21st April 2020
dulcimer chords for DAA
popular dulcimer chords for Ionian / DAA tuning
dulcimer chord shapes – with these popular chords, you can play many songs
this chart as a PDF dulcimer DAA popular chord charts
Articles & the Press
1st April 2020
performance skills
The following notes are based on the handout from my performance skills workshop. The focus of my workshops was to build confidence as well as competence, so these notes are necessarily focused on the psychological aspects. A workshop is undoubtedly a better way to learn about performance skills than an essay, nonetheless these notes might prove useful to you. The techniques herein are powerful and have been deployed over decades to thousands of students with excellent results.
26th March 2020
what makes a good dulcimer ?
If you go to a dulcimer festival today, you will doubtless see many variations of design to try to get the best sound from the mountain dulcimer. So which attributes contribute to the quality of tone and what makes a good dulcimer ? This article may be of interests to guitarists also.
20th February 2020
a brief career history
a brief history of Dan Evans’ music career
early beginnings
With no training in music but good woodworking skills, Dan built two dulcimers whilst at school and then played mandolin in the school folk band. Inspired by legendary British dulcimer player Roger Nicholson, with whom he was later to work, Dan learned a little early music on the dulcimer. At university he taught himself guitar and, aside from fifteen minutes coaching with the British virtuoso guitarist Martin Simpson, is still completely self-taught on his instruments to this day. His university days were certainly formative and artists he first heard then, like John Martyn, The Pentangle and Gryphon have undoubtedly shaped the development of Dan’s highly individual and eclectic style.READ MORE
4th December 2019
amplification & effects for dulcimers ~ part 1
this article was published in both the international Dulcimer Player News magazine and the UK’s Nonsuch Dulcimer Club newsletter
amplification and effects for mountain dulcimer ~ part 1 acoustic dulcimers
In this article (Part 1) I will explain how to amplify mountain dulcimers and what effects work particularly well with them. Although written for the mountain dulcimer, some aspects may be of interest to hammer dulcimer players and guitarist also. In Part 2 (to be published at a later date) I will discuss electric dulcimers, and the effects and amplification suitable for those.
18th November 2019
the PA sound-check
the PA Sound-Check – what performers need to do
Over the many years that I’ve been performing I’ve owned several PA systems and manged live sound many times with other PAs too. I’ve learned that there are protocols around sound-checking which help to achieve good results. I have also developed huge respect for the skills and patience of sound engineers.
If you perform, sooner or later you’ll play through PAs and will need to do sound-checks. This short article aims to help you to make the most of the sound-check opportunity such that your act will not only sound good – but you’ll present yourself in professional manner too.
25th October 2019
mixolydian mode – major or minor ?
the mixolydian mode – is it a major or minor scale ?
those of you who are familiar with my music will know that I play modal folk melodies and I have also composed pieces in various modes
I used to think of the modes as all being minor scales, except Ionian of course – recently however, several people have told me that the mixolydian mode is a major scale
this did not sit comfortably with me as the Mixolydian scale sounds minor to me – so I asked 3 highly qualified musicians that I regularly work with to shed some light on the matter
this blog post shows my initial question, their fascinating answers and my updated view now
22nd October 2019
interview with Steve O Ryan
Dan Evans from Olney, near Milton Keynes, UK
I first met Dan Evans at the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club’s annual weekend, at Launde Abbey, 3 years ago when I was starting out on dulcimer. A very sociable and helpful guy, as well as a very thorough tutor, I was delighted when, last year, he came to teach at the Nonsuch Spring Fling in Allendale, Northumberland (which I now help Liz Conway to organise).
19th August 2019
my approach to the dulcimer
my approach to the dulcimer ~ or why I play in DAA
I am often asked why I play mostly in DAA, rather than today’s more dominant DAD tuning. Whilst I enjoy many benefits from DAA, and there are many, the real reason is not just about the pros and cons of DAA vs DAD, but about the configuration of the instrument itself. This article aims to explain that configuration and thus the approach I have to the dulcimer.
17th March 2019
remembering Roger Nicholson
Whilst an official obituary of Roger can be found here on the Independent newspaper website, this blog post is more of a personal perspective.
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