Danny Shepherd
I was born and raised in Hopkinsville, KY. After high school I attended Austin
Peay State University, Clarksville, TN, until drafted into the U.S. Army and
assigned to the 101st Airborne Band as a Percussionist. My next assignment was
the Armed Forces School of Music in Little Creek, VA as a Percussion Instructor.
There I gave private and group instruction and performed in faculty ensembles.
After four years teaching, I was assigned as Solo Instrumentalist with the United
States Continental Army Band at Ft. Monroe, VA. My final Army tour was with the
79th Army Band in the Republic of Panama where I served as the Enlisted Band
Leader (1st Sergeant). My military years were filled with wonderful travel and
performance opportunities across the United States, Central and South America.
After my Army retirement I returned to my Kentucky “roots” and completed my
Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education.
I've taught K-5 Elementary Music for the past eleven years.
About six years ago I purchased a cardboard mountain dulcimer kit in a
Fredericksburg, TX dulcimer shop. About four years later I finally got around to
pulling it out and putting it together. The first time I played it I was “hooked”!
It wasn’t long before I began using the instrument in my 3rd-5th grade music
classes.
As a Music Educator, I have the opportunity to pass on the heritage and traditions
of American music. One of my goals is to teach children about American folk
music and the instruments used to perform it.
My book “Mountain Dulcimer for Children (and the Young At Heart), The Color
and Play Method reflects concepts I have been teaching for the past several
years in my classroom. This method has worked very well with my 3rd – 5th
grade students and in 2008-2009 I’ll begin using it for the first time with 2nd grade
students.
My dulcimer books were designed to:
 | | Introduce children of all ages (and the young at heart) to the Mountain | | | Dulcimer
| | | Provide a simple method for learning to play the dulcimer with one finger, | | | on one string
| | | Provide immediate success and gratification from the first song you learn to | | | play
| | | Provide core rhythm concepts from the very beginning, so students have a | | | solid foundation on which to build
| | | Teach to a variety of individual learning styles:
| | | Visual (looking at graphics, text, numbers, colors, shapes, & patterns)
| | | Auditory (by saying the rhythms out loud, singing the songs, listening to the | | | companion CD)
| | | Tactile/Kinesthetic (using the crayons to color the circles on each page | | | using the color guide at the bottom of the page – reinforces, shapes,
numbers, and patterns of notes and rhythms)
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About our Cardboard Dulcimers
Limited funding for musical instruments motivated me to find an affordable
solution for providing one instrument per student in my classes. My classroom
has a few wooden instruments, and I have also built cardboard dulcimers from kits
for my students to use.
Recently, after self-publishing my books, I decided to build more dulcimer kits
using the colorful fabric patterns you see here on our website. The fabric is
applied using an art medium which originated in the 17th century (known today as
decoupage). I’m now able to offer my teaching method, along with an attractive
and affordable student level instrument.
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