Ianfiddlemusic

Ashokan Farewell

I recorded a six part version of this tune that I was going to share yesterday for my 1,000th post, but Hallelujah seemed like a better Thanksgiving song. And as much as i enjoyed playing a multi-part version of this song, when I’d finished I realized I like it more without too much complexity. So I played it again yesterday with no frills. Just the melody line with a simple accompaniment.

I used to be a bit sheepish about how much I played this song but now I embrace it. It’s just a miraculous piece of music.

Far From Any Road

Written and Performed by The Handsome Family, on their 2003 album Singing Bones. Later used as the main title theme for the 2014 HBO drama True Detective (which is how I first heard it). It came up on a playlist Jen was listening to a few days ago, and it’s been firmly stuck in my head since then, so I decided to play it.

Cantina Band

Written by John Williams for the first Star Wars movie, 1977.


ram

On the Road Again

Written by Willie Nelson. Released in August 1980.

I had so much fun doing Bird on a Wire, I figured I should try out some other Willie Nelson tunes.

I like the variety of this rather strange daily music-sharing venture (on Monday it’ll be exactly two and a half years since I started doing this every day). I usually don’t plan ahead, I just come up music that would be fun to play and I try it out. Whether it’s JS Bach or WH Nelson. If it sounds good it is good.

A few other things…

First…I’ve been pretty bad about responding to comments recently. Sorry about that - just because I’m not responding doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate them. Things have been pretty hectic around here.

Second…I might do another live “concert” this weekend with a guest artist. (an actual human, not just Link singing in the background). Details TBD.

Graceful Ghost Rag

Written by William Bolcom, 1970.

The Ash Grove

Traditional Welsh folk song. I’ve shared it before but it’s always a nice one to return to.

Londonderry Air

Traditional Irish tune. (The song Danny Boy uses this melody, but it wasn’t written until the 20th century).

Vocal accompaniment toward the end by Link, our foster cat who is currently sharing the music room with me. He doesn’t understand why I’m not on the couch snuggling with him. Or maybe he’s trying to sing along and his sense of pitch is a bit off…it’s unclear.

Link is up for adoption, by the way…get in touch if you’re interested. We’ve met a LOT of previous foster cats and he’s one of the sweetest we’ve ever had. (Example - the two pictures at the end of this video were taken the moment I sat down on the couch after playing this.)

Emily’s Waltz

Written by Susan Conger, 1984.

Bella Ciao

Italian protest song from the late 19th century, originally sung by rice paddy workers (primarily women) in Northern Italy. I learned it yesterday from the beautiful, emotionally charged duet sung in Farsi by Iranian sisters Samin and Behin Bolouri.

MacPherson’s Fiddle

I shared this tune two weeks ago but it was on a badly-out-of-tune, so-sharp-it-hurts penny whistle. It was fun to do as a challenge on a new instrument, but it didn’t sound great.

So I decided to try it again on an instrument I can actually play.

Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major

Composed by Mozart in 1783.

Ashokan Farewell

Written by Jay Ungar in 1982.

This has been my favorite piece of music since I was ten years old, but yesterday it suddenly felt new again!

To explain…a few years ago I bought a collection of tunes by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason (and from it I’ve learned dozens of great songs), but I had always skipped over the Ashokan Farewell page since I figured I already knew it backwards and forwards.

But for some reason yesterday I took a closer look at that page while flipping through the book, and I realized that there are mulitiple differences in the chords from the way I’m used to playing them. The basic structure is the same but Jay’s chords are more interesting than the ones I’ve apparently been playing wrong for thirty years!

It was an amazing experience to play such a familiar piece and to hear it in a new way.

I know I make funny faces when I play it, but wow is this a gorgeous tune. Here’s what its composer has to say about it:

“By the time the tune took form, I was in tears. I kept it to myself for months, unable to fully understand the emotions that welled up whenever I played it. I had no idea that this simple tune could affect others in the same way.”

Yes it could. Many, many, many, many others.

Warm Summer Night

Written by Genny Vaughn.

I’ve shared this one before but it’s nice to revisit. It’s one of the dozens of beautiful tunes I’ve learned from Bill Matthiesen’s Waltz Book collection over the past few years.

This makes for a nice contrast from Larry’s Waltz a few days ago…illustrating how you can play waltzes differently. One at a brisk dancing tempo, the other much more slowly and contemplatively. They both sound good but they’re very different.

The Love of My Life

Written by Jay Ungar, 2003.

Goodnight Ladies

Featured in the 1957 musical The Music Man, but the song is at least 100 years older than that.

I have no idea why but I’ve had this song in my head intermittently for a while so I gave it a try. It’s not the most interesting tune in the world but barbershop harmonizing is fun.

Seamus O’Brien

Traditional Irish tune.

Larry’s Waltz

Written by Bob McQuillen, 1977.

I have a tendency when playing fiddle tunes in waltz format to slow the tempo down and take my time. But sometimes it’s fun to let a waltz really move. I recorded the piano part here first because I didn’t trust myself to keep the tempo on the fiddle.

Tunes like this remind me of the years I played for contra dances. It’s a great feeling to play a waltz and have a hall full of people moving with the music.

The Boxer

Written by Paul Simon, recorded by Simon and Garfunkel in 1968, released on their 1970 album Bridge Over Troubled Water.

I wonder how many people voice the crashing sound in the refrain (right after lie-la-lie) when they sing this? I usually do, not sure why I didn’t here.

Susi’s Waltz

Written by David Cahn.

The last few weeks have been fairly hectic but I had a day off yesterday so I played through a bunch of tunes from Bill Matthiesen’s Waltz Books. This was a new one for me.

Music from The Lord of the Rings

Composed, orchestrated, conducted and produced by Howard Shore for the Peter Jackson movies (2001-2003).

Wellerman

Sea ballad from New Zealand, first documented in the 1960’s. (Technically not a sea “shanty” according to purists, but the term gets used loosely sometimes). The name comes from the three Weller brothers, who founded a whaling station near Dunedin in the 1830’s. Their employees were called “wellermen”.

This song went crazy viral on social media in early 2021. For some reason I haven’t been able to get the tune out of my head recently so I gave it a try.

MacPherson’s Fiddle

Written by Jay Ungar. Another lovely tune from the Catskill Mountain collection by him and Molly Mason.

I’ve always liked the sound of the tin whistle for traditional fiddle tunes. Sadly mine is a crappy $8 whistle that’s tuned so sharp I had to adjust the tuning of the electronic keyboard to match it. But it’s fun to play around with a new instrument.

Hallelujah

Released by Leonard Cohen in 1984. It’s hard to believe now, but apparently this song was kind of a flop at first. Then John Cale covered it in 1991, which inspired Jeff Buckley’s famous 1994 version.

I’ve shared this a few times before, but I wanted to really go for it with multiple harmonies and a fiddle part.

Ironically for a song that was fairly anonymous for years, it’s probably overplayed now. It even featured in the first Shrek movie. But I don’t mind. It’s been one of my favorite songs to play since I learned my first guitar chords 25 years ago, and harmonizing on that chorus never gets old.

Adagio for Strings

Composed by Samuel Barber in 1936 - first as the second movement of a string quartet, then arranged for string orchestra. I’ve played this a few times before, but this one never gets old.

Waltzing With You

Written by Molly Mason, 1992. I shared this a few weeks ago but I didn’t realize until after I’d already shared it that the song is meant to have a swing rhythm. So I played it again.

O Come By the Hills

Lyrics by Gordon Smith, set to the melody of the traditional Irish tune Buachaill o'n Éirne Mé.

This past weekend was pretty great. The highlight was five hours of music Saturday night, staying up way too late. A few dozen singers, 6 or 7 guitars, several fiddles, a banjo and an autoharp. So good.

We didn’t actually sing this one but I found it in a songbook and it jogged some memories…I hadn’t heard or sung this one in twenty years and I’d never played it on the fiddle.

Archibald McDonald of Keppoch

Traditional Scottish. It’s quickly become one of my favorites since I learned it two years ago.

Blowin’ in the Wind

Written by Bob Dylan, 1962.

April Waltz

Another tune from the first Waltz Book that I’d never tried out before. Written by Selma Kaplan, 1982.