Friday, August 28, 2009

Turlough Carolan

I've been playing quite a few weddings lately. Back when the hammer dulcimer was my main instrument, I used to play weddings all the time. Since I've moved to the mandolin, the offers have decreased, which is fine with me. It's fun to play at the wedding of someone you know, but playing at stranger's weddings can get old fast.

There is a certain type of music that is generally considered to be "wedding" music. It's usually slow and melodic, it's usually in a major key, and it's usually instrumental. When I played the dulcimer, probably half of my repertoire fit those guidelines. Now that I'm doing weddings on the Octave Mandolin, it's a little more challenging. I don't play a lot of "wedding" music for fun on my own, so I've had to intentionally work up enough songs to pull off a wedding.

This is where Turlough Carolan comes in. Turlough Carolan was a blind Irish harpist who composed a ludicrous amount of beautiful, slow, melodic songs in major keys (and some in minor keys as well). You really can't find anyone who's music is better suited for weddings, in my opinion.

So here's a couple of Carolan tunes I've worked up for weddings. The first is "Planxty Irwin" ("In Honor of Irwin"). I was playing at my cousin Rachel's wedding last week and the day before the wedding I suddenly panicked and thought that I didn't have enough material for the prelude, so I worked up this arrangement sometime around midnight. Turns out I had more than enough for the prelude, but it doesn't hurt to have one more option.



This second piece is called "Sí Bheag, Sí Mhór" ("Little Hill, Big Hill"). I worked this one up a while ago and had a little more time to put into the arrangement. This is probably the most well known Carolan tune.


Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Colo(u)rs of Life

1. Ben in my dad's bright red jacket at Winnipeg Folk Fest (July 09).


2. Rose of Sharon bush in the backyard provides me with plenty of pretty pink blossoms.

3. Painted the trim in the dining room white. Brightens up house immensely.

4. Bright red tomatoes accumulating rapidly in the fridge this week.