Bleah. Tired. Long hours in a test cell, going rounds with a 16-cylinder gas genset. I'm pretty sure I'm winning now, but the emissions calibration was a pain in the dorsal orifice
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Actually, the dulcimer whereof I speak is often referred to as the hammered dulcimer, which is akin to taking the frame and soundboard out of a (miniature) piano, and playing the strings by striking them with two small wooden hammers. The strings are not sequentially arranged as in a piano; there are two bridges and three courses of strings that are spaced a fifth apart, ascending from right to left, and within each course ascending a whole- or half-step from bottom to top. OK, those are correct statements but probably unparseable.
You can see pictures of my dulcimer here. Note that, while people often associate the word "dulcimer" with the mountain or lap dulcimer, your "high pitched pretty strumming thing"; but in fact the hammered dulcimer is the original dulcimer, predating the strummed dulcimer by probably a couple of centuries at least (read more if you're interested). So sometimes when I get tired of prefacing "dulcimer" with "hammered," I don't.
Most of the people I know who know the hammered dulcimer were introduced to it (knowingly or not) by Rich Mullins, who played it on a number of his songs (Creed, Calling Out Your Name, Sometimes By Step, etc.). He was really an amazing dulcimer player, and one of my goals is to be able to play and sing Creed. Actually, all of the aforementioned songs. I've actually got a fair amount of Sometimes By Step down already. His hammering patterns are just freaky-cool-interesting.
Ahh! I just listened to Sometimes by Step and I know what you're talking about now! I always thought that was some kind of a weird high-pitched piano, and now I find well... it sort of it.
Actually, the dulcimer whereof I speak is often referred to as the hammered dulcimer, which is akin to taking the frame and soundboard out of a (miniature) piano, and playing the strings by striking them with two small wooden hammers. The strings are not sequentially arranged as in a piano; there are two bridges and three courses of strings that are spaced a fifth apart, ascending from right to left, and within each course ascending a whole- or half-step from bottom to top. OK, those are correct statements but probably unparseable.
You can see pictures of my dulcimer here. Note that, while people often associate the word "dulcimer" with the mountain or lap dulcimer, your "high pitched pretty strumming thing"; but in fact the hammered dulcimer is the original dulcimer, predating the strummed dulcimer by probably a couple of centuries at least (read more if you're interested). So sometimes when I get tired of prefacing "dulcimer" with "hammered," I don't.
Most of the people I know who know the hammered dulcimer were introduced to it (knowingly or not) by Rich Mullins, who played it on a number of his songs (Creed, Calling Out Your Name, Sometimes By Step, etc.). He was really an amazing dulcimer player, and one of my goals is to be able to play and sing Creed. Actually, all of the aforementioned songs. I've actually got a fair amount of Sometimes By Step down already. His hammering patterns are just freaky-cool-interesting.
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