Looper's Delight Archive Top (Search)
Date Index
Thread Index
Author Index
Looper's Delight Home
Mailing List Info

[Date Prev][Date Next]   [Thread Prev][Thread Next]   [Date Index][Thread Index][Author Index]

Re: new tunes



Thanks very much.

When I'm working on a project, I find that I'm too close to make objective 
observations, and quite frankly the majority of people around here just 
don't get it..... The most extreme case was someone in the village that 
bought a cd and gave it back after a couple of days thinking there was 
something wrong with it.... seems that it had no words.... and who can 
understand it if it has no words.
Perhaps if you take a fairly obscure instrument like the hammered 
dulcimer, 
tie it to another fairly obscure performance technique like looping, you 
certainly have something that's unique but maybe not accessible enough to 
most listeners? But then, that is also a common thread here, I recall a 
few 
weeks back Kris having difficulty with venues that will let him explore 
the 
sounds that he's interested in. There's a question there that has 
interested me for quite a few years. As an artist, do I provide 
comfortable 
entertainment, or do I challenge people to listen to new things.

So, I was looking for some feedback from a community that I respect. I 
realize that many or most of you are doing music that is much more 
experimental in nature that what I'm doing, but coming from a community of 
traditional celtic and folk music circles, they consider what I'm doing to 
be pretty radical, maybe even blasphemous.



At 06:10 AM 10/27/2005, you wrote:

>Hey Paul,  I loved "the Gorge"
>
>I also love the quote from Copland in 'Simple Gifts'.
>
>The Mountain Dulcimer is such a beautiful instrument..............it is 
>so 
>exotic and ethereal sounding.

I totaly agree, I love the mountain dulcimer, and I have some of Neal's 
work, beautiful stuff...... I unfortunately don't play the mountain 
dulcimer. I can see where the mistaken identification comes from though. 
What you're hearing is my guitar, I keep it tuned DADADA (from low to 
high) 
it's a tuning that I picked up quite a few years ago from a Scottish 
player 
working with a band called Ossian. I think because of the drone quality,It 
works really well with the hammered dulcimer, which is my primary 
instrument. The guitar is processed through guitar rig, I've been having a 
lot fun playing with all those delays, reverse delays etc.



>And Ted is correct.................you are cordially invited to come to a 
>30 minute set at Y2K6 next October in Santa Cruz.
>This year we had 50 artists from 7 countries and in all the years I've 
>played we have never had a looping dulcimer player.




If it's possible, I'd love to do it, but maybe not next year, the year 
after. I'll have to start saving now!

Thanks for providing a community for those of us that can't find one 
locally.


All the best,

Paul Haslem
Ontario, Canada




>I also play a little dulcimer and some hammered dulcimer as well.   Neal 
>Hellman is a good friend of mine and lent me a beautiful
>mountain dulcimer to practise on.  If you don't know his work, he is a 
>wonderful and influential dulcimer performer.
>
>I particularly love the way that you can retune the bass string on the 
>mountain dulcimer and play in different modes than
>are normally played in traditional Americana.    I love playing in both 
>Phrygian (middleeastern sounding) and Lydian (balkan sounding)
>using this technique.
>
>  The only time I"ve ever played dulcimer on stage was when I was awarded 
> the Calabash Award for Service to the Ethnic Arts in Santa Cruz 
> County.  Two really good dulcimer players I know were in the audience so 
> I was really nervous.
>
>It was also,  sadly, the very last time my mother saw me play so I have a 
>lot of sentimental attachment to the piece.
>I must get this piece transferred from the video into audio.  If I manage 
>to do it, I'll send it to you.
>
>Nice work,   thanks for posting,  yours,   Rick
>
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "paul" <phaslem@wightman.ca>
>To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
>Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 8:26 PM
>Subject: new tunes
>
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I don't know if any of you have had a chance to listen to the new tunes 
>I 
>>posted on my web site yet
>>( http://members.tripod.com/Dulcimer_Traditions/newstuff.htm ) but I am 
>>interested in feedback.... of the non screeching type....
>>
>>If you listen to some of my older work you'll see that this is a fairly 
>>significant departure in style from earlier recordings. I live out in 
>>rural Ontario, a place that I love, but the folks out here just hear it 
>>as sort of noise... I'm hoping for a more receptive audience when I play 
>>in Toronto in a couple of weeks.
>>
>>If you're reluctant to post your comments in the forum, drop me a line 
>at 
>><phaslem@wightman.ca>
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Paul Haslem
>>
>>Ontario, Canada
>>
>>www.dulcify.ca
>