DulciTheory #3
jerry@jcrmusic.com
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DulciTheory Newsletter -- Issue #3: Whole and Half Steps on the Mountain
Dulcimer
publisher: Jerry Rockwell
email: jerry@jcrmusic.com
Intro to issue #3
Now we are up to a little over 40 subscribers. I did get two people asking
questions on the first two issues, and I'm still wondering how most folks
are doing with this stuff. Issues #1 and 2 dealt with some pretty hairy
topics, like secondary dominants and all the numerical scale degree charts.
This time we will get back to some more basic material: working with the
diatonic fretboard of the dulcimer to fill out our own charts of pitches and
scale degrees.
I have also decided that it is time for a true interactive component of this
newsletter, which will be implemented on my web site. This will consist of
you going to a special page hosted at jcrmusic.com; filling in your email
address, and filling out some blank fingerboard surveys -- kind of like a
diagnostic test. Your answers and results will be kept strictly
confidential, but will allow me to sharply focus the upcoming newsletters to
your specific needs.
I'm not sure when this page will be ready for prime-time, as it requires me
to cuddle up and get real friendly with server-side programming: more
specifically Perl and CGI scripting. I'm fine with HTML 4 and CSS 1, but the
server-side stuff is new to me, and there will be a learning curve. When the
page is ready for you to fill in the forms, I'll probably post a short
notice to this list -- it won't be a newsletter, but just a short
explanation of what the test is about and the url of the page.
The first two issues are posted at my web site and this new one will follow
shortly:
http://www.jcrmusic.com/dt1.html
http://www.jcrmusic.com/dt2.html
As always, questions are welcome, and I should be able to respond to your
email very quickly:
jerry@jcrmusic.com
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Whole and Half Steps on the Mountain Dulcimer
Pages 5 and 6 in the Theory book deal with whole steps and half steps and
how they lay out on the piano keyboard -- then on the dulcimer fingerboard.
This is really essential background material for what I'll be talking about
in this issue, so make sure you have a good, solid grip on it.
Building the Complete Pitch Survey
In this exercise we will learn to construct a chart of all the pitches on
the fingerboard for the 1-5-8 tuning in Eb.
Eb|------------|----------|-----|--------|-------|---|---|---|
Bb|------------|----------|-----|--------|-------|---|---|---|
Eb|------------|----------|-----|--------|-------|---|---|---|
So, as we can see, the first step is to get the complete tuning given that
Eb = 1. Probably a good idea to count up the Eb major scale:
Eb(1), F(2), G(3), Ab(4), Bb(5), C(6), D(7), Eb(8)
1-5-8 then equals Eb, Bb, Eb.
Now we can proceed up the bass string, bearing in mind that the long spaces
between frets are WHOLE STEPS and the short ones are HALF STEPS:
Eb|-----------F|---------G|---Ab|--------|-------|---|---|---|
Bb|------------|----------|-----|--------|-------|---|---|---|
Eb|------------|----------|-----|--------|-------|---|---|---|
Now, if you get the idea, you should complete the chart yourself -- it will
give you a great deal of confidence!
And one more for you to try:
1-5-8 in B (I usually start with the tuning as 1-5-1 when I'm filling in the
chart, as I think its clearer)
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Now let's try to tackle a complete Pitch AND Scale-Degree Survey for 1-5-b7,
where C = 1. First the Pitch Survey:
C |-----------D|---------E|----F|-------G|------A|-Bb|--B|--C|
G |-----------A|---------B|----C|-------D|------E|--F|-F#|--G|
Bb|-----------C|---------D|---Eb|-------F|------G|-Ab|--A|-Bb|
(you might want to look carefully at the melody string pitches fret-by-fret)
Now here is the beginning of a complete Scale-Degree Survey for 1-5-b7:
1 |-----------2|---------3|----4|--------|-------|---|---|---|
5 |------------|----------|-----|--------|-------|---|---|---|
b7|------------|----------|-----|--------|-------|---|---|---|
Refer to page 6 for a reminder of the whole and half step pattern on the
dulcimer, and do the best you can to fill out the rest of the chart. You
will probably need help on the melody string so here it is:
1 |------------|----------|-----|--------|-------|---|---|---|
5 |------------|----------|-----|--------|-------|---|---|---|
b7|-----------1|---------2|---b3|-------4|------5|-b6|--6|-b7|
(again -- it would be a good idea to walk yourself through the process
fret-by-fret).
Here are three more Survey building exercises for you -- do a Pitch AND
Scale Degree Survey for each tuning:
1.) (5-1-5) F = 1
2.) (4-1-5) G = 1
3.) (1-8-11) or (1-8-4) A = 1
It may not be apparent now, but this survey-building activity will pay BIG
dividends in your future comprehensive understanding of harmony and theory
-- you will have a powerful and concise overview of all possibilities even
before you dive into a tuning. This makes the surveys great for choosing a
tuning in the first place!
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PART TWO: Questions Answered
Well...this time I really didn't get much in the way of questions, but those
I got were mostly concerned with text-formatting problems and a few problems
understanding the spacing conventions for the charts. Maybe we can clear up
a few of these now.
1.) Text Formatting, fonts, and more -- I am sending each newsletter out in
plain text, which is the classic old-time email way of doing things. The
main advantage is that my charts keep their integrity, and don't get all
squirrel-y with line breaks and strange spacing conventions. These days,
many folks have their email programs set to "html", which is the language
that web pages are displayed in. This can create havoc with charts and line
breaks: I have to nuke the version of each newsletter that comes in through
the topica.com web site -- their html default does strange spacing things,
resulting in having the charts not really line up. I asked support about
this, and there is no workaround, which led me to nuke the version that
comes in to topica, and that's why the newsletters get posted on my website
(using the PRE tag from html, which preserves white space and line breaks).
I am using the Courier font to compose everything -- no, it is not
beautiful, but it is quite clear to read, and does a great job with things
like charts. You may want to make sure you are set to receive DulciTheory in
plain-text, and you might try the Courier font for the default font.
2.) Spacing conventions and suggestions for building your own charts -- In
the first issue, I included a chart containing the number of characters
between each fret:
To be more specific about the spacing, just for your information, here are
the number of dashes between each fret:
1|-----12-----|----10----|--5--|---8----|---7---|-3-|-3-|-3-|
5|------------|----------|-----|--------|-------|---|---|---|
1|------------|----------|-----|--------|-------|---|---|---|
Now, at least one person got boggled trying to reconcile these numbers with
scale degrees, or intervals, or whatever. So let me make it clear: THESE ARE
ONLY THE NUMBER OF CHARACTERS OR HYPHENS BETWEEN EACH FRET -- THEY HAVE
NOTHING TO DO WITH TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THE MUSIC!
BTW, the actual frets are indicated by the vertical line that you get using
the shift character above the backspace key.
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One last item: I would like to especially encourage everyone to sign up for
my Celtic Class at Augusta this July -- the class will focus on the process
of arranging for the dulcimer, and all the good stuff you're learning here
can be applied directly to your chosen tune project in the class. Here is a
page with more info:
http://www.jcrmusic.com/celticclass701.html
Thanks!
Jerry
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