• Dulcimer Players News
: scale beginning on the first string, rd fret. Greek and Medieval theoris ts ,sidered this mode to have an extroted charact er so exclude d it from .rch use. Music in this mode can still lenerally Considered happy, as 'osed to sad aspects of the minor, compar ison can be made with the y mornin g Indian raga "Bilawa l," se interva ls arc identical and is cd to reflect light and happiness. mode aCCOunts for a large proporof trad itional music, of which :ee Jolly Rogues of Lynn," "Barba ra n," "The South Wind," and "The iers Joy" are random examples. he Dorian mode has the same starttonic) note but the sequen ce is C, :b, F, G, A, Bb, The dulcimer 19 is F-G-C, its scale startmg on the string, fourth fret. Anciently conred to be "A bestow er of wisdom. h tity " govern ed by Saturn, It 's c as , Arab maquam " H 'l" ax Kar ent in the d " This mode is widespread m tra)~al songs such as "Soulin g Was-
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saiJ, " "Newlyn TOWn," "lohn Barley_ corn," and " What Shall We Do with the Drunke n Sailor." Dorian qualities were mentio ned in literatu re of the past, inclUding John Milton 's "Paradise Lost," which relates " ... anon they move, in perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood of flutes and soft recorde rs." The Phrygia n mode is C, Db, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, e. Its dulcim er tuning is Eb-G-C and the sca le begins On the first string, fifth fret. Identif ied with Mars and said to "Cause th wars and enflam eth fury, " Phrygia n music was played during the training of Spartan soldiers and on their way to battle. Its use is very rare in Our traditio nal music; out of 3,500 songs collecte d by Cecil Sharp in Britain and the Appala chians he found ,only four, One of which is the ch,ldre n s rhyme "Matth ew; Mark, Luke and John, Bless the bed that Ilie on," known as the "White Paternoster. to However J the Phrygian mode's distinctive flatted second note is very typical of flamen co
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music, and reflects its Mooris h origin. The Lydian mode is C, D, E, F#, G, A, B, C and the dulcim er is tuned D-GIts scale starts on the first string, sixth fret. It was said to be ruled by Jupiter and to "Sharp en the wit of the dull, and maketh them th at are burdened with earthly cravings to desire heaven ly things." Perhaps for that reaSon it was widely used in Plainchant, but out of the Whole traditio n al reperto ire it OCCurs in only a handfu l of songs. The only One I know is the Elizabethan ballad tune "The Woods so Wild ." John Milton mentio ns this mode in his poem uI..:A1Iegro." The Mixolydian mode was 'he old major scale, only differing from the Ionian by its flatted seventh In the sequence C, D , E , E, G ) A , Bb , C.The dulcimer tuning is C-G-C (thdirs t string one octave above the third) and the scale begins on the open first string. a .have fa .ers The reason that some dulcim ext thiS with that is "6 1/2" or "B" fret no~e it is. possible to play in both the
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