Mel Bay You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer [Paperback]

Madeline MacNeil (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1989

Madeline MacNeil's performances are characterized by her effortless vocals and impeccable mountain and hammered dulcimer playing. In this book she reveals some of the secrets of her success with the mountain dulcimer. Early on, she reminds the reader that "the dulcimer is not a toy or a stringed kazoo" but a serious, expressive musical instrument capable of "stretching as far as the imagination". She endorses both playing by ear and learning to read standard notation. In easily-understood language she manages to explore some very complex, even esoteric concepts, making this a particularly valuable book for the beginning instrumentalists. You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer is simply a great fundamental book. Tweleve intensive lessons in 95 pages. Standard notation and tablature. Illustrated with photographs and drawings.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Madeline Macneil is well known for her talents as a singer and performer on the hammered and fretted dulcimers. She is equally well known for the warmth and generosity with which she shares her music and encourages others to play and sing. The silver-haired woman with the golden voice has won the admiration of countless fans across the country, performing in concerts and festivals throughout the United States. Maddie's twenty-five years as a professional musician have produced many recordings as well as two books for Mel Bay Publications. She arranged the music for Ralph Lee Smith's book from Mel Bay, Songs of the Wilderness Road. Maddie publishes Dulcimer Player News, which reaches dulcimer enthusiasts throughout the United States and in many other countries.

Her recordings include All Through the Night, A Place Apart, The Lone Wild Bird, The Crowning of the Year, and Heart's Ease, which won an Indie from the National Association of Independent Record Distributors.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Mel Bay Publications, Inc. (June 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871662663
• ISBN-13: 978-0871662668
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #244,067 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm a beginner and this is the book!, October 16, 2000

By 

Mary Z. Cox (Tallahassee, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mel Bay You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer (Paperback)

Last week, I bought a fretted dulcimer in Meadows of Dan, Virginia because it had a wormy chestnut top tooled from a local barn. It has a sweet voice and I was anxious to begin playing immediately. However, I didn't want to get started with any bad habits--so I looked over about 20 books on dulcimer playing and chose this for several reasons. 1. The author starts with simple songs and builds technique with them. For instance, there are four versions of Bile Them Cabbage Down at the beginning. The first explores single string melody, the second, single string harmony, the third and fourth have chordal fingerings. Most of the tunes in this book are in the public domain, but the arrangements are thoughtful and sound nice as well as build technique. 2. There are several tunes with tab and music for dulcimer duets. This is something I wanted to explore and glad I did. 3. The directions are very clear, plus there are insightful notes for fingering some of the measures. 4. A comapnion CD is available, which is great to listen to or play along with. 5. There are instructions for strumming and fingerpicking. It's been one week and I am already playing melody, harmony, and chords to three songs. By the time I've worked through this book, I expect to have solid technique for fingering and be able to play duets with another dulcimer player. I definitely would seek out a workshop with the author of this book! Thanks for such a great book Madeline! :) Mary Z. Cox

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book for new players, July 31, 2000

By 

Michael Fuerst (Urbana IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mel Bay You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer (Paperback)

After thumbing through "Larkin's Dulcimer Book" and "The Magic Dulcimer" and "You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer," I selected the latter. This books' lessons, excercises and songs gradually add to the student's skills. The book's discussions of (a) fingering techniques is satisfying, and (b) chords and fingerpicking are strong introductions. In an absolute rating, I'd give this book 4 stars, but others have given the other two books 5 stars, and this deserves and equal or higher rating.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer, August 11, 2005

By 

Michael W. Smith (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mel Bay You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer (Paperback)

This is the best of three books that I purchased to learn the Dulcimer. It is well written and organized. I'm in the middle of learning, but this book appears to take you from the beginning to an intermediate stage. I would strongly encourage you to purchase the CD/DVD that goes with this book. There is nothing like hearing the music in additon to reading what you should be doing.