# Music by Genre > Orchestral, Classical, Italian, Medieval, Renaissance >  John Goodin mandolin duets

## Martin Jonas

Most of you will be familiar with John Goodin and his wonderful website and blog which are a goldmine for his original compositions and his editions of (mostly) 18th century music for cittern and mandolin:

John Goodin's Mandotopia

I've been playing his mandolin transcriptions of the "_Twelve Divertimentis for the Guitar_" by James Oswald for some years now and thoroughly recommend them.

In addition to the more classical material on John's website, his blog has many original dance tunes written for his contra dance band, with sheet music in PDF and his own MP3 mandolin/guitar recordings, all published under a Creative Commons License.  

I've been playing around with two tunes written as complementary companion pieces: "St Francis and the Birds" and "St Anthony and the Fishes".  John has designated them as reels, and is playing them as such on his own MP3 recordings on his blog.  More recently, he has added a second voice to them, making them mandolin duets.  I've played them slower than John, partly because I can't play them cleanly at his speed and partly because it brings out the melodic interplay between the two voices.  I really enjoy these two tunes!

Here are links to the PDF sheet music, and John's own mandolin recordings (without the second voice), which amply demonstrate that John is a better player than me:

"St Francis and the Birds" sheet music



Your browser does not support the audio element.


"St Anthony and the Fishes" sheet music

[mp3=2]http://www.contratopia.com/smt2008/StA.mp3[/mp3]

I have played both tunes as mandolin duets with tenor guitar backing, using my Mid-Missouri for St Francis and my Embergher bowlback for St Anthony:





Thanks for the music, John!

Martin

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Andy Boden, 

BCVegas, 

billhay4, 

dcushman, 

haggis, 

JCook, 

napochan

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## Jim Garber

Nice, Martin, they almost sound renaissance-like.

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Martin Jonas

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## MLT

Martin, 

Thank you for sharing your playing of these two peices by John.  I very much enjoyed your video presentation that you put together to go with each piece as well.  And John, thank you for so freely sharing your composing talent with us all.  I am off now to learn these peices.

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## John Goodin

Hi Martin, the check's in the mail! :Smile: 

Seriously, thanks for the compliments (Jim and MLT too) and nice playing on your versions of my little duets. I'm going to make a serious attempt at revamping, improving the Mandotopia site this spring. I have finally purchased the "mandotopia.com" domain name and I will try and move the content over to a new webhost.

I have lots of my own music and a variety of transcriptions/arrangements that I just haven't made time to add to the site in the last couple of years. In particular there are five or six mandolin orchestra pieces that I want to share more freely. I'm thinking of running a small Kickstarter campaign, mostly to publicly commit myself to bring the site up to date. 

I'm getting ready this morning to post another new tune to the So Many Tunes blog. This will be the 15th week in a row for that. Hearing that people enjoy the sites is a real incentive.

John G.

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BCVegas, 

JCook

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## Martin Jonas

Thanks for the kind words, John (and Jim/MLT).

Jim: The renaissance feel is a bit accidental on my part as I've been playing a lot of early music lately.  John plays the pieces with a fair amount of syncopation giving them a more contemporary Irish feel, but I had already got used to playing them with straight eighths before listening to his MP3s, and I rather liked them that way.

Martin

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## Martin Jonas

Here are my recordings of two more of John's mandolin duets, quite different from the two saints.  I've recorded both of these on my modest Embergher.

1. "January 22, 2005": This is a fast(-ish) waltz for two mandolins, named (I think) after the day it was written.  John's original PDF and MP3 recording are here:

PDF sheet music

[MP3=3]http://www.contratopia.com/smt2008/01222005aduo.mp3[/MP3]

I had originally recorded a tenor guitar rhythm track for this, but decided it cluttered up the mix and it worked better without (as indeed was John's own demo).



2. "Stonehead": This duet is technically very straightforward, and my recording is basically sightread, but it's an intriguing and effective piece.  

John's PDF and MP3 are here:

PDF sheet music

[MP3=4]http://www.contratopia.com/smt/stonehead.mp3[/MP3]

For my recording, I've doubled the second mandolin an octave down on tenor guitar to boost the bottom end of the mix.



Martin

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BCVegas

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## John Goodin

Martin, very nice renditions of these tunes. I especially like the octave doubling on "Stonehead." You reminded me that "January 22, 2005" gained an official title at some point. It's now called "Halfway Home" and appears under that title in my _Midwestern Mandolin Duos_ book. Thanks for taking time to share your recordings and for digging out the links to my own versions.

John G.

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Martin Jonas

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## Nick Royal

Martin,
I like the duets. (I have John's Midwestern Duets book and like some of them a lot.  Also good practice for my sight
reading.)  I enjoyed your photos w. the recording.
Nick Royal
Santa Cruz, CA (home of the Mandolin Symposium)

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## Martin Jonas

I've just worked on two more of John's duets.  Both of these are more on the classical rather than the contradance end of his range, and they are contemplative melodic pieces.  For the first one I stayed close to John's intentions, I think, but I changed the second one around a bit.

1) Clifty Falls

I recorded both voices for this on my Gibson Ajr.  John uploaded this to his blog at the same time as Stonehead (see above), with the description:

"_Here are two simple duets for two mandolins (or any other instruments with similar ranges) that I wrote down sometime around 1980. Clifty Falls is a lovely Indiana state park not far from my hometown. Stonehead gets its title from the memorable stone marker that you will encounter at the juncture of Ind. 135 and Bellesville Pike if you turn south off of Ind. highway 46 between Nashville and Columbus.

Both of these pieces were written during one of the two summers that I spent living in southeastern Brown County, IN, allegedly helping out at a Catholic summer camp. One of those summers I was a part time dishwasher at Rudi's Country Kitchen in Nashville and my route back to camp involved a left turn at the Stonehead intersection.

The challenge in playing these short tunes is to keep them from sounding mechanical and to allow them to breathe a little. Both pieces are also suitable for recorder with soprano playing the top line and alto (transposed up an octave) playing the bottom._"

John's score gives a tempo of 110bpm, and I kept to that.  Nice piece, and I enjoyed playing it on the Ajr which I have been unfairly neglecting lately -- its tone suits the music, I think.

PDF sheet music



2) Woodhaven

This is a duo in 6/8 time.  I am currently without internet access at home, so I didn't read what John has to say about the piece or listen to his MP3 demo until after I had finished my own recording.  John's score gives no tempo indication, and when trying the bass line it felt to me like it needed some sustain to bring out the harmonies.  It also felt rather medieval to me, so I recorded both voices on my "Baroq-ulele" bowlback uke (for a lute-like tone) in unison with my tenor guitar an octave down (to give it sustain).  Somewhat unintentionally, but serendipidously, blending these two instruments in unison changed the tone considerably by removing the attack of the guitar and replacing it with the softer lute/uke attack, giving the impression of a single instrument with a rather unusual timbre.  There is no reverb or other sound processing here, just the two unprocessed instruments superimposed.

When I got to listen to John's MP3 demo this morning, I saw that he recorded it significantly faster than me, but also confirmed my impression of this having a medieval feel:

"_I think of Woodhaven as a medieval tune, a ductia maybe? In any event I've had it around a long time. I think it would also work nicely as an S/A recorder duet if the alto player transposes the bottom line._"

PDF sheet music



Martin

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## John Goodin

Martin, thanks for these additional recordings. I'm really enjoying your interpretations, both musical and visual. I especially enjoyed all of the Woodhaven photos. The actual Woodhaven where the piece was written is in rural Maine, midway between Dexter and Dover-Foxcroft, just south of the intersection with Board Eddy Rd. So the urban photos give the music a new and interesting setting. 

I've also enjoyed your choice of instruments. Old Gibson oval hole mandolins are my baseline for what I think of as "mandolin sound" so the A jr. tracks sound great to me. But I also like your other approaches.

Thanks for sharing!

John G.

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## Martin Jonas

Thanks for your kind comments, John.  When looking for photos for Woodhaven, I didn't come across the place in Maine -- I had the choice between the Woodhaven neighbourhood in Queens/NYC, Woodhaven Michigan (near Detroit) and Woodhaven Lakes Resort in Illinois (the world's largest private camping resort, no less).  Of those, the NYC neighbourhood was visually much richer than either the Michigan or the Illinois place and the contrast between the medieval vibe of the tune and the urban imagery appealed to me although I suspected that the other two places, being in the Mid-West, were more likely to have associations for you.  Turns out I was wrong anyway and you were referring to a fourth place somewhere else completely...

Martin

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## Martin Jonas

One more of John's duets, and then I might take a break and play something else...

This is No. 6 from John's set of six duettinos that he wrote in homage to the William Bates duettinos for guittar (which John has transcribed and published and some of which I have recorded here).

I wasn't too sure about the correct tempo.  John has indicated 100 quarter notes per minute.  However, as the piece is in 3/8 time, that would be 200bpm and I can't play it at that speed.  However, playing it at 100bpm sounds far too slow.  So, I've gone for around 150bpm, which sounds about right for me.

John sheet music is here: Link



I couldn't think of a visual theme here, so I've put the score up to read along.

Martin

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## Martin Jonas

After a gap of a year or so, here are two more recordings of John's mandolin duets:

1) November Duo, 2004

This is a classical mandolin duet, which I've recorded on my 1921 Gibson Ajr (both parts). John has indicated a speed of 140bpm, but I've slowed it slightly to 125bpm. 

[MP3=5]http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=117277&d=1395795615[/MP3]



2) May Frost

This is marked as a reel, so it's presumably one of John Contradance pieces.  I'm playing both the melody and the harmony on my Ajr, with tenor guitar rhythm.  Played on the Ajr (melody and harmony) with a dance band-like backing of tenor guitar and mandocello.

[MP3=6]http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=117276&d=1395795615[/MP3]



Martin

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## John Goodin

Martin, thanks for uncovering these duos, especially with the nice visuals. I always enjoy hearing your take on my stuff.

Interested parties can find my own demo-quality recordings of these duos, along with the sheet music (taken from my _Midwestern Mandolin Duos_ book) at my So Many Tunes alphabetical list page:
http://mandotopia.com/SMT.htm

The list is a couple of months behind but you can find the most recent free recordings and sheet music at the So Many Tunes blog.
http://somanytunes.blogspot.com/

John G.

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derbex

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## Pasha Alden

Many thanks to you Martin!

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## Pasha Alden

At Martin, I assume these pieces are to difficult for a classical beginner like me?
Would imagine they are more advanced?

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## Phil Vinyard

John: I've really enjoyed plundering your site and playing through your music. 

Played in a recital last month and performed St. Anthony and St. Francis with another mandolin player and my teacher (Bruce Graybill) backing us up on guitar. Sounded great--went over big with the audience. Hoping to play them again at Kaufman Kamp in a few months.

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## Martin Jonas

> At Martin, I assume these pieces are to difficult for a classical beginner like me?
> Would imagine they are more advanced?


Not really, Pasha.  John has a particular knack for writing pieces that are interesting and technically straightforward at the same time -- elegant simplicity being very much his trademark.  If necessary you can always play them a bit slower, but there really is nothing particularly daunting in any of this music.  Very helpfully, every tune on John's blog has his own home MP3 recording on solo mandolin with it.

The tunes I've recorded in his particular thread are all duets.  Some of them work as solo pieces as well and some need the second voice for the full effect.  However, John has got hundreds of solo mandolin compositions on his site.  Well worth exploring and picking your own personal favourites.

John/Phil: We've had St Francis and St Anthony along with Halfway Home (January 22, 2005) in the repertoire folder for our mandolin ensemble for more than a year now, and everybody is very happy about them.  We play all three at most of our weekly get-togethers and they are particularly popular with our more recent recruits who appreciate the accessibility.

Martin

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derbex

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## Adam Sweet

I'm enjoying these!  Very inspiring.  Thank you for the work you put in to sharing them

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## John Goodin

It's always fun when people say nice things about my stuff. "Elegant Simplicity", thanks Martin. I should use that in some future ad campaign. Simplicity (for better and worse) comes to me naturally but I guess the good stuff is kind of elegant. Not a term usually used to describe me in any aspect of my life.

It's great to hear about people actually playing these pieces too. I have too many project ideas but one recurring one is to put together a collection of some more of my simpler tunes with interesting harmony parts and guitar chords. Just more of the kind of arrangements we are talking about here. (The _Midwestern Mandolin Duos_ book has a few of those but most of those pieces don't have chord symbols on purpose.) Nothing motivates me like the interest of actual musicians!

Phil, I'm especially glad to hear that you had Bruce help make my tunes sound good. If Bruce played guitar for me I would sound a lot better too! You are lucky to have him for a teacher. Please give him my regards at your next lesson.

Thanks, everyone.

John G.

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## Martin Jonas

I'm reviving this thread, as I have been playing around with some more of John's mandolin duets over the past week or so.  I had forgotten about this old thread and have posted my new recordings in two new threads.  For the sake of keeping things together, here are the links:

"July 25, 2004" and "Palmer House"

Wyandotte Woods

Here are two more of John's tunes which I have recorded today:

*"November 25, 2005" (waltz/air)*

This is a contemporary classical piece in waltz time, written for two mandolins.  The score is at:

http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2014/112505duo.pdf

My recording is somewhat different from John's own -- I've slowed it down, dropped the second mandolin part by an octave and play it on mandocello for nice deep growling bass line.  I start with a tenor guitar arpeggio backing and a slow air feeling, switching to a waltz rhythm as the tune builds in the second part.  This recording works best on reasonably large speakers; the mandocello part is too low for good reproduction on small laptop/computer speakers.

1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
Ozark tenor guitar

Paintings by Balthus.



*"The Ice Wagon Cometh" (schottische)*

This is a lively dance tune written for mandolin with optional harmony part.  The score is at John's blog:

http://somanytunes.blogspot.co.uk/20...on-cometh.html

I've played it on two mandolins with tenor guitar backing, with somewhat more chunky rhtyhm than John.

1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin (x2)
Ozark tenor guitar



As always, thanks to John for these fun pieces!

Martin

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August Watters, 

John Goodin, 

Phil Vinyard

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## Martin Jonas

*Easter Jigs 2004*

Here is another one of John's mandolin duets: a set of two original jigs, written by John Goodin around Easter 2004 and arranged for two mandolins with optional guitar accompaniment:

http://somanytunes.blogspot.co.uk/20...jigs-2004.html

I have played it on my Ajr (double-tracked) and tenor guitar.

1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin (x2)
Ozark tenor guitar



Martin

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JH Murray, 

John Goodin

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## Martin Jonas

*John Goodin: "May 3, 2005"*

This is another short original mandolin duet written by John.  The sheet music and John's own recording are at:

http://somanytunes.blogspot.co.uk/20...-2005-duo.html

John's own recording of this one is rather contemplative -- I've played it a bit more forcefully, with added tenor guitar backing.

Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin (x2)
Ozark tenor guitar

Paintings by Charles Sheeler.



Martin

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BCVegas, 

Bill Clements, 

Jim Imhoff, 

John Goodin

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## John Goodin

Martin, thank you once again. More of your fine playing and fascinating visuals. I always get a kick out of those.

This tune, even though it lacks a real title, has some rich associations for me. Back in the fall of 2004 the CMSA convention was held in Philadelphia. I have many great memories from that meeting but this tune was one of the outcomes.

One of the presenters that year was the great Irish mandolinist and musicologist Mick Moloney. He performed one evening with, I think, a fiddle, mandolin & guitar trio and gave a workshop the next morning. During his concert he played a set of "Reavy tunes", reels composed by Ed Reavy who had settled in Philly and wrote hundreds of Irish tunes.

After his set I asked Mick how to find these tunes and he said there was a book. (_The Collected Compositions of Ed Reavy_) He brought some the next morning and I bought one and took it home and studied it a bit.

I'm not a real Irish player but I love the music and this "May 3, 2005" is one of a few that I wrote that year under the influence of Mr. Reavy's approach to Irish tunes. I can't play it at the tempo I imagined for it but it sounds fine to me at these more modest speeds. Let me be clear that my tune is not in the same league (genuine Irish trad) as Ed Reavy's music but it is the result of my exposure to his writing.

Maybe slowing it down qualifies it as a "classical" piece rather than something that belongs in the Celtic .... forum? Or maybe the second part that I added in 2014 makes it more classical? I don't know. I see that I just called it a "mandolin duo" in my blog but I suppose I could have gone with "slow reel" just as easily. I understand the usefulness of categories but often they just get in the way.

Anyhow, thanks again to Martin for resurrecting this music and sharing it with the forum regulars.

John G.

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BCVegas, 

Martin Jonas, 

Phil Vinyard

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## Bill Clements

Well done, Martin!
I appreciate your "labor of love" in sharing _all_ your performances/artwork with us.

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## Martin Jonas

Another entry in my occasional series of recordings of John Goodin's mandolin duos.  As posted by John in his Bates thread (here), he has put a whole batch of new and old duos on his blog over the past couple of weeks, all with PDF scores and his own MP3 recordings.  Here is my interpretation of two of them.

This is a set of two waltzes, both originally published in John's book "Midwestern Mandolin Duos".  Bighorn River Sunset also appears in Don Julin's book "Mandolin For Dummies".  John has kindly posted the scores for both tunes free on his blog:

http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2017/Bighornduet.pdf
http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2017/Goslingsduo.pdf

Although the two tunes were posted separately by John, they go together well with Goslings as a coda/trio part to Bighorn River Sunset.

1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin (x2)
VIntage Viaten tenor guitar



Martin

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JH Murray, 

John Goodin, 

Nick Royal, 

Phil Vinyard

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## John Goodin

Martin, these are nicely done. I really like the combination, I'll use that idea myself. Plus the slide show is fun, very nice transition from sunset to geese!

John G.

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Martin Jonas

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## Martin Jonas

It's been a few months again since my last recording of a John Goodin tune.

I stumbled across this one this afternoon as a solo mandolin piece in a printout of John's tunes that I made some years ago and really liked the tune.  To my delight, I then found out that John had added a harmony part since I made my printout, so I obviously had to record it.

*John Goodin (2008): "Alice's Garden"*

This is a waltz written by John in 2008, with harmony part added in 2015.  The score is available for free on his blog:

http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2015/AlicesGardenduet.pdf

For my recording of this tune I have used my Mid-Missouri flattop and my vintage Gibson Ajr -- the Mid-Mo starts on the lead with the Gibson on harmony, swapping around for the repeat of the tune.

Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin
1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



I went with Alice In Wonderland artwork for the visuals, although I suspect this may not have been John's inspiration for the title.

Martin

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JH Murray, 

John Goodin

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## John Goodin

Martin, thanks once again for making a fine recording of one of my tunes. As usual I also enjoyed your choice of images.

Having said that, you are correct in your suspicion that the tune is unrelated to Mr. Dodgson's young friend. When we moved to Iowa decades ago we would often pass an abandoned vegetable stand on the west side of Highway 51, very near the border with Minnesota. "Alice's Garden" was painted on the sign. Later I met some people who knew and had fond memories of Alice and her quality vegetables.

On second thought, though, I suppose that our local Alice may have been named after Lewis Carroll's character. I imagine many Alices have been named in that manner.

I'm always honored to have you playing one of my tunes.

John G.

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Martin Jonas

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## Martin Jonas

*John Goodin (2017): Grey Sunny Sunday*

This is a waltz with an interesting triplet rhythm that John wrote (or at least published) earlier this year -- the score and John's own (fabulous) recording is at his blog at:

http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2017/Gr...undayplusH.pdf
http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2017/GreySunnySunday.mp3

For my own recording, I've kept pretty close to John's arrangement (although my triplets aren't as crisp as his) -- I don't normally listen to his before I try to figure a tune out for myself, but in this instance I wanted to get a better grip on the feel of the tune first.  Starting on mandolin melody and tenor guitar, with a second mandolin playing the harmony line on the repeats.

1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin (x2)
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



Martin

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Jess L., 

John Goodin

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## Martin Jonas

Another two entries in my occasional series of John's mandolin duets.  To my shame I have only just realised that not only has John managed to upload a new original tune to his blog every single week throughout 2017, but pretty much all of these 52 tunes come with a separate harmony part for duet playing.  So, I'll have some catching up to do.  I'm looking through this wonderful batch of tunes and have recorded two early favourites, both waltzes:

*1) If Only Now*

http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2017/IfOnlyNow-H.pdf



*2) September Waltz*

http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2017/SeptemberWaltz.pdf



Same instrumentation for both tunes:

1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin (x2)
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar

Martin

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Beanzy, 

Bill Clements, 

JH Murray

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## John Goodin

Martin, these are very nicely done. I'm always honored when you choose to play some of my pieces. I especially enjoyed what I think was the tenor guitar taking the melody midway through If Only Now.

Thanks for your work,

John G.

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## Martin Jonas

> Martin, these are very nicely done. I'm always honored when you choose to play some of my pieces. I especially enjoyed what I think was the tenor guitar taking the melody midway through If Only Now.


Hi John,

Thanks for the feedback, and of course the tunes -- it helps a lot to have harmony parts for all of them.  Yes, the tenor guitar takes the melody halfway through If Only Now, with the lead mandolin dropping to rhythm -- it's a fairly short tune and I wanted some tonal variety as it repeats.

I tend to gravitate to the waltzes as they're easier to get up to speed, but I'll try out some of the other types of tunes as well.  

Martin

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John Goodin

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## Martin Jonas

Here is another of John's waltzes, written in May 2017 to celebrate his purchase of a vintage Gibson F4.  John's score and his own recording are at:

http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2017/OldGibson.pdf
http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2017/OldGibson.mp3

John has written two separate harmony parts for this tune and his own recording starts with just melody and guitar backing, then adds first one and then the other harmony part as it builds.  I've combined the parts a bit differently, using the first harmony part initially and switching to the second one on the repeat.  I'm also playing the tune a bit slower than John, mainly because the final triplet phrase is a bit fiddly and I haven't got it up to speed yet.

The photos chosen to go with the tune show my very own old Gibson, as played on the recording, along with some vintage Gibson catalogue pictures.

1921 Gibson A-Jr mandolin (x2)
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



Martin

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## John Goodin

Martin, thanks again for sharing this recording and the great video. I've never met an A Jr. that I didn't like.

John G.

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Martin Jonas

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## derbex

Thanks both of you.

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Martin Jonas

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## Martin Jonas

*"Ten Easy Duos", Nos. 2 & 3*

Two more of John's 2017 tunes:  These are two classical mandolin duos, Nos 2 and 3 in a projected series of ten.  Despite the title, John has so far only written three of the ten duos -- I am looking forward to the next seven, if they're as good as these!

The score is at John's site:

http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2017/TenEasyDuos-2.pdf
http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2017/TenEasyDuos-3.pdf

Whereas John's own recordings are on his Gibson, mine are on a vintage Italian bowlback, which gives a somewhat different feel to the tunes.

1890s Umberto Ceccherini mandolin (x2)



Martin

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## John Goodin

Martin, thanks once again for airing these pieces out. Nicely played and wonderful image choices.

I really thought I would write ten of these when I started. I suppose I should get back to that idea someday before too long.

John G.

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## Martin Jonas

> Martin, thanks once again for airing these pieces out. Nicely played and wonderful image choices.
> 
> I really thought I would write ten of these when I started. I suppose I should get back to that idea someday before too long.


Thanks a lot, John.  The two duets I have played are really very enjoyable, especially No. 3 (starting at 2:12 in my video), and I would certainly welcome having more duets of this nature.

It's difficult to put a finger on it, but I have the impression that your composition style has evolved in interesting directions over the past several years, becoming simultaneously more rhythmically varied and more melodic (and "hummable") compared to the earlier tunes which tended to be more abstract.  This is not a criticism of the earlier ones -- I'm a big fan of them, in particular St Francis/St Anthony which we play at least once a month with our group -- but your newer ones do have a distinctly different feel.  I like it.  Keeps it interesting to play around with them.

Martin

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John Goodin

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## John Goodin

Thanks to Martin's encouragement I got around to recording Easy Duo no. 5 the other day. I've had the piece finished for a while but just didn't get around to recording it. 

There's a minor train wreck at around the 45 second mark. I point this out to elicit your sympathy. I plead a short recording window and beautiful weather outside that made me disinclined to work at lining the two parts up digitally or re-recording the whole thing. I probably shouldn't have mentioned it.

You can hear my recording at this link: http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2018/TenEasyDuos-5.mp3

Or, you can find it and the sheet music at my So Many Tunes blog post here:
https://somanytunes.blogspot.com/201...duos-no-5.html

John G.

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John Uhrig

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## Jim Imhoff

Love your tunes, John; hoping OMO might do one I purchased. Still hoping for a solo mandocello piece: Why don't you write a nice new work for your A and secretly (don't tell CMSA!) transcribe it into a nice K2 bass clef? I would be our dirty little secret!
Jim

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John Goodin

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## Jim Garber

> There's a minor train wreck at around the 45 second mark. I point this out to elicit your sympathy. I plead a short recording window and beautiful weather outside that made me disinclined to work at lining the two parts up digitally or re-recording the whole thing. I probably shouldn't have mentioned it.
> 
> You can hear my recording at this link: http://www.mandotopia.com/smt2018/TenEasyDuos-5.mp3


I especially like John's work because we share the same initials. I kind of like that train wreck — very interesting polyrhythms at that point. Maybe that would be a  good title for another composition using that: "Minor Train Wreck". Yes, feel free: you can dedicate it to JG.

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John Goodin

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## Martin Jonas

> Thanks to Martin's encouragement I got around to recording Easy Duo no. 5 the other day. I've had the piece finished for a while but just didn't get around to recording it.


Many thanks, John!  I didn't meant to gently hint...

I've just had a quick stab at sight-reading.  Nice, but not as easy as it looks at first sight -- the passage around your "minor train wreck" (I like Jim's suggestion of making a composition out of that) is decidely tricky, mainly because the phrases don't go to where my fingers want to take them.

I'll stick with it until I get it right!

Martin

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John Goodin

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## Martin Jonas

> I'll stick with it until I get it right!


Right or not, here is my recording of Easy Duo No. 5.  As with Nos. 2 and 3, I have again used my Ceccherini bowlback.  I like the effect of the slow crotchet triplets -- it's like the tune is taking a deep breath.



All images by Grant Wood, the painter of "American Gothic" and an Iowa native.

Martin

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JH Murray, 

John Goodin

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## happyfanaticsalsero

Hi Martin & John,

Interesting duets and nice to hear the music played.

I'd like to add to this thread that I recently found some extra sources for the English "guittar" from the 1750s which also mention the mandolin as an alternative.

The first is from John Walsh, from 1757 (same as Oswald) and is called "Forty Select Duets". You can read more about them on my blog. It even uses the same spelling in the title page as Oswald ("mandelin").

Unfortunately, no music, as this is held in the British Library where you have to pay to publish music you find. (If there are some donations I'm tempted to publish them, in my usual modus operandi of an urtext and modern edition.)

I'll likely post about another guittar/mandolin print from 1759 soon.

Kind regards
Pieter

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## John Goodin

Martin, thanks once again for your recordings of my stuff. I also enjoyed the Grant Wood slide show (where I live, in the "driftless" region of northeast Iowa, the land is quite different but most of Iowa really does look the way Grant Wood pictured it) and I note that you skillfully avoided any train wrecks in the middle of the piece.

Pieter, I was delighted to read of your discoveries and very excited to learn that the word "mandelin" appears on the title page of the Walsh publication. Scholarship is a wonderful thing and you are doing excellent work.

Of course I would love to see the music itself and I have a suggestion regarding funding. The CMSA (Classical Mandolin Society of America) has a grant program and I think it would be worth your time to apply for money to acquire the permissions from the British Library and publish this music. Here is the link to information about the program:
https://classicalmandolinsociety.org...-scholarships/

I see that there is an April 1 deadline for application but I think you could make a case for an exception based on your recent discovery. I would be happy to write an enthusiastic letter in support of such a project to the members of the Grant Committee.

You can contact me with a private message or via email if you have any questions.

(Just by chance, yesterday I was finishing up a new piece for 3 mandolins and octave mandolin. I had just changed the title over the weekend to "James Oswald on the Ohio.")

John G.

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happyfanaticsalsero

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## Martin Jonas

> The first is from John Walsh, from 1757 (same as Oswald) and is called "Forty Select Duets". You can read more about them on my blog. It even uses the same spelling in the title page as Oswald ("mandelin").


Hi Pieter,

Very exciting -- I hope John's suggestion of getting a CMSA grant works out and we can get to see these duets.

I was aware of Walsh as a publisher but not these duets.  Looking online, I have now come across a reference to them on page 53 of this online monograph:

http://www.justanothertune.com/TheGu...n1753-1800.pdf

This one confirms the same title as Pieter, i.e. "for two Guitars, Mandelins or Cittars".  However, they also quote an advert that appeared in the _Public Advertiser_ which used the spelling "for two Guittars or Mandavines".

"Mandavines" sounds nicely organic: how's this year's Mandavine crop?

Martin

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John Goodin

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## happyfanaticsalsero

Thanks for your suggestion about the grant! I think the Walsh volume deserves to be published, so I will apply. My usual _modus operandi_ is to publish online and for free, and normally having both an urtext edition as well as a modern edition (which is more readable for today's musicians). Likely the cost isn't too big, especially for an online free edition. I'll check with the BL about the exact cost.

FYI - there is more coming up soon. For some of these volumes I have been able to arrange publication rights, for some the libraries ask money so I might yet have to apply for the grant more than once. (Considering I have been able to find about 26 mandolin related prints prior to 1850 previously unknown or thought lost.)

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John Goodin

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## happyfanaticsalsero

FYI - next article published. Next to Walsh's print _Forty Select Duets_ (London, 1757) and the well-known one by Oswald, _Eighteen Divertimentos_ (London,  1757) I also discovered a print by Santo Lapis (_Miss Mayer_, London, 1759) which has the mandolin listed as an alternative. The book seems to contain vocal music where the voice can be played by the English "guittar" (everything in C major key) or, or course, the mandolin. One instrumental piece (Preludio) is clearly for English guittar. Same situation as it's held in the same library - so at the moment cannot yet share the music.
https://www.vantichelen.name/2018/06...g-the-1750s-2/

I have a couple more volumes which link the mandolin and the English guittar I will publish about, but my following blog posts will be about continental mandolin volumes from the 1750s-1760s I discovered.

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John Goodin

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## happyfanaticsalsero

Good news. The British Library has granted me a license to publish and in my circumstances even waved the fee.

I'm finishing another edition of a mandolin related print first, but I will publish an urtext and modern edition of the Walsh duets soon. Another week or so might be enough to finish the Walsh editions, but depending on how busy I am at work it might take a bit longer.

I'll keep you posted on this thread, but I think I'll also put it on a separate one so I don't keep polluting this thread.  :Wink:

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derbex, 

Jairo Ramos Parra, 

John Goodin

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## happyfanaticsalsero

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.

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John Goodin

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## Martin Jonas

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

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BCVegas, 

dhbailey, 

John Goodin

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## dhbailey

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!

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John Goodin

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## John Goodin

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.

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Jim Imhoff, 

Martin Jonas

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## dhbailey

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.

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John Goodin

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## Martin Jonas

> 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.


Indeed -- that's what I've done as well.  Printing the PDF double-sided and ring-bound makes a perfect tunebook.

Martin

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John Goodin

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## Martin Jonas

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

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BCVegas, 

Bill Clements, 

John Goodin

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## John Goodin

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.

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## Jim Imhoff

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?

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## Martin Jonas

> 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?


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

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## Jim Imhoff

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.

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## Martin Jonas

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

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BCVegas, 

John Goodin

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## John Goodin

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.

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## Martin Jonas

> Martin, thanks once more. This is a really fine recording of my piece. The Ceccherini sounds especially good on this.


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

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John Goodin

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## Martin Jonas

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

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BCVegas, 

John Goodin

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## John Goodin

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.

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Martin Jonas

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## BCVegas

Very nice, Martin.  I almost wish you had made three posts for the three pieces so I could thank you three times.

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Martin Jonas

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## Martin Jonas

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

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John Goodin

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## Martin Jonas

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

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Jim Imhoff, 

John Goodin, 

Toomas Rannu

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## Martin Jonas

> I've also recorded two more of John's tunes today, which i will upload here in the next few days.


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

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Jim Imhoff, 

John Goodin, 

Toomas Rannu

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## John Goodin

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.

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## Jim Imhoff

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

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## Martin Jonas

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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Jim Imhoff, 

John Goodin

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