Buckeye Dulcimer Festival Class Descriptions

EXTENDED CLASSES: Thursday (4/24) and Friday (4/25) - 5 hours each day - 10 total hours
Mini sessions on Saturday (4/22)

MOUNTAIN DULCIMER

HAMMERED DULCIMER

INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED

DAVE HAAS

Intensive Course Description, Thursday & Friday (10 hours)

Are you ready to take your dulcimer playing to a new level? We will build upon your intermediate skills, while developing techniques to allow you to play both slow and fast songs with greater smoothness and confidence. We will work on fingerings which allow faster and smoother play.

We will discuss and practice the skills needed to move the melody to the bass and octave regions of the fretboard. We will do this for both fast and slow tunes. Then, we will then add introductions and endings to create a 3-5 minute arrangements of some favorite tunes.

We will learn the 3-finger chords along the entire fretboard and use 2-finger variants of these chords to provide backup accompaniment of fast and slow tunes with style and flair. We will explore how to use “chopped” chords to provide a percussive accompaniment for faster tunes.

Did I mention harmonics? We will explore the creation of both natural and artificial harmonics, and discover how harmonics can be used to add sparkle to the tunes we already play.

We will apply all these skills to a wide variety of music including fiddle tunes, Celtic hornpipes, jigs, and reels, slower O’Carolan and other slow tunes, classical tunes, and fun sing-a-longs.

You will learn a lot and be happy you took this workshop! DAD tuning.

Are you ready for this class? You are if you are able to . . .

play three-finger chords (L-shapes, slant and extended slant shapes).
play hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, and several harmonics.
comfortably strum a fast tune.
comfortably play a slow tune, picking the notes one at a time (arpeggios).
play several tunes from memory

Things to bring to class: Lots of enthusiasm, openness to try new ideas, a capo, music stand, tuner, pencil, and a smile!

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ZOOM OPTION: Dave's 10 hours of extended instruction will be
offered as a Zoom option for those folks who cannot attend in person. The Zoom feed will be monitored by BDF staff who will be sure that any questions are answered.

Zoom Registration form

INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED

JODY MARSHALL

Intensive Course Description, Thursday & Friday (10 hours)

We are so sorry that Ruth and Steve Smith had to cancel due to health reasons. We wish them THE BEST!

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BUCKEYE 2025 - JODY'S CLASS DESCRIPTION

One of the most gratifying aspects of playing music is being able to play with others! We’ll plug into this camaraderie by working on some duets, and we’ll also focus on ways to participate in a jam even if you don’t know the tune. Along the way we’ll practice hearing chord changes and finding chords on our instrument quickly and efficiently. Bonus: We’ll learn some beautiful Irish and Scottish melodies while we’re at it, and we’ll also add a few exercises and techniques into the mix. Most importantly, we’ll have lots of fun while playing music together!

ZOOM OPTION: Jody's 10 hours of extended instruction will be offered as a Zoom option for those folks who cannot attend in person.
The Zoom feed will be monitored by BDF staff who will be sure that any questions are answered.

Zoom Registration form

Past Beginners/Early Intermediate

JOE STEINER

Intensive Course Description, Thursday & Friday (10 hours)

Take Your Playing to the Next Level

Now that you have built a foundation of basic skills on the dulcimer, where do you go from here? The possibilities are endless!

Using various tunes, we’ll look at melodic variations, rhythmic options, and tasteful use of chords. We’ll explore techniques and skills to give you direction, so you can build a “toolbox” to use for learning tunes, arranging, and opening the door to improvisation. We’ll start with arrangements that are already written out to demonstrate specific techniques, and then we’ll discuss how you can use those techniques in other aspects of your playing.

Everyone has unique tastes and learns differently. We’ll build ideas you can draw upon later to bring out your own creativity in approaching music. This workshop will help you build the skills you need to decide for yourself where to go from here -- using your “toolbox” you can take your music wherever you want it to go!

Past Beginners/Early Intermediate

CHRIS STEINER

Intensive Course Description, Thursday & Friday (10 hours)

In this class, we will have a little refresher of what you learned as a beginner to make sure we are all on the same page, and then we will build on that. We will learn a few new tunes by learning to recognize and memorize patterns. You don’t need to know how to read music in this class… we will play a lot by “follow the leader”.

You will learn how to embellish those simple tunes by using block chords, arpeggios, and drones and experiment with coming up with your own embellishments. Because the secret to embellishment is chords, we will work a lot with chords – learning a very simple pattern that will give you beautiful major and minor chord arpeggios in any key. With every tune, we will learn to identify the chords behind the notes so that we can play appropriate embellishments

New Players/Beginners

DIANE HOCHSTETLER

Greetings! I am Diane, and I will be working with the 2025 Buckeye Mountain Dulcimer Beginners. The only prerequisite for this class is a desire to learn about the dulcimer. In our class, we will learn ELEVEN BASICS:

1) You must tune it!
2) Our right hands… picking & strumming
3) Understanding tablature

4) Chords & Chord-Melody Style

5) Answering questions & pursuing rabbit trails

6) Notes & Rhythms

7) Dulcimer Melodies

8) Our left hands… fingering & noters

9) Instrument Care & Anatomy

10) Playing Tunes Together

11) {Yes, the eleventh is “You Can Do It.”) You can

New Players/Beginners

MELANIE SHAPIRO

This class will be an introduction to the hammered dulcimer for those who have little or no previous experience with the instrument, starting from “string side up”! We’ll cover basics such as the layout of the dulcimer and finding your way around all those strings. We’ll also learn how to hold your hammers and strategies for determining efficient hammering patterns. Of course, no introduction would be complete without discussing tuning the beast(!), so we’ll cover that as well.

We’ll explore these topics while learning some of the most common jam tunes in the Buckeye Roadshow tune list.

AUTOHARP

CHARLES WHITMER

Intensive Course Description - Thursday & Friday (10 hours) Beyond Beginners

This autoharp class will primarily focus on playing technique through a variety of styles and different types of music for the "beyond beginning" autoharp player. We will explore how to play melodies and accompaniment of various styles and genres. We will work to create more interesting song arrangements through your autoharp melody playing.

The topics through which these techniques will be taught will include: playing by ear, swing style technique, pinch-pluck technique for faster melodies, playing modal songs, Bluegrass and Old Time song styles, playing in 6/8 time and others.

Participants will need to bring either a chromatic autoharp or autoharps capable of playing in the major keys of C, G, D, G minor, D minor and A minor. Chords to be used are: F, C, G, D, A, G7, D7, A7, Gm, Dm, Am, & Em.

The class text will be written out in both autoharp tablature and standard music notation. The class material will be taught primarily through the use of autoharp tablature and knowledge of reading standard music notation although helpful is not required. Those who have never read or played from autoharp tablature will be taught how to do so.

Students should already be able to play both accompaniment and melodies at a basic level. This class will primarily focus on techniques for playing melodies with some work on playing effective accompaniment.

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ZOOM OPTION: Charles' 10 hours of extended instruction will be offered as a Zoom option for those folks who cannot attend in person. The Zoom feed will be monitored by BDF staff who will be sure that any questions are answered.

Zoom Registration form

UKULELE - CANCELLED

STEVE SMITH

We are so sorry that Ruth and Steve Smith had to cancel due to health reasons. We wish them THE BEST!

BAND ~ IT! (multi-instrument class - beyond beginner players) 10 hours - (Thursday and Friday) - SHARI WOLF

Cancelled for 2025

What is this Band-it! class all about?

In joining the band, you'll find a group eager to explore working with familiar jam tunes that take on a new interest when arranged with a plan rather than playing them a few times and then on to the next. We'll work on instrumentals (fiddle tunes, waltzes, hymns) and we'll explore singing of variety of traditional music.

Next, I'll introduce some new tunes that we can learn from scratch and learn them with new ideas of arranging in the mix.
In the past, Band-it! has learned and arranged Kerry Polka, Johnny Armstrong, Skye Boat Song (before it became popular) and some good old time and Irish tunes.

You'll gain information on starting the tune, ending the tune, switching leads, turn arounds, and vamps. We'll work on these things focused on instrumentals and vocals. We'll start playing in the key of D and go from there.

Please bring any instruments that you would like to play to contribute to our band sound.

Instruments that have participated in previous BAND-It! classes include: pennywhistle, autoharp, recorder, bowed psaltry, banjo, fiddle, bodhran, mountain dulcimer, hammered dulcimer, ukulele, banjo uke, guitar, upright bass, marimbula, spoons, bones and probably more.

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A JAMMING CLASS, THIS IS NOT IT!
Yes, we'll be playing lots of songs and tunes some of which you will know and some that you won't.
This class is about taking music and making it your own!

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This workshop could be compared to putting the pieces of a puzzle together. The goal is to take players of various playing levels beyond the beginner level, playing a variety of acoustic instruments, familiar with a wide variety of music and blend and mold all of us into a BAND.

GOAL #1: We'll start with common songs and tunes that are familiar to all and work on arranging them with the following
in mind. The goal is to take several familiar 'club' tunes/songs and create an arrangement that makes them sound a bit different each time through.

1) Discover different ways to start and end a song/tune.
2) Look at different ways to vary the song/tune each time through.
3) Working with bringing out the different voices of the instruments.
4) Working on vocals and balancing the sound between singing and instrument backup.
5) Discovering backup techniques for all instruments through chords and rhythms.

GOAL #2: Take a piece of tablature which includes dulcimer tab, music notation, and chords to create a complete arrangement involving all instruments in the band.

1) We'll explore different places to play the melody.
2) Where to play chords to get different voices.
3) Develop simple harmonies by using chords.
4) Vary the arrangement.

My plan is to work with 4/4, 3/4, and maybe 6/8 timing.

If you have any questions, email Shari .

We'll just let classes from 2016 and 2017 give you an idea of where we're headed.

BDF 2016, the Band-It! class performing a medley of
Johnny Armstrong and Whiskey Before Breakfast.

BDF Band-it! Class (2017)
Skye Boat Song

*SATURDAY NEW PLAYER/BEGINNER SESSIONS ... Class Descriptions*
SATURDAY BEGINNER INSTRUCTORS
Autoharp	Hammered Dulcimer	Mountain Dulcimer
PHYLLIS DAVIS (Urbana, Oh) On Saturday, Phyllis will be helping folks get started on the right track by teaching 5 hours of New Player/Beginner autoharp.	MELANIE SHAPIRO (Columbus, OH)	SHANE BRADEN (Englewood, OH)