Box Elder Stomp, live from Java John's, 7-13-16

Box Elder Stomp (mp3) (pdf)

One more recording from my July solo mandolin night at Java John's. This one is a solo version of a tune that Contratopia recorded on our Smitten CD long ago in combination with another swing-style tune called Lucy's Stroll.

The Box Elder Stomp is a fairly straightforward blues in G. Playing it solo allows me to wander a bit, for good or ill, and I enjoyed playing the tune quite a bit that night. Special thanks goes out to the Mystery Whistler at the finish. (I think I know who you are but I don't want to reveal your identity to the world just yet.)

The sheet music presented here includes the lead sheet for both tunes. Check out the Contratopia recording for further guidance.

Thanks once again to all the folks who have been turning out for these solo mandolin gigs. I love doing them. The next one will be on Wednesday August 24, stop by if you are in Decorah that night.

Woodhaven, solo version live from Java John's

Woodhaven (mp3, solo version) (pdf)

Another live recording from Java John's last week. I played this tune as the final number of the evening. I originally posted a recording of the two part version of this piece back in July 2008 but it works fine as a solo piece also. 

The photo above was taken in August 2009 near Blanchard, Maine, not too many miles away from where this music was first written down. The recording was done with my now vintage Zoom H4 recorder using the built-in mics, direct to mp3 at 320kbps and lightly edited using an even more vintage version Sound Forge Studio.

Java John's, July 13, 2016 Solo Mandolin

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (mp3) (live from JJ's)

I had yet another great time playing solo at Java John's in Decorah last Wednesday. I'll post the setlist below. I managed to play everything on the list except that I only played the slow movement of the Majo sonata.

I recorded the gig, audience conversations and all, for the first time. It's always enlightening to hear a live recording of yourself.

I've taken the unusual step of including a recording of a tune I didn't write this time. (If only I could write a tune one-tenth as good as this one!) It's far, far from perfect but I like the feeling of it and I think some readers may enjoy it also. I'm using a lead sheet but you can tell that I'm also improvising a bit.

(Hopefully you can get past the noise of the folks in the back of the room. They meant no harm, it's not a concert venue. There were several other folks listening quite intently though.)

Java John’s solo mandolin, July 13, 2016

Set 1
1. Swarbrick Sends a Tune to Iowa (Goodin) / O’Neill’s Favorite (trad.) / Flowers of Edinburgh (James Oswald, 1710-1769)
2. Oswald: Divertimento XI for solo mandolin
3. Scarlatti: Sonata K.90, 3. Siciliana - 4. Allegro (Domenico Scarlatti, 1685-1757)
4. French Creek Waltz
5. Sauli: Partita for Mandolin II, 1. Prelude - 2. Allemande - 3. Sarabanda (Filippo Sauli, c. 1710)
6. St. Louis Railyard
7. Telemann: Sonata no. 4 (1715), Allegro (G.P. Telemann, 1681-1767)
8. July 23, 2004 / July 1, 2004
9. Sauli: Partita for Mandolin II, 4. Corrente - 5. Gigue
10. A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (Eric Maschwitz & Manning Sherwin)

Set 2
1. July Deer Tracks: July 1, 2002; July 2, 2003; July 8, 2013
2. Oswald: Divertimento XII
3. Lanterns On the River
4. Sauli: Partita for Mandolin II, 6. Gavotte – 7. Menuete
5. Playford Tunes (from the Dancing Master, 1651-1728)
6. Jigs: July 2, 2013 / July 11, 2005
7. Majo: Sonata per Mandolino e basso (Gian Francesco de Majo, 1732-1770)
8. Box Elder Stomp
9. Telemann: Menuets 1730 – no. 11 & 17 (p.66-67)
10. The Rights of Man (trad.) / Gilderoy (trad.) / Grace Hay’s Delight
11. Woodhaven

Java John's Wednesday, June 15, 2016 & Johnny's Gone Fishing, Carrboro, NC, Sunday, June 5

I had a great time last night at Java John's playing solo for a special bunch of folks. Here's the setlist:

Java John’s solo mandolin, June 15, 2016

Set 1

1. Swarbrick (Goodin) / O’Neill’s Favorite (trad.) / The Rights of Man (trad.) / Gilderoy (trad.) / Flowers of Edinburgh (James Oswald, 1710-1769)

2. Oswald: Divertimento III

3. Scarlatti: Sonata K.81, 1. Grave / 2. Allegro (Domenico Scarlatti, 1685-1757)

4. June 6, 2015

5. Foot-Notes set: Orevalsen / Thore’s Schottische / Skurdalsdansen

6. Goodin: Divertimento 2016, no. 5

7. Telemann: Bouree & Passpied (1715) (G.P. Telemann, 1681-1767)

8. June 2014 waltz no. 3

9. J.S. Bach: Allemande, Partita II for solo violin (BWV 1004) (J.S. Bach, 1685-1750)

10. A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (Eric Maschwitz & Manning Sherwin)

11. Unbelievable

                                                           Set 2

1. June Deer Tracks: June 13-15, June 9, June 24, June 8, 2013; June 25, 2003

2. June 2014 waltz no. 2

3. Oswald: Divertimento IX

4. Six Solos, Summer 2006 (not performed, not enough time)

5. Red Hawk Schottische / June 16, 2011

6. Scarlatti: Sonata K.89, 1. Allegro

7. June 2014 waltz no. 1

8. No Questions Asked

9. Telemann: Menuets 1728 – no. 4 & 14

10. Riding on the City of New Orleans, June 24, 2011 (jig/jig/reel)

I also had a great time playing a Sunday brunch gig at Johnny's in Carrboro back on June 5. It's a wonderful place to play and I hope to get back there sometime. Here's the setlist from that gig:

Johnny’s Gone Fishing solo mandolin, June 5, 2016

Set 1

1. Swarbrick (Goodin) / O’Neill’s Favorite (trad.) / The Rights of Man (trad.) / Gilderoy (trad.) / Flowers of Edinburgh (James Oswald, 1710-1769)

2. Oswald: Divertimento VI

3. Contratopia Waltz Set: Smitten (Goodin) /South of France (Goodin) /Ms. P’s Waltz (Erik Sessions)

5. Goodin: Divertimento 2016, no. 3

6. Foot-Notes set: Orevalsen / Thore’s Schottische / Skurdalsdansen

7. Telemann: Adagio from Sonata No. 1 (1728) / Menuet No. 46 (1728) (G.P. Telemann, 1681-1767) (p.42-43)

8. June 6, 2015

9. Deer Track: June 8, 2013 (p.19)

10. Polka Dots and Moonbeams (Johnny Burke & Jimmy Van Heusen)

11. Unbelievable

                                                           Set 2

1. Soldier’s Joy / Red-Haired Boy / Squirrel Hunters  (all trad.)

2. Majo: Sonata per Mandolino e basso (Gian Francesco de Majo, 1732-1770)

3. Contratopia Jig Set: Sweet Music (Sessions) / Why Ted Flies / Books and Ladders

4. Oswald: Divertimento VIII

5. Red Hawk Schottische / June 16, 2011

6. Sonata in L(ou)

7. Carolan’s Draught / Planxty George Brabazon #2 (Turlough O’Carolan, 1670-1738)

8. No Questions Asked

9. Telemann: Menuets 1730 – no. 24 & 29 (p. 68-69)

10. Deer Track: June 9, 2013 (p. 24)

11. Palmer’s House

I'll be back at Java John's on Wednesday, July 13. Drop in.

  

  

Deer Track, June 13-15, 2013

Deer Track, June 13-15, 2013 (mp3) (pdf)

As I prepared for my solo mandolin gig at Java John's tonight I dug out this previously unrecorded Deer Track piece from the summer of 2013. I was writing one almost every day, thanks to my Kickstarter friends, and this one didn't make the cut for the final recording. Since today is June 15 it seems like a good choice.

I will try and work this piece into a set of June Deer Tracks that I will play tonight at JJ's.

Java John's, solo mandolin, May 18, 2016

(photo courtesy of Trish Finn)

I had another fine time last night playing solo mandolin for the local cognoscenti at Java John's. Here's the list of music:

Java John's solo mandolin, May 18, 2016

Set 1

1. O’Neill’s Favorite /Old French / Morpeth Rant / Gilderoy (trad.)/Flowers of Edinburgh (James Oswald, 1710-1769)

2. Scarlatti: Sonata K.81, 4. Allegro (Domenico Scarlatti, 1685-1757)

3. Oswald: Divertimento II (James Oswald, 1710-1769)

4. Contratopia Waltz Set: Smitten/South of France/Ms. P’s Waltz (Erik Sessions)

5. Goodin: Divertimento 2016, no. 2

6. Foot-Notes set: Orevalsen / Thore’s Shottische / Skurdalsdansen

7. Goslings Afloat

8. Telemann: Sonata No. 1 for violin (1715), Allegro (G.P. Telemann, 1681-1767)

9. Deer Track May 8-9, 2012

10. Green to Brown, All Over Town / Fred Picknell’s March (Andy May)

Set 2

1. May Tunes: May 30, 2007 / May 17, 2016 / May Frost / May 15, 2015 / Highlandville, May 14, 2004  

2. Majo: Sonata per Mandolino e basso (Gian Francesco de Majo, 1732-1770)

3. Contratopia Jig Set: Sweet Music (Sessions) / Why Ted Flies / Books and Ladders

4. Polka Dots and Moonbeams (Johnny Burke & Jimmy Van Heusen)

5. Oswald: Divertimento IV

6. Telemann: Menuets 1730 – no. 31 & 43

7. St. Louis Railyard

8. Deer Track May 19, 2013

9. Scarlatti Sonata K.90, 3. Siciliana & 4. Allegro

10. Palmer’s House / The Old White House

I'm scheduled to do this again on Wednesdays in June (15th) and July (13th). Stop by if you are in town. 

I'm also taking this show on the road to North Carolina soon. I'll be playing a similar mix of classical and folk music at Johnny's Gone Fishing, the great coffee shop in Carrboro, for Sunday brunch, from 11:00-1:00, on June 5.

Java John's, solo mandolin tonight, April 20, 2016

(photo courtesy of Trish Finn)

Playing solo mandolin at Java John's Coffee House here in Decorah tonight from 7:00-9:00.

Here's the preliminary setlist:

Java John's solo mandolin, April 20, 2016

Set 1

O’Neill’s Favorite /Old French / Morpeth Rant / Gilderoy

Carolan’s Concerto

Oswald Divertimento X

Goodin Divertimento 2016, no. 4

No Questions Asked

Sonata in L(ou)

Telemann Menuets

Bach Cello Suite no. 1 – Allemande / Corrente

Deer Track June 25, 2003 / Bob’s Angels / Jaunty Ted / Why Ted Flies / Books and Ladders

Set 2

St. Francis and the Wolf / St. Francis Dreaming / St. Francis and the Birds

Sauli Partita I

Six Solos, Summer 2006

Oswald Divertimento I

Telemann Menuets

Carolan’s Draught / George Brabazon #2

St. Louis Railyard

Marsch i April / Maknads Marsch

The Wedding Broom / Alice’s Garden / August 2, 2013

Deer Tracks

Woodhaven

It's a lot of fun planning these programs. I'm optimistic that I can play most of the notes involved. We'll see if there is really enough time to get all of this music played. I may need to skip a few repeats.

The nice photo above comes from Trish Finn who took lots of photos at the Call of the Loon dance weekend a week and a half ago. It's a great shot of the old Gibson approaching 90 years of age. None of the amps in the background were connected to me, they were being used by the fine folks in Wild Asparagus.

The North Georgia Hills at the Mandolin Cafe

Many thanks to Scott Tichenor at the Mandolin Cafe for the nice write-up concerning the publication of The North Georgia Hills music. Scott's contribution to the mandolin world over the last 20+ years is immeasurable.

Scott was also kind enough to run an article a few days ago announcing the publication of my new book from Mel Bay; 12 Divertimentos for Solo Mandolin by James Oswald.

It's always a good day when I find myself mentioned at the Cafe but it will be a while before I see this much attention again.

The North Georgia Hills performed by Another Mandolin Orchestra

“ … and a tote sack full of ginseng won’t pay no travelling bills.”

“The North Georgia Hills” is the title I gave to a piece that I wrote for the Atlanta Mandolin Orchestra about a year ago. I was aiming to capture something of the sound and feel of those great mandolin tunes by Norman and Nancy Blake that appeared on the Original Underground Music From The Mysterious South album around 1982.

At the 2015 CMSA convention in Austin I was honored that many of the Atlanta group (under the direction of maestro Bob Knysz), along with some special friends, chose to perform the piece during one of the open mic concerts. I shared this video with the Mandolin Cafe classical forum and on Facebook back in December. I'm posting it today to this blog because the score and parts for the piece have just been published in Germany by Joachim-Trekel-Musikverlag.

Many thanks to Maren Trekel and the folks at Trekel for making this piece available to mandolin orchestras everywhere. Here's the link to the appropriate page at the Trekel website:

http://trekel.de/de/catalogsearch/result/?q=north+georgia+hills

I hope you enjoy this performance...

Halfway Home

Halfway Home (mp3) (pdf)

Halfway Home appears in my Midwestern Mandolin Duos book but, I believe, I have never recorded for this blog until today. This recording is a version for solo mandolin and I played this tune last night during a fun 2 hour solo mandolin gig at Java John's Coffee House here in Decorah. I had a great time and I intend to do some more solo mandolin playing in the coming months.

I'm using the photo from last month's post both to illustrate the "halfway home" feeling and to remind myself in the future that here in March of 2016 all of that snow is gone and this road in Palisades Park is clear and dry.

Three Jigs, Old & New

Tight Squeeze/Tolley's Jig no. 3/Palisades (mp3) (pdf)

I played a two hour set of background music last Saturday on solo mandolin in a nice warm room with plenty of friendly people around. It was lots of fun. I put together this set of jigs for the occasion and recorded them this afternoon.

Tight Squeeze is one of my oldest tunes, from somewhere back in the 1980s, but it has never caught on with any of the groups I play with. I often play it when I'm warming up though. Tolley's Jig no. 3 was written a couple of weeks ago and started off as the middle section of a Divertimento but I decided I like it better as a separate tune. Palisades is from the Contratopia Tunebook and the band has played it dozens, if not hundreds, of times. It's fun to play solo also. It appears as part of the final track of our first CD, Hands Four.

The photo was taken two winters ago and shows the road that leads up into the Palisades Park. Suzie the dog and I were walking up this path just a couple of hours ago. Today it looks much like it did in this picture.

Divertimento no. 1, 2016

Divertimento no. 1, 2016 (mp3) (pdf)

I know our friends and relatives out East received some serious snow this past week. The photo above is from our front porch almost exactly two years ago.

I've been spending some quality time with the music of James Oswald the past couple of weeks. This often inspires me to engage in some imitation of his friendly style.

The first part of this little piece is a slightly modified version of an old tune of mine, "Jefferson Lives." The second part is pretty much the same tune played as a jig, something that Oswald would often do. Part three is related but still has its own identity. Everything falls easily on the mandolin, of course it would also be comfy on the fiddle.

Wild Blueberry Pancakes (at Stutzman's Farm)

Wild Blueberry Pancakes (mp3) (pdf)

In August of 2013 we once again visited lovely Piscataquis County, Maine and we enjoyed a great brunch at the Stutzman's Farm Stand and Bakery. Fresh wild blueberry pancakes were featured and this tune helps me remember how special they were. Along with delicious food and friendly folks we got to hear some first-rate acoustic music as well. Highly recommended if you are in the Dover-Foxcroft/Sangerville area sometime.

This marks the start of the 10th year of So Many Tunes. I know that a number of folks have enjoyed these recordings and bits of sheet music over the years and I'm always glad to hear about that. But the best part for me has been the documentary aspect.

Thanks to the simple Blogger software I have been able to assemble a long list of my own tunes, both music and audio and I frequently consult this site (and the A to Z title list) to find particular tunes or just to remind myself how something goes. Despite my professional career as a library cataloger my own intellectual property is very badly organized and this site, for nine years, has been a tremendous help. Rest assured, however, that behind this facade of organization there are large piles of music notebooks and sheet music scattered about this room and others in our house.

Right now at least I plan to keep this going for a while longer. If there are any readers of this blog who haven't explored the free music at my Mandotopia website or who haven't checked out Contratopia and my duo with Erik Sessions, I encourage you to do so. Also, if anyone would like to financially support my ongoing efforts to create and share this music there is a Paypal "donate" over on the Mandotopia site. Many thanks to all of you who have already done so.

Mainly though, I hope you enjoy the tunes. And, despite the Giant Egos and crazy forces at play in the world, have a Happy 2016!

Bygones

Bygones (mp3) (pdf)

Last tune for 2015, written sometime around Easter. This marks the end of nine years for So Many Tunes. We'll see what comes in 2016. There are certainly plenty of tunes waiting for their turn.

Green to Brown, All Over Town

Green to Brown, All Over Town (mp3) (pdf)

Back in September, thanks to our friends at the Vesterheim museum, Decorah hosted the great band Baltic Crossing for a workshop and a concert. It was a great day, culminating in an outdoor, acoustic, concert encore outside the Bethania Church beneath a lunar eclipse.

I was able to take part in the afternoon workshop and one of the tunes that the group taught to us was a traditional march with a title that translate into English as "The Green Skirt." (You can hear it yourself on their excellent Firetour CD.) We workshop participants were then privileged to perform the tune with the group during the evening show. As often happens after an encounter with great Scandinavian musicians I was inspired to write something vaguely in the same style. Today's tune is one of those.

I'm posting this tune today partly because I will be playing "The Green Skirt" as part of the Wall of Fiddles portion of this year's Burning Bright holiday concert this Saturday (Dec. 19) in Decorah. I won't be playing fiddle but I will be part of the rhythm section, playing octave mandolin along with my Foot-Notes band-mate, guitarist Jon Rotto. Tickets are going fast but it's not too late to get yours at the Oneota Community Co-op.

The photo is from an overlook in the Clark State Forest, near Henryville, Indiana, during a trip back home in September 2013.

Ingraham Gardens (King's Landing, NB)

Ingraham Gardens (mp3) (pdf)

Here's a pretty tune, an air titled after the lovely gardens you will find in front of the Ingraham House at the King's Landing historical settlement near Fredericton, New Brunswick. The photo is from August of 2009, my last chance to visit the site. Hopefully we'll get there again next summer.

It took me a while to settle on the G (add 9) chord in the B section. I'm playing it G-B-D-A(2nd fret G string)-D-G. You're welcome to improve on that. Let me know if you find a different chord you like as an alternate.

Tolley's Jig No. 2

Tolley's Jig No. 2 (mp3) (pdf) (pdf harmony)

Another short jig brought to you courtesy of Tolley the cat.

Technical note: After several years of recording straight to my computer I recorded this tune using a now obsolete Tascam DP-008 Pocket Studio that I used for a number of recordings back in 2012-2013. AKG Perception 170 mic, old Gibson A mandolin.

Photo from Forestville State Park in Minnesota, August 2015.

Whalen Cabin Waltz (June 5, 2011)

Whalen Cabin Waltz (mp3) (pdf)

It's a mystery to me but I've been suffering from a sort of "recording block" the last few months. So rather than record something new today I went back to the vault and dug out something from a few years ago.

In early June 2011 Erik Sessions and I played for a couple of high school graduation parties. We knew the graduates (fine young musicians all) and the parents and we had a great time playing tunes while folks enjoyed the beautiful weather and the company of friends.

At one of the parties, the one held at the Whalen Cabin in Phelps Park, Decorah, I hooked up the old Zoom H4 to our little PA system and recorded the two of us using aux outs. It's a nice document of what the two of us sound like in a relaxed setting.

Until today this tune has been titled "May 29, 2011" which tells me that I wrote it only a few days before this recording was made and that this was almost certainly a world premiere. I suspect that Erik was sight-reading the tune (unless we had run through it earlier, which would be pretty unusual), something not uncommon for us to do in a low-key setting like this.

I remember that Erik and I (on mandolin that time) played the tune along with Ehler Orngard on guitar and, maybe, Rob Hervey on bass the next day but we didn't record that gig. Erik and I have played the tune once or twice since but not in a while. So maybe having an official title now will give it new life.

In any event I hope you enjoy the piece. It's a nice chord workout for you guitar players :)

Tolley's Jig No. 1

Tolley's Jig No. 1 (mp3) (pdf)

Lots of tunes played, practiced and written in the last few weeks but little time for this blog. I recorded this little jig a couple of weeks ago. I haven't decided on what chords might work best so I'm leaving that up to you for now.

Loaves and Fishes-Too Many Goats-Fourth and Walnut live

Contratopia from Behind The Mic™ on Vimeo.

Loaves and Fishes/Too Many Goats/Fourth and Walnut (pdf)
 
A couple of weeks ago our Contratopia band performed a full length concert on a perfect summer evening in downtown Decorah. You can read a little more about that over at the Contratopia 2.0 blog.

This video, courtesy of Al and Behind the Mic Productions (with special support from Patrice), is the first to surface from that show. I checked and was surprised to see that none of the three tunes featured here have been included in this blog before now.

Contratopia has been playing these tunes of mine since the early days of the band and we have often used this set for the first dance of the evening. This is also the starting set of tunes on our Smitten CD. Al's video captures us trying to bring the set down from its usual 10-13 minute length to something closer to what we did on the CD.

In case you are wondering, my buddy Pat O'Loughlin isn't trying to come up with a fancy introduction to Loaves and Fishes, he just starts playing a different tune altogether. Same key, same tempo, easy to do. We've all done this in the band and you can see that no one misses a beat. That's because we are a dance band and missing the beat is the only real mistake we can make.

The sheet music supplied (sorry no tab this time) is straight from our Contratopia Tunebook, pages 6 & 7. Still available from the link above, only $6 for a PDF copy.

Alice's Garden duo

Alice's Garden duo (mp3) (pdf) (pdf-tab)

A little blast from the past, 2008, this time. This is the mandolin duo version of a waltz that I wrote back then and recorded with guitar and mandolin in March 2008. This duo arrangement is the first piece in my Midwestern Mandolin Duos book that I published in 2010.

Once again I've created a mandolin tablature version of the score in addition to the standard notation. I haven't taken the time to make a tablature version of the whole Duos book, but maybe I will someday.

In March 2008 I said: "Alice's Garden was a roadside produce stand that was located up Highway 52 near the Minnesota state line when we first moved to northeast Iowa. The stand is still there but hasn't been open for many years."

Sadly, the stand is also gone now and I couldn't even spot a trace of it the last couple of times I've looked while driving by. But I made this tune and you can play it if you want.

It's a fine, much-needed rainy day today but I am expecting beautiful mild weather on Friday when Contratopia presents an outdoor concert in the ArtHaus courtyard. Hope to see you there, 7:00 p.m., Water Street, Decorah.

If you can't catch the full band on Friday night it looks like Erik and I will be joined by Pat O'Loughlin the next morning at the Decorah Farmer's Market. Fiddle tunes and vegetables, who could ask for more?

Eight More Miles to India

Eight More Miles to India (mp3) (pdf) (pdf-tab)

Another great summer weekend. I'm honored to be playing, along with Erik Sessions, for an outdoor wedding ceremony this afternoon at the Decorah Fish Hatchery. The weather will be a little on the warm side but, fingers crossed, there is no rain in the forecast.

Later tonight I get to play polkas, schottisches, waltzes and two-steps with my Foot-Notes friends at the Highlandville schoolhouse. This will be our first public dance since the World's Largest Schottische event at Nordic Fest. You can view a fine short video about the WLS event, produced by Bailey Mulholland, at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF-dLROkOuk (It even has a brief shot of me smiling for the camera!)

Today's tune was written back in April as I was preparing for a presentation on John Coltrane for a jazz history class at Luther College. I've given this talk a few times and I always start by explaining my own introduction to Coltrane's music via the Byrds' recording of their tune "Eight Miles High."

At the beginning of his introductory solo Roger McGuinn quotes a four-note theme directly from Coltrane's tune "India." I play the Byrds' recording first (these days no one in the class can even identify the song) and then the intro to "India."

So back in April I was toying with the idea of bringing a mandolin to class to demonstrate the quote and I ended up writing this dance tune instead. I've played it at a couple of contra dances since then and it seems to work fine. Try it yourself and see what you think.

The recording is at a slower tempo than you might want to use for contra dancing. I also got out my old Flatiron octave mandolin to double the melody and add a little harmony in the B section. And I created a tab version of the sheet music.

I couldn't resist being clever with the title (a little too clever you might justifiably think), combining the Byrds and Coltrane titles with a nod to my hometown anthem "Eight More Miles to Louisville." Also I should point out that last week's tune "Lily's Stars" uses the same four note theme throughout it's melody. It's just a coincidence, though, that these tunes are back to back in this blog.

The photo shows a small island in the Upper Iowa River not far from our house.

Lily's Stars

Lily's Stars (mp3) (pdf) (pdf-tab)

It's been a busy couple of weeks but I finally got around to recording and uploading the first actual new tune of 2015. I have a bunch of tunes written but I chose this one, "Lily's Stars", because it is fairly simple and I like the title. I have also included a mandolin tablature version of the tune.

I actually wrote the tune in mid-June but the title came as the result of a short overnight visit to the camper cabin named Lily at Forestville State Park in Minnesota this week. The weather was perfect and the stars that night were extraordinary.

It's hard to believe that it's already been two weeks since I played two dances at Nordic Fest with Foot-Notes. The second dance featured over 1800 people dancing to Beth Rotto's tune "World's Largest Schottische" (stream the studio recording here, or purchase a download at CD Baby or iTunes), more than double the number needed to best the World's Largest Polka record recognized by Guinness. (The Guinness folks are reluctant to create a new category for schottische and prefer to consider it a form of polka; go figure.)

I also played a 2 hour show with Erik Sessions at Nordic Fest to a great afternoon crowd and then we played a shorter concert the following Thursday for the Decorah Lawn Chair Night audience. This is my first weekend without a gig since the 4th of July, a nice break, but I've got several things coming up soon.

Next weekend, on August 15th, I'll join Foot-Notes at the Highlandville schoolhouse for a dance and then the following Friday, the 21st, Pat and Patrice are coming to town for an outdoor Contratopia concert at ArtHaus. If you are in the area come check us out.

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.