Notes from the VP

Hello Everyone, I had something completely different planned for this month’s Newsletter, but, Nancy and I attended a workshop in Kansas City with Duane Porterfield and I’m excited to share something else with you!

If you aren’t familiar with Duane Porterfield and his beautiful mountain dulcimer playing, you should be! A quick search on Google, Facebook and YouTube will reward you with many videos of his playing and hours of enjoyment.

Having him for a workshop instructor was so much fun! Funny, kind, humble and extremely talented, he is my new favorite dulcimer player! Now, my “favorite” players and songs have a tendency to change daily, and in a jam session might change several times – so we will see what tomorrow brings, LOL! I do have to say that Duane Porterfield’s playing is so very lovely! He grew up in Kansas City, but today you can find him in Mountain View, Arkansas. He is retired, but still very involved in the music and the Dulcimer Shoppe.

Duane talked a lot about chords and strumming. In this newsletter I’ve included a handout for Pachabel’s Canon, a Strum/Pick Exercise and a great practice for chords and chord shapes. (Duane gave permission to share his handouts.) In this exercise, he strummed “in” on the chords then picked each note. Of course, you can strum your preferred direction. Personally, I’m practicing it both ways, in and out, hoping to improve my “in” strum. You will be playing the same chords / shapes in both the lower and upper octave, an excellent way to get familiar with them. And - bonus – It’s so pretty it doesn’t feel like an exercise at all!! I hope you enjoy it! You never know – we might play it together sometime! 😊

Next month’s Tune of the Month – March of St. Timothy!!

See you soon…. Paula