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Online Mountain Dulcimer Lessons

If you are looking for new ways of continuing your mountain dulcimer journey beyond on-site lessons,
online coaching sessions are a great alternative.

I now offer live lessons online through Skype, so please feel free to contact me if you would like to schedule a lesson. Briefly describe what your goals are for dulcimer lessons, how you discovered my music, and what your current involvement is with the dulcimer community or with music-making in general. My availability varies depending on my work schedule and festival bookings, so we can arrange meeting times on a case-by-case basis in order to meet your needs.

For more information about how to begin online lessons, please see the details listed below.

​Prerequisites

  • ​First, take a look at my “How to Play the Mountain Dulcimer” videos and become familiar with the concepts contained in them.
  • Explore my other free resources at the Lessons and Tablature page. 
  • I also recommend that you obtain a copy of Mountain Dulcimer Wildflowers (digital or print) for building your repertoire.
  • Our lessons will be conducted in the program Skype; you might have Skype downloaded to your computer already, or you can easily obtain the program from www.skype.com or the Apple App Store. All the functions work best if you have downloaded the application.

Terms and Conditions

  • Our lessons will last for about 45 minutes. Each lesson will have a fee of $20 to be submitted through PayPal following the receipt of my PayPal request.
  • Appointment times will be provided for the U.S. central time zone.
  • If you need to cancel a scheduled lesson, please do so more than 24 hours in advance.
  • In the interest on respect for one another's time and scheduling, if a student cancels a lesson within 24 hours of the appointment or has to interrupt a lesson for any reason, the student's deposit for the lesson will be retained.
  • I am overwhelmed by the kindness and good-spiritedness of the mountain dulcimer community as a whole; therefore, I am optimistic that our shared lessons will be positive experiences.
  • Lessons may continue to be scheduled at our mutual discretion (i.e. as long as we both feel that our experiences continue to be positive and productive, which they undoubtedly will!).

First Lesson

  • ​When you log in for our first session, I will ask you to provide a live demonstration of your best work, a song you're comfortable with that showcases your current skills. Perhaps you can play “The Water is Wide” or one of the basic songs from Mountain Dulcimer Wildflowers.
  • After your demonstration, we will identify about three skills for you to work on until next week (or our next agreed-upon time) and possibly select a new song for you to practice.
  • We will also discuss what musical styles and skills you would like to explore in future lessons.