Hey, Check This Out! One of our own trapezoids of the triangle and his dulcimer have a cameo in the NC Symphony's One State One Score collaborative video project featuring Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" melody from Symphony #9. Can you spot him?? Way to go Mark!
Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkbkJ14yXgQ
Does this sound like a lot of work without any guarantee of success? Well, yes, but it also calls into question our definition of success. Playing the cello, we’re more likely to realize that the pleasure is the practice, the ability to create this beautiful sound; not to do it as well as Yo-Yo Ma, but still, to touch the hem of the gown that is art itself… I got better at closing the gap between my hand and my head by clocking in the hours, stacking up the pages. Somewhere in all my years of practice, I don’t know where exactly, I arrived at the art. ~ Ann Patchett
Yes! Save the date... October 16-21, 2021. Plans are in the making.
Check This Out ... The contract has been signed with the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain, NC. New protocols and setup are in place. Registration is expected to begin by the end of April.
Those who did not get a refund from 2020 will have the option to carry last year's registration payment forward to this year.
Music imprints itself in the brain deeper than any other human experience...
... Music brings back the feeling of life when nothing else can. ~ Oliver Sacks
LIVE! from Sandbridge Beach, VA
ALERT: This will be a high demand event, and this concert series, sponsored by DPN (Dulcimer Players News), limits the virtual audience on Zoom to 100 listeners. If you're interested, better jump on it!
Virtual Workshop, that is!
Our friend, Marya Katz, writes to let us know that registration for the Pocono Dulcimer Festival will begin this Sunday, March 21st at 12 noon EST. She's one of the featured teachers on hammered dulcimer.
Check This Out ... Don't live near the Poconos? No worries! There's no need to travel to enjoy the 18th annual Pocono Dulcimer Festival. It's being offered virtually this year, the weekend of April 22-25, 2021. To register, go to the Pocono Dulcimer Club website and click on the Register link.
Because workshops are expected to fill quickly, participants are advised to make a plan early. Check out the "Schedules and Descriptions" page. Choose and write down your desired classes. When registration opens you'll be ready to jump on it!
When Yo-Yo Ma makes a mistake while performing, he says he often thinks about how Julia Child would react when she erred in the kitchen: Oh, the chicken's fallen on the floor! Yes. Oh, well, pick it up and put it right back. "And you know what?" he says. "Everybody's with you."
For Ma, musical performance is not about showcasing his technical flourish, but rather about extending hospitality to the world. "The greater purpose is that we're communing together and we want this moment to be really special for all of us," he says. "It's not about proving anything. It's about sharing something."
Check This Out ... Already subscribe? Yay! DPN vol.47 #1 is on its way to your mailbox. When it arrives, editor Ashley Ernst reminds us to take a look at the address label on the back. If it says "Last Issue" please renew promptly!
Don't have a subscription? Subscribe TODAY so you won't miss another issue!
Excellence demands effort and planned, deliberate practice of increasing difficulty. ~ K Anders Ericsson
31 Days in January (i.e. opportunities to practice that I'll never get back)
18 Practice Sessions - broken down as follows:
week 1 3/7 days
week 2 7/7 days
week 3 3/7 days
week 4 5/7 days
1,110 Minutes spent practicing
35.8 Average # minutes practiced per session
It's important to have measurable goals, so I actually do track my practice sessions. These numbers don't lie! They help me answer some important questions, like "Am I satisfied with my efforts?" "Am I doing the best I can?" "Why is it taking me so long to learn this tune?" These numbers give me a real starting point. I think I can do more, but I'm going to take it in baby steps. Best to keep goals measurable AND doable.
So, my goals for February will be:
We’ll dig down and we’ll dig deep,
We’ll find that whistlepig where he sleeps
Oh Groundhog!
No more time to procrastinate! Still thinking about participating in this virtual dulcimer festival? Whether you're looking for a workshop or the opportunity to kick back and enjoy a concert ... time is running out!
Check This Out ... Registration closes tomorrow, Saturday, January 30th, 8:00pm EST for the weekend event scheduled for February 5-6, 2021. There are still workshops available, along with four concerts featuring 10 hours of music. And remember, the concerts are not just for players. Share the link with your music-loving friends!
Register for workshops and buy concert tickets here
It's still January. There's still time to wish you all a happy new year! As the calendar page turns, many of us will take time to turn inward, reflect, make a plan to establish good habits ... begin again.
I bet many of you are optimistically approaching the dulcimer, aiming for more, better, improved practice habits in the coming year. 2020 really messed with my music practice. It was a combination of things, certainly not a lack of time! Priorities shifted. I spent more time in solitude with other creative endeavors, mostly at my sewing machine. We took our camper trailer and traveled across the country for extended visits in Colorado, not once, but twice this fall. I took my dulcimer, but it was hard to focus. I had total replacement of my right hip in late September. Two weeks later the Sandbridge Hammered Dulcimer retreat with Ken Kolodner and support crew Mary Lynn Michal and Laurie McCarriar was certainly a bright spot, zooming old and new friends and the music into my home, providing good structure and reason to get going after surgery. But it took weeks to really feel comfortable at the instrument again. Actually, there were plenty of digital opportunities in the dulcimer world last year... most notably, the well-attended QuaranTUNE virtual dulcimer festival, proving, if nothing else, that humans are adaptable!
Thankful to say that I'm back at it, reviewing previously mastered tunes, getting back to the basics with scales, arpeggios, harmonization exercises, and learning those new tunes from the Sandbridge retreat.
The big surprise is I'm also adding 15 minutes of piano practice to my music schedule. As a kid, I played the piano a lot. It was my escape. Mind you, I'm no master pianist! But since taking up the hammered dulcimer I haven't found time to do both. In recent years, though, I've made a point of getting the piano tuned in December, anticipating a house full of family who might like to play or sing carols ... and then I have fun playing Christmas music all month.
During this past very odd holiday season I enjoyed playing music from Tschaikowsky's ballet, The Nutcracker. I have a book of selected pieces arranged for piano solo by Harry Dexter. The book cost 75 cents back in the day. It has a pink cover. Anybody else remember it, or have a copy?
Amazing how one can get out of physical shape for playing the piano. At first, there were passages where my brain and my fingers felt absolutely disconnected. Then, there was a muscle in my upper left arm that became tired and sore after playing less than 15 minutes. All that has improved! Plus, I'm getting better at reading the notes on those outer ledger lines.
You heard it here first... my goal is to learn all eight pieces in that book by next December. I'm hoping that experience playing the hammered dulcimer will somehow inform my playing of the piano, and vice versa. I know that at the very least I am getting back to something that used to give me quite a lot of pleasure. Wishing you joy in all of YOUR 2021 endeavors!
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr
QuaranTUNE 3.0 is coming February 5-7, 2021. Registration OPENS tonight, Wednesday, January 13, 7:00pm EST.
For those who don't know, QuaranTUNE is the virtual dulcimer festival that came into being last year in response to the social distancing required by COVID-19. Offering a plethora of workshops, concerts, and more, it's the music fix we all need, zoomed directly into our homes!
Go to the website, https://www.virtualdulcimerfest.com/. Read how it works. Check out the list of instructors and classes. Make your "wish" list, then submit your registration. Keep in mind that there are size limitations to the classes. Those taught by sought-after teachers fill up quickly! You can add concert tickets and additional classes to your order anytime before registration closes.
Registration CLOSES at the stroke of midnight EST January 30.
Check This Out ... There is now a week designed specifically for first-timers who would like a more relaxed pace. Scheduled via Zoom this spring, the class will run March 28 - April 2, 2021 ... and there are still a few spaces available.
The socially distanced conditions during the COVID pandemic have demanded new and creative ways to "gather" in the dulcimer community. Unsure about video conferencing? After attending the online version of Sandbridge this past fall, I can assure you that Ken and his assistants, Mary Lynn Michal and Laurie McCarrier, truly have the zoom thing figured out. The silver lining? More students than ever are able to enjoy the benefits of Ken's teaching ... no travel required, and the price is right!
It's a new year. Perhaps "play more music" or "get serious about the dulcimer" is on your resolution list. What are you waiting for? Check it out!
And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke
