You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer

Madeline MacNeil's performances are characterized by her effortless vocals and impeccable mountain and hammered dulcimer playing. In this book she reveals some of the secrets of her success with the mountain dulcimer. Early on, she reminds the reader that the dulcimer is not a toy or a stringed kazoo but a serious, expressive musical instrument capable of stretching as far as the imagination. She endorses both playing by ear and learning to read standard notation. In easily-understood language she manages to explore some very complex, even esoteric concepts, making this a particularly valuable book for the beginning instrumentalists. You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer is simply a great fundamental book. Twelve intensive lessons in 95 pages. Standard notation and tablature. Illustrated with photographs and drawings.

Every aspect of the hammered dulcimer and its playing techniques is covered in this comprehensive, yet easy-to-understand text. A masterful teacher, Madeline MacNeil exceeds the expectations of a beginner's book, providing a firm foundation for the development of a total musician while maintaining an engaging, informal tone throughout. with detailed discussions on dulcimer layout, hammers, tuning, and stands plus extensive performance notes on every tune, this book is a valuable asset to the beginning through intermediate player. from Oh Suzanna to Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Madeline shows the novice dulcimer player how to map your way through a new piece of music, finding clear, musical directions through what at first must seem like a maze of strings. All tunes are in standard notation. the book's 87 pages are illustrated with photos as well as quaint woodcuts, engravings, and pen and ink drawings.

Every aspect of the hammered dulcimer and its playing techniques is covered in this comprehensive, yet easy-to-understand text. A masterful teacher, Madeline MacNeil exceeds the expectations of a beginner's book, providing a firm foundation for the development of a total musician while maintaining an engaging, informal tone throughout. With detailed discussions on dulcimer layout, hammers, tuning, and stands plus extensive performance notes on every tune, this book is a valuable asset to the beginning through intermediate player. From Oh Suzanna to Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Madeline shows the novice dulcimer player how to map your way through a new piece of music, finding clear, musical directions through what at first must seem like a maze of strings. All tunes are in standard notation. The book's 87 pages are illustrated with photos as well as quaint woodcuts, engravings, and pen and ink drawings. The CD in the You Can Teach Yourself Hammered Dulcimer book/CD package is a play-along recording of all of the tunes in the corresponding book. Each tune is counted-off and played at a moderate tempo on solo hammered dulcimer for easy play-along.

Many instruments in this book can be built in a half hour or less by children as young as age 5, using common household items. Songs include guitar and autoharp chords as well as dulcimer tablature. Includes access to online audio.

With You Can Teach Yourself Fiddling, veteran Mel Bay author, Craig Duncan, has produced an excellent book for the beginning fiddler. Its 36 lessons teach basic techniques through specific exercises and traditional fiddle tunes. from holding the fiddle and bow correctly to playing moderately advanced tunes in double stops, Craig will guide you through each progressive step. Although it is not necessary to be able to read music at the start of this book, the author gradually introduces principles of effective note reading throughout. A unique feature of this book is that the same tune may appear in more than one lesson, increasing in difficulty with each recurrence. Each variation builds on the previous one and assists students in learning how to create their own arrangements. Even with some repetitions of the same tune, you'll find more than 50 popular fiddle tunes in the book's 80 pages. Check points and reviews keep you on track from cover to cover. the companion DVD/video covers the first 17 lessons from the book.

This instruction book for beginning lap dulcimer in DAD tuning is unique in two ways. First, it instructs the beginning student in the increasingly popular DAD tuning. Secondly, the author, a classroom music teacher, has carefully and systematically layered the lessons to guide the student through familiar songs while teaching skills and musical concepts. This not only enables the student to enjoy the lap dulcimer but also enhances total music understanding and participation. the accompanying CD provides instructional dialogue and demonstrations of the techniques and songs included in the book. Additional hints and exercises are presented in an inviting and encouraging conversational text.

Melodies on the mountain dulcimer are wonderful. In this book we’ll explore how to decorate melodies with chords to add variety and creativity to your playing in DAD and DAA tunings. Lessons begin with simple chords and show you when an how to progress. In addition, we’ll study how to play backup chords on our dulcimers for accompaniment in gatherings and jam sessions. Includes access to online audio.

This book teaches the student step by step how to play the harp. Each of the 12 lessons includes instructions, exercises, and folk and classical pieces using the new skills and techniques taught in the lesson. --from publisher description.