Mandolin Music related to Dogs and Cats

[K. WONG]

My friend is goiing to give a concert by the end of this year, she would like to choose music that is related to dogs and cats. At present, she has in mind Marc Berthomieu's Chats and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats. If someone here has any other suggestions? Please let me know. Thanks in advance.

[Bob A]

Kitten on the Keys.

Anything by David (Dawg) Grisman.

Where Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?

Bingo.

How Much Is That Doggy In the Window?

Not perhaps mandolin-specific, but it's a narrow field, I fear.

[harper]

Celtic music:
Old Grey Cat (Scottish reel)
The Cat in the Corner (O’Neill’s Music of Ireland, No. 871) (Irish jig)
Hush the Cat AKA Huish the Cat or Dance Light, for My Heart Lies Under Your Feet (O’Neill’s Music of Ireland, No. 909) (Irish jig)
The Dogs Among the Bushes (O’Neill’s Music of Ireland, No. 1274) (Irish reel)
O’Reilly’s Greyhound (O’Neill’s Music of Ireland, No. 1488) (Irish reel)

Children’s movies:
The Siamese Cat Song from “Lady and the Tramp”
You Can't Keep a Good Dog Down from “All Dogs go to Heaven”
There Are No Cats in America from “An American Tail”

[lmartnla]

You could play these on a mandolin:

Little old log cabin in the lane-Monroe-(and the only friend I've got now is that good old dog of mine--Til death shall call this dog and me to find a better home).

Little Joe-Monroe-(keep tag mother my poor little dog, I know he will mourn for me too--Show him my coat mother so he'll not forget--Speak to him kindly and often of Joe, and pat him on his brown shaggy head).

Old dogs children and watermelon wine-Tom T. Hall

I'm Walking the Dog-Grimsley-Webb Pierce=(I'm a-walking the dog and I'm never blue, I'm a-walking the dog and thinking about you, I don't need no one to tie me down, I'm a-walking the dog and painting the town).

You gotta quit kicking my dog around-?-(Every time I go to town, the boys they kick my dog around. Makes no diff'rence if he is a hound, they gotta quit kickin' my dog around)-Sunpie Barnes does a great version.

[JeffD]

Old Grey Cat
Cat Out of the Bag
The Cat that Kiddled in Jamies Wig
Kitty Clover's Reel
Kitty in the Lane
Cat in the Hopper

[mandozilla]

"Old Blue" (Dillards)

We had an old dog and his name was Blue,
Betcha five dollars he's a good dog too.

Blue, Blue you good dog you,
Blue, Blue you good dog you.

[Jim MacDaniel]

If you go to thesession.org's tunes search engine, you can do searches on "dog" and "cat" and get a whole load of Irish and Scottish tunes referencing them in the titles. Likewise at JC's ABC Tunefinder (but please note that the "cat" search will also return countless tunes referencing Catherine, etc. ).

[Neil Gladd]

What is the exact instrumentation for the concert?

[K. WONG]

There will be mandolin solo, duet ( mandolin + Guitar, mandolin + piano ), and a quartet ( 2 mandolins + mandola + guitar )
Thank you for the suggestions, but we hope that the music can be more classical in nature. It is not easy to play Irish reel, even though I might have the music before me, it usually does not sound right.

[blawson]

"Laps in Seven", Sam Bush. (Oops, just read the previous post on keeping it classical. I'll leave this suggestion anyway, since it's not a standard 4/4 tune.)

[Neil Gladd]

There will be mandolin solo, duet ( mandolin + Guitar, mandolin + piano ), and a quartet ( 2 mandolins + mandola + guitar )
Thank you for the suggestions, but we hope that the music can be more classical in nature.

Domenico Scarlatti's Cat's Fugue would be easy to arrange for mandolin quartet, and since it was written for harpsichord, would sound good on mandolins. I've had an arrangement of Kitten on the Keys for mandolin orchestra ALMOST finished for years, but the orchestra I'm writing it for would still have the first chance at it. I'll let you know if I think of anything else!

[K. WONG]

I came across this CD, Purrfectly Classical, there are totally 36 pieces. Now, my problem is where can I find the scores.
http://www.amazon.com/Purrfectly-Cla...s_all_1#disc_1

[harper]

There is lots more information about each piece on the Purrfectly Classical CD at: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/...omposer/6287-1 Ten of the 36 tracks are readings. Of the remaining 26, many are for piano or piano and voice. You might be able to find some on piano and sheet music websites. For example, the Scarlatti is available at http://www.sheetmusicnow.com.

Incidentally, neither of the two pieces by Faure from his Dolly Suite op. 56 for piano four hands is actually about cats. Kitty-Valse from from this suite is probably really about Dolly’s dog named Ketty. Dolly was the daughter of Faure's mistress. Mi-a-ou a is probably really about Dolly’s brother Raoul. The score for the Dolly Suite is available at SheetMusicPlus http://www.sheetmusicplus.com.

Best of luck in finding a suitable program.

[John Flynn]

I know this is in the Classical section, but perhaps for a change of pace, here are some great old-time tune titles:
> Monkey on a Dog Cart
> Old Yeller Dog Come Trottin through the Meetinghouse
> That's My Rabbit, My Dog Caught It
> Pretty Little Dog

[vkioulaphides]

I know that Mark Davis, conductor of the Providence Mandolin Orchestra, has composed an absolutely LOVELY piece titled (if I'm not mistaken) "Cat in Spring", or something of the sort. In fact, I have actually met the cat that inspired it!

I will leave it for him to elaborate, as he is a "regular" at the Cafe. All I can say is that I recommend the piece enthusiastically. It is both charming music and, of course, expertly written for the medium.

Pass the ball to you, Mark!

Cheers,

Victor

[Steve Ostrander]

Something by Kitty Wells?

Sorry.

[John Craton]

Haven't come up with much that isn't vocal, but I have thought of a couple of classical pieces you might look into:

Biber's Sonata Representativa (violin & continuo) mimics several animals in its various sections, one of which is the cat.

There's the famous barking dog in the second movement of Vivaldi's "Spring" (Four Seasons).

Hardly worth mentioning, but the fourth movement of my little Antebellum Suite for violin and piano is called "Maggie's Cat and the Music Lesson," in which a cat continually interrupts a child's music class and even runs across the piano. Not sure how well that would translate to mandolin as it incorporates several onomatopoeic glissandos.

Are you interested in frogs, birds, or other members of the animal kingdom? Came up with several of those, but no other pieces specifically about dogs or cats — except for some vocal pieces.

[K. WONG]

Thank you John, I heard the MP3 of "Maggie's Cat and the Music Lesson" in your site and I know from where it is available. It is lovely and I suppose that it should sound well in mandolin.