For obvious reasons theres a TON of bluegrass and old time music focus around here as to be expected. Im new to the vast majority of it and very much enjoying listening to it, to the point of hogging the radio at work cranking up bluegrass junction on Sirius radio... That being said, I think most of us do like other genres as well and likely play them alone in a closet before our friends come over to jam [make unconnected noise]. Last month Chunta posted a great version of Humoresque from some violin study materials. Its gotten me back rooting through my classical study materials as well. I have to say Im enjoying it quite a bit, though Bach sounds a little different on things with frets (actually in tune in my case, mostly) I guess my interests are all over the place, never enough time to do all the things, whatever they are, but I'm gonna try anyway! In that spirit, on the off chance I manage to record anything worth sharing I plan to post it in here, however infrequently, and encourage anyone else to do the same. Classical pieces, some Zeppelin Mando riffs, Simon and Garfunkel, whatever, I look forward to it!
My teacher has given me a few classical pieces and I've printed some of the sheet music in the classical music genre section in the forum. Have you looked there? PM me your email address if you'd like copies of some of my music.
Spragster, I'm spending quite a bit of time with classical. I guess because that's what I know best. Last time Mel Bay had a 35% off sale I picked up a book of Telemann pieces, edited by John Goodin, that I like a lot. The Vivaldi mandolin and lute concerti are fun to hack through, as are some of the easier violin concerti. A couple movements from the Handel violin sonatas are very playable, and I have always felt Handel has more respect for the limits of the human left hand than Bach does. That said, I'd like to look at the sonatas and partitas and see if any of it is accessible, or if that's all decades off. I have an edition of the Bach cello suites transcribed for viola, and certain movements of those have been a good workout with the mandola, as have a few other viola pieces from the mountain of music around here. Nothing I would play in public yet, but maybe someday.
I have a couple of Bach Minuets, I play Jesu Joy of Man's desiring. I also worked up and memorized Bach Cello Suite 1 prelude. Currently slowly working on the Allemande from cello suite 1, and some beethoven work for mandolin and piano that my daughter bought me and wants me to play with her for some of her piano students some day. I am also looking forward to trying to play with the Mandolin Orchestra of Kansas City.
I like classical and (try) some simple tunes. i also like bluegrass, gospel and country. Can't play any of them "worth a hoot."
Sherry Im always happy to swap music! It may not be this week or month even before I get to play with it but Ill sent that pm for sure tonight! Louise great suggestions and I will keep an eye out for some Handel in particular. I love the sonatas and partitas cd pearlman did but omg half the time it sounds like theres 2 or 3 guys sawing away. Kevin Ive messed with the cello suite prelude a bit but can't hold it in my head more than a day or 2 great exercise though. I dig the minuets and boureés and gavottes too. Bach, Becker, Martini are most of my material. Im on the prowl for more though. SOMorris I think its all pretty fun too. I have some pretty basic classical stuff written for violin in notation if you'd like a gander at it. I like guitar pro better than tabledit but use both (way more familiar with gp though. Im also happy to share the tabs or notation in a pdf or guitarpro7 file. If I have it tabledit then its fair game as well! Im currently obsessed with the cello suite no3 boureé in gM. May have something to post by next week. Its semi dumbed down but still a finger stretcher for sure.
Sprag, are you the one who bought a copy of one of the medieval or renaissance tune books? How have you liked it? How accessible or not is it?
Yup, I have 2 of them Louise, very accessible even for beginners id say, mandolin for renaissance fairs I like quite a bit, kinda slow droning A minor Italian 1600s stuff mainly though theres a few the speed up a bit. nice thing with those is Alexander provides a cd and some fairly simple guitar back up tracks. The other is medieval mandolin masterpieces, id say this one is slightly more difficult over all but still intermediate at best by my reckoning at least. A bit lighter feeling but still ring with the sound of antiquity. Both have a small smattering of alexanders original compositions too. In fact many of the old songs only had a handful of measures, 8-16 or so, he presents them first then another page or page and a half of variations or undocumented B parts. If you click around on the site theres links to all the songs and tracks of him and his wife playing them all. I just picked the 2 that seemed like I could probably play with some work( only had my Mando a few weeks at the time) and that I liked the actual songs contained in the books. no regrets on the purchase by any means.
Good to hear. One or more of his books is on my short list of things to order. The samples he has posted are pretty.
I listen to classical music a LOT. Stream WKSU Classical channel on my computer when I am not listening to our local AllClassical.org. From time to time I hear something I want to try but a) I forget what it was when I go to try to find a score; or b) I find it and it is in 6 flats in the bass clef with zillions of 32nd notes; or c) I actually learn a simplified version of a piece of it, file it away in my echo chamber mind, never to surface again. Oh well. Right now in a semi-classical vein, I am messing around with Gilbert & Sullivan's Modern Major General from Pirates of Penzance. Treble clef, only 3 flats, but fast and lots of accidentals thrown in. I am the master of mandolin canonical. Ionian, dorian, and minor pentatonical. ... [help me out with words here] ... I am the very model of a modern mando radical!
. . . I play in many rhythms both precise and metronomical.
That song is the only thing i remember from watching that movie as a kid. New lyrics suit it just fine!
I'm also pretty new to mandolin, and have been feeling myself drawn primarily to classical music (with Irish fiddle tunes coming in second). I just bought August Waters book Exploring Classical Mandolin, and so far a love it. His writing is clear and interesting (there is a cool historical aspect the book's intro). The book offers approaches to most techniques, which I think is really cool. He emphasizes the variation in mandolin techniques and doesn't present an exclusive view, though he does tell you which techniques he personally makes use of. The book is pretty much set up like this: Part 1 - A long list of techniques that are relevant to classical mandolin playing. Each one is described in detail, with illustration when necessary, and each one has an etude or two to help you practice it. Part 2 - Classical pieces written for solo mandolin (often with accompaniment). They range from relatively easy, to quite advanced. You can start in on these as soon as you open the book, and use the earlier techniques to supplement your playing when you find yourself challenged by a piece. As a relative beginner (coming to mandolin with violin and guitar experience), I find the first piece is about the perfect level for me. Part 3 - Classical arrangements for mandolin. Waters has transcribed arrangements for other instruments to mandolin. All in all I would highly recommend this book so far. I'm totally loving it. Two other small points: -August Watters frequents the forums, so you can be in contact with him directly about the content of the book, which is pretty cool. -The book assumes you can read standard musical notation.
The only classical piece that I have tried was Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Xm7s9eGxU Like most classical, it takes advantage of both the treble and bass clefs. So my efforts are confined to the parts that the mandolin can play. Recently, I added an acoustic bass guitar to my mandolin stable. Maybe I can accompany myself :-) in recording.
So I ended up trying to work this one out instead of the totm. Still not perfect by any means but I'm gettin closer I think. Another week or 2 I guess. I think at least once through on each part wasn't bad though. Not sure about those last few seconds either lol!
Nice work, Mike!
Very nice, Sprags. I really hope to try out some Bach some day.
