I am often asked which string gauges I use on my dulcimers – this blog aims to answer that question – but I first need to explain some of the peripheral issues for my answer to make complete sense …
an original, nature-themed composition for the dulcimer, played on my Martin Cole Appalachian dulcimer in Ionian (DAA) tuning but in the key of C (CGG) – slight delay effects from the Boss DD-500 are a dual delay with randomly variable timing and randomly shifting from left to right – the general approach to the style of composition was inspired by the composing of Classical guitarist Andrew York
a dulcimer arrangement of Tim Hardin’s lovely country music song If I Were A Carpenter, beautifully sung by Rebecca Hallworth and performed fingerstyle (fingerpicking) on my Doug Berch mountain dulcimer in Ionian tuning EBB (DAA but in key of E)
Huw Williams’ moving song about a little girl killed in the blitz in London – arranged here for dulcimer and performed on my Martin Cole Appalachian dulcimer in DAA tuning
The Rose is a pop song written by Amanda McBroom – Bette Midler made the song famous when she recorded it for her film The Rose, in which it plays during the closing credits
In music, timing and rhythm are two completely different things. This issue has cropped up a few times on my workshops, so I created this blog post to help to explain the difference between two. Clarity for me came when I considered the difference between a timing change and a rhythm change within the same piece of music. So, as well as defining the terms, I have included in this blog examples from my dulcimer repertoire of both type of changes.
written by award-wining folk songwriter Brian Bedford, who was a member of English folk group Artisan