The Down Home Waltz (Buck White, U.S.)

This works as a fantastic piece for two hammered dulcimers, trading off the lead and backup. This simple yet lovely tune offers us the opportunity to explore a host of arranging skills to include ideas such as rolled chords, valley rolls, triplets, drones, arpeggio fills accent shifts, using chromatics, syncopations and much more. We discuss how to explore chord choices using major, relative minors and secondary dominants and circle of fifths chord movement. This piece is a super illustration why harmonizing a scale is such a vitally important skill. (If you are not clear on what all this means, you might want to check out The Pachelbel’s Canon Exercise and in Hammered Dulcimer Fundamentals and Exercises in my video lessons. I cover these concepts in great detail.) This piece offers a great opportunity to be able to play a simple melody, a more complex arrangement and a backup and to see a relationship between the chord progression, the arrangement and the backup. You will know that you have the whole package when you can pass this test: play the simple melody and say the chord progression. This is not an easy task but the benefits are only realized when you can do it! I hope you will check out and nail down the backup. As I think everyone knows, much goes into creating a successful and interesting chord progression, backup and arrangement. As always, no chord can be viewed in isolation but must be seen as part of a larger story. And this piece definitely tells a story! Recorded on Journey to the Heartland (2005)

Here's What You Get:

$38 (Sheet music PLUS video lessons)

Sheet music for basic melody, backup, arrangement. Ken talks through the tune, chord choices, hammering patterns, backups, embellishments, arranging, play-throughs, and more on his dulcimer (shot from above so that you can see what he's doing).

Video Lessons Included:

• Basic Tune
• Hammering
• Backup - A part
• Backup - B part
• Chord Progression
• Arranging Ideas - A part
• Arranging Ideas - B part
• Play-through
• Duet Play-through

Approximate length: 49 minutes

***Videos can be streamed, downloaded, or viewed in the Gumroad App on mobile devices. Watch your email for instructions after purchase***

It's like having private mini-tutorials from Ken that you can watch over and over!

NOTE: Even if you already own the sheet music, your purchase ensures that you receive the latest updated versions, and future additions to new arranging ideas, backups and so forth as Ken experiments and develops his playing of the tune.

Thank you for your support - I hope you enjoy the tune! Please do not share your purchased music and videos.

Recorded at Fenchurch Music Studio, Baltimore MD for Fall 2017 Sandbridge Hammered Dulcimer Retreat