Post by Dick Glasgow on Nov 17, 2007 12:25:16 GMT 1
Here's an interesting Hammered Dulcimer quote from the "Things that bug me in OT music" thread over on the Sugar in the Gourd Forum. What do you think?
The HD dulicmer is almost certainly a jam killer. Why?
The HD by default becomes the dominant instrument - since it has waaayyyy more strings! and it can be loud - louder than the banjo! Its size is threatening to the diminuative fiddle <grin>.
Also, most HD repertoire tends toward Celtic tunes.
I enjoy HD and have some friends who are great players and national contest winners, but to me the style seems to lean toward "hiding" the melody in a flurry of arpeggios or rapid hammer bounces. The overtones and resonance of the instrument make it difficult to discern the melody. There are some very, very tasteful players who really make the HD work in OT music.
I have heard old recordings where the player is just playing the melody. Ornamentation is essentially limited to a harmony note or to a simple hammer roll. I like that style.
(Someone said that Mozart's music was unlistenable because he had too many notes and the ear could only assimilate a limited number of notes. Hmmmm.... <grin>)
HD players, and I'm generalizing, tend to be showmen.
They have outgoing personalities.
They want to be the center of attention.
The instrument certainly is!
Just notice how many times people ask, "What is that thing? How do you play it?"
Then you end up in a long conversation while the rest of the musicians patiently wait - or you politely enter into this conversation and demonstrate the instrument while the rest of the musicians play on. It is a distraction.
The HD by default becomes the dominant instrument - since it has waaayyyy more strings! and it can be loud - louder than the banjo! Its size is threatening to the diminuative fiddle <grin>.
Also, most HD repertoire tends toward Celtic tunes.
I enjoy HD and have some friends who are great players and national contest winners, but to me the style seems to lean toward "hiding" the melody in a flurry of arpeggios or rapid hammer bounces. The overtones and resonance of the instrument make it difficult to discern the melody. There are some very, very tasteful players who really make the HD work in OT music.
I have heard old recordings where the player is just playing the melody. Ornamentation is essentially limited to a harmony note or to a simple hammer roll. I like that style.
(Someone said that Mozart's music was unlistenable because he had too many notes and the ear could only assimilate a limited number of notes. Hmmmm.... <grin>)
HD players, and I'm generalizing, tend to be showmen.
They have outgoing personalities.
They want to be the center of attention.
The instrument certainly is!
Just notice how many times people ask, "What is that thing? How do you play it?"
Then you end up in a long conversation while the rest of the musicians patiently wait - or you politely enter into this conversation and demonstrate the instrument while the rest of the musicians play on. It is a distraction.
Well, I bet that really cheered you up!
Reminds me of that famous Robert Burns quote which goes something like:
If only we could see ourselves, the way other folks see us!
Have a good weekend!
Cheers
Dick
I don't who wrote that, nor what instrument he - or she -plays.... If it's not a wind-up, it certainly looks like mere jealousy of someone who would so much be himself the center of attention... I hate it when people generalise like that.... shows their pettiness...
;D 
