The Nutcracker Suite For Hammered Dulcimer

Book – For Hammered Dulcimer

About this book:

Your favorite melodies from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite are arranged just for hammered dulcimer! The arranger, National Hammered Dulcimer Champion, Mark Alan Wade, set each tune in keys that are dulcimer friendly and distilled the melody and harmony into fun to play arrangements.

Special Features:

• Each tune is presented 3 ways: Easier Themes (for intermediate players), Themes (for Int/Adv), and Advanced Arrangements.
• The printed copy of this book features LARGE print to make it even easier to read and play!
• Spiral Binding to stay open and stay flat on your music stand!
• Special arrangements included for standard AND extended range instruments!

Difficulty Levels:

These arrangements are intended for Intermediate to Advanced Players. To make the tunes more accessible to multiple levels of players, Mark includes three arrangements of each tune here. The Easier Theme Arrangements have the simplified themes of all the melodies. The Themes section adds sparse chords and harmony to the melody. The Advanced Arrangements is more difficult but more complete sounding. These arrangements require more intricate hand independence for the melody and counter melodies. In all versions, the melody is clearly shown in the notes with note stems that point up. The harmony and countermelody parts are shown below with stems that point down. That way you can learn the melody first by following the notes with the stems facing up. Then you can start learning the lower part once you have the tune under your hammers. If a section is too difficult, you can always just play the melody alone.

Dulcimer Range:

These arrangements are written for a chromatic 16/15 hammered dulcimer with optional extended range notes beyond that. A few movements may have a special additional part that is written for extended range Dulciforte by Master Works, my instrument of choice. If a note is not found on your instrument, you can usually change the octave of the note in question. For a few pieces, I wrote separate arrangements for standard range instruments.