In this blog I have tried to put together some workable plain language explanations of modes and modal tunings that are more easily understood by 'regular folk' and beginners, without getting heavily into music theory, which can be awfully intimidating.
The following is a handy list of links to some of the posts I have put up that specifically explain modes and modal tunings:
Most important is my series of posts (1-5) walking you through the four most common dulcimer modes and the how and whys of how it all works, written in a way that uses plain simple language and hands-on easy concepts that I think anyone can understand:
Modes aren't so scary #1
Modes aren't so scary #2
Modes aren't so scary #3
Modes aren't so scary #4
Modes aren't so scary #5
Here's the video where I demonstrate re-tuning between the four common modes, in the key of D:
Re-tuning video
(Best watched after reading the above series of 5 posts)
And two more related posts explaining more about using modal tunings:
Get out of jail free (this one has some useful visual charts that are VERY simple)
and lastly, taking it all back home: Why I like DAA tuning
I hope some of this may be helpful. None of them take very long to read. And if you actually tune your dulcimer along with each post as you go along, you will grasp the concept of modal tuning even more quickly and easily.
The following is a handy list of links to some of the posts I have put up that specifically explain modes and modal tunings:
Most important is my series of posts (1-5) walking you through the four most common dulcimer modes and the how and whys of how it all works, written in a way that uses plain simple language and hands-on easy concepts that I think anyone can understand:
Modes aren't so scary #1
Modes aren't so scary #2
Modes aren't so scary #3
Modes aren't so scary #4
Modes aren't so scary #5
Here's the video where I demonstrate re-tuning between the four common modes, in the key of D:
Re-tuning video
(Best watched after reading the above series of 5 posts)
And two more related posts explaining more about using modal tunings:
Get out of jail free (this one has some useful visual charts that are VERY simple)
and lastly, taking it all back home: Why I like DAA tuning
I hope some of this may be helpful. None of them take very long to read. And if you actually tune your dulcimer along with each post as you go along, you will grasp the concept of modal tuning even more quickly and easily.
This is a really good approach to learning to use modes. Thanks for sharing. Peggy Carter
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