Where dragonflies, mosquitoes and wild ponies out-number musicians by a factor of 1.49,597,870,691 x 1011 to one!
Happenings.........
Mel Bay's Dulcimer Sessions: Check out my new article for Mel Bay's ezine Dulcimer Sessions. This one is about ensemble arranging. The tune is The Lakes of Pontchartrain. You can read about the history of the tune, review how an ensemble arrangement is created and hear a performance of the tune in ensemble form. Click here!
Summer Courses at Common Ground on the Hill: Faculty bookings for the dulcimer staff of summer 2010 at Common Ground on the Hill are almost complete. Full details should be available in a few weeks.
During Week 1 (July 4 - 9) I'll teach beginners. Got a friend who want to learn hammer dulcimer? Send them to Common Ground. FREE loaner instruments available for the week.
During Week 2 (July 11- 16) I'll teach two new courses: 1) Demystifying the Modes and 2) Write Your Own Tunes: five compositional techniques. It will be a GREAT summer at Common Ground. Hope to see you there.
Dulcimer Radio: Can't find enough dulcimer music? No problem, tune into Dulcimer Radio on the Internet. 24x 7 hammer and mountain dulcimer music: Dulcimer Radio
Sponsored by the North Harris County Dulcimer Society of Houston, Texas. What a GREAT thing for a dulicmer club to do!!!!
Gigs: Okay, I'm late on this. But permit me to say that I missed you at Harbor Fest in Onancock, VA on September 12. Not to worry! The organizers have hired Three Sheets - Owen Hooks, Thom Nolant and me - to perform for Harbor Fest 2010 on Saturday, September 11, 2010. MARK YOUR CALENDAR. This is a fun event.
October 14 in Norfolk - Join me and Owen Hooks at the Waterside in downtown Norfolk for a two hour show! The show is sponsored by Norfolk Festevents. Admission is FREE. Details at: http://bobzentz.com/waterside.htm
November 14 in Chincoteague - Join me at the NEW Sundial Books at the corner of Main Street & 175 next to the drawbridge for a concert celebrating the move of one of Chincoteague's landmark businesses to a new a much larger location. This is a huge and nicely rennovated building - a great place for books and music.
Island Events: The Native American Festival on Chincoteague Island will be held on Saturday, November 14. We've got Native American flute players and a marvelous Native American Drum plus dancers in regalia. It's a great festial. Come on down!
The Christmas Tree Lighting in Robert Reed Park along Chincoteague Channel will take place on Saturday, November 28.
Radio: You can catch tracks from Spring Tide on the Tump on Jim Albertson's Down Jersey Radio Program heard on WVLT 92.1 FM Vineland, N.J. from 9:00-10:00 pm EDT throughout the Delaware Valley including all of Southern N.J. Philadelphia and parts of Eastern Pa. Wilmington and parts of Northern Delaware and parts of Eastern Maryland and streamed live on the internet at http://www.wvlt.com/listenlive.html
Swannanoa Gathering Students CLICK HERE
for scores and midi files from the classes Click here for pictures from the Gathering
These two programs bring music, dance, art, writing and all manner of fulfilling experiences to students. Visit their websites to see hundreds of courses taught by master musicians, artists, writers and performers.
Looking for fabulous hammers at a great price???Who isn't? Click hereto view and purchase beautiful and functional hammers at very reasonable prices.
For updates on content and doings, subscribe to the newsletter. This occassional and brief publication goes out no more frequently than once a month.
What's Inside?
Beginning Hammer Dulcimer The information here is for beginning and intermediate players of the hammer dulicmer.
Arranging
Here you'll find information about arranging music. The focus is traditional music. The context is diatonic scales and chords.
How To Listen to Music The information here supports a nine hour course focused on improving listening skills. While it is aimed at non-musicians, players can benefit too. The material covers tradtional music as well as concert hall works. Topics include rhythm, melody, harmony, form and musical criticism.
Articles Short articles about music are located here. Mostly aimed at the general audience, these pieces originally appeared in newspapers. You'll find brief works about Celtic, bluegrass, barbershop, Broadway and military band music. There is at least one article on arranging music too.
Recordings This section lists recent CDs and recordings in progress from Longtayle Studios. Hammer dulcimer, Celtic, traditional ballad signing, of course. But a bit of Mozart, jazz and blues sneaked in too
Resources Places to find the stuff you need. How to buy a hammer dulcimer. Lead sheets. Resources on the web. Publications. Builders. This is the place to begin networking.
Legal Stuff Herein lies the unfriendly party-of-the-first-part fine print that defines too much of America the disputateous.
About Me In case you are interested, some highlights of past and present lives. None of this was fabricated. You can't invent such peculiar pith.
How To Listen For Music has a Power Point presentation. The music scores are not reading correctly unless the receiving computer has NoteWorthy Composer loaded. Five or six entries of a small number of measures are the problem. Working on an image fix for this. The Power Point also includes some music clips when it is shown in a class room. Those links do not work on the website because of copyright protection. I'll add a play list for this course.
