hammered dulcimer in ITM

hyldemoer · Post by **hyldemoer** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 7:08 pm

I chopped off the tip of my left hand index finger in a farming accident this afternoon.
I probably will be able to play whistle once its healed enough to go without a bandage but playing the fiddle again might be a bit of a wait.

I was thinking about hauling my HD out of the closet and working out my aggressions that way. My experience on HD in the past was playing Old Time.

My question, in ITM community is the HD thought of as a melody instrument?

How much harmony and/or playing of chords is acceptable?

Ptarmigan · Post by **Ptarmigan** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 2:48 am

Sh*t hyldemoer, sorry to hear about your accident. '

'

A young girl I taught to play Fiddle, Mandolin & Bodhran only has two fingers & a thumb on her left hand after she sat on her father's metal toolbox as a toddler & sliced of the 3rd finger & the pinky! ':o'
She also taught herself to play the whistle using four fingers from one hand & two from the other! ':o'

She's now doing a Music degree up in Derry! ':D'

As for the HD.
You might like to glance over my HD site at:
http://www.causewaymusic.co.uk/cdf06.html

It's not an instrument you see very often in ITM sessions here in Ireland, but I have noticed that it seems to get a little bad press, wherever it goes.

Other musicians seem to take exception to it because it demands a lot of attention in a session, perhaps because it's unusual, perhaps because it takes up so much space, perhaps because some players insist on standing up to play.
Also, there is a common complaint, especially in ITM circles, that while the tune dances off into a different key, the poor old sluggish HD is still 'humming' away in the old, wrong, key!
Others complain that it just makes everything sound wooly & mushy!

Hope I'm not putting you off here. ':('

Fact is, especially with a damper fitted, there's no reason why it should sound discordant cause all the player needs to do is quickly deaden the strings before going on into another key.
The player can also sit rather than stand up, thus making themselves fit in better, physically at least, with the other sessioneers.
As for the attention thing, I think the more they are played out, the less the novelty factor will occur.

I'd say go for it & to hell with the begrudgers. ':moreevil:'

I've learned a couple of Old Time tunes myself on ye olde HD & boy do they sound good on it.
I'm certainly going to learn more of them!

Anyway - Good Luck

missy · Post by **missy** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 5:00 am

Ptarmigan wrote:
Other musicians seem to take exception to it because it demands a lot of attention in a session, perhaps because it's unusual, perhaps because it takes up so much space, perhaps because some players insist on standing up to play.
Also, there is a common complaint, especially in ITM circles, that while the tune dances off into a different key, the poor old sluggish HD is still 'humming' away in the old, wrong, key!
Others complain that it just makes everything sound wooly & mushy!

ah - go on........ it's cuz you take so darn long to TUNE the thing!!!!

Around here, I've actually seen hammered dulcimer playing ITM more often then I have seen it playing Old Time. And when you get to contra-dance music, the HD really holds it's own in the bands.

rh · Post by rh » Mon Apr 10, 2006 6:04 am

yikes! sorry to hear about your finger -- hope you had some Yunnan Baiyao handy.

re HD, i don't play it myself, and i always thought it was kinda new-agey-Celtoid until i heard The Curlews by Cliff Moses. Great lift, a really fine traditional outing... of course it always helps to have Josephine Keegan on board.

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 6:06 am

Sorry to hear about your accident, but it's great that you're thinking of musical alternatives so quickly!
FWIW-- Django Reinhart played guitar with only two fingers on his left hand, so maybe you'll come up with a new fiddling style.

I go to two different sessions that sometimes include HD-- one is old timey and the other is ITM. Different HD players, and both fit in very well and their presence is quite welcomed. Gives a whole different texture to the music. Personally, I love it.

harpmaker · Post by **harpmaker** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 8:37 am

I don't think you will have many problems fitting into an ITM session with a HD. As Ptarmigan said, it does require a higher level of awareness as to space and what is being played, but if you can keep the thing under control you shouldn't have any problems. The only thing I have seen happen a lot with HDs seems to be the urge to keep going faster and faster....that can get overpowering in any session.

Sorry to hear about the finger...hope you heal up quickly

hyldemoer · Post by **hyldemoer** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 10:04 am

Thank you everyone for their well wishes. In my case its just some flesh (not bone) that's missing. I'm sure when the meat heals I'll be fine.

I use the tips of my fingers alot in my line of work so while its healing I'm officially on vacation and I have plenty of time to get back into HD.

Ptarmigan wrote:<snip>
Fact is, especially with a damper fitted, there's no reason why it should sound discordant cause all the player needs to do is quickly deaden the strings before going on into another key.

A damper like a strip of felt or something woven between the strings?
And you're deadening the strings with your forearm?

I get the feeling HD in ITM is thought of as new fangled experimental like the guitar?

Ptarmigan · Post by **Ptarmigan** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 11:12 am

A picture tells the story best:
http://www.causewaymusic.co.uk/hddamper.html

"And you're deadening the strings with your forearm?"

Yes, without one of those yolks fitted, as you say, you can just deaden the strings with your forearm.

"I get the feeling HD in ITM is thought of as new fangled experimental like the guitar?"

Aye, although the earliest record I have found so far, was of one player being advertised in Dublin, back in around 1747, so they've been around for a while. Certainly a lot longer than the likes of Banjos here, or Bouzoukis, or Accordions, or Concertinas etc.

Have Fun.

hyldemoer · Post by **hyldemoer** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:46 pm

Ptarmigan wrote:A picture tells the story best:
http://www.causewaymusic.co.uk/hddamper.html

Wow, like a pedal on a piano!

With my current luck I'd probably get my ankle tangled in the cords and trip myself.
There I'd be lying on the floor with my HD in splinters and everyone telling me I've had enough to drink ...

Thank you but, I better limit myself to as good I could get only dampening it when needed with my forearms.

Ptarmigan · Post by **Ptarmigan** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:43 am

Hey hyldemoer, if you've got 'four arms', a little damping now & again should be no problem to you! '

'

Just think what you could do with a piano too! ':D'

You could aslo accompany yourself on guitar, while playing fiddle! ':D'

I'll stop now, before you get really annoyed.....

hyldemoer · Post by **hyldemoer** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 8:18 am

Ptarmigan wrote:Hey hyldemoer, if you've got 'four arms', a little damping now & again should be no problem to you! ''

Just think what you could do with a piano too! ':D'

You could aslo accompany yourself on guitar, while playing fiddle! ':D'

I'll stop now, before you get really annoyed.....

Ptarmigan,
Annoyed for what? You don't know how close you came to discribing reality in other aspects of my life.

When I phoned one client to cancel the Asian bodywork session she'd scheduled and explained that I was convelescing a finger tip her comment was that it hadn't occured to her that I used finger tips when I gave her shiatsu.
Didn't I always just use my elbows, knees and feet?

Perhaps if anyone here heard a recording of my fiddle playing they'd thing I was doing that with my feet as well.

I don't think that kind of gymnastics can be extrapolated to playing the HD either.