Transcript Dulcimer - R2ElemMusic

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Dulcimer
Your dulcimer has a long
fretboard glued to a hollow
soundbox. The strings stretch
along the fretboard over the
frets. The strings make the
sound and the sound box
makes it louder.
Why The Dulcimer Is The Easiest
Stringed Instrument
It sits flat in front of you, so
you can see what you are
doing.It has frets,
so you don’t need to
memorize finger
positions.
The frets play the
scale, with no extra
half-steps to confuse
you. There are only
three strings. You play
tunes using just one of
them.
Most people hold the dulcimer
on their lap. The tuners go to
your left. The right hand has
the job of strumming the
strings. Your left pointer will
move along the fretboard
pressing down the melody
string in different spaces
between the frets.
MELODY STRING
Find the string closest
to you. It is the
melody string. The
melody string is where
the tunes get played.
Playing Notes Using The Frets
Frets are the metal bars that cross
under the strings. Between the frets
are spaces where a string can be
pushed down. Use the pointer finger
of your left hand on
the melody string.
Press down between
the frets, not on the
fret.
As you push down the
string with your left hand
pointer, use your right hand
to pluck just the melody
string. Now try strumming
all three strings while
moving on the melody
string.
Dulcimer Class
Vocabulary
Dulcimer- a stringed
instrument from the southern
Appalachian mountains that
is played on the lap.
Southern Appalachiansmountain areas of
Kentucky, Tennessee, West
Virginia, Virginia, North
and South Carolina.
STRINGS - steel and
chrome wires that are
stretched along the top
of the musical
instrument.
TUNERS: the white
knobs at the top of the
dulcimer that control
the notes on the
strings.
PICK: a triangleshaped piece of
plastic that is
strummed across the
strings to make
music.
FRETS : narrow bars of
metal under the strings.
When you press a string
down next to a fret, it
changes the note when
you strum.
FRETBOARD :
the wooden
board on which
the frets are
placed.
SOUNDBOX : the
hollow box under
the fretboard that
makes the sounds of
the strings louder.
SOUND HOLES: the
holes cut in the top of
the soundbox to let the
music sounds come out.
They are usually heartshaped on the dulcimer.
TABLATURE : playing by
number. This way of
writing down music is
based on the numbers of
the frets on a dulcimer, or
guitar, or other stringed
instruments.
PARTS
OF THE
DULCIMER
h
sound hole
o
l
e
tuning
pegs
fretboard
fret
bridge
Melody
middle
bass
Sound Box
Parts of the Dulcimer
strum
hollow
pinky
ring
middle
pointer
thumb
Fingers of the Hand
THE END