We welcomed the opportunity to have Jeff Furman of Chapel Hill, NC for a workshop and concert weekend September 12 and 13, 2025. Jeff’s Friday morning workshop included some essential right hand techniques, the practice of which can form the basis of good playing. In the second workshop, some left hand techniques were introduced and we tried these out using several new pieces introduced by Jeff.

Jeff’s Saturday workshop was tagged as a session for  LISTENING, HEARING, FEELING, UNDERSTANDING. After individuals and small groups played for us all, Jeff led us in discussions of what we heard, felt, noticed, and what might have been a nice addition or variation.

We all learned from the process, regardless of our individual starting points. And we had FUN as we shared!

The clip below contains excerpts of several of the groups or individuals who shared.

Saturday’s workshop ended with us being introduced to a multipart piece, in which we were encouraged to play each of the parts.

Jeff’s range of musical genres were highlighted at his Saturday afternoon concert, each piece matched to a unique dulcimer that best showcased that particular style. The dulcimer woods ranged from spruce, curly maple, and cherry to ebony, and the luthiers hailed from California to Washington state to Eastern Appalachia. Selections included Hector the Hero, Shenandoah, Protect the Innocent, and Farewell to Trion among others.

Clips from several of Jeff’s pieces from the Saturday concert at BRC are shared here:

WHAT A GREAT WORKSHOP AFTER A FIVE YEAR DEARTH!!  Both days met and went beyond all expectations. We, the Blue Ridge Mountain Dulcimer Players Club, are very grateful for the generosity, thoughtfulness, excellent preparation, suggestions, and flexible delivery for a wonderful two days of LISTENING/LEARNING/FEELING/UNDERSTANDING provided by Jeff. We share our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Jeff Furman for sharing this time with us.