Bruce W. Ford

In this edition:

 - Something Completely Different
 - A welcomed site improvement!
 - News about Bruce's upcoming appearances
 - This month's contest - it's a good one!
 - New tablature!  (lots of it!)

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First a little background.  Last month, I was talking to Bob
Alfield of Laser Elegance.  He donated the January contest prize
package.  He mentioned that he was throwing in a mountain dulcimer
hammer.  Yes, I wrote a MOUNTAIN dulcimer hammer.  I just had to go
look at such a thing.

Here's what I'm referring to: 
http://www.laserelegance.com/page06.html

I'd never thought of hammering on my MD, so that prompted me to sit
down and try something I'd never tried before.  For that time being
I grabbed a HD hammer and started to experiment.  Before I knew it,
30 minutes had gone by.  I've tried it a few times since.  While I
have this technique in my experimental box for now, I suspect that
I'll do it on stage fairly soon.  It'll sure change things up a
bit.  

I know there's someone out that does this all the time, but for me
it was...something completely different.  

So, that got me thinking about my hammered dulcimer.  For giggles,
I sat up to the HD and finger-picked it for while.  That was fun! 
There goes another new technique in my experimental box.  It
provided a different enough sound to mix things up when the mood
strikes.

Based on the "completely different" idea, I came up with two fun
things to do with my dulcimers.  

What can you come up with that's a departure from what you've done
with your dulcimers?  You might surprise yourself, and you will
more than likely have some fun!

*****
Some Site News!

I FINALLY re-vamped the tablature area.  The layout is a lot
neater.  I cleaned up some of the entries.  Probably the most
important enhancement was the addition of some searching ability. 
Of course you can search alphabetically, but now you can search by
the submitter, the tuning (e.g., DAA, DAD) and there are now three
theme categories (Holiday, Patriotic and Hymns/Religious).

In addition, clicking the tops of the columns will also perform
some sorting.  For instance, if you click the top of the submitter
column, you get a sorted list of tunes by submitters.

Here's a hint.  Let's say you can only remember one word of a song.
 All browsers have page search functions, so just type control-f
and enter the bit of the title you can remember and your browser
will show you any matches.  This works for any text on any webpage!
 I use this all the time when finding things on busy webpages.

BTW, please let me know if things are mis-categorized!
http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/tab/

*****
Gig News!

I will be teaching at the Central Florida Dulcimer and Autoharp
festival in Mt. Dora FL on Friday the 13th of Feb (this Friday). 
I'll be on stage that evening as well.  Please come on out and
enjoy!  Here are the details of this festival!  

http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/festivals.php#186

On Feb 21st, I'll be conducting an all-day workshop (9am-4pm) and
concert at the Big 'O' RV Park in Okeechobee, FL.  This event is
sponsored by the Big "O" Key Dulcimers.  Here is more information
about this event:
http://www.brucewford.com/publicity/okeechobee-poster.pdf

If you're in these areas, I'd love to meet you!

If you missed Bing Futch's interview with me last month, here are
the links again:

http://dpnews.com/online_articles.html  

or directly at:

http://www.dpnews.com/audio/DPNO_36.mp3

*****
Contest

Congratulations to Barbara Patterson for winning the January 2009
contest. She won a generous mountain dulcimer accessory set from
Laser Elegance Engraving. Go visit and support Laser Elegance now
at http://www.laserelegance.com/.  Barbara was the winner among 949
folks who registered to win.

For this month, CNY Music Gifts is offering a 7" miniature mountain
dulcimer to display and show your pride!  Go check it out and sign
up!
http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/contest.php

Oh, and Kay at CNY Music Gifts asked me to relay that shipping is
free for a limited time at CNY Gifts (www.cnymusicgifts.com).

*****
New Tablature

Go check out these new tunes at
http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/tab/  
Here are the songs I just added...
 - Apple Blossom
- Devil Ate the Groundhog (love this title!)
- Be Thou My Vision
- Huree Hurroo (keys of A and D)
- Star of the County Down
- Shoot the Buffalo
- Sheep Fast Asleep
- Ring, Ring the Banjo
- Oxen Song
- O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing
- Mister Rabbit
- Jam On Gerry's Rocks
- I'm Just a Rebel Soldier
- Hobbies
- Gaily the Troubadour
- Delia
- Boulavogue
- Abide With Us O Lord

Archives

These newsletters have been a great source of information.  If you
missed one, here are the archives:

http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/newsletter.php
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Thanks for all the wonderful support of EverythingDulcimer.com and
I hope to see you at a festival or concert soon!

Bruce