This article was posted at the end of 2008 to say Happy New Year and was relocated from the front page.

 

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The Cabbage Waltz

2008 is roughly the 30th anniversary of the publication of my book entitled Chordal Explorations for 3-String Dulcimer, which I self-published in a small 5.5" X 8.5" edition while living in Northern Vermont. The main chord progression I used to illustrate the C, F, and G7 chords (in CGG or 155 tuning) was the infamous "Cabbage Chords" -- or the chorus chords to Bile Dem Cabbage Down.

Three decades later, it seems that almost everyone is playing in DAD or 158 tuning, and I've found myself playing almost exclusively in 4-equidistant DADD in recent years. As for the Cabbage Chords, for me they have really stood the test of time, and I've spun them into many different genres, grooves, and time-signatures.

The waltz version basically has two measures of each chord where there normally is one measure: this makes the last few measures all balanced out and everything. There are 16 bars to the form this way.

Now I'm working on some bare-bones composition studies on this 3/4 time version of the cabbage chords, and I thought I would share some of my process with you here on my home page. There are some important things that you should know about, though, to get maximum benefit from these studies:

  1. These are bare-bones studies -- They work best as a jumping-off point for the PROCESS of arranging, adding chords, embellishing, and whatever you decide. You should keep firmly in mind that I NEVER play the rhythmic values as written: I'm always displacing the notes in time in various ways. I strongly suggest that you try it this way as well. Just keep it as loose as you can rhythmically. Leave out notes if you want -- maybe you will distill my music down even further to the structural tones. Or maybe you can see some connecting notes that really work. This is great!
  2. Try many different orders of parts -- You may want to label your favorite parts as A or B or D or whatever, and try them in different order than I have written them. My student composition process is something like stream-of-consciousness: the ordering of parts may be quite arbitrary and without any logical sense of continuity.
  3. Add your own chords -- You can be as harmonically rich and dense as you want. Or maybe you are interested in seeing how sparse you can get. A big part of the joy of composing for me is to see if I can get some melodic material which implies the harmony so strongly, that I don't even need to add harmony -- I may try to hold down appropriate harmony notes when needed just for sympathetic resonance, but I don't need to work at the chord-melody thing (at least when I actually succeed with the melody writing!).
  4. This is SLOW, EASY music! -- And maybe it wants to stay that way. If you are a beginning player, these studies should be fun to try. Don't make them too much like work, because they don't have to be. ENJOY!

Anyway, here are the PDF files that you can download to your desktop and print:

I may post more of these as time permits, and here, finally, are some mp3 audio files, including a kind of hybrid of Cabbage Waltz Study 3 with some improv and variation (the other studies are some rough takes and jams - all solos):

These next two selections are only for the adventurous! This is probably the crunchiest, most electronic stuff I've done in three or four years. It is very energizing and liberating in a way I don't fully understand. I probably just need a break from the sleepy-time, relaxing music every so often.


Happy New Year!

 

 

      © Copyright 2008 by JC Rockwell