Time in Your Hands

Defined by movement and experienced only in time, music and dance are truly ephemeral.  Whether the art form is a three minute pop song or a two hour ballet, it cannot be performed without a clock and it cannot be perceived outside of the cradle of time.  Tempo, beat, and pulse are terms musicians routinely use to establish the time of a composition.

Since the Baroque period, musicians have developed a lexicon of Italian words to set the approximate tempo of music.  No fewer than twenty-eight terms are used in an effort to get musicians to play music at the tempos intended by composers. 

Accidental Order

The Circle of 5ths tells you that there are 3 sharps in the key of A.  It does not tell you why.  Here's the WHY part.

Create Your Own Chord Improvisations

Tools

•    The six chord options in the keys of C, G , D and A

•    Chord patterns on the dulcimer for all six chord options

•    Rhythmic patterns appropriate to duple and triple time

•    Cadential Forms

•    Standard chord progressions

•    Pentatonic scales.

•    Functional Dissonant tones

Beginning Skills

Concentrate on one key.  Master the six tools in that key first.  The key of “D” will be the focus of this discussion.   Move next to the key of “G”.  Then to “A” and finally to “C”.

More Scales than a Fish

That’s how music must seem.  Every time we blink, someone has a new scale to suggest.  The familiar, Ionian mode (do re me fa so la ti do) and the Aeolian mode (la ti do re me fa so la) dominate popular music.  But folk music makes good use of other modes including Dorian and Mixolydian.  One would think that should be enough.  But, really, how much of a good thing is enough??

Here are some additional scales to put into your inventory.

Scales & Keys.....What's the Difference?

Confused by the difference between a scale and a musical key?  The distinction can be confusing at first.  Maybe this will help clear up the confusion.  

Sunrise - Bones in the Sky - Science Fiction

Believe or not the memorable theme from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey played when the ape tosses a bone into the sky fits very nicely on the hammer dulcimer.  The name of this short fanfare is Sunrise

A pdf of the lead sheet is available through this link:  Sunrise.

Trill, Vibrato and Tremolo

All of these colorist techniques are available on the hammer dulcimer.