Category: Practicing
My Latest B&B Student
Last week I taught another banner round of B&B lessons to an autoharp student, different again from all the previous students who join me here at home for five days…
The Right String Is Going to Be in There Somewhere (??)
One of my webcam autoharp students began playing melody a couple months ago (after a couple years of singing songs and strumming chords), and the learning curve really got kind…
Testing Theories
Life has become really interesting around here on both the hammered dulcimer and autoharp fronts. I encourage players of both instruments to embrace what I’ve found. Hammered dulcimer: One of…
Clunk Fest
Last week while preparing dinner, I texted briefly with an autoharp friend. (I’d just bought a smartphone and now understand how addicting texting is, now that I don’t have to…
What did I just say?!
Back on January 14, I said this: “…I thought about a curious statement players sometimes make about my teaching: “She’s trying to make me play like her.” …I desire to…
A Beginning Autoharpist’s Great Chord Find
My webcam student, Al, is very much the beginning autoharpist, although I am impressed by the way his harmonic perception is growing. I usually start new players off with singing songs…
Bach practice: unison discovery
One of the things I love about the hammered dulcimer is the ethereal sound that comes from striking unison courses. The tune “Cincinnati,” found both in Striking Out and Winning! and on Contra-Intuitive, is a fine example…
Learning a new tune in a flash
My dulcimer student Angie came for her weekly lesson a couple nights ago. Because her day job required her to work over the previous weekend, plus the weekdays on either side…
At church on Good Friday 2015
On Good Friday morning, I’d re-thought how to play a few measures in “Were You There?” (Where was that idea three weeks ago when I could have burned it into my brain more…