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Post by Dick Glasgow on Aug 9, 2007 5:38:44 GMT 1
A while back I mentioned how the long sustain on my Dulcimers was a problem for me, especially when practicing.
Well one of the best tips I received at that time, was to lace Wool, or Yarn, up through the strings on either end.
So I tried this & I can assure you that it his worked a treat for me & now I never practice without my Trusty Wool in place. 
Anyway, today I met up with a friend for a few quiet tunes in his kitchen.
Now just to put you in the picture, Sam plays the Northumbrian Pipes which most of you will know are not the loudest of pipes at the best of times.
Well, we played away at a few sets of lovely Northumbrian tunes and it was the first time Sam had actually played his Pipes along with a Hammered Dulcimer in duet form like this & straight away, after the first set, he was grinning like a Cheshire Cat. He loved this new sound we were creating.
However, as an experiment, I removed my old friends, the trusty strips of Wool & we tried again ..............
 His face dropped! It just didn't work at all.
The lovely balance between the two instruments was lost, what with the extra volume & the dreaded sustain!
Now I have played with Uilleann Pipes before, without the Wool, & that seems to work well, but then the Uilleann Pipes are louder & Uilleann Pipers tend to play legato, which suits the sustain of the H-D, whereas the Northumbrian Pipes are very staccato in nature & so the notes tend to get lost in amongst all that H-D sustain.
I'm just wondering if anyone else here has had similar problems with volume &/or sustain when playing with other instruments, especially in a one to one situation & if so, how have they coped?
Cheers
Dick |
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Post by Nikita on Aug 10, 2007 7:46:38 GMT 1
Hello Dick ! For me , it's quite strange to think of the sustain as a problem  : it's part of the tone and specificiality of the instrument. Well of course somtimes, specially when playing classical or contemporary music, you have to stop the sound. I have dampers and a pedal, but I'm using it less and less, and I know other hackbrett players who even took it off after a few years. But I know that in same other style, the musicians like a "stopped" sound : Cymbalists play mostly with the dampers on all the time. The small cymbalum used in rumanian villages (the portable ones) have, like you, a felt band interwhined in the strings, to stop any sustain. Affair of taste, and the use of the instrument more percussively, I guess. With Salzburger hackbrett, they developped a technique of stopping the string just hit with the little finger... quite acrobatic ! Myself, I'm simply getting used to play less loud, hitting the strings much softer, and I'm actually discovering a whole world of new things : a kind of sweetness of playing, with accents more marked, and the musicians I play with seem to love it. At least I never have complains about the sustain. In the baroque group I play with, they even told me to definitely never use the dampers... What is very important for me with our beloved instrument, is the dynamic you have... you can play very loud, but also very softly. You can also use felt or leather-covered hammers : I have a pair with very soft rubber (windowpane isolation, in fact !) under the leather : I can play at 2 in the morning in a flat, and neighours don't hear anything... ;D Hope Ireland's less wet than switzerland these days ! Cheers Nikita |
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Post by Dick Glasgow on Aug 11, 2007 11:46:31 GMT 1
Well, let me see, today we have Mist, Rain & Drizzle so it's a real typical Irish Mizzly sort of a day!
Some things never change! 
Yes, I guess the amount of sustain is always simply going to be a matter of personal preference.
At the moment, my two favourite sets of Hammers are the ones with the thickest felt & also the lightest ones, played lightly.
Cheers
Dick
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Dulcetta
Dulci-Kankles (30 - 40 Posts
Posts: 35
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Post by Dulcetta on Aug 11, 2007 18:18:50 GMT 1
I must admit, I really don't like the effects of the dampeners. It jist disnae sound like the way a dulcimer should sound. I love the bright clear sounds with the sustain. I never use my leather lined hammers..my family prefer the sound of the softer hammers, but I guess I just remember the old sounds and they stir my emotions and just fel right.
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Post by Dick Glasgow on Aug 11, 2007 23:32:34 GMT 1
Well Dulcetta, I think the trick is perhaps to take advantage of all the different sounds you can get from your instrument, i.e. with or without dampers & by using as many different types of Hammer.
To my ears certain tunes suit certain Hammers,  or is it the other way round? ........... It's been a long day! 
Tonight we were playing to a fairly noisy crowd & I had a very lively Guitar/Bouzouki played by my side, so neither dampers nor felt hammers were required tonight.
It is exciting having so many options, isn't it?
So many more than with a Piano!
Cheers
Dick |
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gypsy
Dulci-Mt-D (140 - 160 Posts)
Posts: 154
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Post by gypsy on Aug 13, 2007 4:09:03 GMT 1
I'm with Nikita......i LIKE the sustain on my dulcimer. However, himself doesn't. Sez it muddies up the sound of the band. So,when playing with the band, use the leathers on my hammers, and dream of the dampers that Russell Cook makes (and that i can't afford right now LOL!) and when playing by myself, especially if i am busking, use the wood sides. Certainly have plenty opportunity to do either sound!
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Post by Nikita on Aug 13, 2007 7:08:38 GMT 1
What I found out with sustain, is that if you play with a harmony instrument (bass, guitar, piano, etc...) it kinds of "corrects" the muddling effect of the sustain. Some of the people I play with even say - sometimes  - that the harmonics sounding by sympathy when the hd can sound "open" give something more to the allround sound of the band. When I play with my harpist, and we're very much in tune, each of us can feel the other one's playing on his own instrument. In fact, it gives a "natural" reverberation... It's also a question of - again - habit. it's a bit like playing with a drone instrument, hurdy.gurdy or bagpipes : some musician do have difficulties with a constant bass note, saying it affects the harmonies too much. But once you get used to it, it's perfectly ok... ;D |
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gypsy
Dulci-Mt-D (140 - 160 Posts)
Posts: 154
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Post by gypsy on Aug 14, 2007 3:58:54 GMT 1
Yep, i tend to agree. Himself plays mandolin.........which tends to get swallowed by my hammered dulcimer, or by our fiddler. We just need to get him a louder mando LOL!
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His face dropped! It just didn't work at all. 
: it's part of the tone and specificiality of the instrument. Well of course somtimes, specially when playing classical or contemporary music, you have to stop the sound. I have dampers and a pedal, but I'm using it less and less, and I know other hackbrett players who even took it off after a few years. But I know that in same other style, the musicians like a "stopped" sound : Cymbalists play mostly with the dampers on all the time. The small cymbalum used in rumanian villages (the portable ones) have, like you, a felt band interwhined in the strings, to stop any sustain. Affair of taste, and the use of the instrument more percussively, I guess. With Salzburger hackbrett, they developped a technique of stopping the string just hit with the little finger... quite acrobatic !
or is it the other way round? ........... It's been a long day! 
- that the harmonics sounding by sympathy when the hd can sound "open" give something more to the allround sound of the band. When I play with my harpist, and we're very much in tune, each of us can feel the other one's playing on his own instrument. In fact, it gives a "natural" reverberation...