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Jessica Comeau's Workshops

Silk Strings (Advanced Beginner)

Learn techniques for producing smoother, gentler sounds on the mountain dulcimer, including strumming, flatpicking, sustain, smooth transitions, and clean fingering. Songs will include “Beech Spring,” “Waterbound,” and “May Day Carol.”
D-A-D
Click the title of the following arrangement to download.

May Day Carol

Mountain Porch Music (Intermediate)

The mountain dulcimer began as an instrument played in the serene retreat of one’s own home. The traditional Appalachian selections we will learn in this class are a tribute to the mountain dulcimer’s front porch origins. Songs include “Black is the Color,” “Barbry Ellen,” “Pretty Saro,” and “Shady Grove.” Intermediate skills will include using chords, sustain, smooth transitions, and efficient.
Bring a capo. D-A-D, C-G-C
Click the title of the following arrangement to download.

Black Is the Color

Foxes and Faeries (Advanced)
C-G-C, sister tuning of D-A-D, and C-F-C. Bring capo.
A bewitching assortment of ballads presenting mysterious and supernatural figures from Scottish and Irish traditions. Our songs include "Reynardine," "The Elfin Knight," and “Tha mi Sgith.” These selections will incorporate skills such as flatpicking, hammer-ons, pull-offs,
capo use, challenging rhythms and playing in a variety of tunings.
Click the title of the following arrangement to download.

Reynardine

Jessica Comeau lives in Pensacola, Florida, and has been playing the mountain dulcimer for about 15 years. She enjoys discovering, composing, and arranging music, especially within the Celtic, British, medieval, and Appalachian folk traditions.  Jessica is a founding member of the Pensacola Mountain Dulcimer Wildflowers project (an outreach that seeks to promote feature, and support the mountain dulcimer), and she continues to perform, learn new music, and teach other mountain dulcimer players.

She has competed and placed in several mountain dulcimer championships and has taught at a variety of national and regional dulcimer festivals. On her YouTube channel, Jessica shares recordings of her unique mountain dulcimer music. Jessica holds a B.A. degree in English, an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction, and certification to teach English 6-12 and Humanities K-12 in the state of Florida. She enjoys sharing her passion for music, literature, art, and the humanities and the ways in which these disciplines mutually enrich each other.

Among Jessica's offerings are a solo album, Songs of the Earthly Pilgrimage: Medieval and World Folk Music on the Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer, and a book and DVD set, Mountain Dulcimer Wildflowers: A Collection of Original Arrangements of Early Music and Traditional Songs for Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer.

Website: www.JessicaComeauDulcimer.com