A Bear Meadow Workshop is a good place to explore new interests. Each covers a specific topic or small set of related topics in two or three hours.
If you are interested in building your own mountain dulcimer, these worshops on specific topics can really help you get familiar with building musical instruments, and the specifics of what makes an excellent dulcimer. Even skilled makers of dulcimers or other musical instruments often find a Bear Meadow Workshop is a place to learn a lot about design, woods, and tool techniques that apply to a variety of acoustic muscial instruments.
A workshop can give you:
- New techniques
- New ideas stimulated from an unfamiliar field
- A fast view, so you can see whether you want to study dulcimer making in more depth
Here are some workshops that are available from time to time (sometimes on short notice). Other topics can be arranged also, of course.
Scroll peghead workshop - Participants start from a rough-carved blank ready for scroll definition
Introduction to Taptone tuning for dulcimer - Learning to detect and evaluate tonewood using a taptone technique developed by Dwain Wilder. Students will use tools to alter the sound of the wood
Shaping the dulcimer voice - Discussion and demonstration of many elements contributing to voice quality in the mountain dulcimer
Things that go Bump! in your dulcimer - Learning how to recognize and diagnose difficulties in your instrument.
Arrangements
Workshops can be arranged on fairly short notice, fitting them into Dwain Wilder's current schedule. They can be held in a woodworking shop, woodworker's supply store's demonstration room, or at the Bear Meadow studio. Some topics can also be handled at any venue. In fact, some are frequently given at dulcimer festivals in church education buildings, schools, etc
Fees
Workshop charges are on a per participant basis, and vary depending on the depth of the matter to be treated, as well as the nature of the subject. For organizations which want to hire Dwain for a workshop, a package rate can be arranged also. The list below is an example of the particpant costs for the workshops (based on 5 or more attendees) listed above:
- Introduction to Taptone Tuning - $50
- Scroll Peghead for the Teardrop - $80
- Shaping the dulcimer voice - $50
- Things that go Bump! in your dulcimer - $50
To make arrangements for workshops please contact me using Contact Dwain
