Winter is upon us, and it’s time to begin planning for the May Colorado Dulcimer Festival Orchestra Performance.
If you plan to attend the festival, I invite you to join us in playing multi-part music in a concert setting during the festival.
If you thought about joining but hesitated, believing that the music is too difficult or you are not advanced enough, this is the year for you to try it. We will play three easy-to-learn pieces and offer you special help if needed to get you there! To help you decide, you should be an intermediate player, having played three+ years and able to read music or learn by listening on your own.
Contact Jim Frye, our 2023 Orchestra Conductor: [email protected]
How do we practice?
We need both hammered dulcimer and mountain dulcimer players and typically two or three people will be playing the same part. We will provide the sheet music and a downloadable music file or CD for you to hear your part and play along with it.
There is a $10 fee to help defray these costs. Jim will cover the $25 cost of the Shostakovich Waltz license from Steve Eulberg’s orchestra library.
Group practice sessions will take place on weekends as needed, with dates determined by Doodle Poll. Members are encouraged to come as often as you can; you do not need to come to all the practices.
The sheet music and separate parts audio files make individual learning easier and decrease the number of whole-group rehearsals.
What are we playing this year?
We will include Steve Eulberg’s arrangement of Waltz #2 by Dmitri Shostakovich. When was the last time you played in Dm? – it can be fun! The following link includes a video of Berkeley Dulcimer Gathering orchestra playing the tune.
https://owlmountainmusic.com/product/waltz-no-2-by-shostakovich-download/
For a more uptempo performance by a concert orchestra, see:
We’ll play this piece at the speed that works best for the group; of course, we will not play faster than we can play well.
Love Me for Myself Alone, by Philip Rossiter (17th century). Very short, so we will play through several times with different instrument voices coming in. https://owlmountainmusic.com/product/love-me-for-myself-alone-by-philip-rosseter-download/
Sonatina in G, 1st movement, by L. Beethoven (19th century) We played this at the 2016 CDF. https://owlmountainmusic.com/product/beethoven-sonatina-in-g-download/
https://owlmountainmusic.com/dulcimer/dulcimer-orchestra-library/
If this is your year to try something new (and we’re all ready for that!), come join our seasoned core group. Once you have contacted Jim Frye, this year’s Orchestra Conductor, we will set up practice dates, assign parts, and send out the sheet music and music files or CD’s.
Every part is important. Let’s have fun making beautiful music together! Contact Jim Frye, our 2023 Orchestra Conductor: [email protected]