Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Doc Oakroot on April 22, 2009 at 4:56pm

Yeah, that's right - the open string mode is Mixolydian.

Traditionally, to play in regular major (Ionian mode), you tune the melody strings to the same note as the middle string. This allows going down to the 5 below the tonic, which is really common in major key folk music, e.g., the beginning of Lord of the Dance (Appalachian Spring).

And, of course, you can (and trad players do) tune the melody strings to various notes to get each of the modes in tune with the drones. (Well, in practice in Appalachian music, only Ionian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Dorian are common). That method of tuning has consequences for how far below the tonic you can go, which has affected the development of the trad melodies over time.

Permalink Reply by Michael Carnright on April 23, 2009 at 1:50am

So for Ionian (Major) the third fret becomes the "zero fret" ? I guess if you extend the Mixolydian scale to a total of two octaves you can play any of the seven church modes. The mode that would get the short end of the stick literally would be Lydian.

T T S T T S T T T S T T S T (Mixolydian)
x x x T T S T T T S T T S T (Ionian(Major))
x T S T T S T T T S T T S T (Aeolian(Minor)
x x x x x x T T T S T T S T (Lydian)

Or you could make seven dulcimers, each with a different open string mode :-D LOL!

Permalink Reply by Michael Carnright on April 23, 2009 at 2:56am

I guess you could use a capo to change the mode of the dulcimer. Is that done much with dulcimer playing?

Permalink Reply by David Beede on April 29, 2009 at 11:09am

A "traditional" dulcimer, without the 6 1/2 fret, isn't automatically in a certain mode.
To be in a certain mode you generally have the middle and the bass string tuned in such a way that they support
the tonic of the mode/scale you're playing.

So if you are asking "what mode am I in if I'm tuned D-A-d and have no 6 1/2 fret. Then, yes, you would be in the Mixolydian mode. [With the 6 1/2 fret you can also play in Ionian with the scale beginning open.]

If you take the same instrument and tune the melody string from "d" down to "c" [fret the bass string at your 6th fret and tune the melody string to it] You'll now be in the minor sounding Aeolian mode and your scale would start at the first fret.

As Michael pointed out, every fret begins another mode with another name. Now with a limited number of frets, you might not be able to play that mode all the way to it's octave completion. Most "traditional" instruments at least go to the 10th fret, and that is because the Ionian mode [the equivalent of our most common Major scale] begins on the 3rd fret, so reaches it's octave note at the 10th.

And yes, dulcimer players do use capos, but as you observed sometimes it will just change the key [like the third fret in D-A-d puts you in the ionian key of G.] But other frets will also put you into another mode. It can make your eye balls twirl at first...:-D

Permalink Reply by Michael Carnright on April 30, 2009 at 3:20am

Are there instances of dulcimers that are made with a different open string fret church mode? The two I've made so far are Lydian open string. With the power to make your own there might be others instances of this. For example a Ionian mode open string dulcimer.