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Individual downloads of tunes are available at cdbaby.

All CD prices include shipping.

Golliwog’s Gymnopedia
  1. Now Let Us To the Bagpipe Sound (JS Bach). 5 octave dulcimer.  [2:46]
  2. Golliwog's Cakewalk (Debussy). 5 octave dulcimer.  [3:30]
  3. Bachelbel (R. Fogel). 5 octave dulcimer.  [3:17]
  4. Minuet in F minor (JS Bach). 5 octave dulcimer and bass dulcimer overdub.  [2:46]  <LISTEN>
  5. Gymnopedia Number 1 (Satie). 5 octave dulcimer.  [3:25]
  6. Water Music (Handle). 5 octave dulcimer.  [2:07]
  7. Turkish March (Mozart). 5 octave dulcimer.  [1:48]  <LISTEN>
  8. December 8 (R. Fogel). Bass, soprano and 5 octave dulcimers.  [3:59]
  9. Marcia At Folklife (R. Fogel). 5 octave dulcimer.  [5:09]
  10. Incline (R. Fogel). 5 octave dulcimer.  [5:03]
  11. Claire de Lune (Debussy), intro from Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin) and Stardust (H. Carmichael). 5 octave dulcimer  [4:26]
  12. Farewell (T. O'Carolan). 5 octave dulcimer.  [4:06]  <LISTEN>

Golliwog's Gymnopedia, $16 - Solo Hammer Dulcimer. This is my latest recording (2009). I have always enjoyed playing music solo. Having the freedom to follow my immediate feelings and my own internal rhythm pushes me to the edge of my abilities. I am always searching for this edge because I find that it inspires a greater passion in my music. The tunes on this album are some of my favorites and it gives me great pleasure to share this experience with you.

The Divine Dulcimer
  1. Leather Britches  [3:02]
  2. Florida Blues (Arthur Smith)  [3:44]  <LISTEN>
  3. Hora Oltanesca  [5:39]
  4. Grey Eyes  [3:33]
  5. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (JS Bach)  [2:57]
  6. Midnight on the Water (Luke Thomason)  [4:31]  <LISTEN>
  7. Sleepers Awake (JS Bach)  [2:04]
  8. Moon Rising Over the Castle/Yossela, Yossela  [6:03]  <LISTEN>
  9. Scullly’s Reel  [3:39]
  10. Wind that Shakes the Barley  [3:07]
  11. Pig Ankle Rag  [2:40]
  12. Morrison's Jig  [3:43]  <LISTEN>
  13. Elizabeth Bay (R. Fogel)  [5:27]

The Divine Dulcimer, $16 - Hammer Dulcimer with Greg Youmans on acoustic bass. Rick is joined by Simon Chrisman playing Hammer Dulcimer on seven cuts. The combination of dulcimers and bass is gorgeous and powerful.

Through the Looking Glass
  1. Leyenda (Albeinz)  [5:24]  <LISTEN>
  2. Port Townsend Lament (R. Fogel) / The Butterfly / The Dancing Bear (B. McQuillen)  [5:34]
  3. Jack-A-Tar  [2:48]
  4. Pachelbel's Canon in D (J. Pachelbel)  [4:00]
  5. Planxty George Brabazon (O'Carolan)  [4:15]
  6. Snowblind (W. Michael)  [3:17]  <LISTEN>
  7. Childgrove  [2:30]
  8. O'Keefe’s Slide / Road to Lisdon Varna / Drowsy Maggie  [2:55]
  9. Sleep Sound in the Morning  [2:26]  <LISTEN>
  10. Nonesuch  [3:29]
  11. Bolero (M. Ravel)  [5:52]
  12. Dulce (R. Fogel)  [1:46]

Through the Looking Glass, $16 - Two Hammer Dulcimers with Greg Youmans on acoustic bass, Phil Marple on guitar and Sheila Tasker on flute. This is a lively recording that has been very well received.

Whamdiddle Flashbacks
  1. Magpie/Swinging on a Gate/Fireside Reel/Leather Britches  [4:21]
  2. Rights of Man  [2:26]
  3. Maple Leaf Rag  [2:45]  <LISTEN>
  4. Woodchopper’s Reel  [2:23]
  5. Brittany Mountain Gavotte  [1:37]
  6. Fur Elise (Beethoven)  [2:26]
  7. Jenny Pluck Pears/O'Keefer's Slide  [2:39]  <LISTEN>
  8. The Butterfly  [2:27]
  9. Loudon's Bonnie Woods and Braes  [2:26]
  10. Red Haired Boy  [1:54]
  11. Searching for Lambs/Black Nag  [2:49]
  12. Sandy River Belle/Dubique  [2:23]
  13. Flowers of Edinburgh  [3:05]
  14. Battle of Glencoe  [3:09]
  15. Fox Hunters' Jig  [1:56]
  16. Planxty Irwin (O'Carolan)/Scully's Reel/Blackberry Blossom  [4:12]
  17. O'Carolan’s Draft (O'Carolan)  [2:08]  <LISTEN>

Whamdiddle Flashbacks, $16 - Remastered recordings from four of Rick's albums recorded in the late 1970's and early 1980's with Seth Austen, Mick Doherty, Sam Moffatt, Jennie Linehan, and Christina and Tom Nunn playing guitar, harp, fiddle and percussion. These are some of the standard Hammer Dulcimer repertoire.

Books For SaleCDs For Sale

Books by Rick Fogel

 

All book prices include shipping.

Physics, Music Theory and the Hammered Dulcimer, $6
This is a book I wrote while living in a tent for the winter at Point Couverden on Icy Strait in Alaska. It contains lots of information about music theory derived from the systematization of the observed facts of partial tones, combinational tones and beats. It is basically a shortened and simplified version of Sensations of Tone by Hermann Helmholtz.

Building a Hammer Dulcimer: Do-Kit Yourself, $10
This book has all the information for building your own 12/11 Hammer Dulcimer from scratch. This is the book I included with my kits. If you have a drill press and a table saw you can make all the pieces for a kit from the dimensions in this book. This book supplies the step-by-step instructions for building, tuning and playing a few tunes.

The Foundation, $15
Contains 36 handouts for workshops or for private lessons that I have given to beginning Hammer Dulcimer players. Each page covers one topic that can stand alone as a study guide. Topics include tuning, backup playing, kickoffs, endings, arpeggios, humor, minor scales and more. Music notation for 15 tunes is also included.

The Augusta Papers, $15
Contains 37 handouts for workshops or for private lessons that I have given to intermediate to advanced Hammer Dulcimer players. This booklet was given to my Advanced Hammer Dulcimer class at the Augusta Spring Dulcimer Week in 2003. Each page covers one topic that can stand alone as a study guide. Topics include jam etiquette, chord patterns, finding chord changes, musicianship, embellishments, improvisation, creativity , and more. Music notation for 12 tunes is also included.

Music booklet for Golliwog's Gymnopedia, $15
This tune book has the music notation for all the tunes on the CD Gollywog's Gymnopedia. Not yet available.

Music booklet for The Divine Dulcimer, $15
This tune book has the music notation for all the tunes on the CD The Divine Dulcimer. The arrangements are given in a simple form that can be played on almost any chromatic hammer dulcimer although this music can be played on most any instrument. Chords are given for most tunes so you can work out an arrangement that fits within your own style or so you can play an accompaniment with the CD.

Music booklet Through the Looking Glass, $15
This tune book has the music notation for all the tunes on the CD Through the Looking Glass. The arrangements are given in a simple form that can be played on almost any chromatic hammer dulcimer although this music can be played on most any instrument. Chords are given for most tunes so you can work out an arrangement that fits within your own style or so you can play an accompaniment with the CD.

Music booklet Whamdiddle Flashbacks, $15
This tune book has the music notation for all the tunes on the CD Whamdiddle Flashbacks. Not yet available.

“Composing music is just another way of keeping a diary.”

The First Piano

I think a clavichord builder must have built the first piano after being inspired from hearing a hammer dulcimer player.

Quality of Tone

  • The intensity of a partial of order m is proportional to 1/m for struck strings and 1/m2 for plucked strings. The upper partial tones are therefore louder for struck rather than plucked strings.
  • A small piece of wax placed on a string will cause considerable harm to the tunefulness of the sound. This is because the upper partials are slightly different from their stated values.
  • When tuning, pluck the string near the middle with your fingernail or other hard, sharp object (guitar pick). This will create a wave with a strong fundamental that is easy to hear for both your ear and your electronic tuner.
  • In pianos the point struck is about 1/7 to 1/9 the length of the string. This area gives the finest musical tone.
  • The time and method of strike will greatly affect the quality of tone.
Soft hammer
Struck for this fraction of time of prime tone.Struck
MPlucked.43.30.21.15Hard hammer
1100100100100100100
281100189249289325
3569108243357505
432217119260505
5131026108325
6300119100
7000000

Table from Sensations of Tone by Hermann Helmholtz

M is the number of the upper partial. The number in the body of the table relates to the intensity of a given upper partial relative to the intensity of the fundamental (M = 1) of a plucked or struck string.

This table contains the information to understand why softer hammers sound different, why different players create different sounds from the same instrument, and why the hammer dulcimer has such a unique sound among stringed instruments. Basically, the tone is greatly affected by the time the hammer stays in contact with the string.

  • Another reason the tone of the hammer dulcimer is distinctive is because there are two notes per string, one on either side of the bridge. Energy is transferred across the bridge to weakly excite the tone of the other portion of the string.

Fine Tuning

If you are having problems getting unisons on both sides of the treble bridge, make sure the string spacing is the same at all three bridges (two side bridges and treble bridge). If you do not like the tone of a certain note try using a lighter gauge wire as the only drawback will be less volume.

“Music is the meditation between the intellectual and sensuous life.”
— Beethoven

Contact Rick Fogel at 206.910.8259 or by email at
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