Adding to the dulcimer repertoire. Contains POLL!

[kniteracy]

I'm trying to add some more songs with the mountain dulcimer to my repertoire. Songs that I have done in the past with this instrument include The Shirt of Lace, (assuming I can find the chords) and The Scarlet Tide, which I first heard in the film Cold Mountain.

So, I'm trying to figure out which one (or two, or three, or half-dozen) songs I should work on next with the dulcimer.

And so, here's a poll!

[Poll #967319]

Comments

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

I believe that the soul of the mountain dulcimer lies first in the melody-drone style of playing. I'm not sure I can predict which songs might work well that way. Simple Gifts is the only one I play melody drone, but I think you should audition songs against a drone, and pick on that basis.

Or maybe not.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

No, I think that's a good idea. The poster below you is suggesting "Oh Shenandoah," which I love and think would stand up fairly well to that kind of playing, meaning it would be not impossible for even someone as untaught as me to play it a couple of different ways.

For vocal accompaniment, I have to admit I'm going with the chord dictionary/fingerpick method, but so far what I'm doing sounds all right, although I'm sure it's not right, if that makes any sense.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

I should add that the the bit about melody-drone being the soul of the dulcimer is not what I would say to everyone. It's not what I would say to myself, for sure.

If you've got a perfectly good harp sitting in front of you that you play phenomenally well, it seems that there's an issue of "why not just play it on the harp." And that's why I suggested putting a premium on dulcimeriness.

As for me, the dulcimer is my first musical voice--I'm not trying to make the dulcimer sound like a dulcimer. I just ended up a dulcimer player through an improbable chain of events that put one in my hands as a teenager. I didn't choose the dulcimer on the basis of its sound or its history. Heck, sometimes I'm trying to make it sound like a harp.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

OK, definitely writing that post about why dulcimer.