DUBOIS – Pam Cyphert of Clarion will offer a series of mountain dulcimer workshops and a concert on Saturday, Nov. 18. The workshops and concert are scheduled at Christ Lutheran Church, Sunflower Drive, DuBois.
The cost is $15 for one workshop; $25 for two workshops; $35 for three workshops; and $40 for all four workshops, payable in cash at the door. The 4:30 p.m. concert is open to everyone with donations for the performer accepted.
Cyphert has played mountain dulcimer since the mid-1980’s when she bought her first mountain dulcimer at the Penn State Arts Festival. She is especially drawn to finger picking and enjoys the full sound of equidistant strings.
She has taught many workshops at music festivals, in elementary schools, and at Clarion University’s Continuing Education program. She performs with her musical group AnamCara where she plays guitar, mountain dulcimer and a variety of other stringed instruments.
The workshop schedule is:
- 10 a.m. – 11 a.m., DAA for beginners/intermediates. DAA tuning is more intuitive on mountain dulcimer, and easier to learn than DAD. Several simple tunes will be introduced focusing on fingerpicking and strumming techniques.
- 11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m., Christmas Carols in DAA for all levels. Using winter melodies, Cyphert will show beginners how to play the carols simply, and then give intermediate players tips on how to embellish the songs to make them more interesting.
- 12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m., lunch on your own.
- 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m., DAD for beginners. Using easy tunes, Cyphert will focus on the rhythm of the song to determine strum and fingerpicking approaches.
- 2:45 p.m. – 3:45 p.m., DAD for intermediates. Cyphert has chosen more challenging traditional folk tunes attainable rather quickly with practice.
- 4:30 p.m. Concert
In order to ensure that enough materials are available participants are asked to call 814-371-4627 or e-mail ginnyschott@gmail.com to preregister.