Tag: electric dulcimer

Canterbury Dreams

Well now…..I have to say that I’m on a bit of a roll with some new compositions and musical experiments….. and I am delighted to share these with you here!

Starting with some of the most recent tracks, I’ve been busy working through the long chord progression that is quite similar to the one in Pachelbel’s Canon in D – but it is not exactly the same. Also the melodic structure is very different: these are kind of “meditative studies” that are very relaxing to play as well as to listen to, and they have a way of evolving over the months and years that I’ve been at this project.

Here is one of my latest tracks, called Canterbury Dreams:

 

Some Dark, Spooky Audio Sketches

Okay, it is Christmas Eve and all my presents are wrapped, but I have stopped work on production of my Winter-themed EP (there is a ghost of a chance I can get back to it before the year is out). I stopped working on it for now because these dark, haunting sketches of audio ideas just need to get out. They are very rough mixes and mostly under 3 minutes in length.

So whether or not the EP gets finalized, the momentum on these dark little tunes is undeniable, and 2019 should be a very, very interesting year if I can keep up the posting of this stuff.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

 

Introductory Dulcimer Playlist

At Spotify, I made a 14-tune introductory playlist for my catalog of electric and acoustic dulcimer music. This spans three full-length albums, with a shorter album, due 9/15, arriving shortly.

This is great music for relaxing, reading, studying, doing yoga, meditation, and even winding down into a deep sleep.

https://open.spotify.com/user/122820830/playlist/6m5omBqEX7RkVCGF1F5qHc?si=nn45tiyGTwCaCkisArEPOg

Axis of Awesome!

Four Chords for a mess of pop songs!

This Aussie comedy act is really amazing. Butch Ross told me about them in 2007 or 2008, when I was obsessed with my little four chord circular progression D – A – Bm – G… that I used for Light Into Darkness, Tapping at the Edge of Paradise, and Tapping Into The Light on electric dulcimer. I just found more and more melodies that went with these chords – and bass lines with chord inversions to make it WAY more interesting.

Now in 2017 it seems like new ideas are again coming forward when I mess with these chords. I even have a more detailed version now, with sub-cycles of chords on each of the four main chords.

Most of the work I’ve done directly on the mountain dulcimer, but its fun with guitar, keyboard (which I can barely play!), or whatever chording instrument is nearby.

So even if the mountain dulcimer is your main instrument, why not play around on a piano or little electronic keyboard and see what happens? I usually resort to the white keys when I work with keyboard, so in C you have: C – G – Am – F. Good luck and let me know how it goes for you!!