Welcome to the Old Time Music Forum

[Ptarmigan]

My name is Dick Glasgow & I am a Scotsman living in Ireland, a Hammered Dulcimer enthusiast who loves playing Old Time & Irish Music on my Hammered Dulcimer & Fiddle.

On this site, I am your friendly, neighbourhood 'Ptarmigan'.

Thanks for calling by and checking out my new Forum.

It was launched on Sunday November 4th 2007 and we now have << 105 >> Members[/b]

A while back June 10th I launched my Causeway Music 'MySpace' where we now have <<[/color] 735 >> 'Friends'[/b] most of whom are Old Time Music enthusiasts from all over the place.

Why not check out all our friends pages at - [/color] MySpace
Their pages contain some information about themselves & their instruments, plus some wonderful examples of their music. You will also get a real feel for the sort of music, instruments and good people this Forum is all about.

So do you play any of these recognized members of the Old Time Music family: Fiddle, Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin, Hammered Dulcimer, Bass Fiddle, Mountain Dulcimer, Autoharp, Harmonica, Washboard, Jaw Harp? Or perhaps one of the less well known instruments you sometimes see at Old Time Jams, like Tin Whistle, Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Accordion, Bodhran, Tabla, Zagat or Kalimba?

If so, I really look forward to hearing from you.

So if you are an Old Time player already, a musician who is interested in Old Time Music, or perhaps simply a musical enthusiast who loves the sound of that Old Time Music, then I hope you will be interested enough to want to become an active member of this new Forum.

As a member, you will be able to contribute to the information stored here and join in the discussions or perhaps even initiate some of the discussions yourself.

My hope is that this new forum will be a way for Old Time Music enthusiasts, of Ireland & the UK in particular, but also those in rest of Europe in particular and throughout the World in general, to simply keep in touch with each other, make new Old Time friends & learn about all the many, varied & wonderful members of the greater Old Time family of instruments.

This forum may well turn out to be a good vehicle too for touring Old Time players from here, and elsewhere, to promote their UK & Irish tours and reach local Old Time players and Club/ Venue organisers too.

However, please note that before you can access or contribute to any of the boards and their discussions here, you will need to register!

Once you have registered, you will receive an E-mail from me within 24 hours, asking you to send me a short E-mail in reply, with a little information about your own interest in Old Time Music. Once I have verified that you are a genuine enthusiast I will 'activate' your account & you will be able to join in the fun here.

Why the security?

I tried to run a similar forum a while back, but eventually was forced to close it down because of the huge numbers of spammers who literally destroyed the whole ethos of the forum on a daily basis & also, I might add, any possible pleasure I might have enjoyed from trying to promote music there. I suspect those pirates also rifled through the open files of members E-mail addresses too!

So this time, I believe I have found a format which I can better protect the members & their information from those C.S.P.s {Cyber-Space Plonkers} - the Spammers!

Unfortunately, this means that although visitors to the site can read the various discussions, nobody can actually access any of the information or post here, without becoming a member first.
Then, and only once I have established that new members are in fact genuine, will they be able to become an active member of our .

This might seem like a bit of an inconvenience, but I do believe it's a small price to pay for keeping our forum & it's members info protected from unwanted intruders. It will, I hope, ensure that this forum remains a safe little cyber-space, reserved for genuine Old Time Music enthusiasts only, so should lead to a safe and friendly atmosphere on the Boards.

N.B. Please note that new members registering, have one week to send me their qualifying E-mail!
If no such E-mail arrives at D.P.F. - H.Q. within 7 days, their names will automatically be removed from the "Members List".
Of course, if they are a genuine applicant, then they can re-apply at a later date, but if they are not, then quite honestly, we have no wish to look at spammers nonsense indefinitely & have it clutter up our members list!

Why a UK/Irish/European Forum?

I've actually been a member, and a regular contributor too, to that excellent American Forum -
Banjo Hangout
& also the wonderful
Sugar in the Gourd
for some time now.
I also receive monthy updates from Richard Hawkins excellent
The Bluegrass Ireland Blog
I am also a member of that wonderful outfit the
Friends of American Old Time Music and Dance


If you are not a member yet, I recommend that you join up & help support Old Time Music in the UK. N.B. Benefits of membership include receiving, free of charge every quarter, The Old Time News, the only UK publication dedicated to American old-time music and dance.
Anyway, knowing that there were a large number of excellent & enthusiastic Old Time players on this side of 'the Pond' too, I thought it might be about time to start up a Forum over here, where we can all learn from each other, without the 'language barrier [ ;D ] by discussing our playing problems, our latest tunes, promoting forthcoming Old Time events and generally encouraging each other, and in particular newcomers, to these wonderful instruments.

Rules of this Forum

For anyone unfamiliar with the recognised codes of conduct for Forum members, or even those of you who are used to posting on Forum threads but who haven't actually read the Rules for a while, I would urge you to take the time to read through the 'Rules of this Forum'.

They might seem a trifle regimented, but believe me, they are there to ensure that we 'all' enjoy ourselves, while visiting this forum.

If anyone does ever find anything at all on any of these pages, which alarms or concerns them or which they simply feel just does not belong here, please let me know by pm, immediately!

Incidentally, if at any time, you feel like giving me advice on how I run this Forum, I would appreciate it, if you would do so by private E-mail only. I am open to criticism, but let's keep the pages of this Forum positive, thanks.

Forum's Background Image

For your information, the photo of those wonderful looking Banjos, which I use for the background to this Forum, is of a Banjo made in Denmark by Johannes Bonefaas. The original photo looked like this:



However, Johannes gave us permission to adapt it to suit our forum, so our resident image magician, Jesper Deleuran, tweeked it & I must say, I think it looks pretty darn good.

If you would like to learn more about Johannes & his Banjos, you should check out his website:

JB Banjo - Johannes Bonefaas - Denmark

Forum's Title Bar Image

I thought you might also like to know that the Fiddle in the Title Bar was made by James Beatley of Dublin. I play one of his excellent Fiddles, so it's appropriate that it features on this Forum.

James has been a full time Luthier since 1995, which is when he started working towards his Diploma in Violin making and repair at the Newark School of Violin Making (N.S.V.M.) England.

So if your in the market for a new, or 2nd hand, Fiddle you should give James a call.


James Beatley - Dublin, Ireland

Now it's your turn!

OK, that's enough chattering from me, now it's your turn.

If you have an interest in Old Time Music, a fascination for any one, or more, of this amazing family of instruments, &/or a passion for playing them, then why not lend us a helping hand here, and do yourself a favour at the same time, by registering now, as a member of this new 'Old Time Music' Forum?

As soon as you become a member, please gallop over to the:
Welcome New Members Board & tell us a little bit about yourself, your music and the instrument, or instruments, in your life.
Be sure to & visit the Where do you live & play your Old Time Music?, POLL, and let us know where you are - thanks.

At the moment, the POLL looks like this:

Geography Poll of our 105 Members:

U.S.A.: 6
England: 6
Scandinavia: 5
Germany: 2
Northern Ireland: 1
Republic of Ireland: 1
Wales: 1
France: 1
Spain & Portugal: 1

Other 81

N.B. One of the most useful links here, is the:
View the 10 most recent posts of this forum.
which you will find in the Info Centre at the foot of the Home Page.

The other is the Google Search Engine ~ the oldtimehammer one, which you'll find at the foot of the page.
It's a great way of tracking down the stuff which really interests you, here.



P. S. Adds Warning!
A member of this Forum has pointed out that their Spyware went absolutely crazy after they clicked on one of the Adds, which are displayed above & below this Forum!
I have absolutely no control over these Adds, so please ...... be very careful!