Lost Summer

Lost Summer (mp3) (pdf)

I noticed earlier this week that my tune Lost Summer had yet to make an appearance in this blog. It was first printed in the Contratopia Tunebook and later recorded (around a decade ago) as the final piece on our Smitten CD as a duet between me on guitar and Pat O'Loughlin on English concertina. More recently I published the piece again in my Midwestern Mandolin Duos book and it is that arrangement that I recorded this week.

I took the photo above a little while ago. It depicts Tolly, our elder cat, wondering "where did Summer 2013 go?" from the shelter of her garden/playground.

Wyandotte Woods

Wyandotte Woods (mp3) (pdf)

Wyandotte Woods State Recreation Area (known now as O'Bannon Woods State Park) is not far from my home territory in southern Indiana. I have many good memories of visits (concerts, hiking, camping) there and so I used this title back in 2000 for this duet. Having spent so much time this summer with my Deer Tracks pieces I can see now that this was a sort of precursor of the Deer Tracks to come. I published the sheet music for this in my Midwestern Mandolin Duos book a couple of years ago but I believe this is the first recording.

Speaking of Deer Tracks, thanks to the help of Steve Kaul and Pat O'Loughlin I had a very successful pair of recording sessions a few days ago at Wild Sound in Minneapolis. I think I'm pretty close to a finished CD of those pieces now. I'll be writing an update on my Kickstarter site soon and if you are interested you'll be able to learn more about the sessions there.

Spending time at a great studio like Wild Sound inspired me to take another look at my home recording setup. Today's track was recorded using the free sample version of something called Mixcraft 6 and I was very pleased with how easy it was to use. I'll try it for a few more things and then decide if I want to go ahead and pay the very reasonable price to register the software. If you are looking for something simple but with lots of features you might want to check it out.

Finally, my Blogger control panel tells me that sometime today, probably, this blog will experience page visit number 10,000. Now I know that's nothing in the world of viral video cats but I'm pleased that so many folks have spent some time over the last few years checking out these little audio tracks of mine. Thanks for listening!

August 2, 2013

August 2, 2013 (mp3) (pdf)

A hornpipe in A minor from a couple of weeks ago. I'll probably give it a real title someday. The curious push-pull effect between the guitar and the mandolin is the result of recording the melody first and then adding the guitar chords after.

Six Duettinos, Summer 2006, no. 6

Six Duettinos, Summer 2006, no. 6 (mp3) (pdf)

Taking a short break from Deer Tracks practice this morning I thought I would finally record the last of my 6 Duettinos from the summer of 2006. The recording was easy (although not perfect) but I took this opportunity to change the metronome markings on nos. 1,2,4,5,6 of the set. Then, of course, I had to go and change the score, create new pdfs of both the set and my Midwestern Mandolin Duos book and update various web pages. I think I've got those all corrected now.

The photo above is from the backyard of the ancestral home in Clarksville, Indiana, taken during the summer of 2007.

This blog will take a hiatus next weekend, interrupting my record-shattering, once-a-week string of posts that began last fall. But I expect to post something new in two weeks, just before I head to the studio to do the official Deer Tracks recordings.

Deer Tracks Season #6

Deer Track, August 16, 2006 (mp3) (pdf)

One of the many positive outcomes of my Kickstarter Deer Tracks project (thanks once again to my Kickstarter supporters!) has been the chance to revisit my older Deer Tracks pieces and tidy some of them up for their "official" recordings. In addition, by going through some old notebooks, I re-discovered some pieces that never made it from my hand-scrawled manuscripts into legible computer-generated sheet music. Today's short piece falls into that category.

Digging out the old notebook it looks like we made one of our trips to Maine, via Canada, during August of 2006. I have a sketch (dated 8/11) of a reel with the note "Manistique" that is now known as "Two Days to Maine" (I had already used the title "Manistique" for a different tune, written in the same town on an earlier trip) and appears on the CD Notes from the Farm, recorded with Erik Sessions in 2011. It appeared in this blog back in early May of this year as well.

The next day's sketch has "Cornwall" written in the margin. We often have stayed overnight in Cornwall, Ontario on our drive. This is followed by one tune each on the 13th and 14th and three tunes on the 15th. This piece from the 16th is the last in the series.

Enough said. It's short and, to me, a nice example of a fun Deer Track tune. I'll be making studio recordings of Deer Tracks next month and it will be interesting to me to see if this one makes the final list.

Suzie's Landing

Suzie's Landing (mp3) (pdf)

This photo of the barn at Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah is unrelated to today's tune but at this time last night (Sat., July 20, 2013) I was playing with Erik Sessions and Rob Hervey (caller, Bill Deutsch) in the band for the barn dance held there as part of the 33rd annual Seed Savers Conference and Campout. We've played this dance for a number of years now and it's always a good time. Last night might have been the best ever, it was certainly the first time we've ever had three full lines of contra dancers in the space.

Suzie's Landing is the landing on our staircase where Suzie sometimes like to sleep. A fitting title for a sleepy little tune.

All She Wrote

All She Wrote (mp3) (pdf)

A no-frills, straight ahead tune in Dm. What can I say? That's all she wrote.

Waiting in the Wood

Waiting in the Wood (mp3) (pdf)

This simple waltz arrived last weekend as I was playing a lovely Martin 00-15M guitar for what proved to be the last time. I was practicing for a wedding the next day with a capo on the 2nd fret and this little tune insisted on a hearing.

Later that day I took the guitar in to Dave's Guitars (a great shop) in La Crosse, WI to compare it with some other 00s that they had in stock. I came away with a new 00-18, leaving the 00-15 behind in trade. (It looks like it might already have sold, I don't see it listed on their site.) A fine guitar but I like the 00-18 even more. You can hear it on this track.

We sometimes say that tunes are stored up in particular instruments just waiting to be uncovered. That's my claim for this one. Nothing fancy, just a sweet little tune. Old Gibson A mandolin and a recent Weber Gallatin mandola on the second time through.

The Night Train Waltz

The Night Train Waltz (mp3) (pdf)

Heading east of out of Chicago on the Capitol Limited, Feb. 28, 2013, written in my cozy Superliner roomette. Recorded yesterday using a Martin 00-18V and my old Gibson A model mandolin.

Rollin' Through the Gap

Rollin' Through the Gap (mp3) (pdf)

We're taking a little break today from the world of Deer Tracks following the successful conclusion of my Kickstarter project. Here's a little tune written on the train while returning from D.C. this winter. Hope you enjoy it.

Deer Tracks Season #5

Deer Track, June 12, 2013 (mp3)

Suzie (above) wants to remind you that there are only 3 days left until my Kickstarter project closes. After Wednesday at 7:00 pm, central time it will be too late to sign on as a supporter.

Today's track is an example of a recently composed Deer Track piece. I have written a dozen or so since the project started, this one came last Wednesday. I'm not posting sheet music because it is still likely that I will change a note or two before I consider it completely finished.

Next week we may return to regularly scheduled programming, we'll see.

Deer Tracks Season #4

Deer Track, April 8, 2004 (mp3) (pdf)
Deer Track, September 7, 2003 (mp3) (pdf)

I guess I'll be keeping the Deer Tracks theme for another couple of weeks. My Kickstarter project has 10 days to go so it's all Deer Tracks, almost all of the time here at So Many Tunes Central these days. I'm really enjoying the effect that my Kickstarter supporters have had on my compositional activity. I've been turning out little pieces at an amazing (for me) rate and I'm having a ball doing it.

So, here are two more short pieces from the past that haven't appeared in this blog before. Hope you enjoy them.

The photo is one I took last Saturday in what is officially known here as Ice Cave Hill Park. I think of it as "up on the ridge." This was one of the few days this so-called spring when it hasn't been raining and I was able to get some good shots of a number of deer trails while walking the dog.

Deer Tracks Season #3

Deer Track, June 27, 2003 (mp3) (pdf)
Deer Tracks, June 2, 2004 (mp3) (pdf)

I'm sticking with the Deer Tracks theme this week as I approach the halfway mark in my Deer Tracks for Solo Mandolin Kickstarter campaign. I'm so pleased that a few more folks have added their weight to the kick that is propelling me towards the goal of recording these pieces. I have written eight new Deer Tracks pieces since April 28 and four of those came in the last week! Clearly the prospect of a select audience for this music is inspiring me to write some more music in the same vein.

So take a listen to a couple more of these "classic" Deer Tracks and I'll get back to working on some more new ones.

Deer Tracks Season #2

Deer Track, June 25, 2003 (mp3) (pdf)
Deer Track, July 2, 2003 (mp3) (pdf)

Here are two more older Deer Tracks that have never appeared in this blog. You might recall that last week I had just submitted my Deer Tracks for Solo Mandolin project to Kickstarter for approval. On Monday the 20th the project was approved and I launched the site on Monday evening around 7:00 p.m.

The response has exceeded my wildest expectations. I mentioned the project on Facebook and in the classical mandolin forum of the Mandolin Cafe and I received almost immediate positive response. Tuesday was my birthday and the generous pledges kept arriving. By bedtime on Tuesday, less than 28 hours after the project launch, I had met my fund-raising goal. As of this morning the project has 25 backers and they have pledged 175% of my original target. More important than the fund-raising though is the fact that over two dozen people have shown their interest in this non-mainstream music by pledging their support.

This show of support has had the desired effect of kickstarting me towards the completion of this project to make proper studio recordings of these already existing pieces and to compose some new pieces in the series. In particular I am now committed to compose at least 4 new pieces that have been commissioned by four very generous individuals through the Kickstarter site.

The Deer Tracks project is live through June 19. At that point the money that has been pledged by the backers of the project will be charged to their accounts and will become available to me. I have already started the process of booking studio time in August. If you haven't seen the site yet I encourage you to visit and consider adding your support. Also, it would be wonderful if you would share the site link with any of your friends who you think might find the project interesting. If nothing else you might enjoy the short video that I made to introduce the project.

I hope you enjoy the two older Deer Tracks above. I'm looking forward to recording them in a nice studio with some really great microphones later this summer.

Deer Tracks Season #1

Deer Track, August 18, 2002 (mp3) (pdf)
Deer Track, August 2002 (mp3) (pdf)

This post marks the start of what I hope will be a "Deer Tracks Season" for me. I have submitted a project for approval to the folks at Kickstarter that will attempt to attract some support that will "kickstart" me into doing a proper studio recording of these short, quirky pieces that I have been writing for solo mandolin for more than a decade. If the project is approved I will be talking more about it next week.

I have had a Deer Tracks website up since 2005 but I haven't featured all of the pieces from that site here yet. So today I'm highlighting two of the first Deer Tracks pieces.

I can clearly remember sitting in my hotel room in Fredericton and playing the first notes of "August 18". It was a pretty warm day for New Brunswick and I had taken a relaxing walk after a full day at a workshop. I had just been listening to Amaryllis, the beautiful CD that Marilyn Crispell had recently recorded with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian. I picked up the mandolin with the idea of trying to play something simple but fresh...

Most of the Deer Tracks that have followed come from the same place. The process is as important as the note choices and I'm always surprised to see where the trail will lead. I'm hoping that the Kickstarter project will let me visit that place a bit more than usual this coming summer.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day (mp3) (pdf)

It's Mother's Day weekend so I'm offering a live recording of Contratopia playing my tune "Mother's Day" at the April 2003 Spring Dance Romance weekend in North Carolina. We've played this tune a lot over the years, it's hard to believe that this recording is over 10 years old! (My own Mom was still alive at this time, although she was losing her battle with tobacco-induced lung cancer.)

My memory is that this was a Sunday morning waltz session, after a delicious big breakfast. None of us had slept very much the two previous nights but we were really playing well together that morning. This may have been the first tune of the session. We had recently released our waltz CD, Ballroom Echoes, and this was the first track on that. The pdf also includes my "Rose Island" from the same page of the Contratopia Tunebook, also on the waltz CD.

If you like this live recording feel free to download and share it with your own or any other mother that you know. Compliments of Contratopia from 2003.

Ain't Broke - Two Days to Maine

Ain't Broke/Two Days to Maine (mp3) (pdf)

This recording, I believe, is an alternate take of a set of tunes from our 2012 Notes From the Farm CD. Erik and I played this same set, a little faster, a little louder, at T-Bocks Sports Bar & Grill for a great audience last Sunday night. We were the Featured Artists for the monthly open stage event and we had a great time.

I'm in DC this weekend with Contratopia, playing a series of dances at Glen Echo Park and a Saturday dance in Shepherdstown, WV. So I'm writing this post a little in advance. I'll see if I can save it and post it on Saturday or Sunday from Takoma Park.

Thanks, as always, to a true artist, photographer David Cavagnaro for permission to use his beautiful photo for our CD cover.

(Sorry for the repeat on this one. I was changing some links and the page re-published itself. Couldn't have been my fault. I would never hit the wrong key :))

May Jigs

Let the Steamboats Run (mp3) (pdf)
Not in My Ground Water (mp3) (pdf)

A pair of jigs in a medley.

Record amounts of snow for the month of May were recorded across a wide swath of southern Minnesota this past week, over a foot in many places. Luckily, Decorah experienced mostly rain. On May 1 I was working on a different piece of music when a new jig took over my fingers. As always, finding a title was a problem when I recorded it yesterday.

The first of May (already the title of a great tune) offers many opportunities for titles because of its significance in many countries and cultures. I settled on a reminder of home, the Great Steamboat Race that occurs every year on the Wednesday (May 1 this year) before the Kentucky Derby. Years ago I used to love to go down to the Ohio river and watch the Belle of Louisville and the Delta Queen battle it out for the Golden Antlers. I especially enjoyed the years when the Julia Belle Swain was added to the field.

A week ago last Saturday Erik Sessions and I (with the help of our friends Pat O'Loughlin and Ehler Orngard) presented a benefit concert to help raise funds for a lawsuit that hopes to improve the air quality near the North Winneshiek school site. This second recently composed jig was paired with Erik's own new "Pig Jig" in a set of tunes, even though the issue at hand was air quality and not water. Things are related, as we all know, and environments are being stressed everywhere. Frac sand mining is a big issue in our region as well. Tune titles are small things but sometimes they can prompt a bit of thinking. Charles Mingus was a great one for this. My favorite example is "Remember Rockefeller at Attica."

When you click on the links above this week you will be pulling files from my new mandotopia.com website. I am slowly moving old files from the Contratopia site over to this new one and this is the first week that I have loaded the new files directly to the new host. If you have any problems please let me know.

Six Duettinos, Summer 2006, no. 5

Six Duettinos, Summer 2006, no.5 (mp3) (pdf)

Continuing the process of finally recording all six of my little "duettinos", which you can read about in an earlier post from December 2012. Number 5 is one that I recorded back in February and then forgot to press the save button on my machine, so I played it again this afternoon and managed to save my work this time.

Getting ready for a fun concert tonight with Erik Sessions and special guests Pat O'Loughlin and Ehler Orngard. It's a benefit to raise funds for a lawsuit aiming to force the EPA to regulate livestock feedlot emissions that are affecting local air quality. Read about the suit here and the concert here.

The music will be fun and will feature some new tunes along with music our Notes From the Farm CD and sets of tunes from Contraopia CDs as well. We may even be joined by lawyer/mandolinist Wally Taylor for a tune or two.

If you are in town come on out to Good Shepherd church tonight to hear a couple of world premieres. We promise no long speeches, just good tunes.

Off to Minnesota with the Providence Mandolin Orchestra (Post #100)

Off to Minnesota (mp3) (pdf score, parts available on request)

According to the Blogger internal counting algorithm today's post is number 100 since I created this blog back at the start of 2007. You can see from the archive that I have been a little inconsistent over the years; 25 posts in 2007 but only 3 in 2009. Lately though I have found a rhythm and I believe that this is the 28th consecutive week that I have posted a piece of music here. (I have nothing for next week yet but we'll see what the coming week brings.)

I'm especially pleased with this week's "tune" because it features the remarkable Providence Mandolin Orchestra performing my arrangement of my simple tune "Off to Minnesota" (really just a variation on the classic tune "Off to California"), which I originally made up in 2007. It appeared here in its basic form, with guitar and mandolin, in June 2008. A little later I created the mandolin orchestra version and gave it to my good friends in the Minnesota Mandolin Orchestra.

The MMO has performed this piece many times in recent years and I have had the honor to join them on occasion. We performed the piece in Minneapolis during a concert at the annual Classical Mandolin Society of America convention last fall and Mark Davis, director of the Providence Mandolin Orchestra, liked the piece enough to ask me for the music. This resulted in the performance I'm sharing today.

The PMO is, by any standard, one of the premiere plectral ensembles in North America. They are especially well known for focusing on the performance of recently composed music for mandolin orchestra. In January 2013 the orchestra played a concert as part of the Music at Lily Pads series in Peace Dale, RI that featured a program of all original music for mandolin and guitars, including some recent award-winning pieces. I was extremely honored that Mark and the group chose to perform Off to Minnesota as their encore that afternoon.

Thanks to the hard work work of PMO member David Miller, and the generosity of Mark and the group, I have permission to share that performance here. It's an especially appropriate choice for today's post because I just returned last night from my second of two trips this weekend "off the Minnesota" to play tunes with buddies in Contratopia. I hope you enjoy the fine playing of the folks in the PMO!

Wintry Mix

Wintry Mix (mp3) (pdf)

I wrote this tune a month or so ago while returning from Washington D.C. on Amtrak's Capitol Limited train. At the time I did not imagine that I would be watching, and listening, to such weather in mid-April here in Decorah. But this morning there was fresh, slushy ice on the car parked out front and nearly frozen rain is still falling from the sky at 11:00 a.m. Enough already.

The tune is a simple jig that lays nicely under the fingers.

Late Breakfast

Late Breakfast (mp3) (pdf)

I picked up the mandolin first thing this morning and a little snatch of melody was waiting. Rather than go downstairs for breakfast I played along until a whole tune emerged. Following my late breakfast I tuned up the guitar and plugged in a mic, then I recorded the music while it was still fresh.

Usually it's a good idea to wait a while and see if new and better ideas come along to improve a piece but I decided to go ahead and share this tune while it was new. Hope that's OK.

Easter Jigs 2004

Easter Jigs 2004 (mp3) (pdf score) (pdf M1) (pdf M2)

Easter weekend often, but not always, offers me a chance to write a tune or two. According to my notebooks these two simple jigs were written on or around Easter in 2004. Checking our Contratopia History page I see that the month leading up to Easter that year (April 11) was a particularly busy period for the band. We were featured at the Spring Breakdown in Jefferson City, MO from March 19-21 and, the following weekend, we played for the Vernals Dance Weekend in Florida. I believe this is the only time that Contratopia has played back-to-back dance weekends. We were all so young back then!

I mention this history to suggest that I was probably ready for some down time when Easter rolled around in 2004. So these two jigs, still individually unnamed, popped out while my head was still full of dance weekend music. A few weeks ago I came across them and thought I would write a second part for each and then put them together. Hence today's Easter Jigs.

Find a mando or fiddle playing friend and give them a try. Guitar chords are included too.

Deer Track March 10-11, 2013

Deer Track March 10-11, 2013 (mp3) (pdf)

Another addition to my ongoing series of short Deer Tracks solo mandolin pieces, from a couple of weeks ago. This one came about because I had read a review of a recent CD by saxophonist Jeremy Udden, titled folk art, in DownBeat magazine (the online edition).

I was sitting here at this computer and looked up the Amazon page for the CD with sound clips. The reviewer had made it clear I would probably like the CD (it includes several tracks featuring Brandon Seabrook on banjo, in a non-bluegrass style). I had my mandolin in my lap as I listened to the samples and spontaneously started to play along.

If I had been in the room with the band while they were recording what I was playing would have been wholly inappropriate but it suited me at the time. Before long I played what is now the first phrase of this week's tune. I reached out and stopped the CD samples, picked up a pen and started writing. Most of the piece followed pretty quickly. I improved it some the next day and then recorded it. (I then ordered the CD and I highly recommend it.)

Antonina from the Gravenstein Mandolin Ensemble

Antonina (pdf score)(parts available on request)

Here's an excellent video recording of a performance of my mandolin orchestra composition Antonina taken from a concert given by the Gravenstein Mandolin Ensemble (directed by Gus Garelick) at a church in Petaluma, CA on January 25, 2013. I'm always delighted when groups post videos of themselves playing one of my pieces and this is an especially fine performance. My thanks to Gus and the group for putting so much work into making my music sound good!

Particular thanks goes to the group's percussionist and whoever (Gus?) created the percussion part. My original score doesn't call for percussion but this is a fine addition to the piece.

I have written a number of pieces for mandolin orchestra and other types of mandolin-based ensembles over the last 25 years and they have been played and recorded by groups around the world. A few of these pieces can be found on the Compositions for mandolin orchestra or other mandolin ensembles page of my Mandotopia website. Antonina and several others haven't been posted there yet but I hope to get to that soon.

As Gus mentions in his introduction, Antonina was written for the en masse orchestra of the 2010 convention of the Classical Mandolin Society of America, held in Seattle. I had the honor of being named Composer in Residence that year and I had a great time hearing the 100+ member group work on the music. The piece is dedicated to the wonderful Antonina (Toni) Nigrelli, one of the earliest members of the CMSA, a former President of the organization and all-around champion of the classical mandolin in North America.

I hope you enjoy the music.

The Old White House

The Old White House (mp3) (pdf) (pdf2014revision)

Early last Saturday morning Erik, Pat, Ted, Lynn and I enjoyed a pleasant visit to the old White House. Sadly, Patrice Pakiz (who organized the tour) was left at the gate, having temporarily lost her driver's license. It was before 9:00 a.m. and we had been up pretty late the night before playing at the Glen Echo Friday Night Dance but we still enjoyed seeing a few historic rooms.

This particular tune emerged on the day that Patrice let us know we had our request for a tour approved. I started out writing a variation on the classic tune "White House Blues" but ended up closer to "Cindy". In fact at one point I thought I was finished and then realized that I had accidentally re-composed the A section of "Cindy" almost note for note.

Contratopia has played this tune a couple of times now and it works as a nice mid-tempo marching kind of dance. See what you think.

The Oneota Stomp

The Oneota Stomp (mp3) (pdf)

Re-worked slightly in 2012, this tune has been around for a few years. I believe that we played it at least once, sometime in the past, in its earlier form with the now legendary Bear Creek Bluegrass Band in the Cafe Deluxe (later Sabor Latino) courtyard on a warm summer's night. It didn't catch on with the band then (neither did my searing rendition of Stonewall Jackson's "Waterloo") but now here it is again.

The photo is of the Upper Iowa (Oneota) River taken over a century ago by Professor Samuel Calvin. You can find it, and many more beautiful images, in the Calvin Photographic Collection hosted by the University of Iowa.

I like the recording here but I have to mention that the ending is a bit of a train wreck. I fumbled putting a tag on the original rhythm track and then compounded it by adding competing tags to the additional guitar and mandolin tracks, thinking I would "fix it in the mix". In the end the train wreck sounds more fun, so I left them all on.

The New Henrietta

The New Henrietta (mp3) (pdf)

"The New Henrietta" is a rare example of a case where I intentionally take some music (in this case one and a half measures) from an existing tune and use it verbatim in my own piece. (Lord knows I unintentionally takes bits and phrases from old tunes all the time.) A tune titled "Henrietta - Hornpipe" appears on page 139 of Patrick Sky's Mel Bay edition of Ryan's Mammoth Collection, a wonderful gathering of music first printed in the 19th century. 

I was reading tunes at random one day from this book and found that the first two bars of the B section of "Henrietta" were especially fun. The rest of the tune didn't do much for me so I wrote a new tune around the measures that I liked. Those notes still appear as the first measure and a half of the new B section.

Erik Sessions and I recorded "The New Henrietta" paired with Erik's excellent "Kohlrabi Stomp" on our Notes From the Farm CD last year. We only played "Henrietta" one and a half times through on the CD so I thought I would give it twice as much exposure today.

Recorded this morning, Gibson mandolin, Martin guitar. The chords in parentheses are the ones I play with the capo on the third fret.

Six Duettinos, Summer 2006, no. 4

Six Duettinos, Summer 2006, no. 4 (mp3) (pdf)

Continuing my project to finally record all six of these simple pieces. You can read more about them in my post from last December.

I sat down this morning and recorded both no. 4 and no. 5. Unfortunately, I neglected to save the recording of no. 5 and it disappeared when I unplugged my Tascam pocketstudio. I'll have to do it again later. No. 4, presented here, goes a bit faster than the tempo indicated in the sheet music (although I have corrected this in my Midwestern Mandolin Duos book) and I played a few unintended notes at the start of the final A section. No harm, no foul.

Groundhog Special

Groundhog Special (mp3) (pdf)

Written, recorded and set into Finale this morning. Edited with my ancient Sound Forge software and uploaded to my website just after lunch. This is an unusual example of the whole process happening in just a few hours.

You might properly and politely point out that's it's usually better to wait a while before sharing something on the internet. I suppose I might decide tomorrow, or the next day, to remove this post but I doubt it. The tune and the performance seem to be well within the loose guidelines of what's acceptable here. (Clearly no click track was involved.) Hope you enjoy it.

We're Heading South

We're Heading South (mp3) (pdf)

Waltz. Mostly written on January 15, 2013, recorded last weekend. World premiere with guitar, violin and oboe, by Contratopia last Saturday night (the 19th) during a dance at the Decorah Elks Lodge.

The temperature was above 40 degrees Fahrenheit last Saturday afternoon, still in the thirties at five when we met for dinner and down to the single digits by 9 pm, with a fierce wind bringing the chill well below zero. Heading South was a very attractive prospect.

The photo is a view of the old mill at Spring Mill Park in southern Indiana, taken in March 2009. The tune offers a good chance to practice your half-diminished chords.

Coulda Been a Log

Coulda Been a Log (mp3) (pdf)

A simple uptempo tune in C. Recorded a year or so ago, I just came across the recording again this past week. Who knows, maybe we'll play it with Contratopia at the Elks Club tonight?

September Last

September Last (mp3) (pdf)

This tune emerged on or about September 16, 2012 and received its only (to date) public performance at the Steyer Opera House, here in Decorah, on September 21 as part of the "Coming Home Again" concert presented by the Water Street Music Series featuring the quartet of Ellen Rockne, Kathy Reed, Erik Sessions and myself. That performance featured Kathy on harpsichord, Erik on fiddle and me on mandolin.

The photo was taken (according to our camera) on Sept. 8, just a few days before the music came.

The recording is from this morning. It's nice to remember the warmth of September on a cold January morning.

Six Duettinos, Summer 2006, no. 3

Six Duettinos, Summer 2006, no. 3 (mp3)(pdf)

As promised a couple of weeks ago, here's no. 3 of the set. Only three more of these to go. A simple, sunny start to the new year.

See the earlier post for more info on this music.

Incredibly, to me, this marks the 13th week in a row that I've managed to post something here.

Snow to Come

Snow to Come (mp3)(pdf)

Back in November, before Thanksgiving, I found this very simple waltz waiting for me. Like many of the simplest tunes, I suspect it may have more borrowed parts than most. If someone recognizes the main theme please let me know where I found it.

There was no snow when I wrote the tune but we have had a few inches here in December. The photo is from outside our back door, looking toward the street, taken just a few minutes ago.

Last week, thanks to some encouragement from my mandolin friend (and fellow CMSA Board member) Barbara Conrad, I took the time to update my Alphabetical list of tunes page. I took a moment to count and I can say that there are now (drum roll, please) over 100 tunes listed. On one hand that sounds like a lot but, on the other hand, it has taken me nearly six years to reach that plateau. I'll see if I can't reach the 200 mark in a little less time.

Thanks for listening, see you in 2013.

Six Duettinos, Summer 2006 no. 1

Six Duettinos, Summer 2006 no. 1 (mp3)(pdf)

From the text on my Six Duettinos, Summer 2006 page:

"I composed these simple duets for 2 mandolins in early June 2006 as I was completing the work of transcribing the Eighteen Duettinos for Two Guittars; Two French Horns or Two Clarinetts" that were published by William Bates around 1770 in London. As I was playing his charming little pieces I thought it might be fun to write a piece or two of my own in the same spirit. I ended up with six in quick succession.

Bates' duettinos are all very limited in scope, mine are only slightly more adventurous. My goal was to keep the music simple (not usually a big problem for me), to limit each piece to one page of paper in my notebook and to have the first mandolin part carry the whole melody with the second part supplying basic harmonies with lots of thirds. These are all characteristics of the pieces in the Bates set."

I also have a page that links to my transcription of the Bates collection. You can find it here.

Back in October of 2010, as part of the announcement of my Midwestern Mandolin Duos collection, I posted a recording of the second of these 6 short pieces. I've been meaning to get around to recording the others ever since. So here's no. 1 of the set. Although written as duos, the top line of all of these pieces work fine as short solos. Also, the pdf link takes you to the sheet music for the full set of six pieces.

Number 3 will be posted sometime soon.

Lemon Water

Lemon Water (mp3)(pdf)

June 2011, a trip to New Orleans, lemon water in the hotel lobby. I recorded this maybe a year ago and forgot that I had done it. Tonight, while waiting for our winter solstice blizzard to begin, I found the recording. Until tonight it was just called "June 26, 2011 Waltz". If I waited until tomorrow to give the tune a title it probably would include something about snow shoveling.

Sonata in L(ou)

Sonata in L(ou) - score (pdf)
Sonata in L(ou) - Andante (mp3)
Sonata in L(ou) - Grave (mp3)
Sonata in L(ou) - Allegretto (mp3)

Back in the summer of 2010 I received an email from Vicki Chouinard, wife of Lou Chouinard (my friend and President of the Classical Mandolin Society of America), offering to commission me to write a short piece as a surprise for Lou's birthday in October. That birthday would coincide with the annual convention of the CMSA to be held in Seattle.

While I write a lot of music for mandolin, I tend to write either dance tunes or pieces for mandolin/guitar ensemble. I don't often write for solo mandolin in a "classical" context, although my ongoing series of Deer Tracks pieces are the exception to that rule. My first reaction to Vicki's request was to say "no thanks", partly because I had a couple of other unfinished commissions on my plate and partly because of my insecurity about solo mandolin composition.

Before I said no, however, I slept on the idea and I found the next day that some musical ideas popped up that might fit the bill. So the project went forward and I was happy to present my Sonata in L(ou) to Lou at the Seattle convention. I've been intending to share it more widely ever since (how time flies) and here it is.

Part of my insecurity is that my "composer mind" is missing the "write virtuosic music" piece. I'm partly contained by my own limitations as a player, and that's OK with me. Sometimes, though, I'll come up with something that's a little beyond what I can do personally. I truly envy and admire those composers who write music that requires already brilliant musicians to stretch themselves, that just isn't in my current toolbox. Maybe when I mature....

In any event, Sonata in L(ou) is a fun piece for me to play. For a long time I played it almost every day. It's a good warm-up piece and you can treat it different ways. The recording attached here is just the demo I made to show Vicki and Lou one way it might sound. I encourage each of you to mess around with it. In particular, feel free to skip the repeats if you want. I do about half of the time.

A Note about Commssions

Sonata in L(ou) only exists because Vicki had the great idea to ask someone to write a piece for Lou. I'm going write music whether anyone asks me to or not, but when someone commissions a piece I love the idea that I'm going to write something that will definitely be played by someone besides just me.

If you've never considered asking someone to compose a piece of music for you, I encourage you to think about it. It doesn't hurt to ask. While it's always nice when a commission involves monetary compensation, there are no rules about that. Just by asking you put the thought in the composer's head. In the case of Vicki and Lou my first impulse was to say no, money wasn't part of the equation. But the idea was in my head and the piece had a life of its own.

So, if you think you'd like me to write a piece for you or your group, just ask. If not me ask another composer. Maybe a famous one, maybe a college student you know who's studying composition. Put the idea in their head and see what comes out!

Lazy Susan

Lazy Susan (mp3)(pdf)

Last weekend, while going through a pile of notebooks and loose music paper, I came across a stack of some of my earliest tunes. Most of the tunes I would try and write down in the 70s and 80s are long gone but I have kept a few. "Lazy Susan" is one. I'm pretty sure it was written in the mid-late 70s and it's rarely, if ever, been performed in public. So, here's the way I remembered it last weekend.

By chance, a few days after I recorded this tune, the remarkable guitarist Mickey Baker passed away in France, age 87. I learned most of the chord shapes that I used when I wrote my little tune from his book, Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar (v.1). The first lessons in that book, one of the few you could buy on the subject back in the 70s, have helped me over and over again in the last 40 years. Further evidence of synchronicity at work is the fact that Mr. Baker was born in Louisville, Kentucky, where I almost certainly would have purchased the book. Thanks, Mickey.

Emory's Crossing

Emory's Crossing (mp3)(pdf)

This week's tune is a fairly straightforward reel in Am. The title is intended to refer to a crooked old road that runs between the oldest part of my hometown of Clarksville, Indiana ( that is, the foot of Harrison Ave. at the Falls of the Ohio, where George Rogers Clark built a cabin home and the Lewis and Clark expedition began) and the old highway from modern Clarksville into New Albany, Indiana. As a boy this stretch of road (properly named Emery Crossing) was a little piece of near wilderness, certainly not a place to go after dark.

I've had the tune for a few years and it's been played, off and on, by Contratopia during that time. Currently it's without a spot on our setlist so I thought I'd give it a little airtime here. Recorded in short order with just guitar and mandolin last Saturday.

Shenandoah Bound

Shenandoah Bound (mp3)(pdf)

Without looking it up in old notebooks this title suggests to me that I must have written this tune while riding on the Capitol Limited train somewhere near Harper's Ferry, WV. (Thanks to photographer Mark Fickett for generously sharing this panorama under a Creative Commons license.) Crossing the railroad bridge on the right side of this photo, where the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers meet, is always one of the high points of the trip for me.

The tune itself, a country kind of waltz with a little blues in the B section, was recorded last weekend. I only used guitar on this one and I indulged in a little improvisation the second time through the tune. You can hear that I was enjoying myself so much that I forgot to smoothly segue from improv to melody when going back to the head. We had one of our regular Decorah contra dances last Saturday night so I brought the tune in for the Western Home String Band to play and I think it went pretty well.

See if it works for you.

Not an Option

Not an Option (mp3)(pdf)

This entry marks the 5th weekend in a row that I have posted a tune to this blog. A rare, if not unprecedented, event in the history of So Many Tunes. Our tune of the week is also rare in that it was composed and recorded, I believe, on the same day last weekend. (Usually tunes sit around for months or years before I decide to use them here.)

The title was a problem (see last week's entry). I had given this tune a completely different title last weekend but I made the mistake of checking this morning to see if that title had been used for other things. It turns out there are songs, albums, books, even movies, using the other title so I figured I should try something else. "Not an Option" is a commonly used phrase, which is good, but it doesn't appear to be used as a title for songs or tunes that often. So, for now, this little jig has this name.

Recorded quickly and simply with just two mandolin tracks using the built-in mics of the DP-008.

Return to Dream Acres

Return to Dream Acres (mp3)(pdf)

Where do the titles come from? People sometimes ask this question, often referring to a particular tune or piece of music. I also sometimes wonder what, if anything, the composer means when they give a name to a musical composition. Many of us like to think that a certain place, person or event was instrumental (pun intended) in the creation of the music.

In my case, most of the time, the title is chosen shortly before the music is shared with other musicians. "Return to Dream Acres" is a typical example. Above is a copy of what this tune looked like when it was first written down in my music notebook. The 11/26 in the upper right hand corner is not an interesting time signature but an indication of the day when I wrote down the notes below it. I know it was November 26, 2009 because it's in a notebook that covers that time period.

The GL (shorthand for Great Lakes) in the upper left hand corner tells me that, at some point, I was considering using this tune as part of a mandolin orchestra piece I was working on for the Kalamazoo Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra. At the time (and this is the exception that proves the rule under discussion) we were using a working title of "Great Lakes Suite" for this piece in progress. (In the end the Kalamazoo commission was titled "The Pleasant Peninsula" and the notes above were not part of that piece.)

I probably wrote the whole tune on the same day although sometimes I come back at a later date to finish or improve tunes. At some point this tune would have been entered into my Sibelius music notation software and I would have given it the title "November 26, 2009." I may or may not have printed it out and shared it with other musicians between then and summer 2012. (My bandmates in Contratopia have stacks of my tunes with dates for titles. This often causes confusion.)

Finally, this summer I had a gig playing for a wedding dance up at Dream Acres farm in Minnesota, a special place that I've been fortunate to visit a number of times over the years. I was gathering some tunes to distribute to the first-rate band for the evening (Bill Deutsch, Rob Hervey & Ehler Orngard) and I decided to use "November 26, 2009." Since I would literally be returning to Dream Acres for the dance, I gave this jig that title.

The recording offered here is from last weekend. As I was recording it I started thinking "this is almost more of a tarantella than a jig." Dance however you wish.

From Artist's Point

From Artist's Point (mp3)(pdf)

We had a chance to spend a few days at Grand Marais, MN, up on the western, North Shore coast of Lake Superior this past August. We stayed at a modestly priced motel right on the beach and this tune got its start while sitting on the balcony looking out at the water. Later, after a windy, rainy morning we walked out to Artist's Point and enjoyed watching the waves beat up against the rocks.

The recording here is another attempt to adapt to the new Tascam DP-008 recorder. This time I used an AKG C1000-S mic instead of the built Tascam mics.

Walk On Dry Leaves

Walk On Dry Leaves (mp3)(pdf)

This little tune was written a week ago, on Sat. Oct. 13, sitting in the same chair I'm sitting in right now. In my mind it's a clear imitation of the kind of tune that I mentioned in the previous post; something that Norman and Nancy Blake and Peter Ostroushko might have played through once or twice at a long ago session.

I recorded the tune on a new Tascam DP-008 recorder using the built in mics. Instruments were an old Gibson oval A mandolin and a recent Martin OO-15M guitar. The tempo is comfortable but the tune is also fun played at a dance tempo. Contratopia played this last night at our dance in Northfield, MN at a much faster speed and it worked fine that way as well.

Hope you enjoy it.

Bighorn River Sunset meets Mandolin for Dummies

Bighorn River Sunset (mp3, from Contratopia's Smitten CD)(pdf)

In January 2003 Contratopia played at the Wintergreen dance weekend in Bozeman, MT. Erik Sessions & I decided to drive from Decorah to Bozeman and back and, along the way, we saw some beautiful scenery. We left Bozeman for home on Sunday afternoon and for a long stretch, after Billings, we were driving south along I-90 while a spectacular sunset unfolded in the west. Later I wrote this little piece.

This is another of those tunes that I almost didn't write down because the melody is so very simple. I'm glad I did because it turns out that lots of people like the tune and it gets played quite a bit. Since it only uses a few notes it is also a good tune for teaching. The Contratopia recording, linked above, is really pretty. Patrice plays a beautiful introduction and, later, a perfect little solo. The string section is not some synthesizer, it's Erik doing a multi-track string arrangement. The whole thing, in my memory at least, was really easy.

My friend Don Julin has just published a wonderful book, Mandolin for Dummies. He has done me the honor of including his chord melody arrangement of "Bighorn River Sunset" in the book (p.147) and he's recorded that arrangement as well. I highly recommend Don's book, dummy or no, because it's full (nearly 400 pages) of good ideas and musical examples. Every mandolin player can learn something from this tome and it's fun to boot.

This time last week I was immersed in the wonderful world of the annual Classical Mandolin Society of America convention. This year it was held in Minneapolis (well, Minnetonka to be exact) and that meant that both Don Julin and one of my other favorite players, Peter Oshtroushko were in attendance.

Peter O. is fundamental to the existence of this blog and the music that I create. Three of my favorite composers for the mandolin are Peter and Norman and Nancy Blake. Many of the best tunes that I have written, some that have appeared in this blog, have started out as an attempt to write one like Norman, Nancy or Peter. The work they did together on the Blakes' Original Underground Music From The Mysterious South is still some of the best mandolin music ever recorded. 

It was a great pleasure and inspiration for me to be able to watch Peter play at close hand informally, in workshops, and in concert with the great Dean Magraw. As usual, I returned home from the CMSA convention with lots of ideas for tunes and projects.

St. Francis and the Birds, duet

St. Francis and the Birds Duo (computer mp3)(pdf)

This tune probably was written sometime in the 1980s and appeared in this blog as a single melody line with chords back in October 2007. Following last week's resurrection of St. Anthony and the Fishes as a duo I am including a two-part arrangement of St. Francis today.

Once again I'm letting a computer-generated duo of flute and English horn play the tune. This time there are definitely no notes in the top line that go below middle C.

If you are not familiar with the story you can read a nice version of the tale from the Johannes Jorgensen biography of St. Francis here, courtesy of Google Books.

My partner Erik Sessions and I (don't forget to check out our recent CD, Notes from the Farm at CD Baby, iTunes, etc.) have a couple of church music gigs coming up and I though we might want to consider playing these saints-related tunes. We'll see if that happens or not. In any event I now have these nice duos to share.

St. Anthony returns

St. Anthony and the Fishes Duo (computer mp3)(pdf)

This tune first appeared in this blog back in the summer of 2008. It returns today with a newly written second part suitable for any two treble clef instruments, so long as one of those instruments can play down to G below middle C. This would be fine for two mandolins, mandolin and alto mandola, two violins, flute or soprano recorder [except for the low Bb in measure 29 of the top part - thanks Ellen!] and violin or mandolin, etc. Guitar would sound good on the bottom line also.

The computer generated recording (which sounds pretty good to me) features imitation flute and English horn.

I enjoyed writing out this second part and I can imagine it being included in a sequel to my Midwestern Mandolin Duos book. Find a friend and see what you think.

Riff City in Portland

Riff City (pdf from portlandcollection.com)
Badlands All Night / Riff City (pdf from Contratopia Tunebook)

When Erik Sessions and I started playing music together, first around Decorah and then joining up with Pat and Patrice in Contratopia, I was suitably impressed that Erik had a tune (the killer "It Ain't the Heat, It's the Humidity") published in the first Portland Collection book. Portland 1 and, later, Portland 2 are almost always in the bag of necessities that I carry to every contra dance gig.

So I was very pleased to receive an email from Susan Songer a while back reporting that the Portland Megaband had recently enjoyed playing my tune "Riff City" and asking my permission to include a copy of the tune on her New Contra Dance Tunes webpage. Of course I said yes. While not the same as being printed in a Portland Collection book this is a big honor for me and I'm happy to hear that the Megaband folks thought the tune was fun to play.

I'm also including a copy of "Riff City" as it appears in our Contratopia Tunebook. Since it's on the same page with my tune "Badlands All Night" (a combination of two of my favorite Springsteen song titles, "Badlands" and "Prove It All Night"), I'm including that also. One thing to note about "Badlands" is that Contratopia has been playing the A section up a fifth in the key of D for the last few years. It seems to work fine either way.

April, May, June, it's July already. You'd think I would have found a few minutes to write a blog post sometime during the last three months but I didn't. I'm not including a recording of "Riff City" this time as an experiment to see if I find it easier to add new tunes if I only include the printed music. We'll see how that works out.

Hope you enjoy the tunes!

Summer's End, 2005

Summer's End, 2005 (mp3)(pdf)

Before heading out this morning on a journey to see the cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C. (and play a few dances this weekend) I thought I would post this slightly quirky waltz. As the title reveals, it was written a few years ago and never really had a title until recently. I'm not sure I would recommend playing it at a dance but it's a satisfying exercise on the mandolin and could make for a relaxing listening piece.

If you are in the Philadelphia area on Thursday night (March 22) and feel like dancing, our band, Contratopia, will be playing for the Thursday Night Contra in Glenside. Similarly you can find a good dance with Contratopia and caller Ted Hodapp at Glen Echo Park on Friday and Sunday and in Frederick, MD on Saturday night. Here's a link to our schedule page that it includes links to more info on each of those dances. Stop by and say hello.

Yazoo Ramble

Yazoo Ramble (mp3)(pdf)

Riding on the City of New Orleans last June, with a mandolin in hand, I discovered a bunch of tunes. Many, maybe most of them, seemed familiar. Here's a simple blues in fiddle tune form, captured somewhere not far from the Yazoo City train stop.

Cumberland Mission

Cumberland Mission (mp3)(pdf)

The Amtrak Capitol Limited passes through Cumberland, MD around 9:30 in the morning on the way into DC and around 7:15 p.m. on the trip back west. It always stops for a few minutes and this tune was mostly composed there during one of my trips in 2011. I'm looking forward to riding through Cumberland again next month on my way to a series of Contratopia dances in Glenside, PA, and Glen Echo and Frederick, MD between March 22-25.

I recorded this tune a few days ago which is notable to me because it was the first time I had gotten around to recording anything new for So Many Tunes since last August. Since then I've done a couple more. We'll see if this is a trend or an anomaly.

Rainy Island Sunday

Rainy Island Sunday (mp3)(pdf)

It's neither rainy nor a Sunday today and I'm not on an island. But back in June 2011 I had just returned from a few hours on lovely Madeline Island, in the rain, on a Sunday, when I wrote this little tune. It's clearly related in key and feel to "Trailer in the High Grass" that I featured back in August. I had forgotten that I recorded this one also around that time and just re-discovered it this morning.

Further evidence of my lack of originality can be found on the first track of our Notes from the Farm CD. The second tune there, "Cold Market Morning", is another mid-tempo tune in Em with some real similarities. Maybe someday I should record a whole CD full of E minor tunes? Maybe not.

Notes from the Farm

 (photo courtesy of David Cavagnaro)

The Kitchen Waltz (mp3)(pdf)

Following production of the Mandolin Tunes CD my Contratopia colleague Erik Sessions and I got together in December to record our first duo CD, Notes from the Farm. This was done very much in the spirit of this blog, recorded in a very simple way with no overdubs and fancy digital editing. We set up a couple of mics in Erik's living room, turned down the furnace for quiet, and played a bunch of tunes. Some we have been playing together for years and some were relatively new to us.

There are 15 tracks with 23 tunes. Seven tunes by Goodin, three by Sessions, two by the great James Oswald (a mandolin/violin duet version of The Junquill from his Airs for the Seasons) and eleven traditional. As you can imagine we are both excited to have completed this project and we encourage you to check out our page at CD Baby for more information.

In addition to being available from CD Baby the new CD should also be for sale soon at the iTunes store, emusic, Rhapsody, Napster and the other usual suspects.

The Kitchen Waltz has been around for a few years now and we often play it with Contratopia. I wrote it on the guitar but in the band I usually play it on mandolin while Patrice Pakiz does her piano magic. So this recording is a rare opportunity for me to play it on guitar. It's one of the tunes that I almost didn't write down because it seems so simple but, over the years, it has developed more character. The mp3 here is the version that appears on the new CD.

Speaking of Contratopia, we'll be playing at the Tapestry Folkdance Center tonight for a contra dance. Stop by if you have the chance. We'll have plenty of copies of Notes from the Farm available.