August 2013 Meeting Report

The  "dog days" of summer are here and we did have a guest canine at the meeting along with 11 other hearty souls. It was good to see many older club members and have their expertise among us and would love to have such a well rounded group at every meeting.

We are experimenting with our new format for meetings; starting with Happy Land we then proceeded to play our list of songs getting in Harrison Town, Lynchburg Town, A Soalin, Acres of Clams and Butcher's Gap. We spent time reviewing some tips and taking apart a few of the songs so that we all understood the tune. We did not have a new song this month. We then went to calling tunes and played Old Joe Clark, Liza Jane and June Apple. The meeting ended at 3:30 and a few people stayed to chat.

Please let us know your thoughts on the meeting and how you would like to see the club evolve. Next month Jillian will teach us "Spanish Fangdango".

2013 Club Song Titles

The following is an ongoing list of song titles that the club has played beginning

MAY 2013

HAPPY LAND

ACRES OF CLAMS

RHYTHUM

WILDWOOD FLOWER

WHISKEY BEFORE BREAKFAST

CLUCK OLD HEN

JUNE APPLE

LYNCHBURG TOWN

HARRISON TOWN

LADY MARY

RIVER

THE THREE RAVENS

A SOALIN

BUTCHERS GAP
OLD JOE CLARK
DAD Back Up Chords
NEW RIVER TRAIN
SPANISH FANDANGO
CROOKED RIDGE

July 2013 Meeting Report

The July meeting was a great success with a record number of players. We again began with "Happy Land"  then quickly got involved with learning some new techniques taught to us by Darcy Fusch. Everyone enjoyed her explanation of DAD chord variations and tips she had picked up at dulcimer camp. We continued to call tunes and had three new melodies introduced; "Spanish Fandango", "Death of Queen Anne", and "Tear My Still House Down". Our discussion continues on how to keep everyone interested and more experienced players interested and coming to share the great sounds of the dulcimer. 

June 2013 Meeting Report

Even though the day was beautiful we had a good group for our June meeting with 8 musicians attending. Dick Wightman from Seattle stopped in to share his experience. He has several dulcimers that he is selling and even a dulcimer making kit which he would love to pass along. Contact me if you are interested.

We began with "Happy Land" and played on for about 2 hours. Several new tunes were introduced and we had a good time singing along to learn the new tunes. There was a discussion started about how we could keep track of tunes that we are practicing and will be called at meetings. Please add to this discussion and let us know your thoughts. Traditionally if you would like to introduce a tune it is good to bring copies so that we all can follow along. For now I will make a running record of the songs we have played starting with May 2013 and post them here. I will also let people know in my email what songs we have been practicing and will review at the meeting. 

All in all a very nice afternoon and thanks to all who came and awed us with all the musical talent we have in the group. Looking forward to learning from this talent pool and hearing all our dulcimers "sing" together.

June 2013, BDC meeting Announcement

The June Bellingham Dulcimer Club meeting is coming up quickly on Saturday afternoon June 8, 2013 at the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship at 1207 Elsworth St.  between H and I Streets in the lettered streets section of Bellingham. We will start at 1:30 and end at 3:30. We will again warm up with "Happy Land" and go on from there. If you have a tune to introduce please bring copies of music if you can. We would love to review "Acres of Clams" and "Lynchburg Town" that we were introduced to last month. So if you just want to play or are ready to introduce a tune come on and join the group for the afternoon. We love to have newcomers and young and/or the young at heart strummers!

May 2013 Meeting Report

Thanks to all who attended the meeting this month from both near and far; thanks to our Canadian neighbors. After introducing ourselves and our instruments we began with the tune "Happy Land". We took some time on this since it will become our new warm-up tune for awhile. Youtube has several renditions you can check out. The song circle continued with "Rhythum, Wildwood Flower, Whiskey, Cluck Old Hen, June Apple, Lynchburg Town". A new song was introduced, "Acres of Clams" which we all enjoyed learning.

The club members present and those who emailed input have decided to continue meeting throughout the summer months; June, July, August. We also decided to begin at 1:30 and end by 3:30.

Hope to see you all in June, keep strummin !

May, 2013 BDC Meeting Announcement

Judith Atkins recently posted the following to Bellingham Dulcimer Club current and potential members:

"Greetings to All,

This month's Bellingham Dulcimer Club meeting will take place on Saturday afternoon, May 11, 2013, at the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship at 1207 Ellsworth between H and I Streets in the Lettered Streets Neighborhood of Bellingham. New and newer players are encouraged to come early at 1:30PM with more experienced players welcome to join us at 2:00PM.

The Song Circle this month will include tunes of your choice, so please come to the meeting prepared to "call a tune" if you would like or just  strum along.

I will also like to introduce myself, I have assumed the role of the club coordinator . . . I am not an experienced player and will rely on the many great musicians we have in the group. I am very happy to assume this role . . . There is also a team of other players that have willingly stepped in to fill the other duties. We will introduce everyone at the May meeting. Looking forward to seeing you all and sharing some music with you on the 11th.

Judith Akins"