Launde Abbey, October 2003 - A newcomers review

Clare Goodall

I'd been looking forward to Launde Abbey for a while. I first heard about the event when I met the Nonsuch crew at Sidmouth several years ago. The idea of running off to the countryside to learn more about the hammered dulcimer was very appealing, so after I'd finally bought an instrument I re-joined Nonsuch and booked. Even before I arrived I was impressed by the programme. It covered a good range of interests and abilities. Naturally this meant I had a hard time choosing between options for several sessions but that is unavoidable and much preferable to not seeing anything of interest. Nevertheless, I certainly gained from the items I got to. Sally covered some basic music theory and co-ordination and, hopefully, she'll be glad to hear that I've done some homework on chords and can now play St. Basil's Hymn with the bass part. And, as I mainly play my dulcimer at medieval re-enactment events, I was very pleased to meet others with an interest in early music and take home some new tunes and ideas. Maclaine's sessions leading up to the performance in the concert were excellent. I'd never played with other dulcimers before. Even though I managed to pick up the tune I ended up singing - which was good as I don't do much at the moment. The concert was a joy. Not only did I get to mug people for raffle money but the music was varied and highly enjoyable. I now feel obliged to defend the tambourine against all its detractors. Which only goes to show music can be produced from anything - it just takes a little imagination and talent. And while I'm on the subject, I'm not blessed with much musical talent but was made to feel welcome by those who were. It can be intimidating to be learning side by side with people who are far more capable but at Launde it wasn't. Even though I still can't work out how they knew those harmonies so quickly. But, naturally the highlights were meeting everybody and chatting about all things dulcimer, music and whatever else took our fancy; nosing around to see all the other different types of dulcimer present (that four octave linear dulcimer was fascinating) and listening to Annalouise singing in overtones in the chapel. 

All in all excellent stuff and I'm already looking forward to next time.

Clare