The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #20631   Message #500164
Posted By: Chicken Charlie
06-Jul-01 - 05:54 PM
Thread Name: Playing the Autoharp
Subject: RE: Playing the Autoharp
As usual I'm getting in on this after the fire has already died down, but: Don't give up too soon; memorize just the back row of bars; and I hold it so my ear is against the edge--the pitches get "inside my head" that way and I have an easier time picking the correct melody note. I believe the style that everybody is calling "burp the baby" was called Apallachian style or crosshand style after Maybelle Carter developed it. Zimmer intended the instrument to be laid on the lap and sounded to the right of the chord bars. There's not much room down there on a 15 or a 21, and anyway it sounds tinnier.

Somebody mentioned doubling on instruments. On a long, potentially monotonous number like Cumberland Gap, I have strapped my mandolin and left a dulcimer on my lap and switched off. For a grand finale, figure out a "tag" with two beats at the end, play the first (final chord) on the mando and the second on the dulcimer. I'll have to try autoharp/dulcimer that way.

CC