Check out the October 7, 2018 blog entry News From Yoshie if you have not already. Now you can see the the second half live performance. Yoshie and friends from her choir in Japan present the dulcimer segment just after the piano duet. Enjoy.
10.7.2018 News from Yoshie by Judy Beier
For about three years, the Nashville dulcimer community had the privilege of having Yoshie Kinefuchi join us in learning and playing the mountain dulcimer. Now living back at her home in Tokyo, she is sharing her love for the dulcimer with her Japanese community.
Enjoy the following photos and excerpts from recent letters from Yoshie:
Our concert last night (September 15 was a great success! We had a big audience; about 170 people in spite of rain. The feedback was very positive. They said the program was very good and our performance was excellent. The first part was the choir; we sang 10 Japanese songs. The second part consisted of a piano duo concert, country & folk music with dulcimer, viola and recorder, one Egyptian song, three songs for finale. I had the microphone before our performance in the second part and gave a brief introduction of the dulcimer: its history and structure, and how we enjoy it. The audience was very interested and listened to my explanation carefully. Some people came up to me after the concert to see my dulcimer up close and wanted more story about it.
It was truly a delightful evening. Many people said they loved the sound of the dulcimer. So I guess we gained at least 170 new fans of the dulcimer in Japan!
It was sometimes difficult for us to get together and practice regularly as everybody is busy in their own life, but each member practiced her part at home and tried our best to put them together in harmony.
I suppose the concert was successful because we put our hearts together. We had a very good time. Here is some information on our choir: The name of our choir is "Soot El Wald" (meaning "Voice of flower" in Arabic). This is a sister group of the Japanese women's choir in Cairo that was established around 1990. At that time, there was little activity that Japanese women could enjoy there, so a few music-loving women got together and started a singing circle, and little by little more women came to join them. We used to practice once a week and sometimes visited local senior homes, schools and orphanages.
Over the years, the members of the original group have returned to Japan one after another, and around 2010, we established a new group in Tokyo.
So the members of our group are all returnees from Cairo. (Sadly, the original group in Cairo is no longer active due to security reasons over there.) This year's concert was held at Suginami Public Hall in Tokyo on Saturday, September 15th. This was our second concert in Japan.
You were asking about the place we had the concert.
It is a concert hall called "Suginami Public Hall." It has a big concert hall, a small hall and a salon. We used the salon (the smallest space, accommodating approx. 150 people) for our performance.
It has a wonderful structure and the acoustic is really good. Unfortunately the website is only in Japanese, but I hope you can get the idea of it.
The gowns we wore are all hand-sewn by a friend of our member. We love the gowns too!
Submitted by Judy Beier who met Yoshie and her husband Masami during a Tai Chi class at the Green Hills YMCA. (Mr. Kinefuchi was serving as Consul General from Japan for the Southern States.)
When Yoshie overheard someone ask Judy about playing music at Uncle Dave Macon Days, Yoshie said: “What is a dulcimer?”
Judy and Yoshie met for several sessions on Saturday mornings before the Tai Chi class began. After a few lessons Yoshie started playing regularly with the Twangtown Dulcimer Players. Now you know the rest of the story!
9.23.2018 Have Dulcimer, Will Travel by Lora Abell
What is your ideal end-of-summer get away? Mine involves a scenic setting, good company, and lots of dulcimer music. Every year, I look forward to Larry and Elaine Conger’s Dulcimer Duet Retreat at the end of August along with about 50 other dulcimer players from all over the United States.
What is a Duet Retreat, you may ask —if you were not amongst the dozen Nashville GODC members who were there this year. It’s simple. Larry and Elaine create wonderful duet arrangements and teach us how to play them at a lakeside venue. From fiddle tunes to spirituals to blues, songs we know and songs that are new to us—all sound better when played in two parts. The arrangements are geared for the intermediate level player, but the Congers do not turn anyone away. Even if you don’t feel your have intermediate level skills, you can always just pluck the melody line and keep up with the group. But, if you pay attention, you will come away with a better understanding of how to play chord melody style with smooth transitions between chords using the finger shapes that Larry and Elaine teach.
The weekend began by diving right into the songbook which every one receives (with an optional demo CD of the songs). Then Larry and Elaine gave a mini concert. It is hard to believe Elaine never played the dulcimer before she met Larry. Of course, she is very musically gifted with a voice like an angel. But now she also plays bass dulcimer like a boss! Larry seemed to enjoy segueing from one song to another without telling Elaine which song he planned to play next. Sure enough, within a couple of notes she caught the tune and was plucking out a cool bass line.
Saturday was a full day of lessons, punctuated by meals and snacks and coffee breaks. The most anticipated part of the weekend occurs on Saturday night, when the participants play for each other. I know I enjoy this part of the retreat immensely, and it was gratifying to hear that Larry and Elaine also enjoy listening to us amateurs play. Having the largest group of players, the Nashville Dulcimer Ensemble always commands the last spot of the evening. This year we chose to play two of Tull Glazener's arrangements: Packington’s Pound and The Road To Boston. We were also treated to a solo by our own Tricia Hackett. She performed a medley of country hits which Larry had arranged in a beautiful fingerpicked style.
One of the things I appreciate the most about such retreats, is the opportunity to just sit and chat with the players we may see at the monthly club meetings but don’t know well. This is how I first met and got to know Mary Lawrence, Lela, Georgia, and Shan. And now that Shan has retired from playing, I am honored to be included in their quartet, infamously known as the G-strings (G for geriatric, of course.) We performed Appalachian Round based on a duet arrangement by Heidi Muller and Simple Gifts arranged for four dulcimers by Larry and recently published on his Patreon site.
Previous years the Dulcimer Dulcimer Retreat was held held at Tennessee state parks. But since those lodges are under repair, this year the Congers moved the event to Lake Barkley in Kentucky. This is a beautiful rustic facility just 90 minutes from Nashville. Although we all arrived on Friday not quite knowing what to expect, by the end of the weekend we were glad to hear that next year’s event will be held in the same place, August 23-24, 2018. Hope to see you there!
Where have you been with your dulcimer lately? We would love to hear about your dulcimer adventures. Let’s make this a regular “blog” for everyone to contribute. Send your update to Stephanie or to Linda and we'll publish it here.
