beat, fills, two kinds of flams, rolls, and more. You have everything you need right now to create your own interesting and varied arrangements—step away from pattern based accompaniment and step into more free and conversational possibilities!

6:45 pm  Faculty Concert-Round Robin (on Zoom & live-streamed on the DulcimerCrossing Facebook page)