Learning Music Theory

Musictheory.net  is a wonderful free site that allows you to learn, review, and test yourself on many aspects of music theory.  It's full of practical information and also exercises to help you solidify your understanding.  A very useful site, it is highly recommended to those of you who want to enhance your understanding of the wonderful world of music theory.

Music Theory for Practical People is a friendly, intelligently conceived, comprehensive, and fun way to learn music theory.  None of the dry, dusty, crusty, approaches of those deadly college-level theory texts.  Very useful topics, applicable to all instruments, are approached in a cheerful but smart and useful way, and you can go at your own pace for your own comfort in learning.  You can find it at edly.com.

Clio & Euterpe, or British Harmony

clioeuterpe.org is a music rescue project launched for the purpose of converting the rare 3-volume 18th-century songbook Clio & Euterpe, or British Harmony into digital format, and sharing it with the world. Comprised of 600 pages of contemporary music, and each page decorated with beautifully engraved pictures, these files are currently being made available in high-resolution PDF format, along with midi renditions of the tunes.

DPN - Article Support Material (PDF of piece)

How I Hammer "Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway!" by Stephen Foster
   
OK:Here's the disclaimer:  What's presented here is not definitive--it's simply how I would do something with my current understanding.  This understanding is always changing, and my "ideal" hammering patterns are often written in sand, only to be blown away by a student who shows me a better approach.  They are always changing as I change and as my approach to playing the dulcimer changes.  Subtle changes, but changes all the same.  So, don't take this as gospel or even truth.  It's simply a springboard, a jumping-off point since you have to start somewhere.  To play music well it's important to stay loose and flexible and don't get too caught up in the details.  If it sounds and feels good, it's good.
    In a fit of organization, I've been writing a series of articles about arranging music for hammered dulcimer in Dulcimer Players News, and Stephen Foster's emotional and beautiful piece, "Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway!" is the music I'm using to illustrate my points.  The first article featuring the Foster piece appears in the Spring, 2008, edition of Dulcimer Players News.  It's the single-line melody only version, meaning that it has no extra notes--no harmony, embellishment, counterpoint--just the melody.  The notated music that was published in the magazine didn't include any hammering patterns since it isn't relevant to the gist of the article.  What I present here is how I play this piece using what I consider my (note the "my"--this is my very subjective opinion)--"ideal" hammering pattern for this music.  Here are a few notes that I entreat you to read thoroughly before you begin working on the piece.
    I have an extensive list of "rules" about hammering.  It's more of a hierarchy of guidelines that enable me to learn faster, play more expressively, and to have a very consistent approach to playing the hammered dulcimer.  All my "rules" are meant to be broken, and, depending upon the complexity of the music, often are.  But what these guidelines give me is a safety net, a starting off point that makes sense.  It saves me a ton of time, and gives me a much bigger bang for my buck. 
    I don't believe that there's only one way to play any instrument.  The proof is in the hearing.  However, if you're somewhat like other humans (I know that might be a stretch for some), adopting a "lead hand" could be a good idea.  This is a big topic and is way beyond the scope of this article, and if you need further clarification you could either contact me or wait for subsequent articles. 
    So, regarding having a lead hand, my strong and ardent belief is that it's up to you--left or right... it doesn't matter as long as you choose one and stick with it.  I chose right millions of years ago, and this is still how I play.  This means that when I'm playing a single-line melody, I'll start every measure with my right hand if possible.  I'll play all my accented notes with my right hand when possible.  When not possible, I'll lead with my left hand.   This is a fairly simple-minded and grossly incomplete discussion of this topic, but it'll have to do for now.  More coming....
    So, here we have "Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway!" complete with my hammering suggestions.  Let's look at the Key at the bottom of the page:
        ! means your lead hand. For me this means that every time I see a ! I use my right hand.  If there's no ! then I use my left hand.  Simple. 
        | is the treble bridge.  This is the bridge that goes down the middle of your instrument on which you can play different notes on its left or right sides.
        |! means lead hand on the right side of the treble bridge.
        !| means lead hand on the left side of the treble bridge.
        |L means left hand on the right side of the treble bridge.
        |* means non-lead hand, right side of treble bridge.
        R] means right hand, offset or bass bridge (this is for the D# in m. 16).
        + means I've broken one of my most important rules since I'm starting a measure with my non-lead hand, the left hand.  This refers to the high D in m. 17, which is preceded by a high D# in m. 16 that needs to be played with the right hand since it's on the upper right side of the dulcimer.  This D# is an eighth-note so we don't have a lot of time, and I find it much easier to play the D in m. 17 with my left hand.  Since this D is a quarter-note, and it has a fermata and is held for longer, I can easily revert to my right hand lead on the B in the next beat. 
    I hope this helps and that you find this to be interesting.  Please email me with any questions or comments, and watch for future discussions.  Thanks for visiting, Steve