Timothy's Blog

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

Timothy Seaman

  http://timothyseaman.com Subscribe to updates from author Subscribe via RSS

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.

OCT
15

Hammered dulcimer steepness and the gravity effect!

in Hammered Dulcimer Topics and Ideas
Hammered dulcimer steepness and the gravity effect!

Hammered dulcimer players often discuss the best steepness of angle the instrument needs to be for playing. There are some interesting factors that figure into this equation!

  1. How big is your dulcimer? If it’s big, like 3 ½ to 5 octaves in range, you might want to lean it pretty steeply so you can easily reach the high notes.
  2. Do you play standing up or sitting down? If you stand, it’s easier to have a flatter angle, since you can move on your feet to get the reach; if you sit, you have to move around from the small of your back and use your arms more than the rest of your body, and can reach more easily with a steep angle.
  3. Do you hover over your hammers, or do you stand up straight and reach from your elbows and shoulders mostly? Hoverers like me tend to need a bit steeper of an angle to easily lean over the notes --- but height helps too: I prefer for the whole dulcimer to be pretty high off the ground so my face can get close to my playing (and since I have relatively short arms), and so I don’t have to crouch to get the bridges’ lowest notes or hurt my elbows because of the funny playing position. Other players may see it just the opposite, though. What’s your approach?

 

...
Tweet
Continue reading
3818 Hits
SEP
30

Important information for ukulele players

in Thoughts About Music How Music Works
Important information for ukulele players

Everything on this list for beginning players is essential to be able to play the ukulele! These aren’t just tips, but they make it possible to play, and to play well.

  • Playing a fretted fingerboard instrument takes muscular effort and focus!
  • Curve your left hand into a circle so that your thumb can clamp against the back of the neck to help the other fingers press down on the strings.
  • Your thumb must be at or near the center of the back of the neck so it can help the other fingers.
  • Press your right forearm against the front of the uke, pushing it against your body to create a lever that helps your left hand press down on the strings.
  • Swivel your left hand to find the best position to play the chord you need; this is especially important for the chord G: swivel your hand toward the head of the uke to get a natural triangular shape for your fingers.
  • When pressing down a string, put your finger just behind the fret on the fingerboard (closer to the head), so it has good leverage to hold the string down onto the fret.
  • Always keep the front (soundboard) of the uke completely vertical (perpendicular to the floor). If you need to look at the frets and strings, lean your head forward to do that. (If it’s not vertical, you can’t reach the notes well enough with your left hand.)
  • There are three different numbering systems operating at once:

         1) Fingers: 1st (index), 2nd (middle), 3rd (ring), 4th (pinky)

...
Tweet
Continue reading
2239 Hits
SEP
18

Slash chords!

in How Music Works Thoughts About Music Hammered Dulcimer Topics and Ideas
Slash chords!

Lots of sheet music has chords written over the top of the staff. For example, if the key signature of the notation has one sharp, you might see chords that start and end with ‘G’, in which case the tune is most likely in the key of G Major. It may start and end with ‘Em’, meaning probably that the key is E Minor, which has the same notes and chords as G Major, except that the scale starts on a different note.

...
Tweet
Continue reading
2686 Hits
SEP
10

Three ways of naming and playing musical notes!

in How Music Works Thoughts About Music Hammered Dulcimer Topics and Ideas
Three ways of naming and playing musical notes!

 

Please don’t be dismayed by the possibility that this blog post is going to get too technical! The concepts are simple, and I think they are incredibly useful!

...
Tweet
Continue reading
2314 Hits
SEP
07

Center yourself on the hammered dulcimer’s treble bridge

in Hammered Dulcimer Topics and Ideas
Center yourself on the hammered dulcimer’s treble bridge

I think it somehow feels natural, when you play hammered dulcimer, to center your body behind the instrument. The assumption, I guess, is to be able to equally reach all the note locations.

But I’ve found that I can play my best when I center my body behind the treble bridge, and usually reach to the right for the bass bridge notes.

...
Tweet
Continue reading
1806 Hits
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Blog Categories

Blog Archives

2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013

Please Note: This site uses cookies and similar technologies.

Browser settings can be adjusted to control cookies. Failure to make adjustments constitutes your agreement to their usage. Learn more

I understand

Information about Cookies

A cookie is a small piece of data (usually a text file) that a website asks your browser to store on your computer or mobile device. It enables the website to remember your actions and preferences (such as login, language, font size and other display preferences) over a period of time, so you don’t have to keep re-entering them whenever you come back to the site or browse from one page to another. Most browsers support cookies, but users can set their browsers to decline them and can delete them whenever they like. Cookies can be used to collect and store user data while connected to provide you with requested services. More information about cookies can be found at http://www.aboutcookies.org.

In addition to cookies that remember your preferences mentioned above, cookies are used for the purpose of purchasing items off this website, and for login and user profile details should you provide them by creating an account or signing up for the blog posts or newsletter.

Third party cookies are also used on this site. Specifically, Google Analytics is used on this site -- a popular web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics uses cookies to help us analyze how users use this site. It counts the number of visitors and tells us things about their behavior overall – such as the typical length of stay on the site or the average number of pages a user views.

The information generated by the cookie about your use of our website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of our website, compiling reports on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.

Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google undertakes not to associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.

If you have Adobe Flash installed on your computer (most computers do) and utilize audio or video players, Google Analytics will try to store some additional data on your computer. This data is known as a Local Shared Object or Flash cookie. This helps us to analyze the popularity of our media files.

Finally, this website makes use of Google Maps. Google Maps is used to provide locations for Timothy Seaman's performances. In clicking on a performance location, you can allow or deny Google Maps knowledge of your location for purposes of getting directions from your location to the event site.

You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish – for details, see aboutcookies.org. You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed. If you do this, however, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site and some services and functionalities may not work.

Your failure to control and/or delete cookies for this site constitutes your acceptance of cookies as outlined above.