Nordic Fest 2015 (July 23, 2004 w/mandolin tab)

July 23, 2004 (mp3) (pdf with mandolin tab)

Tonight marks the beginning of the 2015 Decorah Nordic Fest and I have a couple of busy days ahead. The opening ceremonies were this evening but I was busy rehearsing with Erik Sessions for our 2 hour performance on Water Street Saturday afternoon from 1:00-3:00.

Jon & Beth Rotto and Bill Musser, the founders (along with my friend Jim Skurdall) of the great Scandinavian-American dance band Foot-Notes, were honored tonight and I will have the honor of joining them in the Nordic Fest parade on Saturday morning.

I'll also be playing the mandolin with the band on both Friday and Saturday nights, including providing music for the World's Largest Schottische on Saturday night. You can stream a recording of us playing Beth's fine tune of the same name at this CD Baby link. If you are in the Decorah area you can come and be a part of dance history at 8:50 p.m. in front of Kephart's music store on Water Street.

I'll be ready for some rest on Sunday but Erik and I will be back on the street, this time in front of the Winneshiek County courthouse, on Thursday night as part of the Lawn Chair Night concert series.

Today's tune is a reprise of a tune that I wrote on, you guessed it, July 23, 2004, just in time to perform at the 2004 Nordic Fest with my friends in the old Bear Creek Bluegrass band. I still like this recording a lot. It shows a little of the influence of the some of the great Finnish and Swedish musicians that I've been listening to for a long time, especially Arto and Timo from JPP.

Continuing the tablature theme that I began last week I have created a PDF of the sheet music in both standard notation and mandolin tablature. See what you think.

The photo was taken this week while walking Suzie the dog at the Decorah Community Prairie.

Summer Projects - Tablature for Mandolin (31 Waltzes)

31 Waltzes now available in Mandolin and Guitar tab editions

I learned to read standard music notation around 50 years ago, right when I was starting to play guitar, and I generally haven't had much use for guitar or mandolin tablature. My most efficient way to learn new music is to read the notes. I can learn by ear also but I am slower than many. My main gripe with tablature is that I like to figure out for myself where to put my fingers to make the sound that I like best. But that's just me.

I have learned over the years that many fine mandolinists and guitarists, for a variety of reasons, prefer to use tablature as a way to learn new music. So I've decided to spend some time this summer converting some of my notated music into tab as an experiment in reaching out to those players.

My first experiment has been to intabulate (I do like that word) my 31 Waltzes book in versions for both mandolin and guitar (links are to sample pages). You can see that I have chosen to add the tab below standard notation, because that makes sense to me, and that makes a few tunes expand from one page to two. Then I needed to add a couple of blank pages to avoid page turns. If you click on the link you will go to a web page that includes some text and a table of contents with further links to recorded versions of most of the waltzes, many from appearances in this blog.

Of course I want to sell huge quantities of these new editions and the page linked above will offer you the chance to Buy Now using PayPal (no membership necessary).

I should also mention that as I was working on the guitar tab versions I realized that guitarists need to understand that the book does not contain full chord-melody arrangements, only the basic melodies.

I intend to continue with this tab experiment as time allows this summer. We'll see how that goes.

I'll be playing a couple of fun gigs this week also, both on Saturday. In the morning I'll be playing with Erik Sessions at the Winneshiek Farmers Market as part of the "Saturday on the Street" special event. I'll probably play some solo stuff while Erik is busy at his farm stand and then the two of us will play some tunes together. We need to practice up some for our upcoming shows at Decorah's Nordic Fest (July 25) and Lawn Chair Night (July 30).

Saturday night Erik and I will join our friends Rob Hervey (on bass) and dance caller Bill Deutsch to play for the barn dance at the annual Seed Savers Exchange Conference & Campout. We've been doing this for a decade or so and it's always a high point of the summer.

Hiatus - Check Back Summer 2015

Well it's been a couple of months since the last post, we're into a new year, and I've decided to make the de facto hiatus Official. I expect to resume adding tunes to this blog sometime in Summer 2015. So mark your calendars and check back then.

Or, you can come back whenever you want and rediscover a tune from years past. There are still over a hundred to choose from.

I just went back to the first post, January 1, 2007, and enjoyed once again "Shelter Dogs" and "Needle in the Sawdust." Jeez, I was just a young guy in my fifties then and Suzie was just a pup.

Riff City

Contratopia's new CD, Riff City, is now available. This, along with the recently completed annual convention of the Classical Mandolin Society of America in Portland, Oregon, and a family wedding, serves as my excuse for missing the month of October in this blog.

It's taken us around 10 years to finally get a new CD together and I'm quite pleased with the result. Riff City includes 14 of my tunes, many of which have been featured on this blog over the years. We did the actual recording back in February and March but it took forever for us to get around to the final mixing and mastering process.

The beautiful artwork, by Maria Nicklin Collins (www.furyworks.com) was well worth the wait. We couldn't be happier with the way that Maria has given the CD a visual identity. Complete credits and notes on the tunes are available at the CD Baby site above.

We are playing a dance at the Tapestry Folkdance Center in Minneapolis on Saturday night (Nov. 8) and we'll have plenty of copies available for sale. Hope to see you there.

Deer Tracks for Solo Mandolin, free streaming

Deer Tracks (for solo mandolin) free streaming at CD Baby (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/johngoodin2)

Suzie says, "Check out free streaming for John's Deer Tracks CD at CD Baby, starting today!" (Or something like that.)

CD Baby has started offering their customers the option of streaming full tracks from their recordings and, in honor of the upcoming first anniversary of the Deer Tracks CD release, I am making the whole CD available to anyone who wants to stream the individual tracks.

You may already be the user of a music service that allows streaming of this music but, if not, you can now do so through the CD Baby site.

Deer Tracks was never meant to be a money maker. Thanks to my Kickstarter friends it cost me almost nothing to record and produce. I am, however, always pleased when someone wants to own a copy of this music, either on disc or via download. Now you can hear the whole thing before you decide whether to plunk down your hard-earned money.

I have also enabled full track streaming for the tunes on my Mandolin Tunes CD. These tracks were all originally presented here on this blog anyway so I'm just making it easier for non-readers of So Many Tunes to hear whole tracks as well.

I hope you enjoy this new development. Share with your friends if you think they might enjoy some of this mandolin music. Suzie thanks you too.

Deer Track, June 8, 2013

Deer Track, June 8, 2013 (mp3) (pdf)

Here's another Deer Track piece from the official CD. This one was "commissioned by Ron Cleveland and dedicated to Serena (Casey) Cole" as part of the Kickstarter project and is a great example of music that would not exist without the support of the Kickstarter participants. I could have done any number of things last year on June 8 but, because of Ron's generosity, I was motivated to write this music.

I really like this photo as well. It was taken, as were the preceding three photos, just a few weeks ago while walking the dog near our house. It appears to be some remote location but actually there is quite a large town just out of the frame to the left. We do see deer frequently in this field but their pathways are harder to spot than the trails they create in the forest off to the right of the photo.

Deer Track, May 8-9, 2012

Deer Track, May 8-9, 2012 (mp3) (pdf)

 Almost exactly a year ago, on August 19-20, 2013, I drove up to Minneapolis and recorded my Deer Tracks (for solo mandolin) CD at Wild Sound Studio. Even occasional readers of this blog are probably tired of hearing about the Deer Tracks Kickstarter project and the generous support that allowed me to compose new music and record and produce these solo mandolin pieces, but this anniversary still needs to be noted.

While many Deer Tracks pieces have been presented in this blog I realize that there are still many from the official CD that have not been featured here. So, in celebration of this anniversary, I intend to add a few more of those pieces in the coming weeks.

Today's special is the May 8-9, 2012 piece, one of my many favorites. This is the piece that I chose to send to the Mandolin Cafe for their MP3 page when the CD was officially released in September 2013. In case you aren't a Mandolin Cafe regular you should know that there are many hours of free (and legal) mp3s available for download there from dozens of mandolinists featuring music from nearly every genre imaginable.

Finally, if you are interested in having a physical copy of the Deer Tracks CD you should know that I have dropped the price at CD Baby to only $5 as an anniversary special. I only have a few left so "Take Advantage of this Special Offer While Supplies Last!"

Bagatelle for Solo Mandolin, no. 5

Bagatelle for Solo Mandolin, no. 5 (mp3) (pdf)

Another Bagatelle came together this week. Parts of this one have been around for a while but I like the way the old stuff and the new bits arranged themselves in the last few days. See what you think.

Deer Track, May 25, 2013

Deer Track, May 25, 2013 (mp3) (pdf)

Here's another one of the many Deer Tracks that didn't get recorded for the official CD last summer. It's been nearly a year since the recording sessions and I am still reaping huge rewards from the generosity of the folks who supported my project, either through Kickstarter or in other ways. This one is only a minute long but I enjoy following its path.

Spring Street Hornpipe Duo

Spring Street Hornpipe (mp3) (pdf)

Another tune that began its life in 2005, now revisited and improved for a digital debut as a mandolin duo in 2014. Searching for a title I had the idea of naming it after another street that I lived on long ago in New Albany, Indiana. This may signal a series of "New Albany Hornpipes" since it is related to my earlier tune Ekin Ave. Hornpipe (also composed in 2005) that first appeared here in the third entry of this blog (January 22, 2007) and later became the opening track of my Mandolin Tunes CD.

Spring Street is a main drag in New Albany and was almost always the way that I entered town during my youth. Many adventures began with me crossing the old Silver Creek bridge (either on my bicycle or, later, in a car) and heading down that big, wide avenue. Home to music and record shops, Frisch's Big Boy, White Castle and more. In the mid-70s I lived for a time in the 1200 block of Spring St. in a run-down old 2 story house, next to a funeral home, with great friends, music and books. But enough nostalgia...

Hope you enjoy the tune, ideally with a friend.

Jig, March 15, 2005 Duo

Jig, March 15, 2005 Duo (mp3) (mp3 slow) (pdf)

This week we have another tune from 2005 rendered in mandolin duo form. I recorded it at a slowish tempo a couple of weeks ago and then at a more standard jig tempo this week. I actually forgot that I had recorded the slow version until after I recorded the faster one and was trying to save it.

The photo is of lovely Sebec Lake, just north of Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, taken in May of this year.

Crooked June

Crooked June (mp3) (pdf)

This tune was mostly written on June 24th but has been smoothed out a little since then. I took the photo in June of 2013 while gathering photos for my Deer Tracks project.

I also spent a couple of hours this weekend bringing the Alphabetical list of tunes page up to date, adding entries for all of the tunes I've presented here since back in October of 2013. Of course now it's out of date again, but that's OK.

July 27, 2005 Duo

July 27, 2005 Duo (mp3) (pdf)

Another in my summer project to uncover, rework, record and share some short pieces from the past as friendly mandolin duos. Hope you enjoy today's installment.

Jig, July 11, 2011

Jig, July 11, 2011 (mp3) (pdf)

I came across this recording from 2011 tonight while looking for something else. I had forgotten all about this tune. I probably thought it wasn't quite up to snuff when I recorded it on July 13, 2011 but it sounds fine to me now, almost three years later. The recording is old enough now that I can't tell what guitar I'm playing but I suspect the mandolin is my faithful old Gibson A.

This tune is a bit unusual in having a half-diminished chord in the harmony of the B section. I suspect that fewer than one percent of all jigs from the folk tradition intentionally contain such a chord but, as always, I could be wrong. If you know of other jigs with mb7 chords I'd love to hear about them.

Sand Island (1984)

Sand Island (1984) (mp3) (pdf)

Back in April 2008 (that's a long time ago in Blog Years) I posted a recording of one of my oldest tunes, "Sand Island." It was a then-recent recording made at Patrice Pakiz's house in Minneapolis by Contratopia (minus Patrice) while fooling around on a Saturday morning. We have played this tune in Contratopia throughout the life of the band, we keep moving it around from set to set because it "plays well with others" in the context of medleys of dance tunes.

This morning, while working on one of my instruments, I was listening to old recordings from 1984 and this early version of the tune caught my ear. This comes from the same cassette tape that I produced in my apartment with my old Fostex 4-track machine and that I talked about at some length back in a post from Oct. 12, 2013. If you haven't read that one you might enjoy some of my ramblings about future rock and pop stars who lived and played in my old Bloomington, Indiana neighborhood in those days.

Today's recording is notable to me because it begins with a flourish from a long-forgotten 12-string guitar that I used to own. I had an awful acoustic Kent 12-string in the mid-60s when I was just learning to play. (It was great for strengthening my hand although I was never able to exert enough force to sound all 12 strings while playing an F major bar chord at the 1st fret.) I also, for a few weeks, had an electric Hagstrom 12-string (a Rickenbacker was out of the question financially) but it fell apart under the strain of being tuned to pitch and played with teenage energy. It was returned for the Hagstrom 6-string that is still here with me. Finally, I purchased a Takamine 12-string in the early 80s that I kept for a few years. This, I think, is the guitar on this tape.

The recording has me playing the tune first on mandolin (my old Gibson, also here with me in the room today), then on my Flatiron octave (also still here), then with both instruments together. Then I play improvised choruses on each instrument, followed by a closing statement of the melody. (I was thinking in jazz even though the tune is a simple reel.) Somewhere in there I also added an electric bass track.

My recollection is that I didn't do lots of takes of the solos. I settled for what came out the first or second time, so they have a certain rough quality. Charming if you are being kind, sloppy if you take the other approach.

In any event, here's another step back in time. It's fun to hear my old self going at it. I've got a few more from this era that I'll post eventually.

November 25, 2005

November 25, 2005 (mp3) (pdf)

Another tune from 2005 with a second part added. I believe that this tune was performed as a mandolin trio at the annual Burning Bright holiday concert in Decorah back in 2005. (Not actually in the concert, but during the pre-show music.) I dug out the earlier two part version and made some significant improvements to the second part for this version.

I also recorded a basic guitar track as a kind of continuo (and click track) for the mandolins in this recording. I hope you enjoy it.

August 28, 2005 Duo

August 28, 2005 Duo (mp3) (pdf)

Here's another tune from 2005 that I've turned into a duo. There may be a few more of these before I get tired of digging through the tune archives.

May 3, 2005 Duo

May 3, 2005 Duo (mp3) (pdf)

I've been thinking about creating a series of short duos using some tunes and melodies I have stockpiled over the years. Like some of the shorter pieces in my Midwestern Mandolin Duos book.

Today I had a little time to indulge in that sort of thing and I had fun playing around with this piece from May 2005. I played the tune using the melody only on the first pass and then added the harmony part on the second time through. See what you think.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day (mp3 - live version) (pdf)

I noticed today, Mother's Day 2014, that my waltz, Mother's Day, hasn't yet appeared in this blog. Contratopia recorded the tune as the opening track of our Ballroom Echoes waltz CD over a decade ago and we've played it many times since. Often we have used it as the opening tune of an all waltz session.

I believe this recording was made on the Sunday morning of the Spring Dance Romance weekend in April of 2003 and I believe it was the first tune we played that morning. So it's a little ragged as we settle into our seats and loosen up our hands but it's a nice example of Contratopia at play in a relaxed mode. Somewhere in the middle I play the tune in the upper octave of my mandolin and there are a few humorous moments where I am clearly trying to figure out where the next note might be in that less familiar region of the fingerboard. Still, the good notes make up for the bad.

The Triangle Country Dancers hired us to play for their great weekend which was held that year at Camp Sertoma, near Danbury, North Carolina. I remember the whole weekend as being great fun.

Since this tune was recorded back in 2003 important mothers in my life have passed away and, very recently, new children have been born, creating new mothers in the process. This tune received its title without much thought but I think it has grown, over time, into something worthy. The pdf here also contains the music to Rose Island, another nostalgic waltz, because it is printed on the same page in our Contratopia Tunebook.

Hope you enjoy Erik, Patrice and Pat making my tune sound good. Best wishes to mothers everywhere.

Easter Waltz (for mandolin orchestra) in Italy

Easter Waltz (mp3 at SoundCloud) (pdf score)

Today marks the 3rd time my Easter Waltz has appeared in this blog, the second time in its arrangement for mandolin orchestra. In March 2009 I posted a violin and guitar recording of the basic tune that Erik Sessions and I apparently made at Patrice Pakiz's house in Minneapolis. This blog post also features one of my all-time favorite photos from So Many Tunes, taken in New Harmony, Indiana.

Then in November of 2010 I shared a fine recording made by my friends in the Pittsburgh Mandolin Orchestra. They, by the way, have a big concert coming up next weekend featuring special guests Carlo Aonzo and Rene Izquierdo.

Last week I received an email from the Orchestra a Plettro Sanvitese (pictured above) letting me know about a recent concert recording of the piece. I believe they are playing it again today, along with my Highlandville, May 14, 2004 and Cathedral Hill. If you follow the mp3 link above you will find yourself at the Orchestra's SoundCloud page which includes links to other concert recordings of these pieces as well.

I am so honored that musicians around the world continue to choose to play my pieces, whether in groups or as individuals. If you are a member of a mandolin ensemble and haven't yet checked out the mandolin orchestra music page at my Mandotopia site, please take a look. I have several more recent pieces that I need to add to the list but there may be something there that you and your friends would enjoy playing. Help yourself!

Suit Yourself

Suit Yourself (mp3) (pdf)

I pulled this tune from 2011 out of the stack this morning and spent a little time adding a few notes and subtracting others. Maybe I improved it, maybe not. See what you think.

The Ice Wagon Cometh

The Ice Wagon Cometh (mp3) (pdf) (pdf-harmony)

Written on a cold day near the end of 2013, this schottische-like tune led me to a memory of my father. Once in a while my Dad would mention that his father (who died not long after I was born) had driven an ice wagon back in the 1920s. He had fond memories of sometimes riding along with him.

The photo above is from the Harry Lemen Historic Photo Collection, housed at the Madison-Jefferson County Public Library (Madison, Indiana). Madison is only an hour or so upriver from Clarksville and the wagon in the photo might have been very similar to the one that my father would have known.

Recorded today, a cold, rainy day in April with a Martin guitar and a Lafferty mandolin. I'm also including a harmony part suitable for a second mandolin, violin or any other treble clef instrument.

Deer Track, June 5, 2013

Deer Track, June 5, 2013 (mp3) (pdf)

Another previously unrecorded Deer Track from last summer's Kickstarter project. I had real fun writing this one and it was nice to revisit it again last night.

Deer Track, June 17, 2013

Deer Track, June 17, 2013 (mp3) (pdf)

Last summer I was writing a new Deer Tracks piece nearly every day. Last weekend I took some time and collected all of the Deer Tracks pieces that either didn't make onto the the official Deer Tracks CD or haven't yet been featured in So Many Tunes. There are about fifteen of those.

This one was written on June 17, 2013, although I changed at least one note later in the summer.

For anyone keeping score I can say that today's recording, and pretty much everything since "Snow Crow Shadow" in mid-January, was recorded using my recently acquired Lafferty LA-5 mandolin. I'm really enjoying playing this fine mandolin. You can read more about this in a thread at the Mandolin Cafe started by Orrin Star after he had a chance to play my Lafferty a few weeks ago.

The weather is saying we might get a little spring snowfall tomorrow but it was plenty warm when I wrote today's tune. Spring will come eventually.

Rockville Blues

Rockville Blues (mp3) (pdf)

Contratopia was out East last weekend, the photo above is from the Saturday night dance in Shepherdstown, WV (courtesy Ted Hodapp, with Pat O'Loughlin's camera). The DC area received a modest snowfall on Monday, prompting the shutdown of the federal government and the DCA airport.

Amtrak, however, was running just fine and I was settled into my cozy roomette and heading west a little after 4:00 in the afternoon. Rolling out of Union Station I pulled out my mandolin and today's tune popped right out. It was pretty much finished by the time we stopped at Rockville.

I've learned recently that Amtrak is offering some free rides to writers on long haul trains. This is a great idea. I (and I'm sure many, many other folks) have been writing on trains for years. I love the peacefulness of the ride and the ever-fascinating display of people and places going by my window. I particularly enjoy the community seating at meals. For an introvert this is a great way to meet new and interesting people within a clearly defined set of expectations.

A number of tunes that have appeared in this blog were written while riding on an Amtrak train, usually on the Capitol Limited. Check the alphabetical list for "Cumberland Mission", "The Night Train Waltz", "Rollin' Through the Gap", and "Shenandoah Bound" for examples, but there are many more tunes in my notebooks from various train rides that haven't made it to this blog yet.

So, maybe I'll apply for a ride as part of the Residency program and see if the Amtrak folks consider the composition of tunes to be a valid form of writing. They would have to be careful though. There are many instruments that would tend to disrupt the peace and quiet of the train. The mandolin has the advantage of being nearly silent when played with the fingers.

In any event, I hope you enjoy this relaxing little number from room no. 2 of car 2901.

Under the Snow

Under the Snow (mp3) (pdf)

There's a lot of action under the snow from a canine perspective.

This photo is actually from last winter but our yard looks much the same right now. (Only this year's snow is a little deeper.)

The tune, however, is very fresh. Hope you enjoy it.

Bagatelle for Solo Mandolin, no. 3

Bagatelle for Solo Mandolin, no. 3 (mp3) (pdf)

I started this one a couple of weeks ago and I think it has settled into its final form. I suppose time will tell.

It's worth noting that last Sunday, February 9th, marked the 50th anniversary of the single most important event in my musical life; the first appearance of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. I can't imagine what my life would have been like if I hadn't watched that show, it's best not to try.

The music that I present here, for better or worse, is all the result of a process that was put into motion that night. One bit of music leading to another, backwards and forward in time, "Ancient to the Future" (to borrow the motto of the Art Ensemble of Chicago).

Thanks for listening.

Family Valentine

Family Valentine (mp3) (pdf)

This tune comes from back in 2003 but the recording is from tonight. A simple waltz probably played at a family Valentine's Day event that year and rarely played since. The pdf is the version that appears in my 31 Waltzes tunebook. More info on the book is here: http://www.mandotopia.com/31waltzes.htm

Bagatelle for Solo Mandolin, no. 2

Bagatelle for Solo Mandolin, no. 2 (mp3) (pdf)

And yet another short piece for solo mandolin. This one recorded last weekend.

Last week's tune, "Snow Crow Shadow", had a world premier a week ago at a performance for a select group of special listeners. Erik Sessions and I played the tune on mando and fiddle. Just last night we played the tune as part of a medley during a contra dance with our full Contratopia band. It seemed to work well in both contexts.

Snow, wind, cold; this is our January.

Snow Crow Shadow

Snow Crow Shadow (mp3) (pdf)

Believe it or not, I try not to write every tune in either D major or A minor/modal. This one wouldn't be denied so I let it come. Standing at the window I heard a crow outside and saw his/her shadow flit by on the snow as he/she passed overhead. (Thanks to the anonymous photographer, and crow, for the royalty free stock photo above.)

Bagatelle for Solo Mandolin, no. 1

Bagatelle for Solo Mandolin, no. 1 (mp3) (pdf)

2013 was, for me, the Year of the Deer Track. So much so that I have grown tired of that naming convention. On the first day of the new year I composed another Deer Track piece and it appears here today with a new kind of title. We'll see if a Bagatelle no. 2 comes along or if I revert to the old ways.

In any event I like this one. It's fun to play and pleasing to my ear. Hope you enjoy it also.

December Jigs 2013

December Jigs 2013 (mp3) (pdf-1) (pdf-2)

Here we are at the start of the 8th year of So Many Tunes. A couple of those years were pretty quiet, only 3 posts in 2009 for instance, but I've been fairly active starting in 2012. I haven't counted lately but I know that well over 100 tunes are now freely available here as mp3 recordings and in standard notation.

Occasionally I will hear from someone who has enjoyed playing some of these tunes and I think that's great. The main purpose for this blog, however, continues to be the same. This is primarily a way for me to document at least some of the music that I write in a simple, demo-style format. Audio sketches if you will.

If you've sampled more than a few of these tunes you can hear that they are mostly bare bones recordings. I want you to get an idea of how the tune might go in case you want to try it yourself. Today's recordings are as bare as it gets, one mandolin playing simple melody lines. The only slight difference here is that, instead of playing each tune twice in a row, I play each tune only once and then go back and play them each once again. Pretty fancy arrangement. None of these tunes have titles yet but I decided to not let that stop me.

On New Year's Eve I received an email from Lucy in Brittany letting me know about a very nice blog entry she had written for her box elder blog. The post is titled Smitten, as ever was and is a model for what a good blog entry can be. In the middle of the post Lucy says some lovely things about our Contratopia band and our recording of my tune "Smitten" (recently featured once again in So Many Tunes). I encourage everyone to check it out.

Special thanks also to Reed and Ardys for the beautiful photo of snow-covered Decorah taken last week from the overlook at Palisades Park! It reminds me a lot of Bruegel's "Hunters in the Snow," one of my favorite paintings. It's bitter cold today in Northeast Iowa but I hope you enjoy these tunes whatever the temperature, wherever you are.

Deer Track, December 26, 2013

Deer Track, December 26, 2013 (mp3) (pdf)

Since this has been the Year of the Deer Track for me I thought I would post one more here on New Year's Eve. I wrote most of this one during a quiet morning on the Feast of St. Stephen, while our house was full of family and friends. I tinkered with some on the following days and recorded it on the 29th. It may not be completely finished but, for now, I'm happy with it.

This will be the 46th entry in this blog in 2013, nearly double any other year since I began in January of 2007. I've already got something prepared for the first entry of 2014. We'll see what comes after that.

Thanks to everyone for listening, especially for all the encouragement and support with the Deer Tracks project, and have a Happy New Year!

Singing in a Dark Place (for recorder quartet)

Singing in a Dark Place (mp3, performed by Dames' Rocket) (score and parts on request)

I was honored to be asked by my friends in Decorah's premier recorder quartet, Dames' Rocket, to compose a piece for them to play at our annual community holiday/solstice/Christmas concert, Burning Bright (wonderfully organized and conducted by Otter Dreaming and Kathy Reed). The quartet's members are Ellen Macdonald, Suzanne Ernst, Beth Lynch, and Elyse Hawthorn and they were a pleasure to work with. 

The recording above is a rehearsal tape from the afternoon of the concert (Saturday, December 21, 2013) so you can hear a voice or two and some pages turning but I really like the sound of the group in this performance. Many thanks to Dames' Rocket for allowing me to share it here.

The title of the piece is from the last line of an early poem by Wendell Berry, simply titled "A Music", which features a blind mandolin player. The music came first, there is no intentional correlation between the poem and the notes, I just like the title. 

It was especially fun for me to write a piece for musicians that I know and admire, knowing exactly where it would be performed while knowing that many of my friends and local community members would hear it in the context of a larger concert of mostly choral music.

It's been a busy holiday season but I wanted to get this recording posted before the end of the year. I haven't included the score and parts but, if you are interested, you can contact me through the comments. I hope you enjoy the music!

Deer Track, May 30, 2013

Deer Track, May 30, 2013 (mp3) (pdf)

Light snow is falling here in Decorah today and we may have our first measurable snowfall by tonight. The temperature has fallen below zero (Fahrenheit) the last couple of nights.

Somehow this bit of winter brought me back into the world of Deer Tracks this morning and I decided to record one of the many pieces that I wrote last spring that didn't make it onto the official Deer Tracks CD.

I began this piece on Thursday, May 30, 2013 and I recall that most of it was finished that day. I remember doing a little touch up work later and it was definitely in the running to be on the CD but, in the end, it didn't make the cut.

I should point out, in the commercial spirit of the season (not to be confused with the real spirit), that there are still a few physical copies of the Deer Tracks CD available from CD Baby. You can also purchase mp3 downloads of all the tracks from CD Baby, Amazon, iTunes, etc.

However, this May 30, 2013 Deer Track is not for sale anywhere. You can only find this recording right here, no charge. Hope you enjoy it.

The Sock Thief

The Sock Thief (mp3) (pdf)

I usually find some time over the Thanksgiving weekend to work on music. This year I came up with (among other things) a waltz that I'm calling "The Sock Thief."

This tune is at least partially inspired by the great new book Timeless: the music of John Abercrombie (with commentary by the composer), a collection of original tunes by one of my favorite musicians. I've been a big fan of Abercrombie ever since I bought the first Gateway album (his trio with Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette) back in the Seventies. I have dozens of recordings of him, either as a leader or a co-conspirator. I especially love the two duo records he made with Ralph Towner (another of my favorite musicians and composers)  and I have a great memory of seeing/hearing the two of them in concert long ago in Louisville. His playing is awesome and his tunes are always interesting. So I love this book.

Time after time in his commentary Abercrombie talks about one of his tunes as being "simple." I have no doubt that he sees these tunes that way but, for me, they are beautifully complex. On Thursday morning I sat down on the bed with my mandolin and, after playing bits of some of the tunes in the Timeless book, I set out to write a simple, but interesting, tune.

Simple is not usually a problem for me and this one started out nicely. I turned off my inner editor ("Oh please, not another A minor arpeggio!") and had a lot of fun. Trouble was that I pretty quickly veered off into multiple sections and lots of notes. Over the course of the next couple of days I whittled most of that away until "The Sock Thief" is now about where I like it. Hope you enjoy it too.

On the technical side, if you sometimes suffer from the "other" MAS (in this case "microphone acquisition syndrome", rather than the more common "mandolin acquisition syndrome") you might be interested to know that I used a brand new MXL 991 mic to record my old Gibson (still with the same Thomastik strings I put on back in September). I purchased it this week as part of holiday special sale, together with the larger MXL 990, from Musician's Friend for only $70 for the pair. They aren't Neumanns but the 991 seems to be a fine mic for only $35. (No commercial interest on my part.) I haven't even plugged the 990 in yet, so I can't vouch for it.

Anyway, give "The Sock Thief" a spin and see what you think.

Cake On Fire - Waiting (On a Train) - Walk On Dry Leaves

Cake On Fire - Waiting (On a Train) - Walk On Dry Leaves (mp3) (pdf1) (pdf2)

Preparing for a rehearsal day with my friends in Contratopia on Monday I have been looking at recent and older tunes. I put this set of three together this morning as a demo for Patrice, Pat and Erik and then figured I might as well use it here as well.

"Waiting" has a long story behind it, ask me about it sometime. It also has me making a few mistakes in the repeat of the first A section. You can think of them as variations if you want.

"Walk On Dry Leaves" has appeared in this blog before, in October of 2012. It's played faster here and I've changed the melody to make that easier to do.

Brush Pile Birds

Brush Pile Birds (mp3) (pdf)

A tune from a month or so ago. I've already forgotten how I chose the title but I can easily picture the brush pile in our backyard a couple of years ago with a gaggle of little birds waiting their turn at the feeder.

If you are in the Decorah vicinity I will be playing the mandolin as the guest of pianist Tom Bourcier this coming Tuesday (the 19th) from around 6:00-8:00 in the lobby of the Hotel Winneshiek. We actually rehearsed some the other night and we may play a couple of my waltzes as part of our set on Tuesday.

Stop in if you are downtown that night. The music is free and promises to be fun.

Smitten, once again

Smitten (pdf lead sheet)

Above is a video of Mark Davis and myself playing my waltz "Smitten" at the end of the Saturday afternoon open mic session during the 2013 Classical Mandolin Society of America convention in Regina, Saskatchewan. Michael Tognetti has done a great job of making a whole series of videos from the convention available. You can find them (along with dozens of excellent photos by Kelly Paul) here: http://www.classicalmandolinsociety.org/content/conventions/2013-photo-selector.asp

This particular performance came about because Col Bernau & Lea O'Brien came all the way from Australia to the Regina convention. When I met them Lea reminded me that, years ago, they had contacted me about using "Smitten" and my "Wedding March Set" as part of their wedding festivities in Oz.

Late on Thursday of the convention I was playing some music in a group that included Mark Davis and it occurred to me that Mark would make an ideal guitar partner for a duo performance of "Smitten", and that we could possibly surprise Col and Lea at some point during the convention.

So, I asked Mark and I pulled up the lead sheet of the tune from the Contratopia Tunebook on my tablet for him to look at. We ran through the tune once that night and it was fun. I then signed us up to perform at the Saturday open mic.

Things don't always go smoothly and a larger than usual number of groups wanted to perform on Saturday. Time was short and I told Mark and Jonathan Rudie (who was managing the lineup and keeping time) that we could skip our piece and play it for Col and Lea in a less public forum later.

At the last minute Mark (who was playing in the final group of the concert) suggested we quickly do "Smitten" as the very last piece. So what you see on video begins as a fairly hurried performance (remember Mark had only seen the music once before a couple of days earlier) but settles into something pretty nice.

"Smitten" is a tune I've played hundreds of times with Contratopia but always on guitar. I almost never get to play the melody on mandolin. So this version is fun for me to hear too. I'm usually pretty critical of recordings of myself, especially video, but I quite like this one. I hope you do also. (btw, Lea and Col were in the front row and I think they were pleasantly surprised as well.)

Historical note: Long time readers of this blog (all five of you) might recall that "Smitten" appeared back in June, 2007 in a different youtube video. That one featured a performance of my mandolin orchestra arrangement of the piece by my English friends the Fretful Federation Mandolin Orchestra. The original link to that video seems to have been disabled but I believe you can still view it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWmnV8QLZs4&feature=share&list=PL898BECB5CE06F983

The Belle from the Bridge

The Belle from the Bridge (mp3) (pdf)

Here's a jig from a few weeks ago, recorded this morning. The title comes from a brief trip last week back home to Clarksville, Indiana. We took a walk on Sunday afternoon across the former Big Four railroad bridge, recently converted to a pedestrian and bicycle path across the Ohio River between Louisville, KY and Jeffersonville.

While walking we had the pleasure of watching the Belle of Louisville paddle under us on her Sunday afternoon cruise. Following the nostalgic theme of my previous post, seeing the Belle reminded me that it was the site of my first public performance in a band, sometime in late 1964 or early 1965, as a member of the awesome Sir James and the Squires. We were allowed to play a 3 or 4 song set during a sockhop on board while the real band took a break. Pretty exciting stuff for a humble Squire!

I'm pretty sure that this was the night when I learned that the same song could be played in any key. I had learned the Kingsmen's classic version of Barret Strong's "Money" (as opposed to the Beatles' copy of the original) in the key of E. Our guitar player (the amazing Tommy Campbell), singer ("Sir James" himself, Jimmy Parks) and drummer (now Dr. Joe Jacobi) played the song, I believe, in G. I think a member of the other band kindly explained to me that we had played the song simultaneously in two different keys, without mentioning bi-tonality or Ornette Coleman. Being a minor third apart the two keys actually made a pretty cool sound but I was amazed at the concept and, ever after, I have endeavored, when playing with other musicians, to play in the same key as everyone else, whenever possible. (Ed. note: I should have mentioned above that I'm playing electric bass in this story. This allows the bi-tonality to "work" a little better than if Tom and I had both been playing full chords a minor third apart.)

Today's jig is squarely in the key of C, with nary a hint of Deer Tracks influence.

Port William Hornpipe / Cracks in the Sidewalk (1984)

Port William Hornpipe / Cracks in the Sidewalk (mp3)(pdf)

It's been a busy few weeks -- weddings, mandolin conventions, the release of Deer Tracks (for solo mandolin) -- and So Many Tunes has had a well-earned vacation. Today's re-entry is a blast from the past.

Mark Davis (who I had a chance to play some music with two weeks ago in Regina, Saskatchewan) mentioned the great author Wendell Berry on Facebook yesterday and that set me off looking for this old recording.

Back in 1984 I put together a cassette recording of some of my original music, both songs and instrumental tunes. I recorded everything on a then state-of-the-art Fostex four track cassette recorder. A few years ago I made a digital copy of the master cassette of those multi-track recordings. This is all pretty low-fi by today's standards but it was what I had at the time. Once you get past the initial shock of "different" sound there is still some fun music in there.

"Port William Hornpipe" was always titled "Wendell Berry's Hornpipe" in my head but I figured that was too grand a title to use officially (although now I've blabbed it on the internet) so I used Berry's fictional Port William, Kentucky as a title instead. If you know Berry's work you know that most of his fiction revolves around characters connected to Port William (located not far from where the Kentucky River flows into the Ohio, roughly 50 miles or so from where I was raised). If you haven't read much by Wendell Berry you owe it to yourself to spend some time with his poetry, essays, novels and short stories.

The actual recording from 1984 has me playing all the parts. It sounds to me like guitar (probably my old Harmony Sovereign from the mid-60s), mandolin (the same Gibson that I just used this summer for my Deer Tracks CD), octave mandolin (my old Flatiron, in 1984 it was only two or three years old, it's sitting six feet away from me today as I write) and an inexpensive electric bass (long gone). Lord only knows what kind of microphone I used but it would have needed a 1/4 in. plug, not an XLR. The bass I would have run directly into the deck, very carefully.

I know that I used the Fostex X-15 (pretty new at the time) to record and I suppose that I mixed the 4 tracks down to stereo using a second cassette deck. The actual recording would probably have taken place in the kitchen of my small apartment in the 700 block of E. 2nd St. in Bloomington, Indiana.

For weeks that summer I had the pleasure of hearing (whether I wanted to or not) an amazing band rehearse in the house across the street.  Kilo was fronted by the amazing Crystal Taliefero (still a college student then, just before she joined John Mellencamp's band) and featured a number of now well-known musicians like bassist Robert Hurst, trumpeter Chris Botti and drummer Shawn Pelton. The now legendary Kenny Aronoff (Mellencamp's drummer at the time) would often sit in as well. A great band.

I didn't know about the Chris Botti connection until this morning as I was writing this. But I have a vivid memory of crossing the street one night after midnight, after band rehearsal was over, to get a closer listen to an unknown trumpeter playing a beautiful version of "Someday, My Prince Will Come". I realize now that it was probably a very young Mr. Botti working through his Miles Davis influence. I think I'll take another look at his body of work, now that I see we are old buddies.

So, from E. 2nd St. in Bloomington, 1984 to So Many Tunes, 2013 here's "Wendell Berry's Hornpipe."

Deer Tracks (for solo mandolin) has arrived!

Deer Track, July 8, 2013 (mp3) (pdf)

I'm very pleased to say that I now have a box of Deer Tracks CDs in my possession and tonight I'll celebrate a little by sharing the final track from the new CD. Unlike almost everything I post on this blog this track was recorded in a real studio (Wild Sound in Minneapolis) with high end mics and mastered through some very fancy processors.

The recording sessions are a little bit blurry but I think this is one of the tracks where I actually played the piece straight through, without punching in a bit here or there to help things along.

Those of you who enjoy the sheet music will note that I have rendered this piece in both standard notation and mandolin tablature. The tab should serve to simplify the performance of the piece by revealing the patterns that I use when fingering the notes. I will be publishing the music to all 21 of the Deer Tracks on this CD in both standard notation and tab for this reason.

I have lots to do tonight but I wanted to get this track onto the blog first. I will write more about the CD and its availability later. I hope you enjoy this short piece.

Walnut Dog

Walnut Dog (mp3) (pdf)

Taking a short break from all things Deer Tracks to record and post a fun tune from a little over a week ago. More Deer Tracks to come.

Music tip of the week: check this excellent interview (and performance video) with Julian Lage and Chris Eldridge from the folks at Fretboard Journal. I highly recommend the great EP from this duo, available here.

Deer Tracks Season #7

Deer Track, September 6, 2009 (mp3) (pdf)

Today was a big one. Thanks to the timely help of Pat O'Loughlin (who also took the photo above), Braham Ketcham and Steve Kaul, I sent the finished Deer Tracks (for solo mandolin) master recording and graphics files off to the folks at Oasis CD manufacturing.

With luck I should have the finished "product" in my hands before I head up to Regina, Saskatchewan for this year's Classical Mandolin Society of America convention. A number of my Kickstarter supporters will be there so I will be able to give them the result of my summer project in person.

Today's recording is another of the unexpected positive results of the Deer Tracks Kickstarter project. This piece was written back in September 2009 but was significantly altered as I was reviewing and preparing for the studio sessions. In the end I decided not to record it in the studio but I did record it here at home last week.

Even though I have completed the initial task that I set for myself the Kickstarter gift will keep on giving for some time as I continue to make home recordings of the many Deer Tracks that didn't make it to the official recording. I hope you find this one interesting.

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.