Nice blurb on the homepage, too, by editor Lois Hornbostel:
A beautifully written article, music, mountain dulcimer tablature, and sound file from Peter Ellertsen and Michael Thomas on a lovely, historic Swedish-American hymn that plays beautifully on the mountain dulcimer – “Children of the Heavenly Father” from Jenny Lind.In COMM 337, I'll walk you through the story and talk about the strategies I used writing it, the things that worked and some things that didn't.
Query. A query letter is a sales pitch - a document that's designed to get an editor interested in your story. They're designed to: (1) hook the editor's interest; (2) tell what the story's about; and (3) say why you're qualified to write it. We'll learn how to write queries later on this semester. In the meantime, here's the query letter I emailed in for this story:
Lois Hornbostel, Editor
Dulcimer Sessions
Dear Lois:
Along with the polkas, schottisches and waltzes Scandinavian-Americans have contributed to the mosiac of American music, is a rich heritage of chorales and beloved 19th-century gospel songs sung by a cappella choirs and congregations everywhere. In the early days, Swedish and Norwegian immigrants used a box zither in little churches out on the Midwestern prairies that couldn't yet afford an organ. The instrument, which is called a psalmodikon and looks a lot like a dulcimer, is enjoying a modest revival these days in connection with the Nordic roots music revival in the upper Midwest. And the songs, often set to catchy folk melodies, are perfect for the dulcimer. Attached for your consideration for publication in Dulcimer Sessions are an article and mountain dulcimer tablature for a popular Swedish hymn.
In a way, the story grows out of your ethnic music workshop at the Indiana Dulcimer Festival. It started me thinking more about the music of my Norwegian-American heritage, and I decided it would be fun to write an article the folks who read Dulcimer Sessions might enjoy. I'm an old newspaper guy, and now that I've retired from full-time teaching, I've been looking for more free-lance writing assignments. (My resume is available on my blog Hogfiddle at http://hogfiddle.blogspot.com/2010/05/resume.html). I've written for Dulcimer Players News and the EverythingDulcimer.com website, and I have several articles on music history in regional magazines in the Midwest.
Attached are: (1) a PDF file of mountain dulcimer tablature, arranged by Mike Thomas of our dulcimer club in Springfield, of a Swedish-American hymn called "Children of the Heavenly Father"; and (2) my 1,250-word article that tells about the song, the immigrants who sang it, their musical instruments and how different artists have interpreted it. At the end of the article are pictures taken this year at Swedish-American festivals in Bishop Hill, Illinois, and copies of 19th-century psalmodikon tablature and an 1894 choral arrangement showing the dynamics of "Children of the Heavenly Father." The pictures are mine, and the music is in the public domain. While the pictures are embedded in the attached Microsoft Word document, I can send you separate JPEG files in order to facilitate editing. I can also replace the HTML links in this draft with new ones that open in a separate window.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Pete
3 comments:
In class you say, "Not a great story, but one that got into print." I just want you to know that I think it is more than a great story. The history, the facts, and the culture are all tied together to make the story a 'package deal.' I am now educated on the dulcimer and the music it makes. Thank you.
Throughout reading the article, I found myself wishing I had access to YouTube so that I could hear a version of this song. The history was rich and enlightening—but what I really appreciated about this article was the analysis of the song itself. I like that there seemed to be a bit of experimenting with tunings in order to achieve the desired sound. The end of the article did a great job of writing about music—which is known to be about as tedious as “dancing about architecture.” It was also a surprise to find the sheet music at the end of the article. This article greatly appeals to amateur musicians seeking exploration in different genres of music.
@ Stacie - "dancing about architecture"
:)
- Doc
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