Compiled by Fiona Potts

The Dulcimer – Old Roots and New Roots

Vol. 1 No. 4 (1976)

Greetings from England! This is by way of an introduction to a series of articles which I hope to contribute to The Dulcimer Players News (may it increase and prosper) during the next few months. These will cover a variety of related (and even obscure) topics including: “The Origins of Modal Music and its use in English Traditional Music,” “Bach on the Dulcimer,” “Comparisons Between the Dulcimer and the Sitar,” “The Dulspinet,” and other odds & ends.

My involvement with the dulcimer began in 1967 shortly after seeing one at the first Keele Folk Festival, I immediately related to it in a much more positive way than the guitar which I had been playing, and apart from its obvious visual attraction, was drawn by the quiet, introspective sound which seemed to have the same qualities as the lute and clavichord. Since that time the dulcimer has been a constant delight to me, and at various times has found itself involved in many kinds of music ranging from Bach to Blues.

My approach is mainly fingerstyle initially through the influence and encouragement of Howie Mitchell, the finest dulcimer player I’ve heard, with whom I had a series of happy correspondence, and from several other sources, including Indian sitar styles which with their use of hammered notes, pull offs, slides, and ornamentation, can be readily adapted to the dulcimer.

The solo music I play falls into three overlapping types: traditional tunes, early music, and my own pieces. The latter came about from a need to play music that was entirely dulcimer oriented, as opposed to things adapted from other instruments. So, by way of a start (and getting tired of the sound of my own writing) here are two pieces which I hope you will enjoy playing, both are in the Ionian mode and use three fingers of the right hand (thumb 1st string, index 2nd string, middle 3rd string) with a fairly complex left hand technique involving chord and counterpoint patterns. Neither use the 6½ or “B” fret, as my dulcimers all have the standard fretting.

“Lament for Richard Fariña” is circa 1970, it is a slow quiet tune and the middle section involves using the little finger of the left hand as a barre on descending phrases.

“Wyatt’s Jigg” is more difficult, but being in the style of an Elizabethan jig is not as fast as the Irish variety.

More of these tablatures are available in two printed collections, “Nonesuch for Dulcimer” and “Musicks Delite” published by Scratchwood Music Ltd.; 138/140 Charing Cross Road; London, W.C. 2 – and I have also recorded them on corresponding records “Nonesuch for Dulcimer” (Trailer LER 3034) and “The Gentle Sound of the Dulcimer” (Argo ZDA 204).

Peace and best wishes, 
Roger Nicholson

Editor’s Note: Wyatt’s jig is not included in the current issue, but “Lament for Richard Fariña,” which Nicholson later titled “Spring Season,” appears on in this issue.

Modal Music

Vol. 1 No. 5

By Roger Nicholson

The Ancient Greeks (and, by tradition, Pythagoras) in the 6th century B.C. were the first to fix the modes scientifically and did so by using the monochord – a single stringed instrument with a fingerboard running along the top of a wooden sound box on which intervals were marked out – and named them after different races in Asia Minor. They are still so called and known as the Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Lochrian modes. In addition, each was allotted its own character derived from aesthetic and astrological principles so that Ionian, Aeolian, and Lochrian were considered to have unsuitable aspects while others such as the Lydian were recommended for their therapeutic properties.

In the early years of the Christian religion there was a strong Greek influence, and during the 4th century A.D. St. Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, authorized the four original Greek modes (Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, & Mixolydian) for use in the church. To these “Authentic” modes as they are known, Pope Gregory the Great (450-604) added four others, known as “Plagal” modes, which were really only other ways of utilizing the existing ones, but each began a fourth lower and were called the Hypo-Dorian, Hypo-Phrygian, etc., so establishing the form of plainchant which is still used today in the Roman Catholic Church. These Plagal modes can also be played on the dulcimer. For example, tune to the Dorian but instead of starting the scale at the fourth fret begin on the first fret and continue up to the eighth.

For eleven hundred years, modes dominated all forms of secular and religious music until gradually abandoned during the 16th century in favor of the major and minor scales which were more suitable to the developing forms of harmony and counterpoint. In later years modes were occasionally used by some of the great composers such as J.S. Bach in his “Dorian Toccata and Fugue,” by Mozart whose “Mass K. 258” is mainly Mixolydian, and Beethoven who wrote one of the movements in his “String Quartet in A minor” in the Phrygian mode. 

During the late 19th Century some English composers began to write modal works inspired by their discovery of traditional and early music, in particular Ralph Vaughan Williams whose majestic “Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis” in the Phrygian mode is most well known, and in France where Claude Debussy was directly influenced by the old European and Oriental modes in his piano works. Today the modes are beginning to be used again by Alan Hovhaness, an American of Armenian descent, Toru Takemitsu from Japan, and many others who are realizing their potential in contemporary music.

A mode is not a key but an arrangement of the seven tones and semitones of a diatonic scale and can be played at any pitch, so there are seven modes for each of the twelve keys. Below, for the sake of convenience in comparing them, they are all related to the key of C.

Ionian

The Ionian mode of C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C is the same as our modern major scale; the Greek and Medieval theorists considered it to have extravert and playful aspects so excluded it from use in the church – virtually the sole province of music at that time. Today music in this mode can still be considered to be bright or happy as opposed to that in the minor, which tends to reflect sadness, and interesting comparisons can be drawn with the early morning Indian raga “Bilawal.” which has identical intervals and is associated with light and happiness. The Ionian mode accounts for a large proportion of traditional songs of which “Three Jolly Rogues of Lynn,” “Barbara Allen,” and “The Greenland Whale Fisher” are random examples.

Dorian

The Dorian mode begins on the same tonic note (C in our case) but its sequence is C, D, Eb, F, G, A, Bb, C. It was considered to be the “Bestower of Wisdom and Chastity” and governed by the planet Saturn, which is echoed by its Arabic counterpart of Maquâm Hijâx Kâr Kurd. This mode is widespread in English folk songs such as “Souling Wassail,” “Newlyn Town,” “John Barleycorn,” and even “What shall we do with the Drunken Sailor,” and its particular qualities are frequently mentioned in literature 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 recorders.”

Phrygian

The Phrygian mode is C, Db, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C and was identified with Mars, as it “Causeth wars and inflamed fury.” As such, music in this mode was played during the training of Spartan soldiers and on their way to battle. Its use in folk song is very rare – out of over 3,500 songs collected by Cecil Sharp in the British Isles and Appalachian Mountains, he only discovered four, including the children’s rhyme “Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Bless the Bed that I Lie On” also known as “The White Paternoster.” The Phrygian mode is, however, very characteristic of Spanish flamenco music with its Moorish origin.

Lydian

The Lydian mode of C, D, E, F#, G, A, B, C was ruled by Jupiter and “Doth sharpen the wit of the dull and maketh them that are burdened with earthly craving to desire heavenly things.” For this reason perhaps it is widely used in plainchant, but out of the whole of traditional music is only known from one or two songs including the ballad tune “The Woods so Wild,” which dates back to the 16th century when it was arranged for the virginals by William Byrd and the lute by Francis Cutting. John Milton refers to this mode in his poem “L’Allegro,” “And ever against eating cares, lap me in soft Lydian airs.”

Mixolydian

The Mixolydian mode was the ancient major scale, only differing from the Ionian mode by its flattened seventh (C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C) and was associated with the Sun. The unexpected flat note makes it very distinctive, particularly in songs such as “Blackwater Side” and the Scottish lament “Flowers of the Forest,” where its appearance is delayed until near the end of each verse, the first of which occurs on the phrase “Now they are weeping, lamenting and sighing,” creating a feeling of poignancy. This mode is also the vehicle for many pipe and fiddle tunes including “Bonaparte’s Retreat,” “The Little Beggerman,” and “Old Joe Clark.”

Aeolian

The Aeolian mode is the normal minor scale of C, D, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, B, C. Its widespread use in many quiet and sad songs perhaps reflects its character of “Appeasing the tempests of the mind and lulling them asleep.” Like the Dorian minor mode, it occurs in many traditional songs such as “Searching for Lambs,” “Scarborough Fair,” or the beautiful “Bushes and Briars.”

Locrian

The Lochrian mode of C, Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, C was known as a bastard scale due to the unevenness of its intervals and, being only of theoretical interest, was never used. There are no traditional songs within its compass, but two years ago a young folk musician named John Kirkpatrick made good use of its uneasy sound in his song “Ashes to Ashes,” which tells the story of a gravedigger and has all the hallmarks of being absorbed into the traditional repertoire in the future.

Variations

Some songs and tunes are pentatonic (5 note) or hexatonic (6 note), so fall within the scope of two modes. The pentatonic scale is most often found in Celtic traditional music, as in the familiar “Auld Lang Syne” or “Ye Banks and Braes” and in “The seeds of Love,” the first song collected by Cecil Sharp who heard it sung in 1903 by a gardener aptly named John England.

These modes were a source of great surprise to the early folk song collectors, some of whom thought the tunes were incorrect, so noted them to conform to the standard major or minor scales and added quite unsuitable harmonies for accompaniment on the piano (which is never used in traditional music) to facilitate their performance in recitals, and, as a result, totally destroying their unique character. Fortunately, however, later collectors such as the Reverend Baring-Gould, Cecil Sharp, Percy Grainger, Ralph Williams, and others realized the special qualities of these songs, which had existed almost unknown for generations, and took pains to ensure that their modality was preserved in transcription. 

As with other forms of modal music, folk song is entirely melodic and was normally performed unaccompanied. If an instrument were used it was normally restricted to doubling the melody and providing a drone; the drone being the tonic note of the mode and serving to emphasize its intervals as well as establishing the key note for the performer and listener. This is especially evident in Eastern music where its continuous sound is related to the basic pulse of life itself – the heartbeat. The popular use of the guitar in recent years to accompany folk songs is really quite inappropriate as its chordal and chromatic basis is out of keeping with modal principles.

Because of the drone element direct comparisons can be made between the many forms of bagpipes, the dulcimer and its related instruments, the jaw harp, sitar, hurdy-gurdy, etc., all of which have origins in antiquity and are still used throughout the world to play modal music.