Steve Schneider's column, The Transformative Power of Music, in the Winter 2008 DPN includes a story of how playing for his hospitalized mother-in-law changed their relationship. He writes "One of her more ardent requests was for the song "Deep Purple," a hauntingly beautiful sentimental air from the 1930's with an extraordinary chromatic melody and a fascinating chord structure. I transposed it from F to the more dulcimer-friendly key of G, and found that learning and memorizing it was a healthy challenge.

As I learned and arranged "Deep Purple," I began to consider my criteria for choosing certain harmonies, and consider what "rules" I follow in order to determine where, when, and how much harmonic support I should give to the melodic line. With this in mind, I invite all readers to send me suggestions for music in the public domain (non-copyrighted) that I could systematically harmonize and arrange for hammered dulcimer within these pages. Please send me any titles or actual music of tunes you would like to have me dissect and put back together in the interest of discovering a set of guidelines of harmonization and arranging. I reserve the right to choose or reject any submissions, and I'll choose one myself if I don't receive any usable suggestions. If you're going to send me a copy of the music, it ideally should be written in "fake book" style, with a melody line and chords written above or below it. If you're just sending tune names, please indicate any information you can about the tune's origins and where I could find a copy of it in print. If you'd like to help with Steve's quest, please send hard copies to:

180 Woodedge Drive,
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
If you can send music electronically, please send it to: performance@steveschneider.com.