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Frazier's Jig on mountain dulcimer
musician/member name: Music
Duration: 00:02:24
description:
Duration: 00:02:24
description:
This is a tune composed by Dan Hughie McEachern which I learned from Scottish style fiddler, Emily Parsons. It's one of a few tunes I'll be posting in the coming week that are in an interesting key of G mode. Like the others, this tune has no B notes in the melody, so is neither major (B natural) nor minor (B flat) - but sounds minor due to having the Myxolydian note of F natural. I play it on the dulcimer in the G tuning, D G D D, and using the 1.5 fret on the bass and melody (D) strings to get F natural. It ends up having a "very modal" sound to it. Recorded by Gregg Schneeman and posted New Year's Day 1/1/2026.
Can't help but chime in again,this time re melodies that lack a "3rd.".I play quite a few like that and as a fiddler relying on an accompanist I have observed:before the 70's(or a bit earlier) accompanists use a major chord as a starting point,now they would use a mlnor chord.Going back even further,pianists,guitarists would often play major chords even if the melody had a minor 3rd.Somehow it can sound "right" even if in theory it's wrong..Americans,think old Cajun recordings...also the blues,as a n.american art form it has always played with the major/minor dichotomy.Something shifted in folk/trad music.No judgement,it just happened although I know what I like,laugh.
Nice playing!I once had a book of Dan Hughie's compositions,probably long out of print now.Good to see his name and music pop up here.
Thanks for feedback, everyone. Ken, yes I had the one-and-a-half added years ago; it took some getting used to but I wouldn't be without it now, even though it's needed on only some tunes.
Your left hand is masterful here, Leo. Despite the triple meter, your right hand can be fully relaxed, slowly going back-and-forth, as your left hand uses hammers, pulls, and slides to keep the jig rhythm. I'm enjoying this very much.
Great tune and so well played. Thanks for sharing.
Nice
Thanks for sharing this jaunty tune Leo. Did you add the 1.5 fret to the dulcimer?
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a new song."
P.S.- That Sunhearth seems made for that 4 equidistant set-up!
Such a neat tune wonderfully played!
This is one of three tunes I've posted on YouTube recently that use a somewhat unusual scale, G-A-C-D-E-F-G... Sort of Myxolydian, except there's no 'third' in the scale, making it neither major (B) nor minor (Bb), but ambiguous. The other two tunes are The Deepdale Jig and John McNaughton's Reel. The latter is in a medley with Hold the Reins, which uses a pure G major (Ionian) scale, so you can really hear the contrast between the two modes when the tunes switch. All these I learned from the playing of Scottish-style fiddler Emily Parsons, so I assume they're Scottish in origin; the one other video existing of Deepdale Jig credits it to Cape Breton, but that fits because their tunes draw heavily from Scots roots.
In D-G-D tuning the fretting of this scale is: middle string 0, 1, 3, melody string 0, 1, 1.5, 3
Hope you find these tunes intriguing!!