When I took it in, the guy was extraordinarily nice. (Quick shout-out for the Homewood Music Company! Please ignore the outdated website.) He talked me through everything, told me what I'd need, and gave a rough estimate of the price.
I would need:
- One bridge replaced
- Strings replaced
- Tuning and inspection (labor is $75/hr)
- Tuning wrench
- Hammers
The man estimated that it'd probably cost between $150 and $200, and nothing more. My mother told me that she'd go in halves with me on it, meaning that whatever the final price would be, I'd only be paying half of it. That is, if I promised to stick to learning this thing. And I want to learn how to play it. It's something unique, and while it may remind of me of a certain cowardly cowboy, I've got enough passion behind this to learn how to play it. I'm going to learn it because I can, and because it's there. I want to prove that I can do this. Plus, it sounds pretty.
I knew it was going to be a steep learning curve, and that I'd probably need every YouTube video about the hammered dulcimer available.
I've decided to call her Alanna. I looked up a bunch of Celtic names before I decided on this one. Alanna means, "meaning harmony, stone, noble, or fair." You can see the rest of the description of "Alanna" here. (It's worth noting that "Alanna" is also the name of one of the characters in a book series that I like: the Lioness series.)
When we got to the music shop, my mother told me she'd pay for the whole thing (considering that my sister had just gotten a new guitar/case/amp), plus a learning book.
When I got back home, I pulled it out of its case and set it up on the floor. Within ten minutes, I could play "Are You Sleeping" and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." It was a bit complicated figuring out all the strings and stuff, but thankfully, I have color-coded bridges :) Makes everything easier.
There's a couple songs in this little learner-book that I got that I want to learn to how to play. "Star of the County Down" is one of them. It's one of the songs that Charlie had on his Celtic CD. One of the songs that has over 3,000 plays on my iTunes, because I used to use it to fall asleep to at night, when he was in BCT. (I can't bear to listen to them any more. They hurt me. It stabs like knives in my heart and head.)
This dulcimer's going to take some hard work and dedication to learn, but really, I wouldn't have it any other way :) I hope I can get the hang of it soon. I kinda want to post some videos to my Facebook (or here!!).
The tuning's a bit difficult, but after my sister showed me how to do it (and let me borrow her electronic tuner), everything sorta fell into place. I can play "O Susanna!" now. And I have that one memorized.
So, while this is going to take a bit of effort, it's not going to be quite as bad as I thought it would be :) I just have to memorize where all the notes are and where their doubles are on the instrument. Thankfully, I have a book to help me with all that.
What instrument do you play? How'd you go about learning it? Were you forced, or did you just pick it up somewhere along the way?
When we got to the music shop, my mother told me she'd pay for the whole thing (considering that my sister had just gotten a new guitar/case/amp), plus a learning book.
When I got back home, I pulled it out of its case and set it up on the floor. Within ten minutes, I could play "Are You Sleeping" and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." It was a bit complicated figuring out all the strings and stuff, but thankfully, I have color-coded bridges :) Makes everything easier.
There's a couple songs in this little learner-book that I got that I want to learn to how to play. "Star of the County Down" is one of them. It's one of the songs that Charlie had on his Celtic CD. One of the songs that has over 3,000 plays on my iTunes, because I used to use it to fall asleep to at night, when he was in BCT. (I can't bear to listen to them any more. They hurt me. It stabs like knives in my heart and head.)
This dulcimer's going to take some hard work and dedication to learn, but really, I wouldn't have it any other way :) I hope I can get the hang of it soon. I kinda want to post some videos to my Facebook (or here!!).
The tuning's a bit difficult, but after my sister showed me how to do it (and let me borrow her electronic tuner), everything sorta fell into place. I can play "O Susanna!" now. And I have that one memorized.
So, while this is going to take a bit of effort, it's not going to be quite as bad as I thought it would be :) I just have to memorize where all the notes are and where their doubles are on the instrument. Thankfully, I have a book to help me with all that.
What instrument do you play? How'd you go about learning it? Were you forced, or did you just pick it up somewhere along the way?
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