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

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:
Burke C brass narrow bore tin whistle, tambourine, finger cymbals

The Dog & The Bog

Written after encountering a wood turtle.

Instruments:
Burke tin whistles, Gold Tone tenor guitar

Wood Turtle

This composition is titled in appreciation of a series of various forms of flowing water, which I often meditate at throughout a trail near my home. There's more or less forms of flowing water to experience along the trail depending on the time of year & amounts of precipitation. 

Typically, I first encounter a muddy region; where in certain spots, when standing quietly, gurgling water can be heard flowing beneath the leaf litter & stones. Usually in spring, when saturated by melting snow, small trickling streams flow out of this muddy area and down a subtle hill into the forest below. 

The next stop along the pilgrimage of flowing water (as I eventually grew to affectionately nickname it) is another stream, with a somewhat stronger current, trickling in the form of several small waterfalls; over stones, sticks, and leaves.

A little ways beyond all this is a small brook (or maybe it's a large stream, I'm not entirely certain). The height of the body of water, as wells as the mellow flat sandy bottom creates little sounds to hear. While I find the sight of flowing water beneficial for meditation, the main meditative fuel of these pilgrimage spots is in their auditory experience. Though usually, if quiet enough, subtle trickles & gurgles can be heard. 

Shortly beyond that location is a large & energetic brook, with lots of varying tones & depths. 

And lastly, a little was further, lies a small boggy region; with lots of deep mud (which is fun to step into) & sphagnum moss. To the far corner of small bog-like zone are two small waterfall streams, which have a pleasant gentle bell-like trickle. 

I'm quite grateful to these series of flowing water locations for several very helpful meditations they've been the doorway to.

*I also thought that the title could be interpreted as a river's journey to an ocean. Where water molecules can journey together in the form of a river; with stops at varying bodies of water, until they eventually return to the mother source of all water.

Instruments:
Wildwood dulcitar, Burke tin whistle, Gold Tone tenor guitar, ghungroo bells, sleigh bells, tingsha bells, triangle, bodhran

The Pilgrimage Of Flowing Water

Instruments:
tin whistle, bongos, tingsha bells, triangle, egg shaker, sleigh bells, frame drum, seed rattle, tongue drum, claves, ghungroo bells, guira

Chickens In The Pig Pen (version 2)

Instruments:
Big Leaf dulcitar, Burke tin whistle, Doug Tipple flute, ipad synthesizer, glockenspiel

Brown Thrasher

This tune was written during the Guru Poornima full moon of July.

Instruments:
Carbony "leading tone" whistle

Guru Poornima Moon

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

Two Raccoons In A Blueberry Bush

A tune written while sitting beside a brook as two black-throated blue warblers were gleaning in some nearby trees.

Instruments;
Burke tin whistle, GSM dulcijo, Oberon pendant ocarina, Noble ocarina, sleigh bells, tambourine, tingsha bells, cymbal, triangle, shruti box

Black - Throated Blue Warbler

A Scottish waltz played on a kalimba, tin whistles, and a glockenspiel.

The drawing is of a bearded elf.

"Skye Boat Song" with kalimba, whistles, and glockenspiel

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 written while watching ducks waddle in the mud.

Instruments:
Killarney tin whistle, Kentucky mandolin

Ducks In The Mud

A tune written after eating a large bowl of quinoa.

Instruments:
Kentucky mandolin, Killarney tin whistle, ghungroo bells, tingsha bells, sleigh bells

Quinoa

An original tune written after eating a sweet potato and listening to the nice singing and mountain dulcimer playing of Jean Ritchie.

Instruments:
Gardner mountain dulcimer, Doug Tipple flute, Killarney tin whistle

Sweet Potato

Instruments:
Burke low G whistle, tenor guitar, organ

White Goat

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:
Jubo pendant ocarina, Burke tin whistle, WuYou tongue drum, Pearl travel bongos, egg shaker, sleigh bells, tingsha bells, karatala

Red - Bellied Woodpecker

The A part of this tune was written while in the company of a fellow who's last name is Grey. The B part of the tune was written on a snowy gray day. So it seemed fitting to title the tune for the color gray.
And I also enjoy the song "Blue Jay Way" by the Beatles, and figured I'd give a tip of the hat to that as well.

Instruments:
Burke C tin whistle, tenor ukulele, organ (or at least an organ sound on an iPad)

Gray Day Way

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

Downy Woodpecker

Written during the night of the snow moon.

Instruments:
Gold Tone tenor guitar, Burke D & G tin whistles

Snow Moon

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

One Octave Tunes

Zach Schneider