Week #356 Michael Turner's Waltz

  1. Marcelyn
    Marcelyn
    Looks like this week's winner is a tune called Michael Turner's Waltz. It was composed by Mozart in 1788.

    You can find several versions in ABC notation, a history of the tune and some helpful discussion over on thesession.org...
    https://thesession.org/tunes/7077

    Here's another site with tab and standard notation...
    http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/se...ners_waltz.htm
  2. Michael Pastucha
    Michael Pastucha
    Here's one with lots of mandolins from Martin Jonas.



    Some familiar faces...





  3. Bob Michel
    Bob Michel
    Once again I anticipated the week's likely choice. I had a lot of fun arranging and recording this one.



    Bob Michel
    Near Philly
  4. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    The tune is so suited to the mandolin, Bob, and you have produced a beautiful rendering of it here. The introduction of the whistle is very well done.
  5. James Rankine
    James Rankine
    Superb arrangement, lovely tone from the mandolin and when the whistle and box kick in it transforms into an Irish tune. Studio quality - you could release this on a CD - Irishing up tunes from around the world (I'll take 10% for giving you the idea!).
  6. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Great playing and arrangement, Bob!

    My own recording from a couple of years ago has already been posted above -- it's the first video in Michael's posting. Arrangement by Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni, using Mozart's original second violin part. We play this arrangement quite frequently with our group.

    I have since come across another quite different arrangement, and may record that one this week for contrast.

    Martin
  7. Bob Michel
    Bob Michel
    Thanks to John, James and Martin. Martin, I hadn't listened to those previously posted versions until now, but yours is really lovely. Very Mozartian.

    James, is "Irishing up" akin to "getting one's Irish up"? I ask because I actually kept my temper admirably while making that video. Which is not always the case when I'm recording.

    Bob Michel
    Near Philly
  8. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Further to my old recording as reposted by Michael, I have now recorded the tune again in a quite different arrangement. This new recording is more stripped-down and more folky, based on a three part setting by Michael Van Der Meiren:

    http://www.tangosite.com/concertina/...el-turners.pdf

    1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin (x2)
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello



    Martin
  9. David Hansen
    David Hansen
    Here's my version from 2011.

  10. Jess L.
    Jess L.
    (For recent post please scroll down a few screens)

    So many beautiful versions above, super nice!

    I wrote my own 4-part sheetmusic for the Mozart tune, based on the score at imslp.org/. I've never done this sort of thing before and I have *no* clue what I'm doing, but it's fun anyway.

    The pdf I wrote is at MandolinCafe page, I guess that's the right way to do that, can't remember.

    I wrote it in MuseScore 2. Here's what it sounds like when MuseScore plays back the notes I wrote, this is pure-computer MIDI tinny-sounding stuff, but you can get a kinda-sorta idea of what the notes are:


    (or direct link)

    Now, I've been practicing actually playing this tune on real instruments, but I need lots more practice before turning on the recorder.

    If anyone else would like to try my 4-part version, that'd be cool, and yeah you can modify anything you want, it's (now) folk music after all.

    P.S. I guessed at chord *names*, based on the notes in the old Mozart score. But there's a good possibility I might have got some of them misinterpreted and thus labeled wrong. Suggestions welcome.
  11. woodenfingers
    woodenfingers
    Greetings, I have been off doing band stuff so haven't been posting. Couldn't pass this one by though as our trio used to do it.
    Bob - great arrangement and mix of instruments, I do love a well-blown whistle!! Yes, Irish 'er up lad!
    Martin - very Mozartian as Bob says. You sound like a harpsichord at times.
    David - I was hoping for more bowed bass and you didn't disappoint, and, that new cittern sounds just wonderful!!
    JL277z - that was well done. I use easy abc for such things but it sounds like musescore is the way to go.

    As did Martin previously, I used Harper's (Evelyn Tiffany-Castaglioni) score. I took the melody from there, the chords from the traditional site, and made up the rest of it.

  12. Michael Pastucha
    Michael Pastucha
    Bob Michel: lovely interplay of the instruments. When the squeeze box comes in the song is transformed. Very well done.
    Martin: both of your versions are excellent. On the second the harmony mandolin part really makes the song for me.
    David: both of your versions are also excellent... and you've added another winner to your arsenal of instruments. That 5 course bouzouki is a keeper.
    JLZ77z: cool arrangement and hopefully you'll get it worked up to speed and recorded soon.
    Bob: really nice playing and the fiddle is especially striking in your arrangement.
    Just a great week to play the mandolin I'd think...
  13. maudlin mandolin
    maudlin mandolin

    Great renditions from Bob,Bob David and Martin. JLZ hope to hear yours soon.
    Most of my effort this week went into mastering Will Fly's great guitar arrangement. Had to blow the dust off the 6-string before playing!
  14. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    This tune has had a run as an Other Tune. Here is the link to that thread.
  15. trev
    trev
    https://soundcloud.com/user-22948268...rners-waltzwav

    Here's my attempt this week, I was hoping to get my wife to play the chords on her guitar but she's been snowed under, so it's had to be chords, melody and harmony all on mandolin instead. There are one or two timing issues, but overall I'm pretty happy with it, given my level at present.

    Really impressed with everyone's recordings again, well done all
  16. maudlin mandolin
    maudlin mandolin
    Well done Trev. I couldn't hear anything wrong with your timing-it was more together than mine was. Solid mandolin backing too.
  17. trev
    trev
    Thanks for that, maudlin, I enjoyed your rendition, the arrangement sounds a bit more challenging than the one that I chose, but you did a great job of it, the guitar and mandolin fit very well together.
  18. Jess L.
    Jess L.
    Woodenfingers, Michael, and Maudlin, thanks! I finally tried to record this, I thought I had the video camera on but I didn't, so it's just audio. Super short, just one time through only the "Michael Turner" part of the Mozart tune:


    (or direct link)

    The sound in the video is three tracks: one mandolin track, plus two GDAEB electric guitar tracks (harmony + 'bass' line).

    (The animation picture is shamelessly appropriated from two Windows Media Player "visualizations", I combined the clouds with the waves.)

    Edited to add:
    Instrumentation is my usual stuff nowadays: $50 Rogue mandolin, $29 Dean Markley stick-on pickup plugged into a Roland Micro Cube set to "acoustic" (yeah I know, impedance mismatch or something, oh well it's what I have to work with), "Squier by Fender Stratocaster Standard Series" electric guitar tuned in fifths (GDAEB after capo at fifth fret), recorded with Audacity on a cheap HP laptop. I use the electric guitar as a substitute for a tenor guitar, I play it the same way.
  19. sportsnapper
    sportsnapper
    I've finally got a version that I'm almost happy with, and I need to move onto other things.
    I transcribed the original score, Mozart K.536, the trio from the second suite of 6 Deutsche Tänze to be just for 2 mandolins and cello. I'm playing both the mandolin parts and the cello is a midi track generated from Musescore then imported into Logic.

    This is the first time I've attempted multitrack recording, and it's much harder than I ever envisaged!

  20. dustyamps
    dustyamps
    Nice playing and recording. Congrats
  21. Mark Gunter
    Mark Gunter
    "This is the first time I've attempted multitrack recording"

    Good show, Gareth! I'm glad you learned this one, it's on my list too. You've put in a lot of effort here, and your picking is clean and clear. I'm new at multitrack too, there can be a pretty steep learning curve but it can be a lot of fun to learn. Some of the guys in here can be very helpful, I've found, if you have questions as you go. Great tune, thanks for sharing!
  22. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Nice one, Gareth! I must try to get back into this one. It's one of the very few tunes I learnt by ear, and in my mind I hear the David Surette version more than my own inferior offering ... maybe it's time for a reality check!
  23. sportsnapper
    sportsnapper
    Thanks chaps :-)
  24. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Fine effort, Gareth. Lovely mando sound.

    I like the idea of using Musescore to generate the cello part here. I have a free VST effect I use called Cellofan and this gives you a fairly good cello sound too. I play it via keyboard input into my DAW (REAPER) and I had not thought about generating a part using a notation program. Thanks for this idea.
  25. crisscross
    crisscross
    Wonderful renditions of this Mozart tune!
    I couldn't keep myself from adding a little swing to Amadeus...
  26. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    Crisscross - CC - love this. I have never recorded it but have it my book and your lovely playing makes me want to go back and try it again. Thanks for lighting up my otherwise thunderstormy-y day.
  27. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    I finally managed to record this one, after playing it again at the local session. I'm trying to learn the current song of the week, but finding it quite hard. So this easy waltz is a welcome distraction.



    Re-reading my comment above, I should perhaps have tried playing along with the superb David Surette recording of this tune! But I didn't. I'm exploring different ways to keep good time when recording. This time, I programmed some chords into an Android app called Chordbot, played the first recorded part over those chords (hence the earphones), and all subsequent voices over the previously recorded ones, using Audacity.

    The melody is played on the Fylde Touchstone Walnut mandolin you can see in the video. The pick is a Gravity Classic Pointed. The arpeggios are on a Blue Moon octave mandola, the tremolo and chords on an Ibanez M510e, and I also tried a bit of whistle.
  28. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Christian, somehow missed your posting back in May, so belated thanks for a lovely version of a lovely tune.
    Dennis, what a great tone from your mandolin. I like your arrangement and playing of the tune too, and you look like you are having a lot of fun there!
  29. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Excellent Gelsenbury, really well done, beautiful!
    Pretty strict timing, and you’ve got the feeling in there too, with, not a bounce but a sort of wave rhythm like a river.
    (edited)
  30. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    This is one of my favourite tunes. In fact I bought the CD ( Far from the Madding Crowd) because of this song. Very nicely done by both CC and Dennis. Nice way to put the other instruments in it too Dennis. I don't think I ever look that calm when I'm playing, especially wit the red light on. Perhaps that is the reason I don't record myself. I just put the pretty movie pictures in.
  31. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Don't worry, I only look calm! I've been battling those camera shakes for 8 years now, and perhaps I'm finally getting somewhere. It certainly is fun, otherwise none of us would do it. I'm less nervous when I just record audio and publish on SoundCloud, but video enables others to give more feedback on technique.

    Thanks for the nice comments.
  32. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Oops, despite I listened to all these lovely recordings more than one time I never commented on this thread.
    That sometime happens when I whish to post my own submission soon. But I didn’t post until now. It’s hard to be pleased with my own playing after listening to all your fine renditions…

    The last to videos didn’t make it easier!
  33. Simon DS
    Simon DS
  34. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Go for it Frithjof the more the merrier.
    -I’d rather see a vid from you than a vid from me! Really.
  35. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Simon, you really surprised me with the counter-melody! Well played, very fluent.
  36. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Profuse apologies Gelsenbury, I metronomed Mozart.
    And then the overkill with the second mandolin, very unsportsmanlike!

    Thanks again for all the help from you guys in our social group, I really appreciate you.
  37. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Simon - first and second "violin" sound very good together and I like the deep sound of your instrument.
    I would follow the same idea and use the third set that The Session provides.
    Unfortunately I don't see the spare time for propper recording in close future.
  38. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Great playing and arrangement, Simon. The harmonies work so well, and I like the different angle you use for filming this clip. It gives a very clear view of the fingering you use.
  39. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Thanks Frithjof, I did very nearly break out my beautiful Stagg mandolin I use for special occasions, may still do that, and stick bits of it into the recording in random places.

    I agree the recording does take an inordinate amount of time though. The main thing with this version was that it was a very steep learning curve for the second violin. A real workout. I’ve never played a melody before that seems to bounce so much all over the fretboard. Then after a while I sort of relaxed, knowing that in each measure the ‘melody’ only has a very few options, based on chord progressions. It reminded me a bit of learning rolls on the banjo. Real life arpeggios, great practice.

    Thanks teacher John (!) True, my fingers get camera shy too, hiding behind the thumb. Another thing to work on.
  40. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    Simon, I think this is one of your best. I love the added parts. As John likes the new view angle, it's good to play lying in bed every now and then , right?
  41. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    Simon...I don't know if this has anything to do with anything BUT..I didn't get the notification dot for this tune...but it was on the right side with the "recommended for you" section. I wonder if putting them out of order..ie: Sarah's Mandolin is first, in you MC SAW section has anything to do with it...I'll keep an eye on it, let you know if there's a problem.
  42. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Thanks Ginny, yes I sort the tunes manually, with favourites or catchy rhythmic tunes near the top, but all the tunes I post go on MandolinCafe first.
    When are we going to hear the ‘weird stuff’ you talked about? Electric rock or punk?
  43. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    Well Simon, John and I have done Michael Turner but haven't posted it yet. Scotland is actually having a snow blizzard! Poor guys (she said slightly snickering from Canada) The weird stuff will take a few weeks..maybe less for one of them and a few weeks for the other. They're not so much weird as just ..not the usual fare. Hint on the first one.."to wives and sweethearts..."
  44. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Here is our collaborative attempt, folks, assembled as an antidote to the invasion of our small isle by Storms Ciara and Dennis! Just the weather for making wee videos!

    Ginny played mandolin and I added octave and guitar. Pictures are from Puck's Glen, very near my home, and an association with the fairy kingdom of Puck seemed appropriate for this one.

  45. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Wonderful John and Ginny, in some ways the best yet, it sounds like summertime, I love the way all the instruments play their part all together.
  46. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    In the long row of contributions to this thread you found your own nice color for your recording. Thanks, Ginny and John.
  47. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    I think from now on I'll always associate this melody with wishing for the storm to end. Well played, and nice pictures.
  48. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    Thanks for putting that together John. Neither of us could come up with video ideas so I am glad John found some pics in his stash of 'all things Scotland.' I'll leave a comment on your YT page John. I enjoyed this song. The hard part was to synchronize John's octave with my mandolin as they leave totally different 'footprints' on my music programme. I think it worked but for a few minor places. Thank you for your comments.
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