Said the email about the video at nophoto.org:

At the free sound web page we have found your great “Homestyle Mandolin matched set” which we would like to use for a short vídeo which I am sending you. We are a photography collective and we have been asked by NOKIA to test their new N8 camera. We have made 7 short pieces and one of them is Matías Costa’s on his daughter birthday. The vídeo will be on the NOKIA page and their blog.

It doesn’t bother me that a business like Nokia is involved, by the way.

This same mandolin music was also used in mandolin love by gurdonark, which is a fun bit o’ honey that I posted about previously.

The instrument I played here was made in Boston in 1900. First posting of the music was homestyle mandolin sample pack.

I have done a mix mp3 of my recordings, including a few scraps not by me. Hereby, herewith, herefore, heretofore, and hereunder I give you:

L. Gonze — Ghost Solos

The first of the two new versions is a straight acoustic recording from the mic on my laptop. The second is the same recording with an effect that gives it a electronic feeling. After all these straight acoustic recordings, it’s interesting to hear it with heavy processing.

The untreated naturalistical acoustic version:

• MP3
• Theora
• Flac
• Ogg Vorbis

The unholy electronista version aka Horace Weston’s Electronic Jig:

• Horace Weston’s Electronic Jig.mp3
• Horace Weston’s Electronic Jig, March 3 2010.ogv
• Horace Weston’s Electronic Jig.flac
• Horace Weston’s Electronic Jig.ogg

About the copyright on these recordings, I hereby put them in the public domain.

“Egyptian Retreat” is another tune I got from Ellis’ Thorough School for the Six or Seven- Stringed Banjo (PDF). In this recording I play the 1st banjo part on the Fairbanks potato-bug mandolin I just got and the 2nd banjo part on my parlor guitar.

Here’s the sheet music for people who are inclined suchlike and accordingly:

My recording is hereby in the public domain. Do whatever you want with it.

“Juba Breakdown” is the first tune in Ellis’ Thorough School for the Six or Seven- Stringed Banjo (PDF). It’s a lot of fun to play.

This recording is 1:10 long. The tune would be a natural fit to connect segments in a larger piece like a radio play, so I have also clipped out shorter snippets to fit as needed:

13 second MP3 at 320K

54 second MP3 at 320K

Here’s the sheet music for people who are inclined that way (I use the 1st banjo part):

I’m playing it in an anachronistic style, something along the lines of 1930s country, which it absolutely wasn’t.

My recording is hereby in the public domain. Do whatever you want with it.

So here it is, the fourth and (I hope) final recording.

It’s 1:43 long. It’s in A minor. The time signature is 2/4. The tempo is 173.

Here’s a version of Horace Weston’s Old Time Jig which improves on yesterday’s in that it’s faster, it fixes a timing problem, and it’s on my steel string instead of my nylon string.

MP3 AIFF Ogg Flac Ogg Vorbis

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfuvmmmYtVA"> <img src="http://soupgreens.com/audio/slightlyonthemash/LucasGonze-SlightlyOnTheMash.png" alt="Lucas Gonze playing Slightly On The Mash schottische" /> </a>

This is the second recording I’ve done of this tune and the fourth post related to it. Other posts in the series: Slightly on the Mash; E. Pique revealed; E. Pique motherlode

Here’s a new recording of Horace Weston‘s Celebrated Polka (sheet ♫), which I wanted to try a different approach to. The first one I did was classical style with rubato laid on thick. This new one is ragtime flavored.

It makes sense that that you could do either way, considering that Weston was part about European art music and part about American vernacular styles like minstrelsy. In his time people thought that the euro influence was automatically better, in our time it’s maybe the other way around (at least if you’re more into rock/blues/jazz/disco than classical) but this one guy managed to integrate them. And if this composition sounds more snooty highbrow euro than rube yank, keep in mind that it was written for banjo not guitar.

The main theme has a swirly mood like a lady getting dressed up to go out.

The second theme has colorful and daring harmony for that time and place.

The third theme is a jig, as in an irish jig.

And the last bit of the third theme would sound perfectly at home in a 1920s jazz or blues tune:

(Code for indexing into sections of the video courtesy Splicd.com).

More posts about Horace Weston:

• Horace Weston, Champion Banjoist of the World
• The Egyptian Fandango
• a fall in the fickle field of fancy