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 WINTER DULCIMER WEEKEND 
 CLASSES

January 6 - 8, 2012
Holiday Inn SW Louisville, KY  

Friday 7:30 – 9:00 PM (Class 1)   and Saturday 9:00– 10:15 AM (Class 2)

Mountain Dulcimer
Dave Haas B Easy As 1-2-3 ! Learn how to strum, fret the dulcimer, read dulcimer tab, play simple chords, and start to participate in a jam session – all while learning to play great songs you already know with a “big ending” to your songs! DAD
Jan Hammond B/I We’ll be “workin’ on a building” repertoire, using chords efficiently and as back-up in jams, alternative strums and smoothing out your playing skills.
Mark Gilston B/I-I We’ll cover some basic chord progressions in different positions, how using voice leading can give your arrangements a more satisfying sound, how changing picking direction can help bring out rhythms and emphasize melody.
Gary Sager I Flat Picking Techniques. We will apply these techniques to a few fiddle tunes, as we build repertoire.
Shelley Stevens I - I/A Classical Themes. Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and more! Tab provided. Tune DAD. 6-1/2 fret needed, capo may be necessary.
Stephen Seifert A Use Crosspicking in Your Playing - Capo Required. We'll cover a bunch of cross picking tricks and 5 to 7 bluegrassy arrangements.
Hammered Dulcimer
Rick Thum B Learn your way around the dulcimer. Make sense of it all! Basic beginning skills will be taught in this fun class including tunes and embellishments. Loaner instruments are available on a first come basis.
Carrie Crompton B/I Getting to Know the Whole Dulcimer. We’ll explore the stringboard, find ways to work the bass bridge into tunes you already know, getting comfortable with all the available octaves in several keys. Lots of practice to develop fluidity and confidence with scales and arpeggios, and some very cool tunes, too!
Guy George I Friday’s class we’ll learn Guy’s arrangement of a beautiful Shetland tune, Da Slockit Light. Saturday - 12 Bar Blues. We’ll work on jazzing up our playing while learning a 12 Bar Blues Jazz progression!
Stephen Humphries A We’ll learn the tune “Planxty Oleson”, an original piece that incorporates a melody in one hand and an accompaniment pattern in the other. We’ll also delve into exercises that develop this idea of hand interdependence.
Bowed Dulcimer
Ken Bloom B – B/I This class will cover all the basics of bowed dulcimer playing and is a great way to get started. You’ll find out more about playing and become better grounded in bowed dulcimer basics!
Ukulele
Sharrie George B – B/I Learn and review the basics: tuning, chords and strumming patterns. We’ll learn back-up for some island tunes as well as a few jam tunes! If you are past beginner, we’ll give you some “extras” to spice up our chording! We’ll also have ukuleles for rent before the class if you don’t yet have an instrument.

Saturday 10:45 AM (Class 3) – 12:00 PM and 1:30 – 2:45 PM (Class 4)

Mountain Dulcimer
Jan Hammond B New or Perpetual: We’ll explore the mountain dulcimer history, maintenance, tunings, reading tab, learning by ear, strums and rhythm, fret-not finger placement and some jamming basics.
Shelley Stevens B/I DGD Tuning. Don't be afraid to retune!!! This easy tuning is a lot of fun! We'll play some familiar tunes as well as some not so well known. Tune DGD. Tab provided. 6-1/2 fret NOT needed!
Molly McCormack B/I - I The joy of jamming will be explored with this interactive class! We’ll learn lots of jam tips and tunes, building our jam repertoire and learn how to add to the jam with different back-up techniques.
Mark Gilston I Learn how to add variety by playing the same tune in different registers on your dulcimer. We'll also learn techniques to punch up your rhythm and make your music sound clean and bright
Stephen Seifert I/A Arpeggios for Arranging and Improvisation. We'll practice three basic arpeggios and I'll show you how they always point to the "right notes".
Dave Haas A Expand your repertoire with wonderful classical pieces such as Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s” and “Minuet in G”, and Clark’s “Trumpet Voluntary”, and variations to Beethoven’s “Ode”. Both strumming and finger picking skills used. DAD
Hammered Dulcimer
Stephen Humphries B Playing right from the start! Learn the techniques you need to develop good hammer technique and get comfortable with the layout of your instrument.
Rick Thum I Chord Shapes: Mapping Chords According to Rick. We’ll learn these techniques then reinforce what we’ve learned by putting them into practice through the song Front Porch Waltz.
Carrie Crompton A Ready to play some Greek santouri music on the dulcimer? We’ll learn an exotic-sounding scale, the D-Hijaz scale, how to harmonize in that scale, and a good hasaposervikos tune, or two if time permits!
Bowed Dulcimer
Ken Bloom I - A All bowed dulcimer players are welcome in this intermediate/advanced class. We’ll cover playing in higher positions, more advanced bowing techniques, and more ways to approach the music you want to play.
Ukulele
Sharrie George B/I – I Learn a tune or two playing chord-melody and how to find the melody in chords for other tunes. Then, learn finger-picking! Create a quiet, beautiful sound for those slower tunes with a few easy picking patterns.
Steel Drum
Guy George B – I Learn (and review) the basics of playing in one class! We’ll learn a few tunes and harmonies, how to play chord back-up, along with a little chord theory on the steel drum. Loaner instruments available. Then we’ll take your playing to the next level with chords, and back-up, playing in other keys as we learn some cool calypso tunes!

Saturday 3:00 (Class 5) – 4:15 PM and Sunday 1:00 PM – 2:15 PM (Class 6)

Mountain Dulcimer
Gary Sager B Smooth Out Your Playing! Smooth playing by working on strumming techniques and apply these techniques to a few tunes. DAD tuning.
Dave Haas B/I The Best of Both Worlds. Improve both your strumming and arpeggio skills with such wonderful melodies as “Scarborough Fair”, “Shenandoah” and “Morning Has Broken”. Learn left hand techniques. A capo is required. DAD
Stephen Seifert B/I - I Chords for Back Up and Chord Melody. We'll first run through some exercises to become more comfortable with commonly used chords. Next we'll work through some chord/melody arrangements. Finally, I'll show you how to make your own chord-melody arrangements!
Shelley Stevens I Lazy Dulcimer! Play the LAZY way – across the strings instead of up the fret board. We will explore the Ionian scale within the first 3 frets of the dulcimer. Tab provided. Tune DAD. 6-1/2 fret NOT needed!
Jan Hammond I – I/A Roll ‘Em, Roll ‘Em, Roll ‘Em! We’ll get those right hand fingers rolling as we work on multiple finger picking techniques that can be applied to the tab you usually strum.
Mark Gilston A We’ll learn about playing in a group with delicate interweaving of melody and counterpoint through the round “Dona Nobis Pacem”. We’ll cover unusual right hand techniques, discuss efficiency and finger flow to bring intricate arrangements naturally to the left hand. We’ll spice up old-time tune arrangements by adding chords to a bass line melody.
Hammered Dulcimer
Molly McCormack B Players do not need any prior experience on the instrument. Topics in this beginning class will include tuning, scales, basic hammering techniques, and playing a simple tune.
Stephen Humphries B/I Rudiments and percussion technique on the hammered dulcimer. Develop both your dominant and weak hands using exercises from the Percussive Arts Society.
Carrie Crompton I Hammering Styles and Embellishments. We’ll practice different ways to use the hammers to create different articulations and dynamics – smooth, flowing phrases, accents and so forth. We’ll create accents and interest using embellishments such as bounces, grace notes, double stops and rolled chords, then apply these techniques to lots of tunes.
Rick Thum A Students will learn “Benton’s Dream”, an old-time fiddle tune. We’ll apply free embellishment scale techniques (a new technique that Rick has been teaching) to this tune. Second class, time permitting, we’ll learn a great five-part piece – “Jerusalem Ridge”.
Bowed Dulcimer
Ken Bloom All This class will cover playing by ear and building your repertoire.
Ukulele
Sharrie George All More tunes, more keys, as we sing, play melody, and have fun with our ukes! Add to your repertoire and practice what you’ve learned all weekend!
Penny Whistle
Guy George B/I – I Pennywhistle Duets. We’ll be playing in 2 keys (on a D whistle) as we learn how to control breathing, all while we learn a few “Island” tunes from the Caribbean as well as a few from the “Irish” island. Melody and harmony parts for each! Learn a harmony part to play while others play melody in a jam or on stage!

Sunday 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM (Class 7)

Mountain Dulcimer
Stephen Seifert B “An Easy Method for Brand New Players” – In 90 minutes, I’ll give you some tuning tips, get your strum going, and give you a handful of familiar tunes that will prove to you you’ve got what it takes to make music with the mountain dulcimer.
Mark Gilston B/I Play the same tune on different strings to add variety to your playing. We’ll learn a few simple rounds played on both high and low D strings and on the A string. Changing pick direction, plucking individual strings as well as multiple strings will be covered.
Jan Hammond B/I- I Waltzes From Other Lands. Learn some beautiful waltzes, in parts, from the British Isles, Wales, and Scotland.
Dave Haas I Fun Fiddle Tunes! Have fun learning and playing “Hangman’s Reel”, “Turkey in the Straw”, “Red-Wing” and other great fiddle tunes. We’ll cover techniques to facilitate smooth and fast playing, and improve backup accompaniment. A capo and smile are required. DAD
Shelley Stevens A The Music of Turlough O’Carolan. Seventeenth century harp tunes arranged for the lap dulcimer. Tab provided. Tune DAD, 6-1/2 fret needed.
Hammered Dulcimer
Rick Thum B - B/I Fiddle Tune Time! We’ll learn a fun and easy old timey sounding fiddle tune – Spider On The Bed Post, written by Rick.
Stephen Humphries I Music Theory on the Hammered Dulcimer. Learn how to make sense of the notes on your instrument and put this knowledge to practical use in the tunes you want to play.
Carrie Crompton I/A – A Arranging Bach for the Hammered Dulcimer. Many of the simpler dance pieces, especially the Minuets, translate beautifully on the hammered dulcimer. We’ll learn the Minuets in G and Gm from the Anna Magdalena Notebook, and explore ways to make them sound their best on the dulcimer.
Bowed Dulcimer
Ken Bloom All Bowed Dulcimer Jam!!! Lots of great jam tunes!
UKULELE & STEEL DRUM
Guy George
Sharrie George 		All Let’s jam with the new tunes and chords we’ve just learned and learn how to do a quick arrangement with other players for performance! Both ukuleles and steel drums will play together, trying our new arranging skills as we play!

Definitions of Class Levels

B to B/I Beginning to just past beginning players would be best to choose this level.  This is for those with no experience, or for those who can play a little but are still beginners.
 
B/I Beginning Intermediate to low Intermediate level players should choose this level.  If you can play melody comfortably and some chords and are ready for more technique and songs, jamming, more!
 
I This level takes playing to the next level with more advanced techniques and tunes.
 
I/A to A High Intermediate to Advanced.  This level is for the more advanced players wanting to learn more!  Advanced skills and techniques will be taught.