Sunday, November 15, 2009
Song circle, dulcimer playing, etc.
Last night after the SEC game on TV (my Gators beat the Gamecocks, yay!) I went down to Riverdale to Dan W.'s place for song circle. First one I've been to this year.
About a dozen of us showed up, enough to make Clio, Dan's cat, hide under the bed. Four of us active Common Thread choristers, three who are taking a year off, the rest fans or on the waiting list. I was hoping Bob B would show up with his Tam Kearney dulcimer, but I was the only MD player there, with 4 guitarists, 2 drummers, and a cowbell. This was the first time I'd taken the MD to song circle, and the second one I've been to ... last time I took my ocarina along but hardly played at all.
We mostly did songs from Rise Up Singing, as usual ... that is the world's greatest fakebook, I swear. ::grin:: I tuned into D-A-A and was able to play along on Red River Valley and a number of other songs, and led on The Water is Wide. The others had not heard the MD before, some had never seen or heard of one at all; I gave them the 3-minute explanation of how it works and where it comes from, and think I made a good impression for the instrument! They were fascinated by the drones and the noter-and-drone playing method. I may just recruit a few more players over the next little while, heehee!
So I still have not seen or heard Bob B.'s dulcimer. He says it was built for him about 20 years ago by Tam Kearney, who used to manage the old Fiddler's Green folk club here in Toronto. I didn't know Tam was a luthier! It's apparently been hanging on Bob's wall for years, but he wants to learn to actually play it. (He had a class from Sally Rogers at The Woods Music and Dance Camp the year he got it, but has not played it since.) We'll be getting together sometime in January probably so I can show him what I've learned.
About a dozen of us showed up, enough to make Clio, Dan's cat, hide under the bed. Four of us active Common Thread choristers, three who are taking a year off, the rest fans or on the waiting list. I was hoping Bob B would show up with his Tam Kearney dulcimer, but I was the only MD player there, with 4 guitarists, 2 drummers, and a cowbell. This was the first time I'd taken the MD to song circle, and the second one I've been to ... last time I took my ocarina along but hardly played at all.
We mostly did songs from Rise Up Singing, as usual ... that is the world's greatest fakebook, I swear. ::grin:: I tuned into D-A-A and was able to play along on Red River Valley and a number of other songs, and led on The Water is Wide. The others had not heard the MD before, some had never seen or heard of one at all; I gave them the 3-minute explanation of how it works and where it comes from, and think I made a good impression for the instrument! They were fascinated by the drones and the noter-and-drone playing method. I may just recruit a few more players over the next little while, heehee!
So I still have not seen or heard Bob B.'s dulcimer. He says it was built for him about 20 years ago by Tam Kearney, who used to manage the old Fiddler's Green folk club here in Toronto. I didn't know Tam was a luthier! It's apparently been hanging on Bob's wall for years, but he wants to learn to actually play it. (He had a class from Sally Rogers at The Woods Music and Dance Camp the year he got it, but has not played it since.) We'll be getting together sometime in January probably so I can show him what I've learned.
# posted by redlion @ 12:48 pm 
