Postcards From the Crater: nos. 9 & 10

Postcards From the Crater no. 9: Dunning's Spring Falls (pt. 1 mp3) (pt. 2 mp3) (pt. 3 mp3)
Postcards From the Crater no. 10: Dug Road (pt. 1 mp3) (pt. 2 mp3) (pt. 3 mp3)

As promised in my last post, here are the final two pieces from my new collection. A handful of very observant mandolinists may recognize postcard no. 10, here titled "Dug Road." It appears in my Midwestern Mandolin Duos publication, arranged for two mandolins, as "Divertimento in G." Here it is presented as a solo piece in the key of C.

I'll be packing up a box of these books to take out to Valley Forge this week for the CMSA convention. I hope to leave a few of them behind in the hands of friendly mandolin, mandola and mandocello players. If you are at convention stop by and take a look.

Postcards From the Crater: nos. 5 & 7

Postcards From the Crater no. 5: Pines West (pt. 1 mp3) (pt. 2 mp3) (pt. 3 mp3)
Postcards From the Crater no. 7: Lower Palisades (pt. 1 mp3) (pt. 2 mp3) (pt. 3 mp3)

My plan is to make recordings of all 10 of these Postcards available before the Classical Mandolin Society of America annual convention convenes outside of Philadelphia next week. I will have copies of my new Postcards From the Crater book for sale there and I want to be able to point to these recordings when people ask where they can hear how the pieces might sound. I intend to post the final 2 Postcards early next week before I head out to Valley Forge.

I will have plenty of copies of the book with me at the convention, even a few copies in alto clef for CGDA mandola players and bass clef for mandocellists. (Octave mandolin/mandola players can always just play from the standard treble clef edition.) Hopefully I won't be bringing as many copies home as I take with me. Did I mention that the new book will cost a mere $10?

The photo above was taken a few years ago while walking on the stretch of road I consider the "lower palisades", a little earlier in the Fall.

Postcards From the Crater: nos: 3 & 4

Postcards From the Crater no. 3: Phelps Park Bandshell (pt. 1 mp3) (pt. 2 mp3) (pt. 3 mp3)
Postcards From the Crater no. 4: Twin Springs Meadow (pt. 1 mp3) (pt. 2 mp3) (pt. 3 mp3)

Here are two more recordings of Postcards from the new book. I played these, along with the other eight, at Java John's on Tuesday night. Here's the setlist from that gig:

Java John’s solo mandolin, October 18, 2016

Set 1

1. Swarbrick Sends a Tune to Iowa (Goodin) / O’Neill’s Favorite (trad.) / Flowers of Edinburgh (James Oswald, 1710-1769)

2. Oswald: Divertimento II for solo mandolin

3. Postcards From the Crater no. 1: Twin Bridges

4. Deer Track, June 9, 2013 / Hogwart’s Express / Highlandville, May 2004

5. Postcards From the Crater no. 2: Butterfly Prairie

6. Telemann: Menuets 1728 – no. 4 & 14 (G.P. Telemann, 1681-1767)

7. St. Louis Railyard

8. Postcards From the Crater no. 3: Phelps Park Bandshell

9. Oswald: Airs for the Seasons / The Capsicum

10. Postcards From the Crater no. 4: Twin Springs Meadow

11. Alice’s Garden

12. Postcards From the Crater no. 5: Pines West

                                                           Set 2

1. Postcards From the Crater no. 6: Ice Cave Road

2. Sauli: Partita for Mandolin III (Filippo Sauli, c. 1710)

3. Postcards From the Crater no. 7: Lower Palisades

3. Bach: Bourees I & II, 3^rd Cello Suite (J.S. Bach, 1685-1750)

4. Postcards From the Crater no. 8: The Mighty Oak

5. Deer Track October 2002

6. Oswald: Airs for the Seasons / The Ambrosia

7. Postcards From the Crater no. 9: Dunning’s Spring Falls

8. Telemann: Menuets 1728 – no. 1 & 2

9. Postcards From the Crater no. 10: Dug Road

Thanks to everyone who came out to JJ's to hear the music, whether intentionally or not.

Postcards From the Crater: nos. 1 & 2

Postcards From the Crater no. 1: Twin Bridges (pt. 1 mp3) (pt. 2 mp3) (pt. 3 mp3)
Postcards From the Crater no. 2: Butterfly Prairie (pt. 1 mp3) (pt. 2 mp3) (pt. 3 mp3)

Here is a second installment of Postcards sound recordings. I hope to post the remaining 6 by the end of the month.

As stated in my previous post, these are short pieces modeled after James Oswald's 18th century divertimentos for "guittar" and titled after some of my favorite places here in the Decorah area.

The photo above was taken in July 2015 while walking our dog in what is officially known as the Community Prairie and Butterfly Garden.

I'll be playing all ten of these Postcards tomorrow night at Java John's Coffee House, along with music by James Oswald and others, from 7:00-9:00 p.m. Drop by if you would like to hear some solo mandolin music.

Postcards from the Crater previews

Postcards from the Crater no. 8: The Mighty Oak (1st pt. mp3) (2nd pt. mp3) (3rd pt. mp3)
Postcards from the Crater no. 6: Ice Cave Road (1st pt. mp3) (2nd pt. mp3) (3rd pt. mp3)

Early in 2016 I started writing short pieces modeled after the Divertimentos that James Oswald composed and published in the 1750s in London. At this point I have nine of these pieces that I like well enough to share, each with three short movements.

I've been playing them before or after Oswald's own pieces during my solo mandolin coffee house gigs this year and now my plan is to turn them into a small book that I intend to have available at the Classical Mandolin Society of America annual convention in Valley Forge, early next month.

I recorded a couple of these this morning and I'm posting them here as a start towards recording them all before the book is published. Musicians often ask if there are sound files to go with my books and I haven't usually taken the time (and it does take me some time to create acceptable recordings) to do that.

Postcards from the Crater is the working title for the collection. This is a breakthrough for me because creating titles is a constant problem and I was quite pleased when this popped into my mind. A couple of years ago we learned that our little town sits on top of a meteorite crater, you can read more about it here.

Using the Crater as a way to gather the pieces under one meteoric umbrella allows me to think about titles for each individual divertimento. I still have a couple of weeks before I have to finalize those titles so for this blog I will use the numbers that I currently have for them.

So here are recordings of Postcards no. 8 and no. 6. I should mention that all of these pieces will be easy to intermediate in their difficulty and they should equally fun to play on the fiddle. See what you think.....