We hope you can come join us in a jam at the Humpback Rock Visitor Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway! Club members will be playing from 2 – 4 pm on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of  June, July, August, and September.  If the weather is agreeable, October, too!  It’s always a fun way to spend time with the dulcimer community and to share our music with visitors to the Blue Ridge Parkway!

Bring your own chair – sometimes we play on the porch of the Joe Clark cabin right down the path, and sometimes we play on the platform under the big tree.

To get to Humpback Rocks Visitor Center, simply get on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Afton Mountain, and head south about 5.5 miles.  The area where we play is at the south end of the Visitor Center parking lot.

Note: In the event of inclement weather, PLEASE CHECK THIS WEBSITE or our Facebook page for a notification of cancellation.

Our next First Saturday jam will be September 7,  2019 from 2 – 4 pm in the Shenandoah Room at Maple Terrace in the Bridgewater Retirement Community.    We hope to see you there!

The following “First Saturday” jam will be on October 5 at Grand Caverns Park in Grottoes. Note that this jam is part of our annual fall picnic, and the time will be changed. More details here:

See dates for our Third Saturday jams below!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Our next Third Saturday gathering will be from 2 – 4 pm on August 17, 2019. The location will be the Augusta County Library in Fishersville, downstairs. Bring a list of songs you would like the group to play, your Dave Haas Jam Book and our Joe Collins hymn collection!

The regularly scheduled “Third Saturday” jam will be NOT BE HELD September 21, 2019, since our Tull Glazener workshop is being held that day.

Note: In the event of inclement weather, PLEASE CHECK THIS WEBSITE for a notification of cancellation.

Summer First Saturday Jams MAY be relocated to the Oasis, just for fun, for sharing and for being in an outdoor venue.  This always depends on the availability of the Oasis Shelter in the Bridgewater Retirement Village, as well as weather!  If the location is changed from the Shenandoah Room, members will be notified via email.

Tull Glazener “Sum of the Parts” Workshop planned for September 21!

Save the date:  Saturday, September 21:  Tull Glazener workshop for Blue Ridge Mountain Dulcimer Players. He is best known for writing multi-part ensemble arrangements for dulcimer groups and he enjoys adapting all kinds of music to the mountain dulcimer, including aires and waltzes, hymns and gospel tunes, rag-time, traditional/old-time, contemporary, classical, jazz, and more.

“Sum of the Parts” – there’s something magic that happens when a like-minded group of musicians gets together to play.   The “whole” truly is greater than the sum of its parts!  We’ll spend the day working on the skills and techniques needed to “play well with others” as we work through a number of multi-part ensemble arrangements.   Those arrangements will be pulled from a wide variety of musical genres, such as waltzes/aires, hymns/gospel tunes, old-time/fiddle tunes, Tin Pan Alley/rag-time, classical, etc.  The different parts are suitable for a wide range of skill and experience levels, from “just past beginner” through intermediate and beyond.

Read more about Tull and his music at his website: http://www.tullglazener.com/

October 5, 2019 – Annual Fall Picnic

Grand Caverns Park in Grottoes will be the location of our First Saturday Jam in October! Bring a dish to share for our mid-day picnic; plates, water bottles and plastic ware will be provided.

Our upcoming jams are listed here (view here).

Check out some photos of our 2018 Holiday Concert – it looks like everyone had a great time!  

Thanks to Gene Bowlen for  running sound. 

We ended with the Sing-A-Long, doing THREE TUNES; JINGLE BELLS, JOY TO THE WORLD, AND WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS, with more than 25 dulcimers playing!

Thanks to friends and family for helping us to celebrate this holiday season with music!

• Plan to arrive between 11 and noon, and set up for our picnic.  A “slow jam” is planned between 11 and noon; we will “boil that cabbage” while food is getting set up!  Consider this an “introduction to jamming” for newbies and a chance to play some slow tunes, for any who might find fast jam tunes daunting! So, plan to bring your dulcimer and chair!  Dinah Ansley will lead this jam; bring your Dave Haas Jam book.  We have only two more jam books left at the special club price.
• Lunch will be at noon – bring a dish to share, BBQ chicken will be provided by the club!  –Bring a friend and family, too!  Paper plates, plastic ware and water will be provided.
• We will continue with a jam after our meal, playing some of our usual jam favorites and a few faster tunes.
• (In the case of inclement weather, please check our Facebook Page or website for updates or cancellation information).

Note: there will be no Jam held at the Fishersville Library on Sept. 15, 2018; as we will be jamming together at Grand Caverns Park in Grottoes, VA on Sept. 22!

Our Joe Collins Dulcimer Workshop

The 6:00 pm Evening Concert by Joe Collins was a delight and enjoyed by a good sized group!  Thanks to all who came, participated and shared!

Joe Collins was winner of the National Mountain Dulcimer Championship in 2007 in Winfield, KS, in addition to numerous other awards! Over the past twenty years, he has had the opportunity to teach and play in festivals from California to the east coast, from Florida to Vermont, and a lot of places in between.   His performances are sprinkled with a lot of humor and some excellent mountain dulcimer playing – sure to bring a smile to audiences of all ages.

We hope you can come join us in a jam at the Humpback Rock Visitor Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway! Club members will be playing from 2 – 4 pm on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of  June, July, August, and September.  If the weather is agreeable, October, too!  It’s always a fun way to spend time with the dulcimer community and to share our music with visitors to the Blue Ridge Parkway!

Bring your own chair – sometimes we play on the porch of the Joe Clark cabin right down the path, and sometimes we play on the platform under the big tree.

Enjoy these photos and audio clips of our December 16 Holiday Concert at the Fishersville Library!

This is a sound clip from the concert:

Members of the BRMDP Club shared seasonal music at the Augusta County Public Library in Fishersville  on December 16, 2017.

Those sharing music included:

SWEET STRING SISTERS – from the Waynesboro area
DULCE, CHARLOTTESVILLE DULCIMER CIRCLE – from the Charlottesville area
MARYLOUISE’S FINGERPICKING GROUP – primarily the Shenandoah Valley from Bridgewater to Greenville
PARICIA AND SHANNON DUO
DINAH’S BRIDGEWATER GROUP – this will be the “sing-a-long” group and last group to perform before a final invitation for all dulcimers players to join in playing/singing WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS.