Final Countdown

Angie and I have been extremely busy with last minute details of the Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival. Registrations continue to come in but there is still room for you, so don't hesitate to sign up, or just show up. Call or write with any questions:

angie@danlandrum.com
dan@danlandrum.com

423 886 3966

We picked up the first of our custom festival t-shirts today. These shirts, which started out as plain white Haynes t's, have now been transformed into must wear tie-dye for the ultra cool dulcimer fan. Every shirt is a unique work of hand-died, hand stenciled art and we have a limited number. Don't be disappointed and miss out by not pre-ordering yours.

10 More Days!

We're counting down the days to the Festival, and getting busier every day!

Let me answer some questions I've received over the last few days.

The address for the Mountain Arts Community Center is
809 Kentucky Avenue
Signal Mountain, Tn 37377

Go to mapquest.com for directions and a map.

We have a few hammer dulcimers that we can loan to students during the festival. Call or email me if interested.

We are having the Festival T-Shirts custom tie-dyed. Pre-order now to be sure you get one!

We are reserving a row of seats for the Yanni Message Board members who are coming from Everywhere for the concerts!

We're looking forward to seeing everyone. Great friends and great music make a really great weekend!

Ten More Days!

The Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival is just around the corner. Angie and I are busy taking phone calls, registering participants, doing TV and radio interviews and worrying over every little detail in hopes that it all goes smoothly. As of this morning we have the following states represented:

Tennessee
Illinois
South Carolina
Colorado
Nebraska
Ohio
Michigan
Virginia
Georgia
Wisconsin
California

The most frequently asked question recently has been about whether our classes are suitable for beginning players. The answer is of course a rousing YES! Make sure you scroll down this page and read the post titled "Levels."

We have more hammer dulcimer players registered than mountain dulcimer players. If you're a mountain dulcimer beginner or veteran don't miss this opportunity for excellent learning in a small class with Butch Ross on Friday and Stephen Seifert on Saturday.

James Jones of jamesjonesinstruments.com is bringing a large assortment of dulcimers and accessories for display and sale. He'll be set up in the cafeteria area for the entire festival. It is an honor to have James coming as he hasn't displayed at festivals for quite a few years now. This is a rare opportunity to see a variety of his finely crafted instruments which are the choice of many professionals. This is also your chance to experience the possibilities of his linear chromatic hammer dulcimer. I'll have quite a few Dusty Strings models on hand as well which James has graciously agreed to help me display while I'm busy teaching.

A few people have reported having javascript problems using the links to the lower left underneath the heading "Recent Posts." No one, however seems to have any problems with the upper left links:

Festival Home
About the Venue
Hotels and Travel
Schedule
Registration

Use those links to navigate this site and you'll be able to see all available content. All of the information under the "Recent Posts" heading is available by simply scrolling down this page.

DIRECTIONS - For those of you who plan on printing maps, the exact address of the MACC (Mountain Arts Community Center) where we'll hold all classes and concerts is:

809 Kentucky Avenue
Signal Mountain, TN 37377

We'll have signs posted when you reach the town of Signal Mountain via Signal Mountain Road.

Our registration totals are on track with our projections which were safe and conservative so there's still plenty of room for you! If you have any questions don't hesitate to email or call.

angie@danlandrum.com
dan@danlandrum.com

423 886 3966

You can also email any of the instructors through the links to the left.

Hotel Reservations

The new additions to the Tennessee Aquarium and the Hunter Museum, along with the improvements to the Riverfront, are going to make downtown Chattanooga a very busy place this summer. Tourism is expected to double, which means hotels are going to be booked up.

Several students are staying at the Holiday Inn Express at Lookout Mountain. It's a little farther away than the downtown hotels, but it's more reasonably priced.

I've had a couple people tell me they had to call several hotels before finding a vacancy for the Festival Weekend.

So, that means, if you're thinking of registering, you need to do it soon!

Added Class

Joe Ridolfo will teach a 1 hour class Saturday entitled, "Dulcimer meets Sitar."
"I have notation for MD, but if HD sits in they will catch on too since the Santoor is India's HD," says Joe.

levels

I responded to a question this morning that I'm sure will come up again.

Question:

> Hi Dan,
>
> I was wondering what level the classes are going to be. It
> doesn't say on the schedule. Does it just kind of depend on
> who signs up?


Answer:

Levels are a little harder to pin down for this festival. Generally people describe levels based on the difficulty of a particular song or arrangement. Our focus at the Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival is advancing our skills and techniques, rather than learning specific songs and arrangements.

While there aren't any classes that would be perfect for someone who doesn't know anything at all about mountain or hammer dulcimer, our instructors are going to take special care not to leave anyone behind in a class labeled '101'.

Dulcimer players usually just learn songs. We want them to learn to play the instrument with ease so that learning songs will be easier and more fun. When you have a storehouse full of different ways of looking at a song it becomes much easier to learn.

I hope this helps.

You'll also notice that we've tried to provide two instructors when possible so everyone gets individual attention.

Schedule Posted

The Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival Schedule has been finalized. Click the schedule link to open the schedule document.

Schedule

There's nothing wrong with your computer!
The schedule page is not up yet.

The HammerOn! band and Butch and Christie will be here this weekend for the Grand Celebration of the Waterfront Opening and I will not let them leave without setting up a schedule for the workshops.

Please, check back Monday.

Thanks, Angie