Melody and the Mixolydian Mode

Let's find out what this Mixolydian mode is all about, now that we know how to tune into it and have done some strumming. A mode is a particular arrangement of seven notes plus the repeat. Most modes end on an octave, although some obscure ones end on a fifth or a fourth tone. (These are not used very much, however, except in monastic Gregorian chanting.)

The fret arrangement of the dulcimer is based on the assumption that the first, or open note, is "G" If we play the white notes on a piano between G above middle C and G above high C (G and g, in our previous illustration), the letter values of the notes played would look like this on a music staff.

We would have just played a scale--a succession of tones and half-tones alphabetically labeled and arranged in ascending or descending order from any given note, or keytone, to its octave tone eight notes away. This is the scale of the Mixolydian mode.

Some people claim that in the sixth century B.C. the mathematician Pythagoras, by means of a single vibrating string called "monochord," established the mathematical ratios of the scale which has been the basis of music in the West.

But whatever the history, if you refer the letter values of the Mixolydian mode to the dulcimer's diatonic fretboard, you can plainly see that each of the frets carries a note value going up the scale. It's also obvious that the spaces between the frets "b-c" and "e-f" are proportionately smaller than the spaces between the other frets.

Whenever you sing or play the standard "major" scale (do - re - mi - fa - sol - la - ti - do), each of the notes sound tonally equidistant. They sound "whole" or "perfect" in and of themselves, as well as in their tonal sequence. Over the centuries our ears have become accustomed to this scale, and we think it sounds perfect-- and perhaps it does. But it really isn't "perfect." This common major scale actually consists of six "whole tones" and two "half-tones"-- not eight whole tones as it sounds.

In this common major scale (played on eight consecutive white notes on the piano, beginning on the, note C), the half-tones are the intervals between the notes "mi" and "fa" and "ti" and "do" (positions 3 and 4, and 7 and 8.) But on the dulcimer's scale the half-tones are between "mi and fa" and "la and ti" (that is, positions 3 and 4, and 6 and 7.) This particular arrangement corresponds to the notes b and c, and e and f exactly as shown in the last illustration. Indeed, the half-tones of the common major scale fall between the same notes, but where the notes are in relation to the other notes (what the sequence is) is different from that of the dulcimer's scale.

In the case of the dulcimer's fret scale, the "particular arrangement" of the eight tones is referred to as a "fixed scheme" in that the intervals between the notes fall into a never varying, universally accepted pattern. This concept of fixed schemes is fundamental to the dulcimer's modal tuning system, so keep it in mind as we go along . . . It's all in the schemes.

The phenomenon of half-steps occurs because people began singing modes before they began writing them down. When people started writing music, it was for instruments like the harp, psaltery, and Iyre that had individual strings for each of the notes, so the inconsistency of the two half-notes wasn't apparent. But when people began making and playing fretted instruments, they discovered rather quickly that they had to justify these tonal inconsistencies, and they did so by developing the idea of fixed modal schemes.

Every modal scale has a different arrangement of these two half-tones within the structure of the six whole tones. The tonal scheme of the Mixolydian mode, then, is: tonic root/ whole tone/ whole tone/ half tone/ whole tone/ whole tone/ half tone/ whole tone, which then repeats as the scale moves into higher octaves. A more concise way of writing a mode's fixed scheme is to count the intervals between the notes themselves.

For the Mixolydian mode the interval scheme is: whole step/ whole step/ half step/ whole step/ whole step/ half step/ whole step, or: 1 - 1 - 1/2 - 1 - 1 - 1/2 - 1. Seven intervals between eight notes, counting the repeat.

As you can see, the scheme of the Mixolydian mode is identical to the usual fret arrangement of the dulcimer. To begin the scale at G is as seemingly arbitrary as beginning at any other note. Nonetheless, this is historically where the dulcimer's scale arrangement was figured from for the sake of standardization and reference, and it does place middle C exactly there-- in the middle (G A B C D E F).

Since we all have to use this particular scale concept and method for applying letter values, you will have to remember along with everyone else involved with music in the Western world, that the b--c and e--f intervals are half-tones. It's just that simple. (It is here that so many people drop out of music because, really, it doesn't make much sense at all, except historically.)

Now, of course you don't have to be at the vibrational frequency known as the note G to be tuned to the Mixolydian mode-- we've already found this to be true. You know you can tune to anything your strings and ears will tolerate as long as your strongest, or tonic, note is on the open strum.

It is the relationship between strings that is important, not the actual notes themselves. Likewise, it is the relation of the steps of the scale to one another in the fixed scheme of 1 - 1 - 1/2 - 1 - 1 - 1/2 - 1 which determines whether or not you are in the Mixolydian mode.

If you actually happen to be at the open chord value of G (which may be a bit too high for unison strings of the .010 gauge), that's wonderful. You can then tell people you are tuned in the traditional Mixolydian mode. If your unisons are pitched someplace else, your tuning is transposed.

Using D as our keytone, the letter values for each note going up the scale when tuned into the Mixolydian mode are:

Now we're ready for melody, and you may even have learned a little history, some music theory, and a few terms in getting here.

Okay. . . Music gotta' have feet. But before beginning this section on melody, sit and drum the fingers of your left hand on something. Drum... drum ... drum ... That's just the motion you want to use to fret the unisons. For playing melodies on the dulcimer, your forefinger and middle finger will become your most valuable tools. Later, we'll use additional fingers to add effects and flourishes, and to make chords. Also, we'll discuss techniques for fretting with other objects.