The Fifth Course

I had accepted an invitation to play mandolin and join in the fun at the monthly Contra Dance in Sonora at Aronos Hall, so I felt obligated to go. Still I could not find a way out of the doldrums. Nothing seemed worth doing except sitting in my apartment with my cat and a movie...

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This is an excellent primer and very good advice if you want to play lot to a wide variety of audiences.

Thanks Allen!

Originally Posted by allenhopkins

Some thoughts on what's worked for me. And let me state up front, that while I make a "good second income" from music -- over $15K annually -- I couldn't live on what I make; that's where civil service retirement comes in...

1. Playing for seniors: I compiled a list of nursing homes, senior centers, assisted living facilities

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The mandolin is the perfect travel instrument. My mandolin, in a hard shell case, has fit in the overhead compartments of every puddle-jumper into which I have had the pleasure of folding myself. Occasionally a zealous gate agent will attempt to tag my case for gate-check for the short flights. When that happens I have been able to put off the green-tagger by saying, “It’ll fit,” or “This needs to come with me -if you need to check something take the backpack.”

The size also allows ...

I used to be a singer/songwriter. Time was when I could access my emotional state at the drop of a hat and pour my guts out with a pen, a piece of paper and a guitar.

Things changed as I got older. Music became a hobby rather than a serious endeavor, so I turned from songwriting to more social forms of musical expression.

I found Bluegrass, not because I am deeply enamored with the style of music, but because Bluegrassers welcomed me.

The reason I played ...

I cannot remember the last time I posted to my blog. Life got very complicated in mid-July only a few weeks after starting a new job. Then teaching at Columbia College (Sonora CA) started in late August. Suffice to say the second half of the year has skipped by without my being able to play much music or stop and reflect --in text-- on events in my personal life.

But here we are near the end of the year, and I have resolved to play more music and write more. Here is the first installment ...

Howdy to all on Mando-land,
I have a new video up on my Youtube Channel which I will embed here to save the trouble of clicking a link.

This is the second in the ongoing series of songs being recorded at Fran Guidry's Digital Duck Studios in Walnut Creek, CA.

The Song is called Wounded Knee. It about the massacre of several hundred Lakota Soiux at the hands of the 7th Cavalry in December 1890. The story is told from the first person perspective of a fictional ...

Just dropping a note to say that I gigged last night (Thursday June 17, 2010) as an electric mandolin player for the first time in at least half a year. What a gas! The gig was another of my series of lobby appearances. (Always the bridesmaid/lobby, never the bride/theater.) This one with Señor of Señor Circus. He was Señor I was this Circus last night.

Playing through the tunes, I was flying around moderate tempo rock/pop tunes with the happiest of ease on my 8 string Fender ...

My friend, Fran, put together this video from multiple camera angles and included the mandolin tracks we cut too!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziZD2FBHy2Q

Daniel

Hi Everyone!
I just posted a new video to Youtube. The song is "Long Black Veil" by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkins. The arrangement is something I came up with a few years ago.

The occasion is a recording session I did last week (May 12, 2010), which is why the big capsule mics are hanging in the shot.

Again, no mandolin on my part, but plenty of space for yours.
• Short opening at the top and a full verse break after the first refrain. ...

[Reprinted from the May issue of Stanislaus Connections]

Saturday evening in mid-March, the sun is setting over
Modesto and sending laser-like rays into the large lobby
windows of the Gallo Center in Modesto, California. As picturesque as it is, the illumination seems unnatural for a night-time place like a theater. It is spilling reflected light against the back wall causing the bartender to shade her eyes. The marble floor is a sort of a
pinkish ...