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Fingerpicking Dulcimer
by Janita Baker

Fun with Arranging for Mountain Dulcimer:

Locating a Tune on the Fret Board (Article 1)

Dulcimer by John Huron.

Everyone who is passionate about playing the mountain dulcimer is passionate about arranging, whether they realize it or not!

While that may be a bit of an overstatement, finding a well-crafted arrangement of a favorite tune can seduce many of us to drift off into hours of "riveting" playing to the point where we hardly notice what's going on around us. I've been transported to that world of dulcimer reverie quite a few times, as have many of my students. It is the goal of this article to introduce you to the topic of arranging or, if you've already embarked on this interesting endeavor, to help make what can seem like a mysterious activity into a clearer and more accessible process.

In this first installment of a two-part article on arranging, we'll explore the basics of arranging a tune on the dulcimer. This includes the act of transporting the simple "skeleton" melody to the fret board and then "fleshing it out" with some chords. Along the way, we'll be guided by the following questions:

What goes into creating a pleasing and playable dulcimer arrangement in chord-melody style (playing melody and chord harmonies at the same time)? How do you locate a melody on to the fret board, and then how do you go about working out a harmony for it? Is there an approach to arranging that can make the process more straightforward?

There's an interesting story behind what led me to write this article. The inspiration came from working with a number of dulcimer students over a long enough period of time to see them go from only learning arrangements that I or others have created to learning how to devise their own. When they come to me with a tune they want to learn, I try to turn the occasion into a learning experience from which they can get some idea of how to put it on the dulcimer. But there's a lot of knowledge that is involved with this transfer process and it's difficult to communicate it spontaneously. For example, they need to learn how to figure out which key to play it in (do they want to match it to their voice or play it in a jam session with other instruments in the customary key?), what tunings support which keys, which tunings let you get the accidental notes that may be included in the melody or chords, and finally to think through whether they wish to locate a piece down low on the fret board "across the strings" or further up the fret board along the high "melody" string(s).

Because my students' early efforts at arranging are often characterized by a certain amount of struggle and frustration--as with learning and applying any new skill set--I thought it would be helpful to try to condense my approach to arranging a tune on the dulcimer into a recipe that could be relatively easily followed.

Part I: Thinking About Arranging:

When exploring a topic, it is often good to begin by inquiring into what a central term may mean. "Arranging" is process that many experienced mountain dulcimer players have used in books and performance, but the process has not been described in detail yet. For our purposes, the goal of arranging a tune is to come up with a pleasing and playable "arrangement" on the dulcimer. In this sense, a dulcimer arrangement consists of two interrelated processes: 1) transferring a piece of music from its original context (i.e.: a fiddle tune on the fiddle) and adapting it to fit the dulcimer, and 2) to do this in such a way that the dulcimer's musical character and its strengths are highlighted. Because it has different capabilities than the fiddle, a fiddle tune just naturally comes out sounding differently on a dulcimer.

Arranging a tune on the dulcimer, then, is an endeavor that requires some understanding and appreciation of the tune being imported (i.e.: what makes a fiddle tune a fiddle tune), as well as some insight into the way a dulcimer works: unlike the way a fiddle is usually played (on one string at a time), most dulcimers are plucked or strummed and very easily produce a pleasing harmony along with the melody across all the strings. "Arranging" on the dulcimer also requires a knack for integrating these two focal points (understanding of the tune and the dulcimer) in such a way that the outcome is aesthetically pleasing AND fun to play!

In my vision of arranging, a successful arrangement is one that liberates the player to enjoy "the ride" instead of being so complicated that is thwarts the player's efforts. Of course, whether or not an arrangement is felt to succeed or not is highly subjective, but I think you get my drift: a well-crafted arrangement will hopefully give the player (who appreciates the tune and has diligently practiced it) a bit of a "buzz"--sort of like a "runner's high"--and help them to feel engaged and "flow" as they play it.

Part II: A Useful Checklist for Arranging a Tune:

Now we are ready to focus on the specific decisions and processes that are involved in arranging a tune on a dulcimer fret board near you. To help with this, I've developed a "checklist" for arranging which I call a "chain of considerations and choices". I prefer to perform this checklist "chain" in the order shown below for best results. Starting the checklist out of sequence may "short circuit" the process and lead to your having to redo one or more steps.

Chain of Considerations & Choices

1. Context: What is the cultural and historical background of the piece? What is its genre (type and style of music)? Is it an anonymous traditional tune or the outcome of a recognized composer's creative juices? Understanding the context of a piece is important. It provides our own creative muse with depth and scope, as well as important clues that can influence the artistic choices we make when doing an arrangement. Researching a piece can include listening to recordings or live performances to get a "feel" for it, perusing books and web sites for clues as to its period and style, and learning about its cultural niche in the lives of those who originally composed or played it.
2. Key: What key is the tune customarily played in? Can we keep it in this key on the dulcimer? If we can, this will better enable us to play it in mixed instrument jam sessions. If not, we may primarily need to play it by ourselves or with other dulcimer players.
3. Range: What is the range of the tune? That is, what are its lowest and highest notes? Can we find a way to comfortably accommodate this range on our fret board?
4. Mode: Do the melody notes of the tune "fit" within one of the traditional modes that the dulcimer fret board was designed to play? If it has some extra "accidental" notes (notes that are not found in the mode), can we accommodate these in one of the dulcimer's tunings?
5. Chords: In chord-melody style of playing, you have to be able to find the notes you need to harmonize the tune. Are the notes you need contained within a specific mode, or do you have to go "outside" of the mode to generate chords for "accidental" melody notes?
6. Tuning: This is the next link in our chain of considerations, and cannot be determined until the previous choices are made. The question we need to ask: Is there a tuning that will accommodate the tune's key, range and mode? If the melody contains "accidental" notes and/or we wish to keep it in the original key, we will need a tuning that addresses these issues.
7. Locating the Tune on the Fret Board: This is one of the last considerations before we can put fingers to fret board! Whether we choose to create a "first position" arrangement which emphasizes positioning the melody notes down low on the fret board "across the strings," or instead opt for a "second position" arrangement which places the melody notes at a greater stretch "along" the high "melody" string(s), may affect the flow and playability of a piece. Often, the more complex a piece is, and the wider its range is, the easier it is to play it lower down on the fret board.
8. Plucking or Strumming Playing Style: Do we have a sense of how we wish to set our dulcimer's strings humming? For example, a slow and plaintive air might be more expressively played in a finger picking style, whereas a speedy rhythmic fiddle tune could work out better if we put it in a strummed or flat picked style.

Part III: Understanding an Arrangement: "Maggie Brown's Favorite"

Please look at the arrangement of "Maggie Brown's Favorite" that follows. We'll run through the "chain of considerations and choices" checklist with this tune to explain the choices I made in arranging it. Referring back and forth between the arrangement and my description of the choices I made in arranging it could also be helpful.

"Maggie's" Chain of Considerations & Choices

1. "Maggie's" Context: A bit of research revealed that "Maggie Brown's Favorite" is a well-known tune that seems to hail from the eighteenth century. It has a variety of alternative names, disputed authorship but likely Celtic origins, and an interesting and unusual musical personality: there is more variety and creative scope in the "B" part of its melody than in most jigs. Overall, it is a striking and artful composition that turns out to be well suited for the dulcimer. Because of this, I decided to emphasize its courtly character.
2. "Maggie's" Key: It is traditionally set in the key of "G" major. I kept it in G so I (and you) could play it with musicians who play other instruments in Irish sessions.
3. "Maggie's" Range: Its range is 1-3/4 octaves. The lowest note is a "D," while the highest is the "B" one octave and six notes above this. To arrange this piece, I knew that I needed to find a "G" major scale on the fret board that would accommodate this range.
4. "Maggie's" Mode: This is in a "G" Ionian mode (or "G" major scale). The notes in this scale are: G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, G. Unlike most traditional tunes, however, "Maggie" also has a couple of "accidental" notes--"C" sharp and "F" natural--that are outside of a "G" Ionian mode. This info had to be considered when choosing a tuning and when locating the piece on a fret board.
5. "Maggie's" Chords: Most of the necessary chord notes are found within the mode itself. As is typical with Ionian tunes, the likely chords for this piece are known as I, IV and V. In the key of "G" major, these will be "G," "C" and "D." In addition, one or more "substitutions" for the above chords may also be found. Possible substitute chords in this key include: "Em" for "G," "Am" for "C" and "Bm" for "D." The only exception to this diatonic pattern of chords is the "A7" in the seventh full measure of the "B" part. This transitional chord (‘secondary dominant') helps to propel the piece along and gives it a distinctive courtly (rather than a traditional folk) flair.
6. "Maggie's" Tuning: I knew that there are two common tunings that could work for a "G" major tune: DAD and DGD. I would rule out DAD--unless I have a 1-1/2 or 8-1/2 fret-- because it does not contain the "F" natural note. Since tuning to DGD allowed me to play in "G" and provides both the "F" natural and the "C" sharp "accidental" notes, this is what I decided to go with.
7. Locating "Maggie" on the Fret Board: Choosing the DGD tuning also allowed me to place the melody in a low "first position" setting on the fret board. Because the lowest note in "Maggie" is a "D," I could place this on the open "D" bass string. Serendipitously, all of the other notes that were needed--including the two "accidental" notes--were within easy reach. Another benefit of using the "first position" is that I could contain the tune so that the highest note was only located on the fifth fret of the high string(s). This shortened the length of the fret board I needed to travel, made it easier to play, helped to produce a pleasant feeling of flow (with some practice), and created the potential to play it at a decent clip (an advantage when playing with other instruments).
8. "Maggie's" Playing Style: Because I thought it better expressed the delicate style of the tune, I settled on a "finger picked" rather than a "strummed" playing style. You can also flat pick this arrangement, though it doesn't have quite the delicacy of finger picking it.

Part IV: Overview and Conclusion

The arrangement of "Maggie Brown's Favorite" in this article is intended to provide you with an example of how following the "chain of choices and considerations" can lead to a basic, pleasant and playable arrangement of a tune. If you spend some time playing it and rereading relevant chunks of the article, the various aspects of why we did what we did and how it affected the arrangement should become more apparent.

As you try your own hand at arranging, there are two important points to bear in mind: 1) Arranging takes time, some patience, a bit more knowledge than you started out with, and some practice to understand and feel comfortable with how to get a tune on the instrument in a really playable way. HOWEVER, 2) arranging is very learnable by anyone who is willing to spend enough time to get to know some of the instrument's "ins and outs." For the most part, I think you'll find that this time will be enjoyable and worth the effort!

I hope that you have found some of the ideas in this article to be helpful in terms of understanding and carrying out the arranging process. I would be interested in hearing about your own arranging experiences and ideas. You can contact me at: ptommerup@juno.com

Stay tuned for Article 2 on Arranging for Mountain Dulcimer, where we'll explore how to "breathe" some additional "life" into "Maggie Brown's Favorite" by employing a variety of other musical techniques--such as embellishments, chord substitutions and arpeggios--to create a more nuanced arrangement.

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