Think About Accenting Notes

The winter 2014 volume of Dulcimer Players News  landed in my mail box this week. As usual, I sat down to quickly peruse the entire magazine to see what treasures might be in store, lingering here and there as my mood dictated. I saw my friend, Nat West, is looking to start a dulcimer playing children's group in Florida. John Keane offers insight into the difference between playing and practicing. Deb Porter is encouraging folks to find their singing voice. But my favorite article this time was written by Stephen Humphries, "Rhythm, Accents, and Syncopation: Putting the Emphasis on the Right Syllable."

I've had the chance to take several classes with Stephen in recent years. A great teacher and an impressive performer … he's a percussionist who really knows how to handle the hammers! And guess what? He's one of the featured instructor-performers at this year's Winston Salem Dulcimer Festival, May 2 - 3. If you haven't yet made plans to go, what are you waiting for?

But I digress. Let's get back to the article. Last year, I taught a class myself at Winston Salem Dulcimer Festival. The focus was syncopation. The students were challenged. I was not surprised. I have found that syncopation itself, and accenting specific notes in general are common areas of difficulty for all of my students. So I was interested to read what Stephen had to say. I really like the way he described how he thinks about hitting a note in order to accent it. I highlighted this paragraph and have been reading it verbatim to all of my students this week. Seriously! Different situations have come up in every lesson that have called for this insight:

"I prefer to think about accenting (or emphasizing) notes by hammer height rather than force. It allows my grip to stay more relaxed and the notes to flow more smoothly. In fact, sometimes it is even better to think about lowering the hammers on non-accented notes, or de-emphasizing these notes, to get the desired effect of an accent. An accent only needs to be one level louder than all the notes around it to stand out."  ~ Stephen Humphries

Check the article yourself for all the details, plus a page full of exercises. And maybe I'll see you in one of Stephen's classes in Winston Salem!

Read more about Stephen Humphries on his website:

"Stephen Humphries is a national hammered dulcimer champion, freelance percussionist, and music educator. While regularly performing and teaching at dulcimer and folk festivals around the country, Stephen also presents educational programs for hammered dulcimer and percussion in elementary, middle, and high schools. Additionally, Stephen composes music for the hammered dulcimer and other percussion instruments and shares this music through his performances and workshops. In 2011, he was awarded a Make Work Grant from CreateHere (a Chattanooga, Tennessee arts organization) for projects fusing hammered dulcimer and percussion through the use of technology. Stephen is also an artist/educator for Innovative Percussion, Inc. "

Silence as Technique in Music

One of the challenges and creative thrills in playing the hammered dulcimer is coming up with your own arrangements. If anyone had told me 15 years ago that I would be arranging my own music I would have laughed in disbelief. But it happens. As you learn your way around the instrument - practicing scales and chords, increasing your repertoire, accumulating ideas from other player's arrangements - you fill up your own bag of tricks. You develop opinions about what you like to hear and what you like to play. Out of this, your personal style emerges.

Now, the "bag of tricks" can be quite complex. But today I have one thing on my mind ... fill notes.

One arrangement idea is to fill "space" in a tune using arpeggiated chords, pieces of chords, pieces of scales, drone notes - or some combination of all these things - as "fill notes". The technique can be very effective. It creates a full sound. The instrument is laid out perfectly for it. It's fun! AND ... it's easy to get carried away. Don't overdo it! Plan for "empty" spaces.

• Let the tune "breathe". It will give you (and your listener) the opportunity to breathe.
• Give the melody its own space. The melody is THE thing and should always come through loud and clear ... or at least more loudly than the accompanying notes. Avoid crowding the melody by surrounding it with too much fluff. 
• Leave some notes out. While it might be instructional and useful to your practice to fill every eighth note division of time, it's often more pleasing to the listener to leave some space. You'll find that even some melody notes are dispensable. It's OK to eliminate notes that are not critical to the bare bones of the tune.
• Use dynamics. It's never too early in your playing career to start thinking about dynamics, i.e. playing more or less loudly. Lighten up on the fill notes to allow the melody to shine through.
• Record yourself and listen with a critical ear. Can you hear the melody?  Is it too busy? Is there room to breathe? Are you satisfied or worn out in the end? Make adjustments.

Good luck incorporating more "space" into your arrangements.  Here's one jazz musician's take on The Role of Silence in Music .