The editions are now available on my blog, on the updated post about the Walsh volume. As announced, I will also publish on a separate thread.
The editions are now available on my blog, on the updated post about the Walsh volume. As announced, I will also publish on a separate thread.
Some of you may have missed John's announcement of his new free tunebook -- 64 original mandolin tunes, all with harmony parts and chords, including many I have already recorded in this thread:
http://www.mandotopia.com/MayFrost.html
This is a new one for me, a very atmospheric waltz:
The Old Basement Piano
1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin (x2)
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
Martin
I just downloaded John's new book and played through a few tunes and immediately made a donation. I want to thank John for making some of his books available for free with a suggested donation -- his pieces are gems that everybody should explore, regardless of ability to pay. Well done!
Martin, thanks once again for another fine recording of one of my tunes. "The Old Basement Piano" sounds really good. Thanks also for the mention of my new tunebook.
David, thank you very much for the kind words (and your generous donation!). I hope that you and many others will enjoy at least some of the tunes in the new book.
I think my friends here in the "classical" forum are really the kind of audience I had in mind when I decided to write harmony parts for each of the tunes. I imagine two, three or more players sight-reading the tunes at comfortable tempos and playing around with the parts and the chords. Anything goes!
John G.
An additional thank you, John, for knowing how to lay the music out properly! I have an Epson WF7620 printer which duplexes automatically and I simply had to use Adobe reader (could have been any PDF reading program) to print on both sides, and May Frost printed perfectly, with melody and harmony for the longer songs on pages facing each other. Too many other people who self-publish their music don't take such issues into account and I've had to spend way too much time inserting blank pages to get the necessary pairs of pages to face each other. Your book printed perfectly and makes for excellent duet playing.
So a great big thank you for taking us performers into account when you publish your music! Just yesterday I had several private music students reading tunes out of May Frost as sight-reading exercises (one clarinet student, one tenor sax student and one flute student) and they worked beautifully.
Once again too long since I last posted one of John's tunes.
Here is a rare one: a collaboration between two of my favourite mandolin people:
Reel: One Hundred Year Flood (John Goodin)
Arranged by Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni
This is a reel written in 2007 by John in an arrangement by Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni from her "Big Book For Mandolins For 2018" (the third volume in her great series of books -- thanks, John and Evelyn!).
Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin (x2)
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
All pictures from the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
Martin
Martin, thanks once again for producing such a fine recording of one of my tunes. In this case I'm twice-honored because Eveyln chose to create this excellent arrangement and include it in her book.
So far this spring we haven't seen any serious flooding in northeast Iowa but the conditions are ripe. The Mississippi, just 40 miles east of here, is showing minor to moderate flooding and is predicted to continue to rise for the next week or two. It would only take one or two large rainfalls to combine with the melting of February's record snowfalls to cause some serious trouble, both on the Mississippi and along the Upper Iowa River that flows just a few hundred yards from our home.
John G.
John, here I go again plugging the long neglected mandocello... In your notes on the Telemann music you say:
"While it is still true that I have found no indication that Telemann wrote any music for the mandolin or the mandolino I have discovered that (according to Steven Zohn in his recent book Music for a Mixed Taste: Style, Genre, and Meaning in Telemann's Instrumental Works, Oxford U. Press, 2008) he wrote for, and played, an instrument often called the mandora. In late seventeenth and early eighteenth century Germany this was an instrument best described as a kind of bass-lute and sometimes referred to by a variety of other names. He used this plucked-string instrument to accompany the flute in "many of his sacred vocal works, especially those composed at Frankfurt" (Zohn) between 1712 and 1720. "
(I should mention that I have sung some of those sacred vocal works and they are as good or in my opinion better than any of Vivaldi's.)
But this mandora thing, used as basso continuo... Graham McDonald, in writing about the unclear and confusing records of the mandora, compares it to a "larger Italian mandola." He goes on to describe the callichon, which was "tuned a fourth lower [and] had a solo repertoire of its own"(McDonald, 2015). The range, tuning, and string length (70cm) loosely approximate the mandocello, and I would assume the music was in bass clef. If you would cite your source for or access to this music, it could be some more great solo repertoire for the modern mandocello.
I know it's a stretch, but so is playing Bach on a modern piano--or for that matter, on a modern cello. Any thoughts or directions I should follow?
... Hey--am I just a mandocello-pest?
Jim,
The book that John has quoted in his notes is on Google Books, so it's straightforward to get the passage concerning the mandora:
As you can see, John's notes are a fairly close paraphrase and there is not much more detail in the book itself.
The pieces in question are a series of ten concertos "in the French style", several of which list the mandora (under its alternative name "calchedon") as part of the instrumentation. Note that these are not the continuo parts: the concertos are scored for "two flutes, calchedon, strings and continuo".
Manuscript copies of the three concertos mentioning the "calchedon" are at IMSLP:
TWV 52:e2
TWV 53:h1
TWV 53:D1
The other seven concertos list bassoon instead of mandora/calchedon as the accompaniment to the flutes, but if Zohn is right they were also originally scored for mandora.
The manuscript for TWV 53:D1 has an interesting edit on the first page, where the instrumentation is specified:
It says "calchedon", with the next words heavily crossed out and corrected "ou basson". I can't make out what the original instrument was that was crossed out, but it doesn't seem to be "mandora".
Martin
I salute your scholarship; the Cafe is a refreshing refuge from the glut of unsupported information on the internet.
Now, the passage that caught my interest is in Graham's book: "the larger callichon (or colachon or gallizona), tuned a fourth lower, had a solo repertoire of its own" (p. 44). That is the music I would love to see, but I can't find a source or even composer. I'll do some queries of well informed mando-scholars like yourself and see what we can find.
This is the sixth short duet in John Goodin's occasional series "Ten Easy Duos". I have previously recorded Nos. 2, 3 and 5 -- all very enjoyable!
The score for this duo is at John's blog:
http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2019/TenEasyDuos-6.pdf
My recording is on a vintage Italian bowlback mandolin, double-tracked. All art by Georgia O'Keefe.
1890s Umberto Ceccherini mandolin (x2)
Martin
Martin, thanks once more. This is a really fine recording of my piece. The Ceccherini sounds especially good on this.
I like your description of this as coming from my "occasional series", that makes me feel better about being so lazy.
John G.
Many thanks, John! I suspect what you're hearing is that I have discovered the "Reverb" plugin in Audacity -- with some very gentle reverb added (using the "Small Room Bright" preset), the mix sounds richer and livelier than my usual "dry" unprocessed audio on my other recordings. I've always resisted post-processing, but as long as it only creates the effect of a more acoustically favourable room I think it may be justifiable.
I've also used the same reverb preset on the recording of "Capri-Fischer" I have just completed -- see my separate posting.
Martin
Here are another three of John's tunes, all using harmony parts from his ebook "May Frost", available at:
http://www.mandotopia.com/MayFrost.html
Ekin Avenue (mandocello duet):
This hornpipe was named after a street in New Albany, Indiana. Most of my images are historical photos of the street, taken from the Floyd County Public Library.
John has arranged the piece with two harmony parts (high and low harmony). As the melody and low harmony are both playable in first position on the mandocello, I thought it would make a nice mandocello duet. I've added the high harmony part on mandolin for the repeat, as well as a gentle tenor guitar rhythm.
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello (x2)
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin
The Night Train Waltz
A lovely waltz, played on double-tracked vintage Gibson mandolin with tenor guitar backing.
1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin (x2)
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
The Old White House
Same instrumentation for this dance tune -- no indication of genre other than John's annotation "fast". Doesn't quite sound like a reel to me, but certainly catchy.
1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin (x2)
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
Martin
Martin, thanks again for making these tunes sound good. I enjoyed hearing "Ekin Avenue" with mandocellos, a very nice arrangement.
As always, your choice of images is fun but I especially appreciate you taking the time to access the New Albany-Floyd County Public Library and pull out some images of the actual Ekin Avenue. It's very nostalgic for me to see those old photos, I recognize a few of the houses.
The 5th image in the slideshow (the one labeled 1414 Ekin) includes a view of my grandparents' home when I was a little kid. They lived in the little "house" on the left, not the actual house up near the sidewalk. I never realized until long after they had died that their home was actually a converted garage or maybe a carriage house. Of course they would find it funny to learn that today "tiny houses" are a part of a movement.
I certainly invite any readers who haven't downloaded "May Frost" yet to take a look. I'm always pleased if someone donates but I really just hope that folks might find a tune or two they like and give it a rattle.
I'm very honored to receive this much attention from my fellow forum members.
John G.
Very nice, Martin. I almost wish you had made three posts for the three pieces so I could thank you three times.
Many thanks for the kind comments!
John: I like it when tunes have a sense of location and connotations, at least through the title. It adds a cultural hinterland to them and makes it easier to relate. Glad that the pictures I found related to your own experiences and memories.
Here are two more tunes from "May Frost" with that sense of place -- these are two slower ones in a contemplative mood:
From Artist's Point
This is a slow tune for two mandolins, to which I have added an arpeggio accompaniment on tenor guitar. Second mandolin comes in at the repeat of the A part.
"Artist's Point" is a small peninsula in the town of Grand Marais, Minnesota, on Lake Superior. John wrote the tune on a visit there.
1921 Gibson Ajr (x2)
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
A Fresh Start
According to his notes, John wrote this tune in 2008, to mark the beginning of a new semester. The obvious location therefore is Luther College -- I picked a few historical photos of the College mainly from their own website. John: I hope the college don't mind. If they are sensitive about use, let me know and I will come up with a different visual theme.
The score has two voices plus chord symbols, which I have played as a duet of mandolin and mandocello. I did record a tenor guitar backing using the chord progression, but decided I liked it better without.
1921 Gibson Ajr
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
Martin
John has recently posted an update on his compositions for mandolin ensemble and orchestras, which has reminded me about his more complex arrangements than the usual duets I have uploaded in this thread. This one in particular caught my eye:
James Oswald On The Ohio
John's page with background on this composition and links to the score, parts and John's own recording is here:
http://www.mandotopia.com/JO-Ohio/JO-Ohio.htm
For my recording, I have replaced the octave mandolin with mandocello, for a more sonorous bass line. It's a delightful melody, with a more rhythmically complex arrangement than most of John's compositions -- the middle section is great fun but took me some time to figure out, especially the second mandolin part.
1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia mandolin (x2)
Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
I've also recorded two more of John's tunes today, which i will upload here in the next few days.
As always, thanks to John for his great skill in composition and arrangement, and his generosity in sharing!
Martin
Here are the other two recordings:
Lily's Stars
This gentle waltz was written by John in 2015, and is available from his website:
http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2015/LilysStars.pdf
Played on mandolin with tenor guitar arpeggio accompaniment.
1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
Fifty Years On
Another waltz, written by John in 2019 to mark his 50th High School Reunion. The score is at:
http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2019/FiftyYearsOn.pdf
For my recording, I'm playing the melody on mandolin, harmony on mandocello and rhythm on tenor guitar.
All artwork by Richard Estes.
1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
Martin
Hello Martin, thanks once more for your lovely recordings and the ever-fascinating slide shows that accompany them. I especially enjoyed the images for the Oswald on the Ohio piece. Although the images tended to emphasize the often violent nature of life along the frontier (frontier, that is, for the European invaders) I was more imagining Oswald, and the future George III, having a pleasant, relaxing trip down the mostly placid Ohio.
Who knows, in this scenario perhaps the Prince of Wales is so impressed with the colonists and their achievements that he manages to avoid the whole messy revolution business when he takes the throne. Inspired by the beauty of the Ohio river valley, and the beautiful music composed by Jamie Oswald, he might have enabled a smooth transition to colonial independence and achieved all manner of great and wondrous things.
I really enjoyed your recording of the piece and I imagined you have as much fun as I did trying to get that middle section to come out right. I also really enjoyed your recordings of Lily's Stars and Fifty Years On.
I know that there are some folks out there who enjoy playing my tunes, because I hear from them. You, however, have probably spent more time recording my music than anyone except me. Many thanks for helping to keep this music alive and for sharing your recordings so generously.
I don't think anybody posts as much interesting music (with colorful videos) as Martin Jonas, and Martin was a big help and contributor in my solo mandocello project. Thanks from all of us, Martin!
John, I started taking lessons from Fabio Giudice (liuoto cantabile at CMSA). His recommendation for my lesson repertoire on mandocello was your Winter Suite. Thanks for giving me homework! Hope to see you at San Diego, and this time I'll bring my K4.
jim
Many thanks for those kind words, John and Jim!
John: The images I chose for "Oswald" came about because the most interesting hits I got when searching for a connection between Scotland and the Ohio River in the 18th Century related to Lord Dunmore's War, the last of the pre-Revolution colonial wars, waged by the last British Governor of Virginia, the very Scottish Earl Dunmore, against the Shawnee and Mingo nations in the Ohio River Valley. Hence the rather warlike imagery.
I was surprised when I listened back to your own recording of the piece (after I made mine) that you didn't use tremolo for the sustained notes. I had imagined from the score that this was the intended effect. I do like the effect of the tremolo here, but it works fine either way.
Jim: Have fun with the Winter Suite -- it's really nice to play on mandocello (as indeed is John's Spring Suite)!
Martin
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