 |
Wanda O'Guin |
Mountain Laurel |
Marilyn Bagford |
April, 1999
When Wanda O'Guin says that she and her dulcimer are good friends, she means it! Wanda loves her dulcimer so much that she takes it "everyplace except the grocery store!"
Wanda was introduced to the dulcimer about 7 years ago after purchasing an instrument called the "plicket" at Opryland. A co-worker remarked that her plicket looked just like a miniature mountain dulcimer, and before long Wanda had ordered a dulcimer from a maker in Alabama and was taking lessons from Sandy Conatser.
Three years ago, Wanda returned to Opryland to work for a summer in their dulcimer shop. Demonstrating the dulcimer in a public setting, Wanda says, helped her conquer her fear of making mistakes in front of people and taught her to "smile and keep on playing!" Wanda's habit of leaving her dulcimer sitting out encourages her to play daily. With her little dog and 19-year-old cat faithfully listening, Wanda usually plays a few tunes before going to bed and swears that even fast songs relax her!
Sharing that strumming was a challenge for her when she first began playing the dulcimer, Wanda notes she has worked hard at developing her right-hand technique. But last November, Wanda's right shoulder was dislocated when her purse was snatched on the Vanderbilt Campus, and Wanda feared she might not be able to strum again.
She was determined, however, to rehabilitate her shoulder and regain her playing ability. At first, she could only play her dulcimer for very short periods of time. But less than a month after the attack, Wanda performed at the Blair dulcimer student recital and credits music with helping in her recovery.
Wanda especially enjoys playing church music and collects old hymn books. She grew up in Nashville listening to her father sing in a gospel quartet and is currently working on a hymn that her mother particularly liked called "The Love of God."
Although her nursing career keeps her busy, Wanda finds time to take lessons from David Schnaufer and play at nursing homes with the Grand Old Dulcimer Club. She now plays a McSpadden and has given her first "dulcimer friend" a cherished spot on her wall. Wanda also gives beginning dulcimer lessons and teaches novice-level workshops at dulcimer festivals in Waverly and Tullahoma, enthusiastically sharing her good friend the dulcimer!
February, 1999
Glen Wilson is playing the dulcimer and having fun! He got "hooked on" playing the dulcimer about a year ago after hearing Mountain Laurel (which includes club members Carolyn Wick, Don Wick, and Marilyn Konruff) at Traveller's Rest. Since then, he's been coming to the Sunday dulcimer club and says "it's been all uphill from there!"
Glen's children chipped in and bought him a dulcimer for Christmas several years ago. Grandpa and Grandma returned the favor with a dulcimer for daughter Amy this past Christmas and one for grand-daughter Lexie (age 9) on her birthday. Now, father, daughter, and grandaughter are playing the mountain dulcimer, and the three generation trio hopes to develop some "signature" pieces!
During the past year, Glen has been taking lessons from Wanda O'Guin and David Schnaufer. Glen played for the first time in public this past December in a recital at Vanderbilt's Blair School of Music. Even though Glen says he was "glad to get started and glad to have it over with," he's very much looking forward to playing in public again!
Although Glen had no musical background beyond singing in church before taking up the dulcimer, his enthusiastic participation says, "If I can do it, anyone can, and you can have fun at it!"
March, 2000
In the past year, the Bolton family has become a regular fixture at our
Sunday GODC meetings. Mom Jan and the kids - Bonni (15), Jacob (13), and Leah (10) - all play the dulcimer while Dad Larry accompanies us on the banjo (which sounds great!).
Jan credits Bonni with getting their family interested in the dulcimer. After hearing Mountain Laurel play at Ellington Agricultural Museum and the State Fair, Bonni saved up and bought a dulcimer.
The Boltons started attending our club meetings in January 1999 so that Bonni could learn to play. The evening after her first meeting, Bonni played "Bile Them Cabbage" for Jacob and Leah, and they immediately wanted to learn to play too. Within a few months, Jacob and Leah had each saved enough money to buy their own dulcimers. Now the Boltons practice together as a family. Jan describes their practice sessions as "fun, frustrating, fruitful, and too infrequent!" The new song they're working on is "Simple Gifts."
The Boltons have played on three occasions at the Ocoee Whitewater Center in East Tennessee where Larry's parents are volunteers. Jan says "We all really enjoy playing there. We played most of the songs from the GODC list....plus one more. It's entitled, "Hop on a Harley," Jacob's first original tune!"
The Boltons live about 60 miles south of Nashville in Lewisburg. We're thrilled that they make the trek to Nashville to attend our monthly meetings. Many of you who worked at last year's Dulcimer Day will also remember that the Boltons provided a much-needed sunshade for the sales table and willing hands to make the festival a success.
The unique sound of the dulcimer knows no generation gap. In families like the Boltons, music is passed on and the seeds are sown for new songs. What better way for dulcimer-lovers to welcome spring than with the words of a new generation of dulcimer players...
Bonni Bolton: "I enjoy playing the dulcimer with others. It's fun and easy to learn. I especially like being able to take it anywhere. One of my favorite songs is 'Okeechobee Grass.'"
Jacob Bolton: "I think playing the dulcimer is fun, and I really like trying to make up new songs. 'Old Joe Clark' is one of my favorite songs."
Leah Bolton: "I like learning to play new songs on the dulcimer. One of my favorite songs is 'Wildwood Flower.'"
Tradition continues..........
July, 1999
This month we talked with Jane Stoub, whose cello playing adds a deep, soft richness to the Grand Old Dulcimer Club's sound. Jane plays her father's cello which sat in a corner for 40 years in her family's Texas home. Although her father died when she was young, Jane remembers his love of the cello and passion for playing in string quartets which met in their living room most Sunday afternoons when Jane was a child.
Her brother and mother are also excellent musicians playing piano, violin, and cello. Her mother taught violin and choral music in the schools, and her brother started his own orchestra in Austin and still regularly plays violin, viola or cello with several groups. Somehow Jane never picked up the violin or cello as a child, but studied flute and piano instead. However, before moving to Nashville in February 1998, she had started taking cello lessons at the St. Louis Symphony Music School where she worked as a fundraiser for the St. Louis Symphony.
Shortly after moving to Nashville, club members Don and Carolyn Wick invited Jane to play music with our dulcimer group. Jane's husband, Mark, is the minister at Priest Lake Presbyterian Church. The Wicks, who also belong to the church, learned that Jane enjoyed playing flute, piano, and cello and invited her to join us.
While Jane was not familiar with the mountain dulcimer, she soon found the delicate, urgent sound of the mountain dulcimer to be very appealing. Dulcimer music, she says, also speaks to her roots because it shares the same heartfelt purity as the Spanish and country folk music she grew up in Texas.
Jane finds great pleasure in adding her cello's voice to the dulcimer club. She says it's fun to try new techniques such as plucking or pizzicato to mimic the sound of the bass or bowing to provide harmony to complement the dulcimer's melody line. "It's true that the cello has most often been associated with classical music, but its rich, resonant, sometimes doleful sound, also has a place in folk music." Jane, we couldn't agree more!
Drawing their name from the beautiful flowering shrub that grows across the Appalachians, the musical group "Mountain Laurel" consists of dulcimer players Marilyn Konruff and Carolyn Wick with Don Wick accompanying on acoustic guitar.
Marilyn, Carolyn and Don are also "instrumental" members of Nashville's Sunday afternoon dulcimer group. Carolyn arranged for the use of space at her church, Priest Lake Presbyterian, Don keeps rhythm for us on guitar, and the bright sound of Marilyn's lilting tin whistle is always a treat!
Marilyn was introduced to the dulcimer in 1990 when her dance troupe performed at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas. As she tells it, "I walked into the McSpadden Dulcimer Shoppe, picked one up, played 'Amazing Grace' right off the bat, and decided I had to take one home!"
Marilyn bought her second dulcimer while working in Indianapolis where she played with the Indiana Folk Music and Dulcimer Society and took lessons from Tull Glazener. When she was transferred back to Nashville, Marilyn lent a dulcimer to her friend Carolyn and taught her how to play so "she would have someone to play with!"
Carolyn got her own dulcimer for her birthday in 1993, and she also plays accordion and piano. Carolyn's brother is a music teacher, and everyone in Carolyn's family plays at least one instrument. Don says that he learned how to play the guitar when Carolyn and he were dating in order to play music along with her family!
On Wednesday afternoons, Marilyn, Carolyn and Don can be found at the Ellington Agricultural Center Museum jamming with mandolin, fiddle, and harmonica players. Marilyn says that at first some of the bluegrass musicians had negative attitudes about the dulcimer, but they're gaining respect for the dulcimer because Mountain Laurel can play right along with most any song!
Mountain Laurel's repertoire ranges from traditional fiddle tunes and Celtic to gospel and rock and roll. They play several times a month at senior centers and nursing homes around the Nashville area. Mountain Laurel's happy sound can also be heard at the Museum of Appalachia's Fall Homecoming and at the Ellington Agricultural Center Museum's spring and fall festivals.
May, 1999
While vacationing in Gatlinburg as a teenager, Lee Rowe saw a shopkeeper play a dulcimer and thought to himself "I could do that!" Lee received a dulcimer for his 16th birthday, learned two songs the first week, and, as they say, the rest is history.
Not knowing any other dulcimer players in his hometown of Portsmouth, Virginia, Lee found inspiration in guitar and mandolin techniques and developed a distinctive cross-picking style. He went on to perform and record with an acoustic rock duet called "Bonaparte's Revenge" which gained a popular following in the Richmond, Virginia area.
Lee moved to Nashville in 1995 with his wife, Carolyn and is delighted be part of our dulcimer community. A talented graphic artist, Lee deserves to be recognized as the designer of the Grand Old Dulcimer Club's logo as well as the editor/producer of our monthly newsletter, the Gazette.
For those of us who are in awe of Lee's "lightening fast" technique, he has this advice: "to speed up your playing, simplify every movement." He encourages beginning players to develop their own style by listening to a variety of music and to remember that everyone learns at their own pace.
Dedicated to creating new music on the dulcimer, Lee performs as a solo artist, teaches workshops, and provides private instruction. He also performs with the Nashville Dulcimer Quartet which includes Sandy Conatser, Nastasha Deane and Linda Sack.
Lee's award-winning sound and original compositions can be heard on his latest recording titled "Wire and Wood" (CD $15, available from Lee). Also, visit his website!
April, 2000
Mark Hardison is Dedicated to the Dulcimer! In addition to driving from his home in the old Shaker settlement of South Union, Kentucky to join us at our club meetings, Mark shares his love of the dulcimer by doing programs for elementary schools, church groups and civic clubs. We're delighted to have him talk to the Gazette about the dulcimer and his playing.
When did you first encounter the mountain dulcimer music? About six years ago someone gave me a video entitled Smoky Mountain Hymns. In it I could hear a drone-sounding instrument. The sound was haunting. After finding out that it was the dulcimer, I had to have one.
How did you acquire your first dulcimer?My wife found a dulcimer in a local music shop. They didn't even know how to tune it. She was able to buy it for half the price, since they were not selling it.
How did you learn to play the dulcimer? A relative, who is a member of the North Harris County Dulcimer Society in Houston, Texas, heard about my wanting to play. She called and talked me through tuning on the telephone. Shortly after that, a "care package" arrived by mail; it included tab, tapes, videos, etc. She suggested attending the Memphis Dulcimer Festival, and I did. I found people there to be most anxious to teach the traditional music I love to hear.
What type of music do you like to play? If you play any instrument in Kentucky, you have to know a little bluegrass. After learning to play "Rocky Top," bluegrass musicians welcomed me to their circles where I learned even more.
Have you been influenced by certain performers or regional styles of music? I like to meet and to play with older and rural musicians and learn from them. They know a plethora of obscure songs - soon to be forgotten - are so taken by a dulcimer player that they are more than willing to teach. I have found and made friends with many of these people in southern Kentucky.
How did you learn about the Grand Old Dulcimer Club? I met Steve Seifert in Memphis who invited me to get together with other dulcimer players in Nashville. In this invitation, I saw a grand opportunity. I decided, "If you want to learn how to fly, hang out with the birds!"
How has the club been meaningful to you or influenced your dulcimer playing? I love this group! It is always a breath of fresh air to a worn out repertoire. I have made many new friends through the club, whom I sometimes meet up with at distant dulcimer functions.
Do you have any advice about performing in public? I believe in never turning down the opportunity to play. The discipline of practice for a performance is much greater than just practice. My advice to anyone interested in performing is "go for it." I know that with my dulcimer and the music, I will never be lonely.
October,1999
As we sipped coffee together on an early autumn morning, Marilyn Bagford looked at me with a twinkle in her eye and said, "It took me twenty years to learn to play the dulcimer!" I was intrigued, so she shared her story. Marilyn acquired her first mountain dulcimer in trade for one of her handmade quilts. It was 1975, and she was living in Glenville, West Virginia where her husband was a college professor.
Raised in Ohio near the Kentucky border, Marilyn was familiar with mountain dulcimers but didn't know anyone who played the instrument. Nonetheless, mountain music was a part of her upbringing since her grandfather played violin, her father played the mandolin, an aunt played the guitar, and folks were always coming over to her family's house to pick a little.
Marilyn's first dulcimer only had three strings, and the frets weren't quite level. And though she was having difficulty learning how to play from books, within a year she had purchased a second dulcimer. This dulcimer, which has wooden pegs, was commissioned for her son and made by a biology professor/luthier in Glenville who also carved a most unusual face on the peghead.
Now Marilyn had two dulcimers hanging on her wall and was still struggling to play. After moving back to Ohio, she attended a workshop in Moorehead, Kentucky, where she bought a third dulcimer - a cardboard one this time. While the workshop reinvigorated her interest and spirit, she remained hampered by the lack of musical fellowship.
In 1994, Marilyn moved to Nashville to be closer to her daughter and grandson. Her love for the mountain dulcimer, which had never diminished, drew her to the Blair School of Music and lessons with David Schnaufer. And in October of 1995, twenty years after swapping a quilt for her first dulcimer, she bought a McSpadden and hasn't stopped playing since. Now Marilyn plays every night on her back porch "with the lights off so I can't look at the music." She enjoys playing hymns and was thrilled last year to finally jam with her son - who ended up playing the guitar instead of dulcimer.
As we finished our coffee, Marilyn remarked that Dulcimer Day was very meaningful to her because it gave dulcimer players a chance to connect with each other. She would love to welcome new faces in our club and, by the way, she's looking for other dulcimer players in East Nashville. Marilyn's dulcimers no longer live on the wall!
August, 2000
Although based in Nashville, many members of the Grand Old Dulcimer Club live outside the city in the greater Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky region and travel considerable distances every month to play music with our group.
One of our faithful dulcimer "commuters" is Jo Jones. Jo lives in the community of Woodbury which is situated about midway between Murfreesboro and McMinnville in Cannon County. A notable feature of Woodbury is the Cannon County Performing Arts Center which last fall hosted a concert by local dulcimer virtuosos David Schnaufer and Steve Seifert.
Jo was introduced to the mountain dulcimer in 1983 while living in Central Indiana. That Christmas, Jo's husband, Reed, surprised her with a walnut and wormy chestnut dulcimer made by the local high school shop teacher. Jo says that her first dulcimer was "very pretty" but "not great sounding."
However, it wasn't long before Reed grew interested in learning to play, so they each bought dulcimers from Warren May in Berea, Kentucky.
During their sojourn in the Hoosier State, Jo and Reed were active members of the Central Indiana Folk Music and Mountain Dulcimer Society. But when they moved back home to Woodbury in 1991, they couldn't find anyone locally with whom to play and share their music.
As luck would have it, though, Jo attended Norris Appalachian Homecoming and heard Nashville's own "Mountain Laurel." Shortly thereafter, she was joining them at their weekly Ellington Agricultural Museum "Music Wednesdays" and once again sharing her music with others. Jo is also sharing her music with her oldest grandson, Aaron, who has started playing the dulcimer and attending club meetings with her.
In addition to playing the dulcimer, Jo enjoys reading, walking, gardening, and antiquing. She also stays busy traveling to see her nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren in Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. We're glad that Jo's travels include Nashville and the Grand Old Dulcimer Club.
July, 2000
An abiding love of the outdoors brought Mary Lawrence Breinig to the mountain dulcimer. During one of her many hiking trips to the Great Smoky Mountains, Mary Lawrence heard Lois Hornbostel play at a dulcimer festival in Cosby, Tennessee, and fell in love with the dulcimer's sweet sound.
Now Mary Lawrence owns four dulcimers. Her first dulcimer was made by Keith Medlin of Morristown, Tennessee, and purchased at a crafts fair in Gatlinburg. Her second dulcimer was made by Jerry Rockwell, and her favorite instrument - along with her soprano dulcimer - was made by Bill Taylor of Pigeon Forge. She calls her Bill Taylor dulcimers "mother and baby" because the tops of both dulcimers appear to have come from the same piece of wood even though they were purchased in different years.
Shortly after receiving the first dulcimer for her anniversary gift in 1985, Mary Lawrence attended the dulcimer camp in Boone, North Carolina, and loved it. In addition to learning new techniques, she found one of the main advantages of taking workshops at festivals is that "you hear and learn to play a lot of different tunes that are in the dulcimer repertoire."
In between workshops, Mary Lawrence hones her musical skills by taking lessons from David Schnaufer and singing with her church choir. Her musical background also includes singing with the Nashville Symphony Chorus for three years, taking piano lessons as a child, and playing the flute in her high school band.
Mary Lawrence enjoys playing melodic songs - including Renaissance and Celtic music - and often accompanies her beautiful singing voice with finger-picked arrangements. She has also found that "one of the most fascinating things about the dulcimer is how the notes are at different places on the fretboard depending on the tuning."
Over the years, Mary Lawrence has managed to combine her love of the outdoors with the dulcimer. While her husband fly fishes, she can be found sitting on the bank under a tree playing her dulcimer. She's also played on the porch of a rustic hotel in Yellowstone National Park and even backpacked her soprano dulcimer up to the top of Mount Le Conte in the Smokies. In fact, the sound holes on her soprano dulcimer are in the shape of the black bears that range the Appalachians.
Thus it's fitting that one of Mary Lawrence's most memorable experiences occurred in the great outdoors. While playing fiddle tunes on a cabin porch at Yellowstone, Mary Lawrence heard a guy in the next cabin yell, "turn the radio down, there's other music out here." Her young neighbors wandered over and ended up wanting to know all about the dulcimer and asking her to keep on playing tunes. For Mary Lawrence, it was "an amazing experience - even more so that they could hear my dulcimer over their loud rock music." Proof, once again, of the power of the sweet sound of the dulcimer.
November, 1999
Talk about your multi-talented people! Priscilla Rushing not only plays the mountain dulcimer but is also a champion figure skater and quilter. A native Nashvillian, Priscilla has lived in Franklin for many years and commutes to Nashville where she works as an Executive Secretary in the state's Dept. of Labor & Workforce Development Legal Office.
Curiosity about old-time instruments and a love of Appalachian mountain music prompted Priscilla to purchase her first dulcimer and "how to" book while vacationing in the Smoky Mountains three years ago. A desire to meet other dulcimer players and improve her playing led her to the Paul Pyle Dulcimer Club in Tullahoma. Through the Paul Pyle Club, Priscilla learned about the GODC and connected with David Schnaufer who has been her teacher for two years.
Priscilla is currently playing a dulcimer made by a member of the Paul Pyle Club and says she enjoys playing all types of music. She practices weekly with Wanda O'Guin and Glen Wilson, and their trio is starting to perform together. "Playing with the club and the trio is a lot of fun, and it also makes me a better player. It's a lot of fun when we play for people and introduce them to dulcimers."
Figure skating and quilting are Priscilla's "other two addictions." She started figure skating as an adult and has competed from Lake Placid to Omaha. She won her first national championship in 1995 and was one of the founders of the Nashville Figure Skating Club. For the past two years, she has brought her love of dulcimer music to the ice by skating to a dulcimer medley by David Schnaufer.
When Priscilla isn't skating or playing the dulcimer, she's quilting. She belongs to two quilting groups and quilts both by hand and machine. She says her cat enjoys "helping" her quilt but has not yet learned to appreciate her dulcimer practice. When asked what she does with her "spare time," Priscilla responds "I try to get a little sleep."
November, 2000
Nine-year-old Sarah Musgrave collects elephant figurines, writes fiction stories, has a blue belt in karate, and most of all, loves to play the dulcimer - the faster the better. Fingers flying and fiery red curls shining, Sarah was a featured performer at Nashville's Dulcimer Day and performs and competes at other dulcimer festivals.
I met with Sarah and her mom, Jennifer, on a cold post-election day at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music where Sarah is a scholarship student in the Folk Music Program. Sarah was very excited about the election process and voting in her fifth grade class at Beech Elementary School in Hendersonville, but eventually our talk turned to music.
Sarah became interested in the dulcimer at age three. Her Mom was the stage manager at Blair and took her to the concerts. Sarah sat in the "green room" with headphones on and listened to the music of the piano, violin, flute, and other orchestral instruments. Then one day she heard David Schnaufer in concert at Blair, and, as Sarah put it, "that's the one I liked." When she was four, Sarah asked David if he would teach her to play the dulcimer. But Sarah had to wait until she was five to actually start lessons because it took a while to get a specially-made miniature dulcimer to accommodate her size. Sandy Conatser fixed up a hundred-year-old violin case to fit the tiny dulcimer, and the lessons began, first with Steve Seifert and then with David.
Sarah started weekly dulcimer lessons at Blair when she was six. She received a half-scholarship to the music school and then earned two full scholarships for pre-college study. She auditions for the scholarships all by herself, usually playing "two or three of the most complicated pieces I learned that semester," and must perform a recital every semester for which she is graded by the Blair music faculty.
Eventually, Sarah wants to be a children's fiction writer. Already she writes a lot of stories - including one written through the eyes of a sea otter - and one of her hobbies is marine life. She's also especially interested in elephants. Sarah has collected over seventy elephant figurines and did a report on elephants for school last year. "If their trunk is raised, it's supposed to mean good luck," Sarah says, which is why a stuffed elephant with a raised trunk sat beside her on the Dulcimer Day stage.
In her spare time, Sarah likes to listen to country music including Lee Ann Womack, Lonestar, and Alabama. She describes herself as being "very picky" about pop music -- although N Sync, the Backstreet Boys, and 98 Degrees are okay. Sarah also listens to music by Grandpa Jones and Uncle Dave Macon. For a school report on country music, she went to the Opry to talk to stars such as Porter Wagoner, the Wilkinsons, and Jumpin' Bill Carlisle and even got to play with Sharon White, Skeeter Davis, and Ramona Jones.
Sarah often plays her dulcimer at church and is always asked to play "Silent Night" for the Christmas program. Sometimes her younger sister, seven-year-old Amanda, sings with her, but mostly Sarah plays alone. They also volunteer at the Park Place Retirement Center in Hendersonville. Every other week, Sarah plays for about an hour in the assisted living section or plays ball with the residents.
Sarah got a full-size McSpadden dulcimer last Christmas. She's started learning to read music at school, but doesn't read tab. She feels strongly about the importance of teaching, learning and playing by ear. Sarah is committed to passing along traditional music and methods, perhaps eventually teaching at festivals. "I want to carry on the tradition that David [Schnaufer] passed down to me."
You go, girl!