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hammered dulcimer
Expectations vs. Reality
Back in the day, long long ago, I taught a combined classroom of 6th,7th, and 8th graders and I was also the volleyball coach for the school. Boy, were we pumped! We thought we had it going! We expected to win the city championship.
But as the season progressed, we had to face reality. I actually don’t remember winning a single game (but that was a lot of years ago). The reality just didn’t match our expectations. Now I wasn’t a very good coach, and we came from a really small parochial schoo…
The POWER of Your hands
What if someone were to create a YouTube video on your hands? What if someone wanted to tell your story based on the life of your hands?
What would we see?
Like all of us, the story would begin with the shot of an infant’s fist, followed by a close-up of your tiny hand wrapped tightly around your mommy’s finger. Then what?
I would look through the photos in an old album your mother saved, and crop a picture showing your hand hanging on to a chair as you learned to walk. I might showcase your …
Create a Portable Practice Space
Once you have established the perfect practice space in your home, it becomes difficult to envision practicing anywhere else. However, life occasionally necessitates being away from your designated space for extended periods of time (Steve can vouch for this!). In such situations, it is crucial to maintain your hard-earned and well-established practice routine. This is where the concept of a portable practice space comes into play.
Whether you find yourself needing to practice at work, school,…
Behind the Shower Curtain
Why is it that I can sing so well behind the shower curtain? My pitch is perfect, I remember all the words, and my vibrato is amazing. I feel like I could go on stage to be a professional vocalist. However, my confidence and perfect pitch go into hiding when I try to sing in front of someone.
It’s the same with playing my instruments. I have a great assortment of instruments and we moved recently to a new neighborhood. When my new neighbors come into the house for a get-to-know-you visit, the…
The Value of Journaling
Throughout high school and college, I filled scrapbooks with souvenirs from the fun times I had. It held pictures, tickets, programs, and mementoes from my adventures. It was a treasure trove showing not only my exploits, but also the milestones in my life as I grew into adulthood. My scrapbooks served as tangible reminders of my favorite experiences and the joy I derived from them.
I don’t do scrapbooks any more. But I believe in journaling. It’s a fantastic way of documenting progress and r…
Why Don't I Practice More???
Weren't you totally excited the day you brought home your first dulcimer? I imagine you practiced 'til your fingertips were sore, or your arms felt like they were falling off from wielding those two hammers. But then, as days or weeks went by, the time you invested in practicing decreased ... maybe even stopped altogether. You found excuses to push practice time to the back burner. I wonder why this has happened to so many of us.
Well, I have some thoughts about this (of course). Let's …
How to Memorize
As I’ve gotten older, I’m finding it more difficult to memorize music. And I need to memorize the music, because my eyes don’t work like they used to … and it slows me down when I'm trying to read the music. So I began to search online for techniques that would help me memorize music more quickly and easily. Here are some suggestions I found.
- Stop telling yourself you can’t memorize music. Our brains are an incredible machine that have the equivalent of 2.5 million gigabytes of digital me…
WHY Are We Doing This?
I have spent all of my entire life encouraging people to take up learning an instrument. When I was an elementary teacher, I also had several piano students that I taught in my garage after school. I told parents that learning to play an instrument also helps with memory, cognition, motor skill, and attention span.
When my own children got to junior high and high school, they played in the band. I found high school students in band stayed busy and out of trouble. They understood teamwork, they…
Starve Your Distractions
by Linda Ratcliff
Why do some people advance quickly in their dulcimer skills, while others just get stuck? The difference may NOT be in the quantity of time that they practice. The difference just might be a deviation from focus and consistency.
For example, I have been retired for 3 weeks now. I had told myself for the last year, as we prepared for the move and this next season of our lives, that when I didn’t have to go to work anymore I was going to practice every single day. Has that ha…
It's Not WHAT You Practice!
It's not WHAT you practice that makes you better ... it's HOW you practice! This statement holds a profound truth when it comes to learning to play your dulcimer. Simply going through the motions of practice without a deliberate and thoughtful approach will yield limited progress.
Practicing with intention and focus is what sets apart exceptional musicians from the rest. It's not enough to mindlessly repeat scales, chords, or tunes without a clear purpose. Instead, effective practice involves…
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