Dulcimer Adventures in Iowa

Bettendorf, Iowa is sometimes considered to be the forgotten of the Quad Cities at the Mississippi River border between Iowa and Illinois. Here is where the "Mighty MO" takes a turn and flows directly from East to West, and was the site of a very delightful set of workshops and musical exploration in early September.

Linda and Reg Shoesmith opened their home to host hammered dulcimer workshops.

On Thursday after a delicious potluck dinner, we explored playing multi-part Christmas carols.

I used tunes from Dulcimer-Friendly Worship Volumes I: the season of Advent and Vol. III: Christmas in a Mellow Mode and from a new collection just published this year, Deck the Halls: Christmas Ensembles arranged for dulcimers.

A spirited jam session rounded out the night.  (Is there a better way to round out a night?)



On Friday we focused on the skills and techniques required for playing Bluegrass on Hammered dulcimers.

An extra bonus:
I was given the opportunity to play a Homer Ledford dulcimer that Linda had recently acquired.

(I shared this experience in the DulcimerCrossing.com blog last week.)

Thanks again to hosts Linda and Reg for sharing your love of the music!