Water Flowing Under Ice

Water Flowing Under Ice (mp3) (pdf)

Earlier this month Luther College Campus Pastor Mike Blair invited Erik Sessions and me to play some music at a campus chapel service. Mike mentioned in an email that he might read a poem by Wendell Berry between hymns and tunes. I immediately thought of an older tune of mine that I titled "Water Flowing Under Ice", taken from a line in the great Berry poem "Zero." Mike decided to use Zero as his poem and we all played my little tune after it.

A few days ago I finally got around to recording it and here it is played on two mandolins. (Well actually just one mandolin, overdubbed.) I encourage you to seek out the poem and read it. It appears in Berry's collection The Country of Marriage and I believe that it's in his Collected Poems as well. It's a very fitting response to the kind of winter we experienced here in northeast Iowa this year.

In other news, I had a wonderful solo mandolin evening at Java John's a couple of days ago. Today's tune was included, along with a number of "world premieres", including the music from the last two blog posts here. The audience was extraordinary.

I also had a great time traveling with Contratopia to the Washington, DC region to play dances over the St. Patrick's Day weekend. We were grateful for enthusiastic dancers and great weather on Friday and Sunday at Glen Echo Park and on Saturday in Annapolis, MD.

I have a bunch of new tunes ready but not yet recorded, I hope to get to them soon.

I hope you enjoy today's tune.

Winter Suite, February 2019

Winter Suite, February 2019 (stream and/or download for free at Bandcamp)
(Octave Mandolin version pdf) (Octave Mandolin version pdf w/tab)
(Mandocello version pdf) (Mandocello version pdf w/tab)

1. Walking Tune (mp3)
2. Hornpipe (mp3)
3. Saraband (mp3)
4. Reel (mp3)
5. Air (mp3)
6. Jig (mp3)

The larger members of the mandolin family, the mandocello (CGDA) and the octave mandolin (GDAE), don't always receive the attention they deserve. This short and not too difficult Suite was written on the octave mandolin with the mandocello also in mind. I was conscious of the longer stretches required on these instruments and the extra resonance supplied by their open strings. If you are a player of one of these low-voiced mandolins download the sheet music (I've created both standard notation only and notation with tab versions for both instruments) and see what you think.

If you really enjoy playing the piece you are always welcome to make a small donation, using the Paypal donation button, through my Mandotopia site but that's completely optional. I have also added my recording of the piece, on octave mandolin, to my Bandcamp site where it is free to stream or download. Or you can listen and download the individual parts of the piece here, as usual.

I purchased a beautiful Flatiron octave mandolin in the early 1980s but I used a recent Eastman MDO 305 octave, with a shorter scale, while writing and recording this piece. I've never owned a mandocello but I have enjoyed playing several over the years and I'm confident that this Suite can be comfortably played by the cello as well. I'd love to hear a recording of such if anyone feels like sharing.

The photo above was taken about a week ago, before a significant blizzard that we had last weekend. Depending on how much snow falls today we may well break the all-time record for February snow in Decorah this year. The snow has been compounded by the unusually cold weather this month including a couple of nights where the temperature was in the -30 degrees Fahrenheit range, with wind chills around -60. It has been a trying winter so far with no relief in sight.

The idea for a Winter Suite came as I was reading the excellent biography of Lou Harrison recently written by Bill Alves and Brett Campbell. It's a fascinating and inspiring story of a great American composer. Harrison would often write short pieces using the suite format and, while reading during breakfast a couple of weeks ago, I had the idea to do something similar aimed at mandocello and octave mandolin players.

Finally, I should mention, if it hasn't already occurred to my mandolin playing friends, that the octave mandolin music (including the tab) is also mandolin-friendly. Also, each of the six parts of this suite can be repeated as often as you like. I recorded them each once through (partly to minimize the potential for mistakes) but I will certainly play the Reel and the Jig more than once when I play the piece in public. In addition feel free to throw in open strings for drones and added harmonies as you play.

I hope you enjoy the music.

Clark's Delight / The Blue Basket

Clark's Delight (mp3) (pdf) (pdf w/tab)
The Blue Basket (mp3) (pdf) (pdf w/tab)

We've had some pretty challenging winter weather for the last couple of weeks and I finally got around to recording a couple of recent tunes. These were both done in bare bones fashion, no harmony parts, no extra instruments. Just guitar chords and mandolin melody, three times through each tune.

I've also added mandolin tab versions of these tunes because a couple of folks have expressed some interest in that.

The photo is from just outside our back door this morning. Here at 9:30 it's -6 degrees. They say it will be -13 tonight. With luck this will be the last of the serious cold for this winter but we have a good deal of snow forecast over the next few days.

Clark's Delight was written on or around January 11 and, I believe, came after a pleasant hour playing tunes from the great John of the Green book compiled by John Offord in England. I think of it as a potential English Country Dance tune. The Clark in question here is George Rogers, founder of my hometown, Clarksville, Indiana.

The Blue Basket was made after returning from Contratopia's recent visit to the Wintergreen dance weekend in Bozeman. (Read a little about that here.) I was partly trying to capture a little of the feeling that Adam and Johanna from Sassafras Stomp brought to their playing at the weekend.

Both of these tunes are pretty straightforward and I hope that you enjoy listening to and playing them.

Ten Easy Duos no. 6 - Deer Track, April 21, 2018

Ten Easy Duos, no. 6 (mp3) (pdf)
Deer Track, April 21, 2018 (mp3) (pdf)

This post begins the 13th year of this blog. Overall it has been a very satisfying and useful project that has motivated me and made it possible for me to create and share a great deal of music.

I just did a quick (and sloppy) count of the entries in my alphabetical list of titles from this blog. There are several titles not yet listed but I am confident that there are nearly 300 entries, if not more.
Not every tune is a gem but I'm pleased on the whole with the quality of these tunes and I intend to add quite a few more this year.

I foolishly titled a piece "Ten Easy Duos, no. 1" back in 2017 thinking that I would quickly write 9 more. Number 6 was written not long after attending the CMSA convention in Santa Rosa back in November of 2018. Maybe I'll get the others written this year.

In April of 2018 I wandered onto another Deer Track and I have played this one numerous times at my semi-regular solo mandolin gigs in Decorah since then. I really enjoy the feel of it and people often make positive comments about it after I play it. See what you think.

Happy New Year to all visitors, thanks for listening.

The Boatload of Knowledge

The Boatload of Knowledge (mp3) (pdf)

It's been nearly two months since I posted anything here so I thought I should at least get one more tune in before the New Year. This will only be the 14th post of 2018, compared to 52 postings in 2017. It's been a busy couple of months.

Today's tune was mostly written on September 20 but I've tinkered with it quite a bit since then. It acquired its current title shortly before the annual Burning Bright holiday concert here in Decorah where Erik Sessions and I performed the tune as part of a medley. At the afternoon performance we followed this tune with a faster version of "Red Haired Boy" and during the evening show we followed it with a peppy version of "Mason's Apron."

"The Boatload of Knowledge" might not seem like an obvious choice for a winter holiday concert but, in fact, the title refers to a famous trip down the Ohio River that began in at Pittsburgh in December 1825 and ended in New Harmony, Indiana in January 1826. The boat and its distinguished group of passengers spent Christmas itself trapped in the ice near Safe Harbor Station, PA and so I imagine that this is the kind of tune that might have been played to pass the time on the journey.

An excellent article on the expedition and the extraordinary group of people who chose to travel to the new utopia in the Indiana wilderness can be found at this link:
https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/23335/V089N5_128.pdf

An excellent article about the Burning Bright concerts over the years (which even includes a quote from me) can be found at this link:
http://iloveinspired.com/?s=burning+bright

Happy New Year to all visitors to the blog. We'll see what 2019 brings.

Mandolin Tunes 2

The Cairo Sessions (mp3) (pdf)

My last post was dedicated to the Louisville Mandolin Orchestra's upcoming CD release concert. The show was held this past Monday (Oct. 29) and was a great success. I was so honored to be a part of the event and so thankful for all of the family, friends, musicians and lovers of the mandolin who packed the modest recital hall on the IU Southeast campus.

I promised to provide information on how to find the It's All Goodin CD and now I can tell you that the CD is available for purchase, digital download and streaming from Bandcamp. The LMO has a page which includes links to all 8 of their recording projects (many of which include other pieces of mine) and you can discover the new CD from that page. Here is the direct link to the It's All Goodin recording: https://loumando.bandcamp.com/album/its-all-goodin

This week I am shining a light on my new solo CD, Mandolin Tunes 2, which is now available at my Bandcamp site. You can also listen to track previews at CD Baby (physical CDs will be available there very soon) and, thanks to their distribution service, you can find the CD at places like Amazon, iTunes, Spotify, etc. I encourage you to check it out and see what you think.

If you are a regular visitor to this blog then none of these tunes will be new to you. In 2017 I wrote and recorded a new tune every week. I then posted the result here. The Mandolin Tunes 2 CD is simply my selection of 21 of my favorite tunes from 2017. The main value added is that you can now purchase the recordings in their full, lossless, original condition.

I'm not a big mp3 guy, I believe that sound quality counts, but I'll be honest and say that I don't hear a huge difference in these tracks between the compressed mp3s here on the blog and the full spectrum sound on the CD. Of course I would love for you to purchase the CD, either physically or digitally, and make your own comparison.

The track listed above, "The Cairo Sessions", was featured here back in February of 2017. This was before I knew that I would write and record a tune every week for the entire year. You can read more about it at the original post but it remains one of my favorite tunes of the whole year and seemed like an excellent choice to start things off.

So, overall, October 2018 was pretty good to me. Thanks for all of the support and encouragement and I hope you enjoy listening to and, hopefully, even playing some of these tunes.

"It's All Goodin"

As you can see from the poster above, next Monday my friends in the Louisville Mandolin Orchestra are celebrating the release of their new recording, titled "It's All Goodin", with a concert at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, Indiana. I am honored beyond words by the hard work that has gone into learning, performing and recording these pieces I have written over the years. I intend to be at the concert and, hopefully, I will play with the second mandolin section during the final number.

I know that the LMO intends to have the new CD available for purchase at the concert and I will try and let readers know how to buy the CD in a future blog post.

How did all of this start?

In May of 1988 I read an article in the Louisville Courier Journal with the headline "Mike Schroeder is dreaming of a classical mandolin orchestra." I was living in Bowling Green, Kentucky at the time but I knew Mike from his fine mandolin playing around the Louisville area.

I didn't know that Mike had been attending classical mandolin workshops around the country. I don't think that I knew these workshops even existed. I did know, however, that "classical" mandolin and mandolin orchestras had been common in the United States from around 1890-1920 and still flourished in parts of Europe and Japan. I was very interested in the possibility of a mandolin group being formed in Louisville.

I don't remember if I contacted Mike right away but I know that by the end of summer I was attending the early rehearsals of the LMO. Those first months were incredibly fun. I was playing my Flatiron octave mandolin in the mandola section of the group. I was able to read music fairly well but this was my first time playing in a group that big enough to need a conductor. The LMO was very fortunate to have Jim Bates take on the conductor's role and he worked wonders at bringing the group together.

I began writing songs in high school and by the 1980s I was writing a fair amount of instrumental music. After months of playing mandolin orchestra music I had the idea to arrange one of my tunes for mandolin orchestra. I showed this to Jim Bates and he was very encouraging and helpful. This piece was originally titled "Just a Minute" but, after development, I called it "Up River Road." It later became the first movement of "The Louisville Suite."

In March of 1989 the international mandolin virtuoso and teacher Keith Harris came to Louisville for a workshop and concert. Keith was wonderful to work with and, after hearing the LMO perform "Up River Road" at our concert, he also encouraged me to continue writing for mandolin orchestra. He went so far as to recommend my piece to the his friends at Trekel Musikverlag in Germany and it was eventually published by them. He also championed this piece and others of mine to orchestras in several countries.

The support and enthusiasm that the members of the LMO showed for my first efforts and the advice, counsel and encouragement that I received from Jim Bates and Keith Harris set me on the path of continuing to compose pieces for mandolin orchestra.

Now, almost 30 years later, I have continued to receive encouragement from members of the worldwide classical mandolin community, directors of mandolin orchestras and publishers of mandolin music. I have also been privileged to be a member of the Classical Mandolin Society of America for decades, attending many conventions and even serving on the Board of Directors.

When we moved to Iowa in 1994 I continued to write music for mandolins and, to date, I have composed nearly 25 pieces for plucked string ensembles. Several of these have been published by Trekel Musikverlag in Hamburg and a number of recordings have been made over the years by groups around the world. I am amazed at this attention and I am honored every time I am commissioned to compose a piece for a group or learn that one of my pieces is performed. To think that so many fine musicians will make the effort to learn music that I have written is humbling and gratifying.

The LMO has continued to flourish and has played my music regularly throughout its history. This new recording is in some ways a culmination of our relationship but I hope not a conclusion. There will be more music to come. So, many heartfelt thanks to the members of the Louisville Mandolin Orchestra, all of the other mandolin orchestra musicians and directors who have played my music and to every other musician who has taken the time to play one of my tunes! The Mandolin World is a special place and I am so fortunate to be a part of it.

Waitin' On the Julia Belle

Waitin' On the Julia Belle (mandolin orchestra score and parts)
                 (mp3 recording of the basic tune on mandolin and guitar)

Attention mandolin orchestra directors and members:

This summer I decided to finally create a mandolin orchestra version of a tune I had written a few years earlier, "Waitin' On the Julia Belle" (that is, the Julia Belle Swain riverboat). This arrangement is the result.

Being from the Indiana side of the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky, I first encountered the Julia Belle Swain in the mid-1970s as a participant in the annual Great Steamboat Race that was held as part of the Kentucky Derby festivities. I remember standing on the riverbank and being amazed at how the smaller boat was holding her own against the larger Belle of Louisville and Delta Queen as they came down the home stretch. The Julia Belle only ran in 1975 and 1976, but she won that second year.

Later, when we moved to Northeast Iowa in the mid-1990s I was delighted to discover that the Julia Belle was now operating out of La Crosse, Wisconsin, only 65 miles away. It was always good to see her docked downtown and to know that she was available for a short cruise on the Mississippi. The Julia Belle Swain was retired in 2009, a casulty of the Great Recession of 2008. Serious attempts have been made to refurbish the boat and she may still have another life on the river.

Musically, the Julia Belle Swain had a long association with the late, great John Hartford. He would sometimes pilot the boat and he mentioned her in some of his songs, especially "The Julia Belle Swain" ("with a bunch of old hippies for a crew"). My simple tune is, hopefully, a reflection of both the pleasure of riding on the Julia Belle Swain and the many hours I have spent being inspired by the music and life of John Hartford.

I have decided to make PDF copies of the score and parts for Waitin' On the Julia Belle freely available for download here under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Generic License found on the site linked above. Feel free to make as many copies of the score and parts as are necessary for your orchestra.

If you find Waitin' On the Julia Belle to be a good addition to your repertoire and you feel inclined to make a donation in support of my work you can use the PayPal Donation button on my site. Again, this is not required, I just hope that you enjoy the music. I would, however, love to hear about any performances of the piece. PDF copies of concert programs are especially appreciated.

I decided not to include a computerized "recording" of this piece. If you want to hear how it can sound convince your local mandolin orchestra to give it a shot. You could also gather a smaller group of musicians who play mandolin family instruments, plus a guitar and a bass, and read through the music for fun. If someone does give it a play I would love to hear a recording of a rehearsal or performance.

(Update: thanks to a comment on FB from Ben Hippen I realized that I did have a simple recording of the basic tune from back in 2008. I have added that link above. You can see that I've added a bit to the original tune but that I haven't changed its fundamental character.)

Deer Track, February 27, 2014

Deer Track, February 27, 2014 (mp3) (pdf)

Going through an old music notebook from early 2014 this week I came across a couple of not-quite-finished deer tracks pieces. Looking back I remember that this was around the time that Contratopia was busy trying to record what became our Riff City CD and I imagine that I was more focused on that project.

So today I've finished up the piece that was started on February 27, 2014. It's mostly as I scribbled it down but I changed a note here and there. I know these pieces sound pretty random but I actually spend some time making choices about pitches and durations. That's a lot of the fun for me.

If you prefer something a little more conventional you can always drop back to last week's tune, Blevins March, and enjoy some good old D major.

Blevins March

Blevins March (mp3) (pdf)

Two nights ago I was honored to be part of a beautiful community fundraiser that was created to help one of Decorah's most generous and giving people, Mike Blevins. Among many other gifts and talents, Mike is one of the those who people who supports musicians by really listening to what we do and helping us remember why we do it.

I wrote a tune that Erik Sessions and I could play during our set and we premiered it that night. Today I'm posting my usual home recording of the tune but maybe a live version will surface some day.

Depending on where you live you may or may not recognize all or some of the names on the MikeFest poster but I can attest that each and every one played an amazing set. Along with my set with Erik (which went over really well), I was privileged to accompany Joshua Vorvick on one of his fine songs and I had a great time backing up the wonderful Bonnie Koloc on her classic tune "Roll Me On the Water" during her set. The audience was perfect, relaxed and supportive the whole time.

 Most of the musicians perform with some regularity at Java John's Coffeehouse in Decorah and we were all happy to contribute our time and talent to this event. I have especially appreciated Mike's active listening to my solo mandolin shows over the last few years and I look forward to playing for him again once he is up and around.

If you are interested in helping Mike out there is a Go Fund Me site set up to help him with his medical expenses. Here's the link: https://www.gofundme.com/stroke-to-recovery-help-mike-out

Speaking of Java John's, I am putting together my setlist for another solo mandolin evening this coming Wednesday, August 22. If you are in Decorah and interested then stop in anytime from 7 to 9, no cover. I'll be playing the usual mix of Baroque era pieces, fiddle tunes and original stuff.

St. Francis and the Birds - mandolin quartet or ensemble

St. Francis and the Birds (for mandolin quartet or ensemble) (PDF music and mp3 here)

Back in May I posted an arrangement for SATB recorder quartet of this old tune of mine. You can read more about that, if you want, at this link.

Shortly after posting the recorder arrangement I heard from a mandolin friend in England wondering if he could adapt it for mandolins. I said "sure" but that set me to thinking about what that might look like and I came up with this version.

This is similar to July's James Oswald on the Ohio arrangement in that it is intended to be playable by 3 mandolins and an octave mandolin (or mandocello or guitar), or two mandolins, a CGDA mandola and octave mandolin, mandocello or guitar. If you have four plucked string instruments you can probably make it work.

I made the recording this afternoon despite a neighbor's lawn mower in the distance and some traffic noise. I think I hit most of the notes in the right places.

I'm using the above photo, even though it has appeared a few times in this blog already. It was taken in lovely New Harmony, Indiana a few years ago and I'm always happy to see it again.

May Frost: 64 Original Mandolin Tunes (with harmony parts and guitar chords)

May Frost tunebook, download free PDF (donations encouraged) or purchase print copy at this Mandotopia page: www.mandotopia.com/MayFrost.html

May Frost is a collection of mandolin tunes written mostly between 2003-2013, most of which first appeared in this blog. In putting this collection together I wrote harmony parts for the tunes that didn't already have them. I also corrected a few errors and made a few improvements.

In most cases you can look up each tune in this blog using the alphabetical index and play along. Better yet you can find a friend or two and play them as duos and/or trios at whatever tempo you prefer.

I've also included a short section at the end with brief notes on the tunes.

I hope you find some of these tunes fun and useful. Ideally they will add pleasure to your playing and to the people who encounter them.

Here's the title tune, "May Frost", as it was presented back in May of 2010 (mp3) (pdf)

James Oswald on the Ohio (for mandolin quartet or ensemble)

James Oswald on the Ohio (for mandolin quartet or ensemble) (PDF music and MP3 here)

Today's posted link will take you to a web page on my Mandotopia site that includes information about this new piece, along with the usual links to PDF music and a recording.

I explain the title in more detail there but the piece itself is another in a long line of pieces and tunes that I have written over the years inspired by the work of Scottish composer James Oswald (1710-1769). I am also trying to add to my supply of pieces composed for smaller groups of mandolin family players who don't have easy access to a large mandolin orchestra.

On this Independence Day I hope that you will enjoy a piece that makes fictional reference to our colonial past (although the artwork above probably depicts a slightly later time period).

Ten Easy Duos, no. 5

Ten Easy Duos, no. 5 (mp3) (pdf)

Just over a month ago Martin Jonas posted recordings of Duos no. 2 & 3 in this series over at the Mandolin Cafe as part of his John Goodin Mandolin Duets thread. He gently reminded me that only Duos 1-3 of the supposed 10 have actually appeared.

That sent me looking back and I found the beginning of no. 4, which will need considerable work, and two versions of no. 5. I had the original version of no. 5 ready to go back in December 2017 but, apparently, decided it wasn't finished and I made it longer sometime after that.

So here is no. 5, recorded on Sunday using a 1920 or 1921 Gibson A-2 mandolin.

St. Francis and the Birds - recorder quartet

St. Francis and the Birds (recorder quartet) (computer mp3) (pdf score)

This is the third appearance of this tune since 2007 when So Many Tunes first appeared. As best as I can remember I probably first wrote it down somewhere in the mid 1980s. It's published as a melody with chords in the Contratopia Tunebook and it originally appeared here in October of 2007.

Then in 2012 I wrote a fun second part for the tune and posted it again in this blog. That time I let my computer "play" the tune.

A couple of weeks ago I came across a partially completed arrangement of the tune for recorder quartet from a few years ago. This had required me to change the original key to better fit the range of an SATB group of recorders. I spent some time finishing that arrangement and I'm presenting it here.

Once again I'm letting my computer recorder players "perform" the piece. They certainly get all of the pitches just right and their tempo never wavers. I'm sure if I spent several hours tinkering I could coax the computer to sound a little more human but I think it sounds OK for my purpose here.

I'm also linking to a pdf copy of the new quartet score. I'll be happy to send copies of the parts to anyone who asks. Just email me at jgoodin@mandotopia.com.

Easter Fool - Winter Window Sun

Easter Fool (mp3) (pdf)
Winter Window Sun (mp3) (pdf)

It's been quite some April. The photo above was taken on the morning of April 18 from our front porch. Normally you would see the bit of yard and a sidewalk that is visible in the photo from my previous post. You would also be able to clearly see the street from here. This was just the beginning of a record April snowfall for us. At our house we had 10-11 inches by late afternoon.

Easter Fool was mostly written on Easter Sunday / April Fool's Day. Winter Window Sun came along a couple of weeks earlier. We have enjoyed a full week of spring-like weather and we have every reason to believe that we are done with the snow until at least next October. Time will tell.

No Show Snow

No Show Snow (mp3) (pdf)

The photo above tells the tale. Going to sleep on Friday evening we were under a Winter Storm Warning and we expected to see anywhere from 3 to 10 inches of fresh snow, depending on the wind and temperature changes.

Saturday morning showed us no snow. Fifty miles to the west, Osage, Iowa received up to 16 inches. New Hampton, just 35 miles southwest of here saw 11 inches. Here we didn't see even a flurry.

I have been the owner of a beautiful Flatiron Octave Mandolin (or octave mandola, if you prefer) since around 1981. I believe I am the original owner. In recent years, however, I have played it less and less, primarily due to the long scale length of the instrument and the toll it takes on my aging hands. When I do play it (heard on several tunes from this blog last year) I have been using a capo to shorten the scale length but I haven't been pleased with the results.

I read about the new MDO-305 Octave Mandolins now being produced by Eastman Guitars for a modest price and decided to give one a try. They are shorter scale (21") instruments. I received mine a couple of weeks ago and, so far, I have enjoyed it quite a bit.

Today's tune was written yesterday on the new octave mandolin and recorded using it along with a fine old Gibson mandolin. I imagined that the snow had fallen and I was finished with the shoveling, looking out my window at the fresh powder.

Even though I sound disappointed about the No Show Snow, I am perfectly fine with waiting until next winter to see any more.

I've enjoyed taking a couple of months off from feeding this blog but rest assured that I've been writing tunes all along. I hope you enjoy today's piece.

Grandview Ridge

Grandview Ridge (mp3) (pdf)

This first post of a new year presents one of the oldest tunes that I can remember writing. After 10-15 years of writing songs I figured out sometime in the mid-70s that I really enjoyed just writing music more.

I first recorded an early version of this tune on a TEAC A-1340 reel to reel tape deck that I then mixed down to a cassette. I'm estimating that this was sometime around 1979-1980. I remember going to the bank to take out a loan to buy the TEAC, it was my first chance to record sound-on-sound outside of a recording studio. I recently came across a digitized version of a cassette that included this tune a couple of weeks ago.

I may have written the music during one of the summers that I spent at the old CYO Camp Christina in southeastern Brown County, Indiana. The camp was just off of Grandview Ridge road. I have great memories of the two summers I lived there, sometimes helping out with the chores and sometimes washing dishes in Nashville at Rudy's Country Kitchen.

I know that there is a lead sheet somewhere that I used for that original recording but after an hour or so of searching I figured it would be easier to just transcribe my own playing from the shaky cassette evidence. I made a few small changes and re-recorded it here yesterday.

I found the photo above thanks to my old Clarksville friend Tim Buckman. Apparently my dear Mother spotted him wrestling with the unusual snowfall and came out on our front porch to capture it on film. This was decades ago of course. I had never seen this picture until Tim posted it on FB and I'm very grateful for this glimpse of winter in southern Indiana.

This was our family home on the corner of Carter Ave. and Fairbanks in Clarksville. If I didn't write today's tune in Brown County I may well have written it in the upstairs of this house. It was all a long time ago.

Christmas Afternoon

Christmas Afternoon (mp3) (pdf)

Back on January 8 of this year I posted a recording and music for a new tune "Waltz for the New Year, 2017" and I noted that "with a new year comes new resolve." That phrase was a signal to myself that I had been thinking of trying to compose and record a new piece of music every week in 2017. I didn't mention that thought to anyone else for a long time but here I am today posting tune number fifty-two.

The great majority of the tunes I have posted this year were written in the early part of each week and recorded toward the end of the week. As the year wore on I sometimes worked a little ahead of that schedule. Today's tune was mostly written last Monday, Christmas Day. I tinkered a little with it and recorded it on Thursday.

My plan, at this point, is to not try and write and record a new tune every week in 2018. Instead, as I enter the 12th year of this blog, I'll return to the less structured approach of recording and posting music when I feel like it.

I've been very pleased, honored even, by the number of people who have listened to, liked, shared, and commented on these tunes in the last year. Especially since I started linking to them using Facebook. Thanks to all of you for including some of this music in your busy lives.

On January 8th I mentioned that the temperature had dipped to -4 degrees (Fahrenheit) the night before and we were expecting a high of 17 above during the afternoon. Last night I believe we were down to around -10 and it was still -8 when I took the dog out this morning. Right now (3:00 p.m.) we have climbed to 1 degree above zero but it is a beautiful, sunny day with a fresh dusting of snow. In a world of relentless change some things are more reliable than others.

I hope that your 2018 will be one of the best years ever.

Snow Train

Snow Train (mp3) (pdf)

It's Christmas Eve here in lovely Decorah. We even had a light dusting of snow this morning to brighten things up a little.

Today's tune (no. 51 this year) was partially written while watching a fun video of a Norwegian train slowly climbing into the snow covered mountains outside of Bergen. I hope you enjoy the music.

If you are in the Decorah area I will be playing solo mandolin at Java John's from 7 to 9 on Dec. 26 (Boxing Day). Stop in for something warm to drink if that sounds like a good way to relax after the holiday fun. I'll certainly play today's tune at some point, along with a number of other recent tunes from this blog.

Enjoy your holiday!

The Advent Star

The Advent Star (mp3) (pdf)

Yesterday here in Decorah I was privileged to once again take part in the annual community holiday concert known, for the last few years, as Burning Bright. This is always a wonderful event and most years Erik Sessions and I are called to contribute an instrumental tune to the mix of choral and small group performances. Usually we write something new for the event.

Today's tune, The Advent Star, was written for this year's concert and Erik and I performed it at both the 4:00 and 7:00 shows. We also played it at the indoor farmers market yesterday morning. We had a great time playing the tune and the Burning Bright audiences were generous with their applause.

The recording presented here, however, is just me playing guitar and mandolin, recorded on Friday last week.

I have to admit that when I chose the title (which has personal significance) I was unaware that Advent Stars are a thing. I knew nothing about the connection with the Moravian Church or J.S. Bach's Thomaskirche in Leipzig or modern holiday decorating practices. I just like the title.

In any event, I hope you enjoy the tune.

River Mist Tree Line

River Mist Tree Line (mp3) (pdf)
Deer Track, December 4, 2017 (mp3) (pdf)

We have a twofer today. First a "regular" tune, a jig in Gm, and then a short, new member of my Deer Tracks collection.

I couldn't produce any photos of a misty river but the photo above is the Upper Iowa River near our home after the mist has burned off.

I hope you enjoy the tunes.

Waltz for the Squires

Waltz for the Squires (mp3) (pdf)

Last week's tune provoked some entertaining comments from old friends back in southern Indiana. One remark brought back fond memories of the first band I was ever invited to join, Sir James and the Squires.

I'm pretty sure that it was the fall of 1965, my freshman year in high school, when I became a Squire. I played bass guitar (an old Supro with a Magnatone amp), badly, but I was quick to learn. Soon I could help rather than hinder the group as we played the then standard repertoire: "Pipeline", "You Can't Sit Down", "Last Kiss", "House of the Rising Sun", "We Gotta Get Out of this Place", "Wooly Bully", and many hits by the Kingsmen. These were great times and full of the joy of making loud noises in praise of life. I've tried to keep that attitude and it was nice to be reminded of it last week.

So, this week's tune, while musically pretty unrelated to the Squires' world, is dedicated to that memory and my first bandmates.

This entry in number 48 for 2017, forty-eight consecutive weeks with a new tune. No one is more surprised than me. I've got something I'm working on for next week too. We'll see how the rest of the year goes.

Henryville Forestry

Henryville Forestry (mp3) (pdf)

In 1903 the State of Indiana purchased 2,000 acres near Henryville and created Clark State Forest. I have visited this idyllic place, now grown to over 24,000 acres, many times in my life. The photo above was taken, I believe, near the fire tower on our most recent visit a few years ago. If you find yourself driving between Indianapolis and Louisville on I-65 with an hour or two to spare I highly recommend that you take the Henryville exit and spend a while in this beautiful place.

As a boy we often referred to this example of government at its best as the Henryville forestry, hence today's title. I hope you enjoy the tune.

A Jig for Sue

A Jig for Sue (mp3) (pdf)

If you have been to a contra dance in Decorah in the last few years you have almost certainly found yourself helped along by the expert time-keeping of our resident bodhran player, Sue Otte. Sue loves to play jigs and I needed a title for today's tune so here it is. It's a fun tune to play, hope you enjoy it.

Friendly Spirits

Friendly Spirits (mp3) (pdf)

As mentioned last week, this week's tune was written on Halloween evening while the little ones were navigating our rickety front porch steps and gathering their rewards.

Bullwinkle: "Eenie-meanie, chili-beanie, the spirits are about to speak."

Rocky: "Are they friendly spirits?"

Elkhart Freight

Elkhart Freight (mp3) (pdf)

Last Tuesday was Halloween and, by chance, I ended up writing a couple of tunes during the trick or treat part of the evening. I had one, called "Friendly Spirits" finished and recorded by Thursday. But then on Friday I returned to a tune I wrote earlier in the year and that's what we have here today.

Back in March I rode the Capitol Limited into Union Station D.C. to play some dances with Contratopia. The train stops at Elkhart on the way east around 9:30 at night and on March 16 we ended up sitting on a siding while a freight train rattled by. I started this tune during that pullover. (The photo above was taken somewhere in Pennsylvania the next morning.)

I enjoyed making the recording of this one. I even used a dropped D tuning on the guitar, something I almost never do. (I have enough trouble with standard tuning.) The tune could certainly go faster but I like the way it kind of rolls along at this tempo.

If you are a friend of Contratopia and you own our Riff City CD your ear may tell you there is some similarity between the beginning of Elkhart and my tune "No Contest" which is the 2nd tune in the Two Bits medley. After some back and forth with my internal editor I decided that's OK.

Hope you enjoy it.

[Update: I finally noticed, and corrected, the mistakes in the pdf sheet music on Tuesday evening. Sorry for the inconvenience.]

Witch Hollow Pond

Witch Hollow Pond (mp3) (pdf)

This week's tune is an Andante, a walking tune in the key of A major. My typical process, more often than not, is that I will start writing with an instrument in hand and a music notebook. I'll write down the tune as it comes and edit as I go. This often results in a confusing page of scratched notes and measures and little arrows pointing from one place to another as the tune comes together.

At some point the page becomes cluttered and it's time to move the process over to my computer and Sibelius software (still using version 6.2 if you're interested). This is mostly very helpful but one downside is that Sibelius wants to know what the tune is called. Usually I haven't thought about that and I can spin my wheels while I think of a title. Often I'll just use the date as a working title and come back to it later. This year I've been trying harder to make myself come up with a title right away.

This week I had this walking tune and so I thought of recent walks and then more distant ones. I remembered a wonderful morning hike I had taken by myself when we were visiting Mt. Desert Island, Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, Maine back in the Fall of 2011. It was a beautiful day and I managed to get myself turned around and ended up at the Hulls Cove Visitor's Center. In the process I saw much more of Witch Hole Pond than I intended.

I did a little reading about the area and found that long ago Witch Hole Pond was known as Witch Hollow. I decided to use that name for my tune title. This seems particularly apt for a tune that I am sharing on the Sunday before Halloween, or Samhain if you prefer.

Regarding the tune itself, I was pleased that once again I was able to make use of my old Flatiron octave mandolin near then end. Hope you enjoy it.

Tolley's Jig no. 7

Tolley's Jig no. 7 (mp3) (pdf)

Today's tune is another in a series of jigs named, for lack of a more poetic title, after Tolley our aging "upstairs" cat. The recording was fun and easy to make and I was very pleased that the tune invited me to get out my old Flatiron octave mandolin (mandola, bouzouki, whatever you want to call it). You can hear it on the the bottom during the third pass through the tune.

The photo above is evidence of the hard work performed by a great group of friends who came by last Sunday to help us clean up the borderline "rank vegetation" that was threatening to overtake our yard. I should have taken a before and after series of pictures because the difference was extraordinary.

This coming week Milwaukee, Wisconsin will host the annual convention of the Classical Mandolin Society of America. This will be the first one of these that I have missed in several years but if you are anywhere in the neighborhood of Milwaukee I strongly encourage you to check out the free public concerts that CMSA will be presenting on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Some of the finest mandolinists in the world be performing and giving workshops. Most highly recommended.

If you are already registered as an attendee I wish you another great convention experience. Believe me, I would be there if I could. I'll look forward, though, to seeing many of you in 2018.

Chocolate for All

Chocolate for All (mp3) (pdf)

Last Sunday I was pretty sure that I had a nearly complete tune that I would use for this week. Instead I had a fresh idea on Monday, thanks to some inspiring playing by Fergal Scahill with his "a tune a day" videos, and I worked on that one instead.

So today we have "Chocolate for All" which is fun for me to play and, I hope, for you also.

Last Wednesday I played another of my monthly solo mandolin nights at Java John's Coffee House in Decorah and it was an especially good night with a great audience and a relaxed atmosphere. Here's the setlist from that gig:

Java John’s solo mandolin, October 11, 2017

Set 1

1. Goodin: Board Eddy / O’Neill’s Favorite (trad.) / Flowers of Edinburgh (James Oswald, 1710-1769)

2. Oswald: Airs for the Seasons / The Amaranthus

3. Goodin: September Waltz

4. Bach: Bouree & Minuet (from French Suite VI) (J.S. Bach, 1685-1750)

5. Goodin: Walnuts Too / Acorns Below / Merrills Mills

6. Playford: Wallingford House / Chelsea Reach

7. Sauli: Partita V for Mandolin (Filippo Sauli)

8. Goodin: Deer Track, August 16, 2006 / St. Louis Railyard

9. Lecce: Sonatas-Partitas p. 4 (Francesco Lecco, 18^th century)

10. Goodin: Deer Track, February, 2009 / From the Balcony

11. Trad: Boys of Blue Hill /Goodin: Starbird Siding / Swarbrick Sends a Tune to Iowa

                                                           Set 2

1. Trad: Old French / Morpeth Rant / Oswald: East Neuk O Fife

2. Oswald: Airs for the Seasons / The Candy=Tuft

3. Goodin: Postcards From the Crater: Lower Palisades

4. Playford: Chestnut / Childgrove

5. Goodin: Deer Track, June 8, 2013 / Toledo Moon

6. Telemann:  Adagio & Allegro from Oboe Sonata in Gm TWV 41:g10

7. Telemann: Menuets 13 & 14 (1728)

8. Goodin: The Cairo Sessions

9. Valentine: Allegro from Sonata no. 3 for Mandolin / Goodin: Sherwood & Brooks / Black Stream Crossing

10. Goodin: Birthday Girls

11: Goodin: Deer Track, October, 2002 / Palmer’s House

Walnuts Too

Walnuts Too (mp3) (pdf)

You have to watch your step this time of year when you are walking on the local trails. Slippery leaves, round things on the path and walnuts still falling from the trees are all part of the equation. Definitely one of my favorite times of the year.

Today's tune is pretty straightforward and shouldn't provide too many obstacles to your playing or listening pleasure. It's another glass-half-full kind of tune with a big, bright G major chord at the end.

On the other hand, fiddle tunes are nothing if not flexible and you could reverse the A and B sections so that the tune ends on the E minor chord at the end of the A section. That can make the tune slightly darker if that is more to your taste today.

One of my favorite quotes from the fabled 1960s comes from the brilliant Sylvester Stewart (better known as Sly Stone) and his song "Everyday People": "different strokes for different folks." I suspect that there is music already extant that somehow fits nearly every person and the situation she or he is in at any time but I am still compelled to add my own little bits to the stew.

When I reach for a "new" tune it's partly because it is often easier for me to write something of my own than to search my aging memory for a suitable existing piece of music. Just as important is the pleasure I take in opening the door to see what music is waiting for me to bring in off the porch.

I would do this even if no one else was listening. I've been doing this constantly since I was around 14 or 15. I really enjoy when someone else hears what I've played or composed and finds it pleasurable or meaningful but my impulse is primarily self-centered.

This newfangled technology makes it possible to share music much more easily than I could in the 1970s or 1980s and I know that it's a mixed blessing. So many tunes, so little time. Thanks, though, for listening to this one.

Acorns Below

Acorns Below (mp3) (pdf)

This week's tune was written a few days ago but I didn't get around to recording it until this morning. I was lucky and finished the last track just before one of our neighbors got out his loud leaf blower. In his defense, he has a huge quantity of leaves to deal with.

The photo was taken just before noon from the Trout Run trail near our house looking across the river to the ridge above Ice Cave. There are many acorns dotting the trails that wind around that ridge. Walnuts too.

Today's tune is a good example of what I come up with once I turn away from the notion of writing the Greatest Tune Ever and I just relax and enjoy the music that I find at hand. I hope it works for you too.

Merrills Mills

Merrills Mills (mp3) (pdf)

A jolly little tune titled after another obscure location in southern Piscataquis County, Maine. Hope you enjoy it.

(Note: In a highly unusual move I decided this morning [Monday, 9-25] that the second mandolin part was a little outside of my low standard of acceptability. So I have re-recorded that and re-mixed the tune. Hopefully not too many ears were damaged before this change was made.)

September Waltz

September Waltz (mp3) (pdf)

A waltz today, written and recorded before some late week challenges. The photo is from our front sidewalk, facing west.

Propsland

Propsland (mp3) (pdf)

Just last weekend I drove up to Minneapolis to play for the Saturday night contra dance at Tapestry with Pat's Propellers (Pat O'Loughlin, Karen Mueller, Linda Breitag and me). We had a great time, as usual, and the next morning I started writing today's tune. "Propsland" went through some changes early in the week but it was ready to record by Thursday. Part of the idea was to make a tune with not so many 8th notes.

The photo above is of my "office" at the Winneshiek Farmers Market last Saturday morning. I played solo for the first half and then Erik Sessions joined me for the last set. It's always fun to play at markets like this. I especially enjoy seeing little kids discovering live acoustic music.

Yesterday in Decorah was really fun. Erik and I played the opening set for the Live on Water Street festival in late afternoon and then we joined our Western Home String Band buddies (last night featuring Bill Deutsch, Sue Otte, Sam Beard and Rob Hervey, along with caller Robin Nelson) in the evening for our first local contra dance of the season, also on Water Street at the Lingonberry. The weather was ideal and the music was good.

Finally, on Wednesday this week (Sept. 13) I will once again play a couple of hours of solo mandolin at Java John's. Stop by in if you are in town.

Dover South

Dover South (mp3) (pdf)

This week's new tune is a waltz that takes its title from a lovely area of Piscataquis County, Maine known as Dover South Mills. Brans Mill Pond, pictured above, is the source of the Black Stream that I used for a title a few weeks ago. Thanks to whoever took the photo.

I had a great weekend of music, playing with Erik Sessions on Friday night in McGregor, Iowa and on Saturday morning at the local farmers market and with Pat's Propellers (Pat, Linda and Karen) last night in Minneapolis.  A lot of miles and much good music, today though (after arriving home around 2:30 a.m.) I am taking it easy.

Just in case anyone imagines the life of an older, gigging mandolin player to be financially lucrative, let me just say that the speeding ticket I earned on Friday night pretty much offsets any profit for the weekend. The music, though, was valuable beyond measure.

Next Saturday, however, Erik and I are featured as the opening act of the Live On Water Street festival just a few blocks from home. I should come out financially ahead on that. Our friends at the Water Street Music Series have created another fun event that would be well worth a visit if you are in the area.

The festival ends at 8:00 but Erik and I will then also be playing for our local contra dance that night, held downtown at the Lingonberry event space. Unfortunately this means that I will have to miss a concert featuring acclaimed Danish musicians Gangspil, along with Norwegian Vidar Skrede a few blocks away Vesterheim's Bethania Church. So much to do, so many tunes.

Ain't Over

Ain't Over (mp3) (pdf)

This week's tune should probably go a little faster than it is presented here. Hopefully the rhythmic, um, inconsistencies won't be bother you as much as they do me. Obviously, however, they don't bother me enough to spend more time trying to tighten it up. Perfection has never been the goal with these blog recordings and I think I can live with this one as it is.

There's a kind of cool effect (at least to my ears) when the harmony part comes in because it's recorded with the guitar and melody parts playing out loud in the room, thereby bleeding into the harmony track. Oh, and there's a neighborhood lawn mower somewhere in the background too.

I've been going through the early entries in this blog because I'm putting together what might become a tunebook that I may or may not have created and printed in time for the upcoming Classical Mandolin Society of America convention in Milwaukee at the end of October.

Visiting the old tunes and recordings is fun and I'm thinking I might post a couple of them again for any readers who might have missed them the first time.

So today I'll call your attention to a tune from February of 2010 called "Something About a Queen." All of the Neil Young fans know where that title comes from. It's a fairly unusual tune for me and never gets played at gigs but when I listened to the recording recently I enjoyed it quite a bit. Maybe you will too.

Something About a Queen (mp3) (pdf)

Starbird Siding

Starbird Siding (mp3) (pdf)

Traveling north on Maine highway 7 between Dexter and Dover-Foxcroft you will find Starbird Siding to be the first road on the left, shortly after you pass Board Eddy on the right. I'm guessing that "Siding" is a railway reference, there is an old rail track that crosses the road just west of highway 7. "Starbirds" is listed as a locality in Piscataquis County but I don't recall ever seeing anything like an old town there when driving on the short road. In any event it's a great name for this week's tune.

The photo above of the cool amphitheater (the "Bowl") at Highland Prairie Lutheran Church was taken this morning before playing with Foot-Notes for an outdoor picnic event. After we played two sets in the bandstand up the hill from this photo we walked down to the Bowl and played a short acoustic set just for fun. A very memorable gig.

This is a busy week for me. On Tuesday I will drive up to Minneapolis and play solo mandolin from 5:30-7:30 at the Mill City Farmers Market, which should be lots of fun. The next night, Wednesday, I will play my monthly solo mandolin gig at Java John's in Decorah. Finally on Saturday night I will join the Western Home String Band for our annual first year student dance at Luther College.

I am daily reminded of how lucky I am to be able to play music of my choosing with good friends for wonderful audiences on a regular basis. When I'm not playing gigs I get to work on composing, creating music books and various other projects. I don't take this for granted, I am truly grateful that I have these opportunities. With luck I'll get to continue this work for a long time to come. Thanks for visiting.

Black Stream Crossing

Black Stream Crossing (mp3) (pdf)

This week's tune (2017, week 32) is a nice jig in F, presented as a duo for two mandolins.

I went through a couple of titles before settling on this one. I'm once again mining the rich vein of places names in Piscataquis County, Maine (which I have just learned is the same size as the state of Connecticut, with a population of around 17,000) for this tune and I think there will be more to come.

The photo above is not of Black Stream but it resembles what I imagine when I think of the spot where Board Eddy Rd. crosses the actual stream. We have often visited the Dover-Foxcroft area in the month of August (although not this year) and this shot was taken overlooking a different creek during August 2009. I hope we will be able to return to this beautiful area soon.

Enchanted Forest

Enchanted Forest (mp3) (pdf)

The photo above was taken in August 2009 and it might be a picture of part of the woods that housed the original "Enchanted Forest" near Sangerville, Maine. It was a true dream world for children and their families created by Ardell Flanders and the Flanders family, full of wonderful wooden characters from the world of fairy tales.

In the 1980s and 90s we tried to visit the Forest whenever we were out east and it was always a highlight of our trip. There seems to be little information online about this place that delighted thousands of people during its heyday and some of what you do find is mistaken. I could only find one photo but I'm not using it here because I want to respect the privacy of the child in that photo, plus it only shows a tiny piece of the actual site.

In any event I thought of the Forest while I was casting about for a title for this week's tune. I hope you enjoy the tune itself. We certainly enjoyed the Forest while it lasted.