“Scarborough Fair” possesses a deeply beautiful, almost mystical quality that makes it stand apart from typical folk tunes. This unique sound isn’t an accident—it comes from the specific scale used, known as the Dorian Mode. If you’ve been relying on standard major and minor scales, learning how to use the Dorian Mode is your first step to capturing this haunting elegance on the piano. This is precisely what playing with lead sheets allows you to do: understand the musical language, not just the notes.
The beauty of the Dorian Mode is that it sounds like a minor key, but with a brighter, raised 6th note, giving it a sophisticated, ancient feel. In the accompanying lesson, I show you how to instantly recognize the simple chords that define this mode and how to use them to guide your arrangement. We use the ChordWise approach to simplify the song’s structure, so you are building the music from the ground up, not just copying notes.
To truly convey that hypnotic, timeless feeling, we move beyond block chords in the left hand. The key technique here is an arpeggiated accompaniment pattern. By breaking the chords and playing the notes sequentially—perhaps root-fifth-octave—we create a delicate, continuous texture beneath the melody. This method of harmonizing and arranging from a lead sheet gives you the creative freedom to interpret the piece and make it your own, perfectly capturing the atmospheric mood of the song.
Ready to try this unique mode and the elegant arpeggiated pattern? I’ve recorded a complete video lesson breaking down the Dorian Mode and am offering the accompanying FREE PDF lead sheet for download. Click the links below to start playing “Scarborough Fair” with true elegance and intuition!
Watch the Full Lesson Video:
>> Click here to get your FREE Scarborough Fair Lead Sheet Download!
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