Being a faithful dulcimer player

[Edith M]

Hi,

I was born in Texas waaay back in the day, raised in Virginia, moved to Rochester, NY in the 1980s.  I have relatives in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Canada because I am largely Scotch-Irish on both sides of my family (with large doses of English, French, Welsh, and German).

I learned about Jesus from my godly parents and grandparents and came to faith in him when I was nineteen.

About a year and a half ago, my local Y started hosting a program for adults who want to learn the dulcimer, and I fell in love immediately with the mountain dulcimer and was even able to make a donation to the program and get a Black Mountain dulcimer for my very own.

I just recently joined BanjoLemonade because, after a year and a half (and many personal challenges along the way), I am still struggling to “get” the mountain dulcimer and to develop good habits of learning and practicing.  It has not been easy because I am left-handed, dyslexic, and fit the ADHD profile.

There are days when I despair because it seems that everything I accomplish in a week can be overturned by unexpected events.  In Rochester, NY in the past two months we have had very bad weather, a man with a gun holding a hostage down the street from where I live (the police handled it well and nobody was hurt), and an unexpected power outage that left my whole neighborhood without power for twenty-four hours!

I have moments when I spend the whole day reorganizing myself mentally before I can move forward with what I believe God has made me to do and be in this life. However, at this point in my life, I really want to learn how to play the mountain dulcimer.  It is a beautiful instrument, and it is an important part of my cultural heritage.

There are many reasons I would like to hear Jesus say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant,” but I would certainly like to hear him say it about my time spent with the mountain dulcimer.

My prayer request as I keep coming back for online lessons is that I would be able to find fifteen minutes every single day to do something useful and beautiful with my dulcimer.

Thank you so much,
Edith McKlveen
Rochester, NY

[Lorrie w]

Edith,

You have my prayers..and I know you can find the time..the more you learn, the prayer will become..Lord please give me 1 hour a day to praise you with this stringed instrument..

Bless you..enjoy the journey..

Lorrie

[Mandy]

Hello Edith,

God bless you sister!  You can do this.  My suggestion would be to play by ear instead of trying play at all with numbers (tablature).  If you will send me an email (just hit the contact form) at the bottom of the page.  I will put you in my upcoming Playing By Ear/Reading Hands class.  It starts on April 9th.  Even if you can’t be there for the exact time, I will send you the video of each hour.  We will slowly work through the process of learning by ear.  It’s beautiful and I think will be less confusing for you.

Here are a few verses for you sister –

Psalms 34:19 – Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

-In Jesus

Mandy

Isaiah 41:13 – For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

Philippians 4:6 – Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

 

[Edith M]

Thanks, Lorrie and Mandy,

I appreciate the encouragement.  Patience and persistence are not natural parts of who I am.  I fit the ADHD profile very well, and since childhood, my response to something that is complex and time-consuming has been, “This is stupid!”

At the moment, I can play a series of very, very, very simple songs on the dulcimer and read very, very, very simple tablature.  I  have copies of simple versions of: Mary Had a Little Lamb, London Bridge is Falling Down, Brother John, O Susanna, She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain, On Top of Old Smokey, Boil Them Cabbage Down, Go Tell Aunt Rhodie, and a few more.

I started to falter back in October of this year when the man teaching dulcimer at my local Y asked me to try a version of Be Thou My Vision which involved three-quarter time and learning to strumming in a more complicated way than I was used to.  It was too much for me to show up at the Y once a week, listen carefully, ask questions,  and go home to try and remember what I was supposed to do and practice by myself for a week.

I know I can learn to play, and I know that with God all things are possible (all good and beautiful things).  I will keep on keeping on by his grace and mercy.

Meanwhile, below is a photo of my dulcimer.   The fact that I own a Black Mountain dulcimer still amazes me.

Edith

[Mandy]

That’s a beautiful dulcimer! Enjoy.

[John B]

Very nice dulcimer, a classic!  Have fun with it, the rest will follow

[Lorrie w]

Beautiful dulcimer..

[Edith M]

I am happy and grateful to report that, though playing the dulcimer is still a bit of an overwhelming experience, it seems less so at this point.

Fingering, strumming, learning to play “do-re-mi,” learning about time signatures . . . in my head I get what’s going on when I read about all the activities that make up learning to play.  I can see what’s going on in each video I watch.  A lot of it still seems very complicated, but as long as I remember that it’s okay to make a mess, and it’s okay to be playful when I play what I know, I am much less intimidated.

And most importantly, I have to keep reminding myself that building habits takes time.

I would be interested to know how others in the Banjolemonade forum carve out time for sitting down and practicing the dulcimer or the banjo or another instrument.  Is it better to do that early in the morning?  After lunch?  Late at night?

In some ways, it doesn’t matter, but in some ways it does, especially when it comes to being consistent.

[Edith M]

This song is the reason I signed up with Banjo Lemonade.  When I heard this one song a while ago, I thought that if I could play this mournful yet joyful tune with strength and simplicity, I would be incredibly happy.  It was at that point I realized that I needed a lot of resources to get to that point.

The tune, as I understand it, is called Idumea.  Each time I hear it, it just knocks me out.

• This reply was modified 3 weeks, 6 days ago by Edith M.

[Edith M]

I have a question about uploading videos from my laptop.  Depending on the type of video, and depending on the website where someone wants to upload a video, the instructions can vary widely.  I don’t quite “get” the process for Banjo Lemonade.  Can anyone explain how it’s done in words of one syllable or less? LOL.

I ask because I want to share a very short song that I would love to learn to play on the dulcimer.

Hope everyone who celebrates Easter had a good time.  (Even for those who don’t celebrate it, Easter is a special time of year.  It’s not, thank you Lord, winter anymore.)

[Mandy]

Hi Edith, I’ll be as brief as I can.

To share a video (just like you did above, you just copy paste the link here) from Youtube or another video sharing service.

If you are creating the video yourself from your own device – then

• create a youtube channel (it’s free)
• upload your video there
• then share the link here by pasting it in

You can keep your video as (UNLISTED) on youtube and it will not be public there.  If you share the link here only people here could see it.

Hope that answered your questions.

Yes happy Easter!

 

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