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Thread: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

  1. #1
    Registered User harper's Avatar
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    Default Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

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Name:	Halloween dances treble.pdf 
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Name:	Halloween dances mixed trio.pdf 
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ID:	92662Attachment 92641Attachment 92642Looking for something to play at Halloween? I have written several tunes that are good for Halloween contra dances. Attached are a few in a little booklet. My band Jalapeño Honey plays these on accordion, fiddle, flute, C-clarinet, and guitar, but they work on mandolin, too. The waltz will come out in a book soon (Evelyn’s Waltz Book for Contra Dance Band) and someday the others will come out in a jig book and a reel book. There are two versions attached so that you can find a part in the desired range for your instrument:

    Treble trio (melody, high descant, and harmony)
    Mixed trio (treble clef melody, descant down one octave but in treble clef, harmony in bass clef)

    The tune titles are:
    Armadillo Dance reel
    Goblins at Midnight jig
    Jack Point reel
    Jester’s Tale reel
    March of the Gnomes jig
    Masquerade waltz
    Night Crawlers jig
    Three Trolls jig

    I hope you enjoy them.

    harper
    Last edited by harper; Oct-11-2012 at 4:34pm. Reason: attachments did not come through
    Harper (My other mandolin is a harp)

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  3. #2
    Registered User harper's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Halloween dances treble.pdf 
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Size:	514.7 KB 
ID:	92661Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Halloween dances mixed trio.pdf 
Views:	746 
Size:	505.1 KB 
ID:	92662
    Harper (My other mandolin is a harp)

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    Moderator JEStanek's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Thanks for these!

    Jamie
    There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. Logan Pearsall Smith, 1865 - 1946

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    Registered User Randi Gormley's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    So cool! thanks!
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  6. #5
    Registered User harper's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Here's the TAB for the melody of Night Crawlers. I'll try to post a video later.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Night crawlers lead sheet tabs.pdf  
    Harper (My other mandolin is a harp)

  7. #6
    Registered User harper's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Here is a video of me playing Night Crawlers on my rigel Q95 mandolin. Please excuse my poor mandolin skills. They are a work in progress.

    Harper (My other mandolin is a harp)

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  9. #7
    Registered User harper's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    If you go to the social group called Song-A-Week, there are now two videos of my Halloween waltz, Masquerade. One is played by me on accordion and the other very beautifully by David Hansen on mandolin with back-up tracks.

    http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/gr...#gmessage40361
    Harper (My other mandolin is a harp)

  10. #8
    Registered User harper's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Here is the score for Masquerade with all parts in bass clef for Beanzy.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Masquerade EWB cello final.pdf  
    Harper (My other mandolin is a harp)

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  12. #9
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Many thanks for these, Evelyn. We've tried Masquerade with our semi-classical ensemble at our weekly get-together this evening and it was very popular with my colleagues. We distributed the voices in a couple of different ways, and ended up playing it in four parts -- first mandolin gets melody, second mandolin discant, (octave) mandola gets harmony and the guitar player vamps a rhythm over the chords given in the score. Sounded really lovely, so we'll probably give it a number and put it in our repertoire folder.

    We have quite a few waltzes in our repertoire, and we played this one much like an Italian ballo liscio tune, with tremolo on the longer notes -- suits the tune, I think.

    Martin

  13. #10
    Registered User harper's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Martin,

    I'd love to see if a video if you make one. Glad your group likes the tune. I've written more than 20 waltzes and will probably post more soon.
    Harper (My other mandolin is a harp)

  14. #11

    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    I'm so excited to try these out this weekend! Thanks so much for posting them!

  15. #12
    Registered User harper's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    I'd glad folks are enjoying my Halloween tunes. Here is a great Halloween jig that I arranged for my band. It's an Irish tune called Crabs in the Skillet. I am posting three versions:

    Treble -melody, high descant, harmony, and guitar chords
    Trio - melody (same as above), treble descant one octave lower than above, harmony in bass clef, and guitar chords
    TABs
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Tiffany-Castiglioni Crabs in the Skillet jig treble for Mandolin Cafe.pdf   Tiffany-Castiglioni Crabs in the Skillet jig trio for Mandolin Cafe.pdf   Tiffany-Castiglioni Crabs in the Skillet jig tabs for Mandolin Cafe.pdf  

    Harper (My other mandolin is a harp)

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  17. #13
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Quote Originally Posted by harper View Post
    Martin,

    I'd love to see if a video if you make one. Glad your group likes the tune. I've written more than 20 waltzes and will probably post more soon.
    Hi Evelyn,

    No video, but here are rough-and-ready group run-throughs of Masquerade and Goblins At Midnight. Recorded simply by putting a Zoom H2n recorder into the middle during our weekly rehearsal tonight. Goblins At Midnight was recorded sight-reading, so this is our very first attempt at playing this tune -- there are a few wrong notes. Masquerade we played last week, so it was a bit smoother tonight.

    Both pieces played with first and second mandolins taking the two top lines, octave mandola on the bottom line and guitar ad-lib over the chords.

    Martin
    Attached Files Attached Files
    Last edited by Martin Jonas; Oct-25-2012 at 7:02pm.

  18. #14
    Registered User harper's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Martin,

    Thank you very much for posting your run-throughs of these two tunes. I am very happy to hear you play them. It helps me to hear instruments other than those in my group so I can hear how well the tunes translate the mandolin family. I like Masquerade very much as you have played it. Goblins seems to need tweaking in the way I have voiced it. Do you agree?

    Would you like to try Goblins with a slightly different descant? The original was written for flute. I just tried this new one on mandolin and I think I like it better.

    Thanks again,
    Evelyn
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Goblins at Midnight mandolins.pdf  
    Harper (My other mandolin is a harp)

  19. #15
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Evelyn,

    Many thanks for the feedback, and the instant revoicing! We will try the new descant part when we meet next week. The previous part didn't seem to mesh very well with the other voices when played on mandolin, no doubt because it was intended for the very different tonality of the flute.

    Martin

  20. #16

    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Just played through all of these last night, and wanted to say thank you again for posting them! They're some really fun tunes!

  21. #17
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Coming back to this thread as I've just put together a multitracked solo recording of Masquerade, on Embergher bowlback (melody and descant) and tenor guitar (harmony and rhythm). It's a great tune -- thanks again, Evelyn!



    Martin

  22. #18
    Registered User harper's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Martin, thanks very much for posting your quartet rendition of my tune. I am very pleased that you like it. Your Emberger sounds lovely and the masquerade images are a very nice pairing with the tune.

    Regards,
    Evelyn
    Harper (My other mandolin is a harp)

  23. #19
    Registered User harper's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Here is one of the tunes, The Jester's Tale, with the descant transposed down one octave to fit better on the mandolin.

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Name:	Jester's Tale 3 treble II.pdf 
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    Harper (My other mandolin is a harp)

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  25. #20
    Registered User harper's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Dear Mandolinistas,

    Here is my new free collection of 13 tunes for Halloween. Each tune is arranged for mandolin trio (melody, descant, and harmony) with guitar chords. The titles are:

    1. Abbots Bromley Horn Dance
    2. The Banshee
    3. The Hag’s Grave
    4. La Llorona
    5. The Lilting Banshee
    6. Night Owl Canon
    7. The Old Witch of Ochiltree
    8. Tamlin or The Howling Wind
    9. Tarraing agus Sáith Arís (Pull the Knife and Stick It Again)
    10. The Tide Come In (or the Brown Coffin)
    11. Under This Stone Lies Gabriel John
    12. The Witches Hill
    13. Young Tom Ennis (or The Banshee’s Wail over the Mangle Pit)

    The booklet has blurbs about each tune, including some historical information about hags and banshees.

    Best regards,
    Evelyn
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Halloween booklet 2017.pdf  
    Last edited by harper; Oct-03-2017 at 12:47pm.
    Harper (My other mandolin is a harp)

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  27. #21
    mandonucs John Uhrig's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    As always...Thanks for the new tunes. They are so much fun to play
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  28. #22
    Registered User John Kelly's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    WHat a great collection, Evelyn, and especially all the information you include on all the tunes. Thanks so much.
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  29. #23

    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    Thanks for the Halloween book and for the listing from your two collections, Evelyn! I'm impressed with all your arrangements -- how do you find the time to sleep?

  30. #24
    Registered User harper's Avatar
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    John and dhbailey,

    I'm glad you like the tunes. My friends and I played them last night on a motley assortment of instruments, 2 mandolins, 3 fiddles, a flute, a C clarinet, and a guitar. Everything worked well except The Witches Hill. I have made some changes to the harmony in the B part. I have attached the new page.

    Also, there should be a correction in The Old Witches of Ogiltree: the E in the last measure of the harmony line should be a D.

    Regards,
    Evelyn

    Errare humanum est.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Witches Hill mandolins 3.pdf  
    Harper (My other mandolin is a harp)

  31. #25
    nigelgatherer
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    Default Re: Free Halloween Sheet music for contra dance

    An excellent presentation - thank you, harper.

    Ignoscere divinum.

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