Timothy's Blog

Timothy's blog on dulcimers, music, nature and life!

I am a musician playing primarily hammered dulcimer and flute, and have produced 15 instrumental albums on Virginia, Nature, History, Celtic, Christmas, and other themes; self-styled and original in approach, with a strong respect for sources and meanings.

APR
01

2,700 years of Western Classical Music history!

 

A couple of years ago I compiled a chart of the basic history of Western Classical music, complete with composer names, important works, and characteristics of each period, in a nutshell. (It’s quite a few pages of small print, even with a very limited representation of the composers and works --- this is a huge field to learn about, and it’s 27 centuries long!)

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9489 Hits
JAN
29

Sample the musical instruments of the Renaissance Period!

Sample the musical instruments of the Renaissance Period!

During the Renaissance and Elizabethan Periods in Europe, certain musical instruments were popular and widely used. Here is a sampling of a variety of them! These are grouped by their instrument family types.

I’ve found a Youtube video of each, so here you can click on the instrument’s name and watch and listen to it being played:

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10997 Hits
JAN
17

Born Fighting: Our Scots-Irish heritage

Born Fighting: Our Scots-Irish heritage

I love the diversity of people groups we have here in America: Each heritage has various special approaches to life that it can contribute to the society in general.

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1843 Hits
DEC
05

Practice scales with four Christmas carols!

Practice scales with four Christmas carols!

As I play Christmas carols, I find that some of the most beloved ones are constructed out of large segments of the diatonic scale, and perhaps that contributes to people’s love for them!

At any rate, if you play a musical instrument and want to practice your scales while making festive holiday melody, here are the ones I’ve noticed are like that:

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3758 Hits
NOV
03

Three chords for every scale step!

Three chords for every scale step!

When you need to choose a chord to play with a certain melody note, it doesn’t have to be guesswork! There is a very clear and simple structure to music that we can refer to when choosing chords.

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4001 Hits

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