This workshop combines two methods of teaching chords.  We will practice strumming some basic chords and singing songs but will also examine a handful of moveable chord shapes, paying attention to how they relate to one another and how they can help us learn the entire dulcimer fretboard.  Gain confidence strumming and enhance your musical literacy all in one quick workshop!

Most American and west European folk music has a straightforward rhythm.  That allows us to learn a basic strum such as the bum-ditty and apply it to a lot of songs.  But what if we want to play some pop or rock with more complex rhythms, or even (gasp!) some calypso from Trinidad, reggae from Jamaica, or compas from Haiti?  This workshop explores music--including children’s music--from the Caribbean, allowing us to build compelling rhythms from a basic pattern by skipping strums, stressing strums, muting strums, and more. 
Tunes examined may include Maryanne, Mango Walk, Linstead Market, and more.

This workshop will explore some challenging but rewarding classic country songs, all involving interesting chords and melodic rhythms, and we will examine how to play the dulcimer in ways that approximate the cadence of a singer. Songs covered may include: Hank Williams’s “Your Cheating Heart,” Jimmy Rogers’s “Waiting for a Train,” Bill Monroe’s “Kentucky Waltz” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” and the tune made famous by Patty Page, “Tennessee Waltz.”