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Playing Traditional French Dance Music on Mountain Dulcimer
(and Enjoying It!)

by Peter Tommerup, Ph.D.

"Why should I consider playing traditional French dance music on the mountain dulcimer?" you might ask. To begin with, the tunes are upbeat, fun to play, easier than many Irish and old-time fiddle tunes, sound great on the dulcimer, and they have their own intrinsic beauty. The goal of this article is to introduce you to the qualities that make this musical tradition special, as well as to why it may be especially interesting to dulcimer players!

Following this narrative, I will give you a distinctive and beautiful traditional French waltz to get you started exploring and enjoying this music.

An Overview of Traditional French Dance Music:

The traditional instrumental dance music we're discussing mostly hails from the provinces of Alsace, Auvergne, Berry, Bourbonnais and Gascogne. These lie either within or near the "Massif Central," a large upland plateau in central France. Historically, this region was primarily rural and agricultural, though it has increasingly given rise to some more urban areas in recent times. The people who lived here in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries primarily worked the soil to make their living. They relied on their traditions to provide them with the cultural resources they needed to live, work, raise a family, and play. One form of traditional recreation that many residents favored for "kicking up their heels" was social dancing. And the kinds of folk dances they danced were, of course, closely connected to the traditional instrumental music they danced to, and to the instruments upon which this was composed and played.

Several instruments that helped to shape the traditional music of these provinces are the hurdy gurdy (also known as 'la vielle' or 'wheel fiddle'), various kinds of bagpipes, and the "button box" accordion. Another more localized folk instrument from the Vosges Mountains in Alsace may also have been used to play this kind of dance music. This is known as the "épinette des Vosges." It is a small, rectangular or hourglass shaped, fretted zither, and it is customarily played after being placed either on a table or on a person's lap. Does this sound familiar?

Interestingly, the epinette happens to be one of the European ancestors to the American mountain dulcimer. At this point, however, the épinette's connection to--and possible impact on--this body of traditional French dance music is suggestive rather than certain, as I have not been able to locate any research on this particular topic.

An important characteristic of these traditional French musical instruments for dulcimer players is that they were primarily designed to play diatonic modal music, which is also the dulcimer's forte. Another interesting quality of this music is that the dulcimer can convincingly emulate and complement the musical "voice" of each of these instruments. For example, the dulcimer can, in its own way, replicate the characteristic drone of the hurdy gurdy, the bagpipe, and the épinette by simply playing a melody on its "melody" string(s) and allowing the others to drone a continuous and unchanging harmony. On the other hand, a defining characteristic of the button box accordion--the ability to play a diatonic melody and shift chords at the same time--can also be successfully emulated on the mountain dulcimer when it is played in the popular "chord-melody" style. In addition to blending well with these other instruments, the dulcimer also complements their sounds with its own, thus adding a "new" voice to the soundscape of this music.

Several other characteristics of traditional French dance music may also endear themselves to dulcimer players who have spent time working on (and perhaps struggling with) Irish or old-time dance tunes. These include:

Simpler and more compact melodies whose range is typically somewhere between a musical fifth and an octave (instead of an octave and a half to two octaves), which means not having to move so far around the fretboard to get all the notes;
More repetitious melodies, which means the tunes are more quickly learned and more easily memorized;
More "chord friendly" melodies which emphasize intervals of a musical third (such as: the interval of 'A' to 'C,' or 'do' to 'mi'). This means that it is likely to be easier and less awkward to fret the chord and the melody notes at the same time in a chord-melody style of playing;
Tunes are typically played in fewer keys--mostly in "C" and "G" major. This stems from the key limitations of the traditional diatonic and "dronal" instruments customarily used to play this music. Minor tunes are somewhat more rare, and tend to be played in the following keys: "D" minor and "A" minor. (To compare, Irish tunes are typically found in D, G, and A major, and E, A, D and B Dorian). For dulcimer players, this is likely to mean less retuning or capoing to be able to play a tune in its customary key.
Rhythmic variety is strikingly different in French dance tunes for several reasons:

a wider variety of note values can be found in many tunes. Whereas Irish tunes frequently contain only 2 different note values in a given piece (e.g., eighth and quarter notes), French dance tunes often contain 4 or 5 distinct note values in a single tune (sixteenth, eighth, quarter, half and whole notes);
French dance tunes come in meters that aren't found in Irish tunes, such as 5/4 and 3/8;
the French dance tune repertoire also includes pieces that are in "mixed metered" timing--that is each part of the tune is in a different timing, (e.g., 4/4 and 3/4); and
as well as in "irregular meters," where the timing changes back and forth throughout the tune (e.g., 3/4 to 5/4 to 3/4 to 2/4).

An important last piece of musical information is that traditional French dance tunes may be found in a variety of different genres. Each genre is named after the kind of traditional dance form that it supports, much as in the Irish and old-time repertoires. The prevalent categories of dances and dance tunes, then, are bourrees, schottisches, mazurkas, waltzes and polkas. As a quickie generalization, bourrees are roughly equivalent to Irish reels (fast and notey), schottisches are roughly equivalent to Irish hornpipes (slower and more lilting), and mazurkas are a bit like very "notey" waltzes. As for French waltzes and polkas, the former are played faster than in the Anglo, Celtic and American traditions, while the latter are among the fastest of their dance tune genres (as they are in Ireland and the US). In addition, the French have "mixed meter" tunes (e.g., schottische-waltzes) and "irregular meter" tunes, where the timing shifts back and forth throughout a piece.

To sum up, what all of this means is that traditional French dance tunes have a beauty and integrity of their own, and that they tend to be more accessible on the mountain dulcimer than many fiddle or dance tunes in the Anglo, Celtic and American musical traditions. They also may sound more rhythmically rich, diverse or complex than many Irish tunes, as well as more melodically simple.

"La Marianne" & Entering a French Musical Mindset:

While it is beyond the scope of this introductory article to discuss the above information in any greater depth, one thing that may help you to begin to develop a feel for this music is to invite you to learn a beautiful, accessible and representative French waltz. It's name is "La Marianne," and it comes from the province of Bourbonnais, where it was collected by Edmond Lemaigre. He published it in 1881 in a book of his collections entitled, Bourrees et Montagnardes Suivies de 3 Bourbonnaises.

A good way to enter the appropriate "musical mindset" to begin to work on "La Marianne" is to listen to how it sounds. Really immerse yourself in listening to the sound files included below. Take in the musical qualities of the piece; it's musical "twists and turns," as well as its "notier" and less "notey" parts. Listen to it long enough so that you can anticipate how the tune unfolds, and that you are able to hum along with it.

MP3 Audio: Introduction | Moderate Speed | Full Version

Now let's take a look at the tablature for "La Marianne." Before raising a finger to a string, notice the tuning (DAD), the timing (3/4 or 'waltz' time"), and the playing style. In this case, you can either flatpick the tune (play only the notes shown), or strum it (play the notes as shown but let your strumming hand brush across all the strings all the time, not just on the first beat of each measure).

Another important piece of information to gather from the tablature before launching into playing it includes the "flow" of the tune, or how it unfolds. Did you realize from listening to and humming along with "La Marianne," for example, that the first part (or 'A' part) of this two part tune has a slower feel to it (due to the many quarter notes), and the second part (or 'B' part) has a faster feel to it (due to the many eighth notes)?

One more important item is that there are two endings in the "A" part. The first ending is two measures long, measures seven and eight. The second ending is also two measures long, measures nine and ten. You may already know how to play a tune that has two "endings," but a little review doesn't hurt. Play the tune all the way through the first ending (measures 1-8), then go back to the beginning and play measures 1-6. Now, skip measures 7 and 8, and end with measures 9 and 10.

Next, within each part of "La Marianne," look for "recurring musical patterns." Let's start with the "A" part. See how measures 1 and 2 are exactly the same as measures 5 and 6? Also, note how measures 3 and 4 are different from measures 7 and 8. This is a very typical pattern in many forms of traditional dance music. Since these tunes were learned by ear and remembered (not written down and stored on paper for later use), the tunes had to be easily recalled and catchy enough to be remembered in the first place.

Next, let's take a look for recurring patterns in the "B" part of "La Marianne." Here you will notice that measures 11, 12 and 13 are exactly the same as measures 15, 16 and 17. You may further notice that the melody repeats the same basic pattern in each of these three measures. For example, let's focus on measure number 12. This starts on a note (fret # 2), goes up two notes (fret # 4), then back to its original note (fret # 2), then down two more notes (open string), then returns again to its original note (fret # 2). Musically speaking, this is just a string of "musical thirds," and is a frequent characteristic of traditional French dance music. Once you become familiar with this pattern, French tunes become a little easier to play.

At this point, please notice that the melody is entirely on the "high string" (or 'melody' string, or '1st' string) in the "A" part of the tune. It is also mostly that way in the "B" part, except for three measures (#'s 11, 13 and 17) where the melody moves up to the middle string momentarily to make the piece easier to play.

Now you're ready to try to your hand at "La Marianne." If you're interested in a tip or two about fingering the notes on the fret board, keep reading. As a general rule in this tune, I keep my ring finger on the high string at the lowest fret to be played within a chord passage. For an example of this, refer to the melodic movement on the high string in measure three of the "A" part. The melody goes from fret 3 to 5 and back to 3. I position my ring finger on fret 3, keep it there while I dip my thumb up to fret 5, then lift my thumb off of fret 5, and sound the 3 that my ring finger is still holding down. Notice that all of this melodic movement occurred while I was also holding down the middle string on the 3rd fret and sounding the open bass string to maintain a "G" chord. This is the same "chord melody" approach that I recommend you try throughout the tune. Of course, you might come up with other ways of fingering the tune that may work better for you!

And now, a closing pep talk. Exploring a new ethnic music is a great way to widen our musical and cultural horizons. Along the way, it can present us with wonderful opportunities to develop new musical skills from meeting the unexpected challenges of a different musical tradition with different musical ideas. But probably most compelling, French dance tunes just sound REALLY good on the dulcimer, and therefore deserve to be tried out, learned, and enjoyed-especially since a majority of these tunes fit the dulcimer "like a glove!"

Good luck with "La Marianne!" I hope you enjoy it! If you have any questions, please feel free to write to me at: ptommerup@juno.com.

Should you be interested, I have a new CD by my band, Slainte of San Francisco Bay. The CD is called "Along Celtic Lines." It includes "La Marianne" and a French bourree called "Les Moutons," as well as many other pieces from Ireland, England, Appalachia, and Spain. If you'd like to know more, drop me a line, or check it out at CDBaby.com.

Au revoir,
Peter Tommerup

Bibliography:

Delzanglea, Fernand (1931) Danses et Chansons Danses d'Auvergne.
Bottreau: Poirier.
Lemaigre, Edmond (1881) Bourrees et Montagnardes Suivies de 3 Bourbonnaises.
Paris: Clermont.
Shields, Hugh, "France." In Nettl, Bruno, Ruth M. Stone, James Porter and
Timothy Rice, eds. (1998-2002) The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, New York: Garland Publications

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank Alan Keith, Gary Breitbard, Jenna Rautig, Lee Anne Welch, Janet Herman, and Paul Machlis for their extensive assistance and numerous contributions with researching and editing this article.

About the Author:

Since 1973, Peter Tommerup has been researching, studying, teaching and performing on the mountain and hammered dulcimers. He has done field collecting with traditional players in Appalachia, studied with creative California interpretors, and researched dulcimer traditions while completing a Ph.D. in Folklore at UCLA. Along the way, he has arranged some 400 tunes for the dulcimer, taught these to hundreds of students, and evloved a playing style that creatively extends dulcimer traditions. He performs solo or with Slainte of S.F. Bay, a neo-Celtic band with a new dulcimer-intensive CD, "Along Celtic Lines." Peter released an earlier album, called "Peter Tommerup & Friends," which included a variety of Irish and Appalachian fiddle and harp tunes. He also developed a method of instruction for the mountain dulcimer for Kicking Mule Records called, "Teach Yourself to Play the Dulcimer." This consisted of a book with six cassettes. He has taught and performed at a number of dulcimer and other folk festivals, including: And he has co-founded and taught at Redwood Dulcimer Day (since 2001), an annual dulcimer retreat near Santa Cruz, California.