Why dulcimer?
Apr. 17th, 2007 07:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kniteracyWhy dulcimer?
Some of you have wondered, "Why learn to play the dulcimer, when you're such a cracking harper?"
Gosh, there are all sorts of reasons. In answer to the question, "Why don't you just play that on the harp?" I guess I would say this:
All instruments are different, and they all bring something different to whatever music you make with them. Because I play the wirestrung harp, I have to keep my fingernails relatively long on at least two fingers of my left hand, since one plays the wire harp with the fingernails. When I started playing the harp, I gave up playing the guitar. I miss an instrument I can make easy, strumming or fingerpicked chords on. What I do on the harp does not sound like a fretted, strummed instrument.
The wire harp, like the most traditional dulcimers out there (but unlike my dulcimer, which has a number of extra frets), is essentially a diatonic instrument. While you can do a lot with a wire harp tuned in C to bring things into other moods, a diatonic scale (the one that begins, 'do, re, mi') cannot be played on any key other than the key the harp is tuned in, in my case C. Retuning a 32-string harp to a different key requires changing at least four strings by a semitone even to make it to the next key up in the circle of fifths (from C to D, for example, all Fs need to be sharped). Wire harps do not come with sharping levers. Wire strings do not take being bent the way that nylon strings do; sharping blades or levers will crimp and break them.
Not all songs fit comfortably into my vocal range when played in C or A minor, and that's just a fact. When I'm singing something, I like it to be in the best possible range for my voice, and having an instrument capable of at least chording in three different keys from the get-go (even without all the extra frets) will make it easier for me to cover for whatever I like and to write different things that suit my voice. It'll also be possible for me to jam with people in the key of D if I want.
It's a different instrument. It's not a question of, "Why not just play that on the harp?" It's a question of "Why not branch out and try something new and different?" Of course there will be reasons why I choose to play one song on dulcimer or on harp, but I don't know if they need to be explicitly stated for folks, nor do I think they will be obvious if they aren't explicitly stated for folks.
Anyway. We're off to Sharps, where, don't worry, I'll be playing cracking harp, since that is what I do best.
Some of you have wondered, "Why learn to play the dulcimer, when you're such a cracking harper?"
Gosh, there are all sorts of reasons. In answer to the question, "Why don't you just play that on the harp?" I guess I would say this:
All instruments are different, and they all bring something different to whatever music you make with them. Because I play the wirestrung harp, I have to keep my fingernails relatively long on at least two fingers of my left hand, since one plays the wire harp with the fingernails. When I started playing the harp, I gave up playing the guitar. I miss an instrument I can make easy, strumming or fingerpicked chords on. What I do on the harp does not sound like a fretted, strummed instrument.
The wire harp, like the most traditional dulcimers out there (but unlike my dulcimer, which has a number of extra frets), is essentially a diatonic instrument. While you can do a lot with a wire harp tuned in C to bring things into other moods, a diatonic scale (the one that begins, 'do, re, mi') cannot be played on any key other than the key the harp is tuned in, in my case C. Retuning a 32-string harp to a different key requires changing at least four strings by a semitone even to make it to the next key up in the circle of fifths (from C to D, for example, all Fs need to be sharped). Wire harps do not come with sharping levers. Wire strings do not take being bent the way that nylon strings do; sharping blades or levers will crimp and break them.
Not all songs fit comfortably into my vocal range when played in C or A minor, and that's just a fact. When I'm singing something, I like it to be in the best possible range for my voice, and having an instrument capable of at least chording in three different keys from the get-go (even without all the extra frets) will make it easier for me to cover for whatever I like and to write different things that suit my voice. It'll also be possible for me to jam with people in the key of D if I want.
It's a different instrument. It's not a question of, "Why not just play that on the harp?" It's a question of "Why not branch out and try something new and different?" Of course there will be reasons why I choose to play one song on dulcimer or on harp, but I don't know if they need to be explicitly stated for folks, nor do I think they will be obvious if they aren't explicitly stated for folks.
Anyway. We're off to Sharps, where, don't worry, I'll be playing cracking harp, since that is what I do best.
