This arrangement of The Holly and the Ivy grew out of an exercise from my hammered dulcimer lessons with Karen Alley. The challenge was to create a pattern with specific features, such as the double bounces on the upbeat of beat 1 in the first measure and on beat two of the second measure, and then add that into a song. As it was around the holidays, I looked to pair the pattern with a Christmas song, and The Holly and the Ivy was a great fit! It shifts the original meter and style while remaining a cheerful tune that’s fun to play!

The range of this piece is D2- D6. It was arranged on an RCE 17/17 XR-RS with the superbass bridge on the right hand side.

The miniature hammered dulcimer ornament in the cover photo was crafted by Katie Moritz! You can check out all she has to offer at her website: Katie Moritz - Hammered Dulcimer Musician & Master Works Representative.

A video of this piece can be seen below!