I've linked some of these videos elsewhere already, but thought it may be nice to have a link to a few clips I have made of my M-0W here in the Mid-Mo owners group as well: 1. "The Short Mesure Off My Lady Wynkfylds Rownde" (Anon, ca. 1520): A really nice renaissance keyboard piece. I think Mid-Mos are pretty good for early music. 2. "C'était Anne de Bretagne" (trad. Breton): A French folk tune I rather like. 3. "Avec Que La Marmotte" (Beethoven), Op. 52 No. 7: A tune written by Beethoven to a set of words by Goethe (how about that for heavyweight high culture!) -- but despite this pedigree it's a really simple little folky tune, much better (in my opinion) as a campfire song than as a parlour piano piece, its more usual incarnation. 4. Es saß ein klein wild Vögelein (trad. German): Another really simple but very nice German folk tune -- I've known this since I was a little boy and it sounds lovely on the Mid-Mo. 5. To Althea From Prison (Swarbrick): A tune written by Dave Swarbrick to a 1642 Lovelace poem, originally recorded by Fairport Convention on their 1973 album "Nine". I love this tune and have tried recording it several times on different mandolins, but this Mid-Mo video was the only one I was happy with. 6. "Congratulations" (Phil Coulter): Just a quick throwaway run-through of this old chestnut on solo mandolin, a big hit for Cliff Richard in 1968. Nothing fancy, and the tune is pretty naff, but it's actually rather fun to play. Handy tune to know for a party. Written by Phil Coulter, who apart from writing millions of pop hits, and unleashing a neverending series of ambient music albums, also produced the first three Planxty albums, for which many thanks to him. 7. "Lieto Passato" (S. Tafarella): I really like this Italian ballo liscio waltz, and we play it regularly with our ensemble -- as far as I can tell, nobody else has ever heard of it and I know of no other recordings. 8. "Speranze Perdute" (Morelli): This one, on the other hand, everybody plays... Martin
Thanks Martin, very nice and quite inspirational... >>>===> Dave
Thank you for the post I enjoyed it Les
Here are three more Mid-Mo clips, all of them tunes of German folk songs I remember from my childhood. Two of them are actually Ukrainian tunes to which German words were later set, the third is mock-Russian/Eastern European. All three pretty rousing, though, and fun to play. 1. Gregor (trad. Ukrainian, arr. Felix Petyrek) 2. Jeden Abend träumt Jerschenkow (trad. Ukrainian, arr. D. Krolle) 3. Gori Kaseki (A. Hamm) Martin
fabulous work - complimenti. couldn't agree more about the big muddy-mid-mo' being a perfect vehicle for early music. can't remember when, but at some point or other i realized that even if i owned a replica instrument (costing ...[gasp] - heaps) i probably wouldn't play it half as much as i do my trusty-rusty mid-missouri. great stuff, martin - looking forward to copying every little move you make ...
Thanks for the kind words, Bill -- much appreciated! I really like the way you approach a tune, with your great natural sense of rhythm, but I don't think I could play that way myself; I have to get at tunes and playing style from a more intellectual angle. That said, feel free to copy or adapt anything you find useful in my clips. Let me know if you want the sheet music to any tune that catches your eye or ear! Martin
I've made another nine videos of my M-0W yesterday, which I've already posted in two other threads on the Cafe, so I'll just put a link here to those threads: 1. Four clips of renaissance dances (two sets of tunes from the Terpsichore collection by Michael Praetorius, one from Playford and one from John Dowland): Link 2. Five clips of Northern Italian folk dances, originally recorded on accordion but they work pretty well on mandolin -- a feel almost like Irish fiddle tunes, but with a delightful little Italian twist to them. These are a quadriglia, a brando (or sbrando), a number of waltzes and a saltarello. Link Martin
Since last posting in this group, I've been playing my M-0W ever more for tunes which I would quite recently have used either my Gibson Ajr or my Embergher -- I feel like I'm only just properly discovering just what a versatile and fun instrument the Mid-Mo actually is. Here are a few more clips I've recorded: 1. 37 Tunes from Playford's Dancing Master: I absolutely love the sound of the Mid-Mo on Playford tunes, and as I've recently started working my way more or less at random through the complete Playford edition put together by Jeremy Barlow, I've been using the Mid-Mo for most of the Playford videos I've made. I've now recorded 42 (!) separate English country dances from the Barlow edition of Playford, and have used the Mid-Mo on 37 of these videos (the other 5 are on my Ajr). That's too many to list here individually, so I've put them all into a Youtube playlist, which I link below: Playlist link 2. Blind Mary (Carolan) 3. Blodau'r Drain (Trad. Welsh) 4. Caerdroin (Trad. Welsh) 5. Merch Megan (Trad. Welsh) 6. Christmas Day in da Morning (from Shetland) 7. Di Grine Kusine (Yiddish tune from New York) 8. Margaret's Waltz (Scottish waltz) 9. Mary Young And Fair (Scottish slow air) 10. Der Schnitter Tod (trad. German, from 1638) 11. Tom Bhetty's Waltz (Irish waltz) 12. Round The Horn (Jay Ungar) 13. Westphalia Waltz -- recorded to see how the Mid-Mo does on a tune more commonly thought of as a bluegrass tune. It does pretty well, as it turns out. 14. When The Battle's O'ver (trad. Scottish) 15. Saltarella (Italian dance tune) 16. Furlana (Italian dance tune) 17. Principessa Mazurca (Italian dance tune) 18. Sbrando de Roero (Italina dance tune) 19. Nota Bene (From Sweden -- composed by C.M. Bellman in the 18th century, but very popular in Germany) 20. Monferrina (Italian dance tune) 21. Brando (Italian dance tune) 22. Corrento dla Rocho (Italian dance tune) 23. Due quadriglie (two Italian dance tunes) 24. Pant Gorlan Yr Wyn (The Lambs Folds Vale), trad. Welsh 25. Polka di Nello (Italian dance tune) 26. Furlana di Virgilio (Italian dance tune) 27. Giga (Italian dance tune) 28. Bella Ciao (Italian song associated with WWII partisans) 29. Maria durch ein Dornwald ging (German Christmas carol, from the 16th century) 30. High Road to Linton (Scottish reel) 31. Killarney Boys of Pleasure (Irish reel/hornpipe) 32. Bottom of the Punch Bowl (Scottish country dance/reel/Scotch measure) So, that's 69 tunes recorded on the Mid-Mo over the last two months -- it's really a very versatile beast and works in all sorts of genres. Martin
Very nice, Martin. I just joined the group because I'm considering purchasing a Big Muddy mandolin to add to my little mandolin family here. These clips have encouraged me to venture into Big Muddy territory. I found a dealer in town, and I'm going to try some out. My other two mandolins have F holes, but I'm transitioning from Bluegrass tunes to Celtic ... and I think this mandolin just might be a good fit ... without breaking the bank.
I've dug out my old copy of Allan Alexanders "Music from Spain and South America for Mandolin" yesterday, and have recorded a few of the tunes from that book for a bit of a change of genre. Fun tunes! 1. Jota Puntiada / Xiraldilla de Llaviana (trad. Spanish, from Leon): 2. Aire de Salamanca (trad. Spanish): 3. Monica Perez (Venezuelan dance): 4. Danza Pixueta (trad. Spanish): 5. El Testament d'Amelia (trad. Catalan) -- lots of classical guitar versions of this one on Youtube, but I play it a bit faster than those, and with added double stops compared to the Allan Alexander version: Martin (also posted over in the Song-A-Week group -- sorry to those who see this twice)
Thanks again Martin, absolutely loverly. Dave
