Dusty Thorburn

Chording Boot Camp (Beginner & up).

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!

Some Rhythm for the Dulcimer Child Within (Intermediate)

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.

Classic Country Favorites (Intermediate)

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.”  

Dusty grew up strumming guitar and singing “Kum Ba Ya” and “Blowin’ in the Wind” before it was a cliché. A professional historian, Dusty discovered the dulcimer several years ago and has been doing his best to make up for lost time.  He founded River City Dulcimers, a group of musical friends that meets monthly in Sacramento and is also a Moderator at the popular website Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer.  Dusty has been a regular at folk music events around Northern California, currently offers private lessons both online and at The Strum Shop in Roseville, and has completed two books of mountain dulcimer tablature: Lullabies from Around the World for the beginning player and
 Songs of Old Albion & Erin: Ballads, Airs, and Dances from the 16th to the 18th Centuries with intermediate-level arrangements of tunes from the early modern British Isles.  His lessons, arrangements, and compositions combine a respect for traditional sounds with a modern, blues-influenced sensibility