Beneath the Willow is my latest book.
It includes the lyrics and chords to 78 old time songs and has chord charts for guitar and mountain dulcimer in DAD and DAA
tunings. Click here for more information.
You can schedule private lessons with me either
in person or through the computer using Skype. Either way, lessons are $30 for a 45 minute lesson. You do not
have to commit to a set weekly schedule. Most students regularly schedule for every two weeks. Lessons are scheduled
at time and places that are mutually convenient to both student and teacher. Please call me at 901-877-7763 to discuss available
lesson times or send me an email.
Loaner dulcimers are available for
those who are interested in trying before they invest in an instrument.
Feel free to call me at 901-877-7763, send me an e-mail , or send me a letter at P.O. Box 224, Moscow, TN 38057, if you have questions.
BEGINNER'S BOOK FOR NEW PLAYERS!
New 2nd edition with instructional CD!
Blue Smoke Risin' on the Mountain is my book
for the beginning dulcimer player, and the second edition is now available. This latest edition includes new chapters
on the history of the mountain dulcimer and how modes are applied to the instrument. The provides step-by-step
instruction for playing and tuning the dulcimer, using the methods from my classes. The best part -- the all new
instructional CD includes oral instruction for getting started, playing, and strumming. It also includes play-along
recordings of the songs from the book. The book contains tablature for seven different songs, with DAA and DAD tunings
for each. Also included is an arrangement of Amazing Grace in the key of G. The CD includes 19 tracks
of instruction and songs and makes learning even easier by allowing the student to hear the tunes and to play along with
the CD as you learn.
Songs included (all songs in both DAA and DAD, and all songs include suggested strumming patterns):
Amazing Grace; Amazing Grace (DGD); Bile Them Cabbage Down; Gray Cat on a Tennessee Farm; Liza Jane; Soldier's Joy; Twinkle,
Twinkle, Little Star; Wildwood Flower.
Book/CD set $20 (plus $4 postage).
Book only $12 (plus $4 postage).
To order, mail checks to me at P.O. Box 224, Moscow, TN 38057. Questions?
Write to me by clicking the "Write to Lee" link at the top of the page or call 901-877-7763.
"The Water is Wide" CD from Lee Cagle and Betty
Dawson, with friends Steve Newman and John Albertson. All proceeds from the sale of the CD benefit
The Church Health Center of Memphis. CDs are $15 and can be purchased locally
from Lee Cagle (send me an e-mail or call 901-877-7763); The Episcopal Bookshop, 672 Poplar; or Cokesbury Books, 6150
Poplar Avenue. Click the photo link on the right to learn more about our volunteer
project and to hear songs from the CD.
To order from me, send check or money order to
Lee Cagle, P.O. Box 224, Moscow, TN 38057.
CD only: $15 plus $3 shipping (Total $18)
Tablature Book only: $15 plus $4 shipping (Total
$19)
CD and Tab Book: $30 plus $4 shipping (Total
$34)
All proceeds from sale of the CD goes to Church Health Center.
Also available: The Water is Wide Tablature
Book for Mountain Dulcimer. Play along with the CD! $15 (plus $4 shipping).
Maag and Lee at Cullowhee, NC
During the summers of 2003, 2004, and 2005, I travelled
to Cullowhee, NC, to attend a weeklong workshop on techniques for playing mountain dulcimer. I have met players
from as far away as NY, Canada and Australia. Each year brings new and exciting aspects to my playing and teaching.
For information about Dulcimer Week at WCU, go to http://cess.wcu.edu/dulcimer.
I play a Blue Lion mountain dulcimer by Bob and Janita Baker.
You should, too!
I came across but one singer who sang to an instrumental accompaniment,
the guitar, and that was in Charlottesville, Va. Mrs. Campbell, however, tells me that in Kentucky, where I have not
yet collected, singers occasionally play an instrument called the dulcimer, a shallow, wooden box, with four sound-holes,
in shape somewhat like a flat, elongated violin, over which are strung three (sometimes four) metal strings, the two (or three)
lower of which are tonic-drones, the melody being played upon the remaining and uppermost string which is fretted. As
the strings are plucked with the fingers and not struck with a hammer, the instrument would, I suppose, be more correctly
called a psaltery. -- Cecil J. Sharp in his introduction to English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, co-authored
with Olive Dame Campbell and published in 1917
