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Home | About GrooveZONE | Curriculum | References & Resources | Devices & Techniques

Devices & Techniques

DEVICES

1.) Counterpoint: This is the study of moving lines or POLYPHONIC texture. We are more accustomed to HOMOPHONIC texture these days, with our ears very familiar with the sound of a single melody line above a backdrop of chord changes. This is probably the most challenging of all the devices to apply, and the one from the historical Western traditions with the most power to transform our music and give it very unique dimensions and character. There is a kind of relentless "unfolding" of one line against another that creates constant drama -- in a way none of our more modern pop and folk music can match. I had a very, very hard time with the strict 16th Century counterpoint -- where most of the most profound and unusual theory resides. I did much better with the Baroque 18th Century style, which is much looser and freer. You might be totally amazed at how powerful and useful some of these principles are, and I will encourage you to investigate this area if you are drawn to it.

Probably the most useful garden-variety, everyday usage of counterpoint is to make sure your outer parts: the bass line on the bottom and the melody on top -- move in CONTRARY MOTION whenever it is possible. You can get away with murder with the voice-leading in your inner harmony parts if you take care of the outer parts.

2.) Suspension Figures: These incredibly useful devices are really a sub-section of counterpoint, but I'm dealing with them all in their own category here because you will use them EVERY DAY ---> ALL THE TIME. The 4-3 suspension in all its forms is the one we will apply and study, but we will also touch on the 2-3 suspension (in the lower or bass voice) as well as the 7-6 suspension. I even came up with a CHAIN of 4-3 suspensions using a very common Aeolian chord progression.

3.) Chord Progressions and Chord Tendencies in Tonal, Functional Harmony: In the curriculum, I have a whole section devoted to an intro and overview of Tonal or Functional Harmony in the Western Classical traditions. The reason for hammering pretty hard on some of this is because it is absolutely essential BACKGROUND to working with the more unpredictable and bizarre world of MODAL harmony, where I have made most of my gains -- and where I have found the most "traction" or ability to create my own unique modal chord progressions.

In other words: WE HAVE TO HAVE SOME IDEA OR NOTION OF WHERE CHORDS ARE SUPPOSED TO GO, BEFORE WE CAN BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE MODAL CHORD STRUCTURES AND TENDENCIES WORK IN VERY DIFFERENT SORTS OF WAYS -- WITH DIFFERENT TONE-GRAVITY AND CHORD-GRAVITY PRINCIPLES. When you work with modal progressions after doing a lot of V7-I "functional" stuff, you will be disoriented and wondering what the next best chord might be. You WILL NOT find the answers in any books or any reference material: it seems to be completely undocumented, except for some composers and theorists who have felt the need to share some of their preferences and chord choices. This literature is as rare as hen's teeth, though, so we have to rely on our own inner resources for this particular challenge.

4.) Historical Chord Progressions: These are some chord sequences dating from the Italian Renaissance and before. I looked them all up in the Harvard Dictionary of Music, was completely charmed by the examples, and I've written some original tunes around a few of them:

5.) Voice-Leading: Here is where we will want to put the principles of how the voices in one chord resolve to another chord UNDER A MICROSCOPE, so we can see the inner principles of harmony at work. The most important and useful part of this study has to do with how the tritone resolves. Most musicians take this totally for granted and never once take a close look at it, but once you bring tritone resolution to the forefront of your musical awareness and comprehension, you have harnessed an incredibly powerful structural principle that is ALWAYS working behind the scenes. Bringing it into your perceptual awareness has the most profound of implications for your future as a composer!

We will also look at various types of cadences -- these are like chordal finalities that bring a section of music to some sort of conclusion or maybe even to leave you hanging to go on to a number of different departure routes.

6.) Pedal Point: This is basically the idea of sustaining a note in the bass (or the upper part) throughout a series of chords. This principle is used an incredible amount in Jazz Harmony and also in folky modal harmony as well. When you combine the concept of a drone -- like a root and 5th -- with a whole bunch of two, three, or four-note chords moving THROUGH the drone -- then you get into areas which have great pull for me personally. These areas are also where the mountain dulcimer really shines as a unique instrument in its own right.

7.) Chord Substitution Principles and Chord Embellishment Principles: Most of this stuff comes from my formal training in Jazz Studies. THESE DAYS, I'm getting frighteningly conversant in this realm and it is really becoming second-nature -- or kind of an eat-sleep-breathe thing for me. Some (or most) of you may not want to veer so recklessly into Jazz, for a whole number of very good PERSONAL reasons.

[NOTE: Just as an item of potentially important info for you, I will try to explain my complete rejection of jazz harmony and my continual battle with it until last year when I gave up the fight -- I gave in and discovered that the whole system of jazz harmony can coexist with modal, classical harmony, and polyphony in an incredible "billions-of-possibilities-in-the-musical-NOW" which is like my current "music-religion" (if you'll allow me to use such a whacked-out concept!).

When I discovered traditional folk music, the dulcimer, etc, it was the early 1970s and I had already had some good solid training in jazz guitar. I don't know what happened in my inner music world when I met the dulcimer, but it was a very profound awakening that went on within me with the whole modal, dronal thing. I guess it was a very back-to-nature kind of thing, but also back-to-tradition and back-to-simplicity. It made perfect sense to a searching 21-year-old mind to throw out all the gussied-up jazz chords once and for all ---> and head towards some sort of "traditional simplicity" or some notion of folk "purity." It is amazing how long I clung to these vague notions -- even when I was in school for Jazz Harmony!!

Anyway, I bring this up because you may find yourself rejecting the thicker, more modern and embellished jazz chords for very similar reasons. I won't try to talk you out of your choices either -- I was fighting jazz for 30 years!]

8.) Modulation Principles: I have a long way to go on this study myself, but there are a lot of useful ideas that you can apply to your music with learning how to modulate to different key areas. The Beatles did some absolutely unprecedented "sudden modulations" -- mostly by using common chord tones. We can study these and learn about "leading the ear down the primrose path" -- modulatory chord progressions and the like. The Jai Josephs book has a GREAT chapter on modulation.

9.) Bass Lines: Building GREAT structural bass lines will do more for your compositions that any other device I can think of. The bass line is like the foundation for your composition -- it is the underlying STRUCTURE and ARCHITECTURE that helps set your music apart. You've got to learn to put all sorts of chords in all sorts of INVERSIONS to make bass lines flow, and you have to have the temperament to tinker constantly with your options. I'm a terrible bass player, but I'm open to learning more of the bass line construction principles for my growth as a composer.

10.) Arranging Principles: On my web site, I have an article in which I go through many of the concepts I have found essential to ensemble arranging as well as solo arranging. These are the kinds of devices which will help your music tell a story, and add a colorful sense of drama to your music. Check out the article if you want more details.

11.) Composition Devices: These are devices composers use to organize musical ideas. They are all worth getting to know a little better, or perhaps even getting to know for the first time if they are new to you. Some of these ideas have really opened some interesting doors in my creativity as a composer.

TECHNIQUES

These are mostly playing techniques that we'll explore and use on the dulcimer, but it is helpful to know that many of them apply to other fretted instruments as well. Knowing how they work on the guitar, for instance, is VERY valuable for our translation to the dulcimer. Having a sense of "commonality" with all the fretted strings is cool, and it helps us define what might be some of the uniqueness of the dulcimer as well.

FINGERPICKING: This covers fingerstyle playing with bare fingers, with fingerpicks of various sorts, and also with flatpick and bare fingers. I will probably just point out some cool things I like to do occasionally that you need to fingerpick. I won't get heavy into patterns or anything, because I don't approach my own fingerstyle playing with anything REMOTELY resembling a pattern.

FLATPICKING: "Duh!" I guess we all do this, and we all have our individual styles. Leo has always been a master of pick direction, and I will continue to consult with him on this crucial topic.

STRUMMING: This is where I have some EXTREMELY unique (and effective!) medicine to dispense, and nobody-but-nobody seems to want to take it! I can't even think of ONE PERSON who has taken my advice and instruction in this area. What I'm referring to VERY SPECIFICALLY is the subtle, delicate, and quite magical textural effects that you'll experience with a wide variety of very, very flexible picks. In order to use these sort of picks and get a very even and reasonably loud tone, you need to develop a very brisk VELOCITY and long, smooth sweeps of your arm across the strings. It must have taken me years to develop this high-velocity sweep, and maybe it is something that is almost impossible to teach? I don't know of any other living player who has developed this violent, thrashing kind of strum. Farina, of course, is where I got it, but I've developed my own version of it, including a very quiet and magical texture that still has a very noticable drive and forward momentum. Anyway, these very unique techniques are open to all of you, but I won't push it on anyone. In fact, if you want to get into this unusual textural territory, you will have to specifically ask me about it, and if we have a one-on-one I will let you try some things to kind of "push the limits" and define the basic parameters of these textures.

MUTING: There are many ways of damping the strings on the dulcimer. You can mute to varying degrees right by the nut with your left hand -- or by the bridge with your right hand. This gives you an infinite range of percussive attacks, and all in real-time as you are playing. If you are strumming across all strings with wide sweeps, then you can experiment with rubber bands under the bridge, or even a rolled-up piece of paper towel. This has one rather static, muffled sort of "bark" (kind of like a very small de-barked dog!!!), and it is what I used on a lot of the basic rhythm tracks on the first CD. The paper towel mute allows me to really pulverize the strings -- especially on the big backbeats and syncopated punches. This technique has grown on me over the years, and I'm still fascinated by turning the dulcimer into a true "semi-pitched" percussion powerhouse!!!! There are many other types of mutes to explore, and I'm always trying new materials.

TWO-HANDED TAPPING: This is one area where I have carved out somewhat of a unique niche, though there are several dulcimer players who are now currently developing their own style of tapping. I have had some degree of success in teaching some of my basic tapping moves and conventions, but I've not put much time into developing coherent tunes or the educational, step-by-step framework to go along with them. In recent weeks, though, I've come up with some very structural, extremely simple tapping patterns which hang together musically. They can be plugged into a wide variety of chord progressions and practiced along with a metronome. I have one progression with this tapping on the CD, and I think you'll get a kick out of trying it ---- I'll give complete instructions at some point in the future -- probably on the web.

©2004 J.C. Rockwell Music