Tunes for The Tall Pines

I find it nice to know some tunes that dwell within one octave. 

One reason is that for the majority of my tune writing and playing, I lived with a cat. His ears didn't seem to appreciate any tin whistle notes above the first octave. So out of consideration to his ears, a large amount of the tunes I wrote stayed in the first octave.

I also play musical instruments for people with developmental disabilities. If the mood is calm & quiet, and I'm maybe trying to help them relax or sleep, a tune that goes into the 2nd octave on a tin whistle or flute may be a bit too loud. So one octave tunes are nice for this as well.

One octave tunes also give me an option of what key to play the tune in to best suit a moment. For example, on a D whistle I could play it in the first octave (D) or the second octave (G). If I'm outside and it's windy, I may choose to play in G, since the second octave is a bit more wind resistant (it's tough to play whistles in windy weather). And I could choose D or G depending on the volume of the place I'm playing. It's also nice to have options of different keys to play in so you have more of a chance of playing along with other instuments.

It might also be nice to know some one octave tunes for anyone who plays an instrument that can only play 8 notes or so. For me, this would be my pendant ocarina, which I often bring along to play while out in a forest.

And lastly, I also just find that I enjoy simplistic tunes.

So here are some one octave tunes I've recorded. Most of these are original compositions, with a few traditional tunes here & there.

One Octave Tunes

Astronomical Tunes

Music for Nature

Original Folk Tunes

A tune titled in appreciation of a very neat looking and very neat sounding bird.

Instruments:
Gold Tone tenor guitar, Burke tin whistle, Mk Pro low whistle

Starlings In The Oak Tree

Instruments:
Nick Metcalf tin whistle, Kentucky mandolin, Gold Tone tenor guitar, Gold Tone tenor banjo, shruti box, tingsha bells, ankle bells, tambourine, bongos, cymbal, triangle, egg shaker

Milkweed

A tune written after encountering some ruby-crowned kinglets.

Instruments:
Dante Music telescopic tin whistle, Gold Tone tenor guitar, Doug Tipple flute

Ruby - Crowned Kinglet

A tune that came about while watching the full beaver moon.

Instruments:
Hora octave mandolin, Burke tin whistles

Beaver Moon

Instruments:
Burke tin whistle, WuYou tongue drum

Daffodils Beside The Barn (version 2)

Instruments:
dulcitar, tin whistle, tingsha bells, sleigh bells, triangle, egg shaker

Moon Glowing On The River Flowing

Instruments:
Hora octave mandolin, Burke D & low G whistles

Two Raccoons In A Blueberry Bush

Cane Toad 2

A tune written on a tin whistle at Mud Pond Bog in Fox State Forest of Hillsborough, New Hampshire during the winter.

Instruments:
Shruti Box, Tin Whistle

Mud Pond Bog

A waltz that was written while sitting on a stone above a river, surrounded by white caterpillars.

Instruments:
High D Killarney Tin Whistle, Low D Kerry Optima Tin Whistle, Jerry Freeman Tin Whistle in the key of A

Waltz Of The White Caterpillar (version 2)

Instruments: Gardner mountain dulcimer, Kerry Optima low D whistle, Burke low G whistle, Killarney high D whistle, glockenspeil

*The photo is of striped maple bark

Striped Maple

I made my friends some homemade vegetable stock as a gift for their wedding, though i felt another gift to accompany the vegetable stock would be nice, so here's an original waltz written for my friends to accompany their vegetable stock. 

Instruments: Killarney D tin whistle, Kentucky mandolin, Jerry Freeman low A tin whistle, ankle bells, tingsha bells

Vegetable Stock Waltz

Instruments:
Doug Tipple flute, Moroccan clay drums, sleigh bells, karatala, guiro, tongue drum

Four Pheasants

A tune written while drinking dandelion tea.

Instruments: Kentucky mandolin, Killarney whistle, Doug Tipple flute, claps, sleigh bells, acoustic guitar, triangle

*The photo is of a leaf with a beard of beard lichen

Dandelion Tea

An old time folk tune.

Instruments:
Hugh Tracy kalimba, Doug Tipple low D flute, frame drum, Moroccan clay drums, egg shaker, glockenspiel

Ducks On The Millpond

An original tune that came about while playing a tin whistle and watching the sun shining on an icy pine tree.

Hilary Dirlam:
melodica

Zach Schneider:
tenor guitar, Killarney D tin whistle, karatala, ghungroo bells, frame drum

Sunshine On An Icy Pine (with Hilary Dirlam)

A tune that arose as I was on my way to buy celery and cabbage for my soup.

Instruments:
Tenor guitar, Killarney D whistle, Burke low G whistle

Celery & Cabbage

Instruments:
Burke low G whistle, tenor guitar, organ

White Goat

This composition arose while sitting beside a window with my cat and listening to the birds chirp in the morning.

Instruments:
Gold Tone tenor guitar, Doug Tipple low D flute, Jerry Freeman low A whistle

Sitting Beside A Cat And Listening To The Chirps Of Birds

An original tune titled in appreciation of the giant hexagon at the top of Saturn.

Instruments:
Parks tin whistle, bongos, karatala, egg shaker, tambourine, frame drum, tongue snaps, tingsha bells

The Great Blue Hexagon

An original whistle waltz, written on a day that I saw a lot of Eastern Pheobes.

Instruments:
Burke tin whistle, Gold Tone tenor guitar

Eastern Pheobe

Instruments:
Burke tin whistle, Doug Tipple flute, bongos, conga, frame drum, karatala, egg shaker, shruti box, organ effect on iPad

Downy Woodpecker

Instruments:
WuYou tongue drum, Doug Tipple flute, Burke tin whistle, glockenspiel, bongos, egg shaker

Bright Sun Shining On Singing Chickadees In A Snowy Marsh (version 2)

Original compositions played upon various acoustic instruments. 

At the moment, the majority of music I record is original folk tunes. Most of these tunes arise whilst out in natural ecosystems or shortly after visiting a natural ecosystem. The titles often reflect an aspect of the ecosystem I had noticed while the tune came about. Lately this is usually a species of bird.

Tin whistles and flutes appear the most often in my recordings; though mandolin, tenor guitar, lyre harp, jaw harp, dulcitar, and a handful of other instruments show up fairly often as well.

And here's some more music I've made along with my friend Dan Jones:
https://soundcloud.com/user-453898279