Our Instruments

Roland FP-90X Digital Piano

I chose this particular keyboard model because it feels the closest to playing an acoustic piano. With other digital keyboards, there is a dullness in the tone that this Roland model transcends. The touch is as exciting as playing my Yamaha Baby Grand.

I am very happy while playing on this keyboard! It has tremendous capabilities for live performance, including combining sounds, splitting the keyboard into different sounds, an equalizer, ambiance choices, including a wood room, and memory for each sound design I create for our diverse repertoire. The built-in speakers are very powerful and enable me to not need to plug into an amplifier for rehearsals and small house performances.

Celtic II 34 String Harp

The Celtic II 34 String Harp is not only rich in tone, but also a work of art visually with her Celtic knot engravings, moonstones, abalone inlays, walnut and bubinga wood. She weighs 25 pounds, has an integrated pickup, a range of C2 - A7, and is 52 inches high.

She was made in Southern California by Triplett Harp Makers. Between Verlene and me, we have lovingly owned about 8 Triplett Harps. I am calling her Luna for now, but I think there is another name that will emerge as she becomes more comfortable with being a harp. She was lovingly born in February of 2023.

Taylor Model 514ce LTD Grand Auditorium Acoustic-Electric Guitar

Rich and sparkly! That is how I describe the sound of this beautiful guitar. We are pleased and impressed with the tone and responsiveness! Whether strumming, finger-picking, or using it as a drum, it adds brightness and power to our music-making.

Yamaha 37-Key Melodica

The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usually covers three octaves.

Instrument family: Wind instrument, Woodwind instrument, Aerophone, Free reed Aerophone

Place of origin: Italy

Invented: 1950s

Inventor: Hohner

Related instruments: Harmonica, Accordion, Reed Organ, Yu

The melodica was first used as a serious musical instrument in the 1960s by composers such as Steve Reich in his piece titled Melodica (1966). Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal developed a technique consisting of singing while playing the melodica, resulting in a wide tonal and harmonic palette.

5-string Violin

What's the difference between a fiddle and a violin? I'm asked that a lot! Well, mainly it's the music played on the instrument, and the technique and bowing patterns. There are some who set up a violin as a "fiddle' by using a slightly flatter bridge, enabling them to play two strings at once more easily, but for the most part, you can use any violin to play traditional music.

A 5-string violin adds a string below the standard violin's lowest string. So the tuning from the highest sounding string to the lowest is: E A D G C. The C is the same low C as on a viola.

My 5-string violin is an acoustic-electric with a built in pick-up. The model is The Realist RV5e by David Gage String Instruments. I use a carbon fiber bow by Coda Bow.

Swedish Nyckelharpa

Nyckel is the Swedish word for "key," and harpa is a word used for any stringed instrument before violins were used in Sweden. Like the hurdy-gurdy, the instrument has keys, but instead of being played with a wheel and a crank, the nyckelharpa is played with a bow like a violin or fiddle. So, a nyckelharpa is a "keyed fiddle."

The nyckelharpa has several keys that are pushed in individually, moving a wooden dowel called a "tangent" to shorten the length of the string, producing a higher pitch. Each key on the modern nyckelharpa increases the pitch by one half step, making it a fully chromatic instrument. There are four bowed stings, with keys on the highest three.

From the highest to the lowest, the strings are tuned to A (440), middle C, G and the octave below middle C. This low C is used as a drone or the bottom note in a chord. In addition to the four bowed strings, there are 12 chromatic strings that are set lower in the bridge so that the bow can't reach them. These are "resonant" strings that vibrate sympathetically with each pitch.

The nyckelharpa dates back to the 14th century, with a stone carving of one on the gates of Källunge church on Gotland, which is an island off the coast of Sweden. The earlier nyckelharpa was not fully chromatic and had fewer strings. The modern nyckelharpa was developed by August Bohlin in the early 1900s with improvements made by Eric Sahlström.

My nyckelharpa was made in Sweden by luthier, Martin Westermark.

Mandolin

A mandolin is like a fretted violin that you pluck and strum instead of bow. The strings are tuned in fifths, the same as a violin, and they are doubled, so you have two Es, two As, two Ds, and two Gs.

A characteristic sound is the tremolo which is a rapid back and forth strumming pattern on individual strings or on multiple strings.

My mandolin is a Gibson hybrid from 1939. It was likely made during a transition between models. It has a hole in the middle like a guitar rather than the F holes like those on a violin.

Irish Tenor Banjo

The tenor banjo has 4 strings, unlike the bluegrass banjo which has 5 strings. There are several ways to tune a tenor banjo, with the most common being tuned like a viola. Some people will tune the four strings like the top four strings of a guitar.

The Irish tenor banjo is tuned an octave below the violin, with the strings from high to low: E (just above middle C) A D G

My Irish tenor banjo is a Gold Tone by Deering.

Celtic Harp

The Celtic Harp has levers that change the pitch of each string by one half step. This is in contrast with the Orchestral Harp, a.k.a. Pedal Harp, which uses pedals to change the pitch of each string up or down one half step. Celtic harps come in all sizes, from a small harp that can be held in the lap to a large harp (still smaller than the pedal harp) that sits on the floor. The smaller the harp, the smaller the range of notes. The lowest note on most floor harps is the C two octaves below middle C. The range is usually around 5 octaves.

My harp has 34 strings, and is two notes shy of 5 octaves. It is the original Celtic model by Triplett Harps with a Dusty Strings pick-up system installed. The Celtic model has been redesigned, so new ones are called the Celtic II, which is what Lynda plays! The wood on my harp is walnut for the body with a spruce soundboard.

Acoustic-Electric Guitar

Lynda and I have the same guitar, although mine is an older model. It is a Taylor 514CE acoustic electric guitar with a cutaway. I use standard guitar tuning, as does Lynda. We love our matching guitars and are enjoying playing our two guitars together for some tunes!

Concertina

A concertina is a small button accordion that has a hexagon shape. For the Anglo concertina, each button plays two different notes, one on the "push" and one on the "pull." 20 key concertinas have two rows of 5 buttons on each side, whereas 30 key concertinas have three rows of 5 buttons per side.

The notes are arranged so that the notes Do Mi So (the 1, 3, and 5 in the major scale, which are also the three notes of the tonic or "one" chord) are played when pushing but the other notes in the scale are played when pulling. For music theory geeks, that's the dominant 9 chord!

The middle row plays the notes in a C chord on the push and a G9 on the pull. The inside row plays a G chord on the push and a D9 on the pull. The outside row is interesting -- it has a few duplicate notes from the other two rows, but are on the pull instead of push, or push instead of pull. The other buttons are assigned to the other accidentals so that playing in keys with more sharps or with Bb is possible.

My concertina is a Morse & Co. Céilí Anglo 30 key concertina.