Tunes for The Tall Pines

Music for the painting session

Mythological Creatures

Lyre Harp

I've accumulated quite a lot of recordings, so here's a simplified list of my recordings which I find the most pleasant to hear. As the title of the playlist describes, each piece features whistles and flutes.

Favorite Toots of Whistles and Flutes

lyre harp

Instruments:
Gold Tone tenor guitar, Doug Tipple flute

Jade By The Window

Instruments:
McNally Strumstick dulcitar, Burke tin whistles, Gold Tone tenor guitar, panflute, dilruba, tingsha bells

Chipping Sparrow

Track 1, the meditative prelude to my album, "An Ancient Lyre"....

INTRODUCTION

The concept of this unique album, is a meditative "Musical Adventures in Time Travel"! On this Voyage, I will take you back to the entrancing sounds of ancient Egypt, examples of some of the the actual surviving musical fragments of ancient Greece, and indeed, to the oldest fragment of written melody so far ever discovered, in my arrangement for solo lyre, of the 3400 year old "Hurrian Hymn " from Mesopotamia!

The lyre I play is a replica of the 10- string Lyre of the Ancient Hebrews (known in Hebrew as the "Kinnor" ( כנור ). This incredible lyre also features in my earlier albums available from cdbaby, "King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel" and "Lyre of the Levites". . My replica 3000 year old Kinnor Lyre of the Ancient Hebrews, is almost tonally identical to the wooden lyres played throughout the Ancient World - for example, the type of lyre played 3000 years ago in the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt ( as seen on the see album cover) and the ancient Greek Kithara Lyre. Therefore, I came up with the inspiration of this concept heard here, of creating an album featuring music from all these amazing Ancient Civlilizations...


THE MUSIC

1) "An Ancient Lyre" - my meditative prelude to the album, consisting of a spontaneous improvisation on a mesmerizing, hypnotic, dreamy ancient Middle Eastern "Hijaz" scale...


2) "Hurrian Hymn no.6" - My performance of the 3400 year old "Hurrian Hymn"heard here recently featured in the Internationally renowned pages of "The Biblical Archaeological Review: http://bit.ly/dIeTgb

 The 3400 year old "Hurrian Hymn" (Text H6) which was discovered in Ugarit in Syria in the early 1950s, and was preserved for 3400 years on a clay tablet, written in the Cuniform text of the ancient Hurrian language - it is THE oldest written song yet known, in History! Respect, to the amazing ancient culture of Syria.. .السلام عليكم

Although about 29 musical texts were discovered at Ugarit, only this text, (text H6), was in a sufficient state of preservation to allow for modern academic musical reconstruction.

In short, the Cuneiform text clearly indicated specific names for lyre strings, and their respective musical intervals – a sort of “Guitar tablature”, for lyre!

Although discovered in modern day Syria, the Hurrians were not Syrian – they came from modern day Anatolia. The Hurrian Hymn actually dates to the very end of the Hurrian civilisation (c.1400BCE) . The Hurrian civilization dates back to at least 3000 BCE. It is an incredible thought, that just maybe, the musical texts found at Ugarit, preserved precious sacred Hurrian music which may have already been thousands of years old, prior to their inscription for posterity, on the clay tablets found at Ugarit!

The replica of the ancient Kinnor Lyre from neighbouring Israel, on which I am performing the piece, is almost tonally identical to the wooden asymmetric-shaped lyres played throughout the Middle East at this amazingly distant time...when the Pharaoh's still ruled ancient Egypt.

A photograph of the actual clay tablet on which the Hurrian Hymn was inscribed, can be seen here:

http://phoenicia.org/music.html

The melody is an interpretation by Richard Dumbrill, from the ambiguous Cuneiform text of the Hurrian language in which it was written. Although many of the meanings of the Hurrian language are now lost in the mists of time, it can be established that the fragmentary Hurrian Hymn which has been found on these precious clay tablets are dedicated to Nikkal; the wife of the moon goddess. 

There are several such interpretations of this melody, but to me, the fabulous interpretation by Richard Dumbrill just somehow sounds the most "authentic". Below is a link to the sheet music, as interpreted by Richard Dumbrill and 
arranged by Clint Goss, and also to Richard Dumbrill's own website:

http://www.flutekey.com/pdf/HurrianTabLtd.pdf

http://hometown.aol.com/ricdum/mane.htm#Music

In my arrangement of the Hurrian Hymn, I have attempted to illustrate an interesting diversity of ancient lyre playing techniques, ranging from the use of "block and strum" improvisation at the end, glissando's, trills & tremolos, and alternating between harp-like tones in the left hand produced by finger-plucked strings, and guitar-like tones in the right hand, produced by use of the plectrum. 

I have arranged the melody in the style of a "Theme and Variations" - I first quote the unadorned melody in the first section, followed by the different lyre techniques described above in the repeat, & also featuring improvisatory passages at the end of the performance.

My arrangement of the melody is much slower than the actual arrangement by Richard Dumbrill - I wanted the improvisations in the variations on the theme to stand out, and to better illustrate the use of lyre techniques by a more rubato approach to the melody...


3) "Echoes of Ancient Egypt" - this improvisation on the lyre, uses a genuine pentatonic ancient Egyptian scale...last heard, some 3000 years ago! Although tragically no actual written music from ancient Egypt has survived, we do know from many ancient illustrations, that the ancient Egyptians did use a form of musical notation, whereby specific gestures of the hand represented specific changes in pitch in a given musical scale - this is ancient form of musical notation is known as "Chironomy". We also know some of the specific scales once used in ancient Egypt, thanks to the discovery of serveral ancient Egyptian flutes, still in playable condition! The ancient lost art of Chironomy, and details of this haunting, ancient Egyptian scale are discussed at length in this fascinating article:

http://www.rakkav.com/biblemusic/pages/chironomy.htm

The minor pentatonic scale I am using in this improvisation, was deciphered from ancient chironomy gestures by the late Professor Hans Hickmann, of the Museum in Cairo.

This improvisation is therefore my attmept to evoke the sounds of the Lyres heard in the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, over 3000 years ago...

Tracks 4 - 8 of the album continue my attempt to evoke the sounds of ancient Egypt, in my arrangements for solo lyre, of a selection of my favourite tradtional Egyptian folk songs from Port Said, where the Simsimyya Lyre is still played toady by the local musicians - a lyre which has its origins stretching back almost 4000 years ago, to the Middle kingdom of Ancient Egypt...


4)"My Heart Was Burnt by Love" - a traditional Egyptian folk song

5) "Salah" - a traditional Egyptian folk song

6) "Baghanni" (I Sing) - a wonderful traditional Egyptian folk song from Port Said.

7) "Sar A Lay" - a traditional Egyptian folk song from Port Said.

8) "I Saw The Moon" - a wonderful traditional Egyptian folk song from Port Said.

9) "The First Delphic Hymn to Apollo" - This is my arrangement for solo lyre, of the famous "First Delphic Hymn to Apollo" - a precious surviving fragment of music, which is an amazing legacy from the mostly lost musical culture of ancient Greece! My replica "Kinnor" lyre of the Ancient hebrews (based on illustrations found on ancient Jewish coins), is virtually identical to the ancient Greek "Kithara" - the large wooden lyre favoured by the professional musicians of ancient Greece (with the small exception, that Kithara had 7 strings, whereas the Kinnor had 10 - no doubt to represent the Ten Commandments?)

There are two Delphic Hymns that have been discovered, and they were dedicated to the god Apollo. The two Delphic Hymns have sadly not survived in their complete form. However, they do survive in substantial fragments...giving just a tantalizing taste of the glory of the tragically lost, magnificent musical culture of ancient Greece! 

The two Delphic Hymns are dated c.138 BC and 128 BC. My rendition here, is of the earlier of them; the First Delphic Hymn. Although it has unfortunately not survived in its complete form, the First Delphic Hymn to Apollo is THE earliest unambiguous surviving fragment of notated music from anywhere in the Western World! It is written in the unambiguous alphabetical musical notation system used in ancient Greece, whereby alphabetical notation describing the pitch of the melody, is written above the text of the song, as can be clearly seen in this image of the actual Delphic Hymn, as it was found, inscribed in marble:

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Delphic_Hymns

The rhythm can easily be inferred from the syllables of the text.

The First Delphic Hymn to Apollo was discovered in 1893 by a French archaeologist. It was inscribed in marble, carved on an outside wall of the Treasury of the Athenians at Delphi.

All that is known about its composer is that it was written by an Athenian, around 138 BC, since the part of the inscription giving the name of the composer is too difficult to read. The Second Delphic Hymn is slightly more recent, and has been dated to precisely 128 BC; evidently it was first performed in the same year. The name of the composer of the Second Delphic Hymn has also survived, in a separate inscription: he is called "Limenius". The occasion of the later hymn was the Pythian Festival, and this one, the earlier hymn, was probably written for the boys choir at the Pythian Games in 138 BC.

The translation of the fragment of text which has survived of the this, the First Delphic Hymn to Apollo, is as follows:

"Hear me, you who posses deep-wooded Helicon,
fair-armed daughters of Zeus the magnificent!
Fly to beguile with your accents your brother,
golden-tressed Phoebus who, on the twin peak of this rock of Parnassus,
escorted by illustrious maidens of Delphi,
sets out for the limpid streams of Castalia, traversing,
on the Delphic promontory, the prophetic pinnacle.
Behold glorious Attica, nation of the great city which,
thanks to the prayers of the Tritonid warrior,
occupies a hillside sheltered from all harm.
On the holy alters Hephaestos consumes the thighs of young bullocks,
mingled with the flames, the Arabian vapor rises towards Olympos.
The shrill rustling lotus murmurs its swelling song, and the golden kithara,
the sweet-sounding kithara, answers the voice of men.
And all the host of poets, dwellers in Attica, sing your glory, God,
famed for playing the kithara, son of great Zeus,
beside this snow-crowned peak, oh you who reveal to all mortals
the eternal and infallible oracles.
They sing how you conquered the prophetic tripod
guarded by a fierce dragon when, with your darts
you pierced the gaudy, tortuously coiling monster,
so that, uttering many fearful hisses, the beast expired.
They sing too, . . . ."


10) "Hymn to the Muse" - a hauntingly beautiful surviving fragment of the mostly lost music of ancient Greece. This piece was written almost 2000 years ago, by Mesomedes of Crete...

Mesomedes of Crete was a Greek lyric poet and composer of the early 2nd century AD. More information can be found at:

http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Bios/Mesomedes.html

It is written in the ancient Greek "Dorian" mode; E-E on the white note of the piano - not to be confused with the MEDIEVAL "Dorian" mode, which was D-D! Due to a misinterpretation of the Latin texts of Boethius, medieval modes were given the wrong Greek names! For the CORRECT names of the ORIGINAL ancient Greek modes, see:

http://www.harmonics.com/lucy/lsd/corrections.html

For what Plato & Aristotle themselves had this to say about these ancient musical modes, please see this fascinating link:

http://www.pathguy.com/modes.htm

The most challenging aspect of playing this piece, is attempting to play the many accidentals required by the melody - on a DIATONICALLY tuned lyre...WITHOUT the aid of any fancy sharpening pedals, which are to be found on almost all modern harps! 

According to the musicologist Curt Sachs, the ancient Greeks managed to get around this by a technique I have been working on, called "finger-stopping" - an accidental can be played, by increasing the pitch of a lyre string by a semitone; this is achieved by pressing the string (about a centimeter in from the tuning peg), with a finger of the left hand which shortens its vibrating length, and therefore increases the pitch of the note the string produces.

The translation of the words to this ancient Greek song are as follows:

'Sing for me, dear Muse, begin my tuneful strain; a breeze blow from your groves to stir my listless brain...Skillful Calliope, leader of the delightful Muses, and you, skillful priest of our rites, son of Leto, Paean of Delos, be at my side'. (translation by J. G. Landels).


11) Ancient Greek Fragment - This simply mesmerizing fragment of ancient Greek music, is catalogued simply as "ANONYMI BELLERMANN 97" . It was preserved in an ancient Byzantine manuscript: 

Conspectus codicum:
V. Venetus Marcianus appl. cl. VI, saec. XIII-XIV
N. Neapolitanus graecus III. C4, saec. XV
F. Florentius Ricc. 41, saec. XVI

I first heard this amazing piece performed on the album "Musique de la Grece Antique" (Atrium Musicae de Madrid, 1979)


12) "Song of Seikilos" - the final track on my album, is unique in musical history, as it is the only piece of music from antiquity in the entire Western world, that has SO far been found, which has survived in its COMPLETE form, and unlike much earlier surviving fragments of melodies that have been found, this song is written in a totally unambiguous ALPHABETICAL musical notation, which can be played, note for note, as it was written...about 2000 years ago:

http://www.amaranthpublishing.com/SongOfSeikilos.htm

This melody is an amazing musical legacy from ancient Greece; a precious remnant of a long-forgotten musical culture now forever lost in the mists of time. It is written in the ancient Greek "Hypophrygian" mode; the equivelant intervals as heard in a scale of G-G played on the white notes of the piano. (This mode confusingly has exactly the same intervals as heard in the MEDIEVAL "Mixolydian" mode -the ORIGINAL ancient GREEK "Mixolydian" mode, was, in fact, B-B!).

In this version, I have tried to utilize EVERY conceivable lyre-playing technique I could think of, which may have also been used in Antiquity! This includes experimenting with "string blocking" at the beginning (blocking certain notes to form chords with the left hand to enable rhythm to be strummed on the lyre; just as on a guitar!), alternating between finger-plucked and plectrum plucked tones, the use of basic harmony below the melodic line, a touch of improvisation between phrases and plenty of tremolos & glissando's...in order to inject some new life into this beautiful ancient melody...

This is a more lively rendition than some of the "dire dirge-like" renditions of the song I have heard on some older recordings of it - I have recently learnt that "The Song of Sekilos" is, in fact a DRINKING SONG! (What a GREAT idea of the ancient Greeks to put a drinking song on a TOMBSTONE - I want one to be on MINE!!). The ancient Greek term for a drinking song like this was called a "Skolion".

About 2000 years after it was written, this melody was rediscovered in 1883, in its complete & original form. It was found inscribed in marble on an ancient Greek burial stele, bearing the following epitaph: "I am a portrait in stone. I was put here by Seikilos, where I remain forever, the symbol of timeless remembrance".

The timeless words of the song are:

"Hoson zes, phainou 
Meden holos su lupou; 
Pros oligon esti to zen 
To telos ho chronos apaitei"

Translation - "While you live, shine 
Don't suffer anything at all; 
Life exists only a short while 
And time demands its toll"

For full details about this album, including a detailed PDF booklet of the album notes, pelase visit:

http://ancientlyre.com/albums_for_solo_lyre/an_ancient_lyre/

An Ancient Lyre

"Spirit of the Kithara" - track 1 from my album, "The Ancient Greek Modes". The concept of this album, is to recreate the both the sounds of the musical modes once used in Ancient Greece (as described in the writings of Plato & Aristotle) & to restore the lost sounds of the ancient Greek Kithara - the large wooden lyre once favoured by the professional musicians of Ancient Greece...

THE ANCIENT GREEK MODES

The names of musical modes in use today, (e.g. Dorian, Mixolydian etc) although having the same names as the original Greek musical modes, were actually misnamed during the Middle Ages! Apparently, the Greeks counted intervals from top to bottom.  When medieval ecclesiastical scholars tried to interpret the ancient texts, they counted from bottom to top, jumbling the information. The  misnamed medieval modes are only distinguished by the ancient Greek modes of the same name, by being labelled “Church Modes”. It was due to a misinterpretation of the Latin texts of Boethius, that medieval modes were given the wrong Greek names!

According to an article on Greece in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the original ancient Greek names for species of the octave included the following (on white keys):

B-B: Mixolydian
E-E: Dorian
A-A: Hypodorian
D-D: Phrygian
G-G: Hypophrygian
C-C: Lydian
F-F: Hypolydian

For what Plato & Aristotle themselves had this to say about these ancient musical modes, please see this fascinating link:

http://www.pathguy.com/modes.htm

THE REPERTOIRE

The seven original compositions arranged for replica lyre which form the repertoire of this album, are each written in one of the seven Ancient Greek Modes.
 
The lyre-playing techniques heard in this album, are authentically based on lyre-playing styles which have remarkably survived from Antiquity & which still can be heard today in the amazing lyres still played throughout the continent of Africa, where unlike the rest of the Western world, a precious remnant of the cross-cultural influences from the around ancient world have miraculously survived. 

THE LYRE PLAYING TECHNIQUES USED IN THIS ALBUM

Some of these lyre-playing techniques include the “block & strum” method, still practiced today by the Krar Lyre players of Eritrea in East Africa – this technique allows the player to strum rhythm & basic chords on the lyre, similar to an acoustic guitar. This technique entails blocking strings with the left hand which are not required and leaving open only the strings which form the required intervals, which then can be strummed with a plectrum in the left hand. 

Ancient illustrations of Kithara players seem to infer that this technique was also prominent in Ancient Greece – many illustrations clearly depict the left of the lyre player blocking/dampening the strings with the left hand whilst strumming the open strings with a plectrum in their right hand.

I also demonstrate all the possible styles available on the Kithara. These include the use of tremolo (based on the style of Egyptian Simsimiyya Lyre Players still heard today), alternating between harp-like finger plucked tones played with the left hand, and guitar-like plectrum-plucked tones with the right hand, using basic finger-plucked intervals/chords with the left hand to form a basic harmonic background for the melodic line being played with the plectrum in the right hand (the surviving fragments of Ancient Greek music clearly imply a basic harmonic tonality to these ancient melodies (as opposed to simple folk melodies which can simply be accompanied by a drone).

To hear my arrangements for solo lyre, of some of these actual surviving melodies from Ancient Greece, please listen to my other albums, “A Well Tuned Lyre - The Just Intonation of Antiquity” & “The Ancient Greek Lyre”.

THE 7 TRACKS

1) “Spirit of the Kithara”  (Composition For Lyre in the Ancient Greek Dorian Mode)

2) “Dancers of Dionysus”  (Composition For Lyre in the Ancient Greek Hypolydian Mode)

3) “Hymn To Poseidon” (Composition For Lyre in the Ancient Greek Hypodorian Mode)

4) “Procession of the Olympians” (Composition For Lyre in the Ancient Greek Lydian Mode)

5) “The Sanctuary of Apollo” (Composition For Lyre in the Ancient Greek Hypophrygian Mode)

6) “The Oracles of Delphi” (Composition For Lyre in the Ancient Greek Mixolydian Mode)

 7) “Glory of the Parthenon” (Composition For Lyre in the Ancient Greek Phrygian Mode)

For full details, icluding a free PDF booklet of the album notes, please see:

http://ancientlyre.com/albums_for_solo_lyre/the_ancient_greek_modes/

Spirit of the Kithara (Composition for Solo Lyre in the Ancient Greek Dorian Mode)

Instruments:
Burke tin whistle, WuYou tongue drum

Daffodils Beside The Barn (version 2)

I would like to explore a little-known, fascinating Irish Folk Legend, that the Celtic Harp is, in fact, a direct ancestor of the Lyre of the Ancient Hebrews, which was apparently introduced to Ireland 2600 years ago by Israelites who fled there in exile, after the Fall the of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BCE...

This is a quote from John Wheeler's fascinating website on music from the time of the Hebrew Bible: 

 "...The "harp of Tara", symbol of Ireland, is linked by Irish traditional history to the "harp of David". This last was said to have been brought to Ireland (among other artifacts) by "Ollamh Fodhla" (identified with the prophet Jeremiah), his scribe "Simon Brach" (identified with Baruch the scribe of Jeremiah), and "Tea Tephi" (identified with the daughter of King Zedekiah of Judah). Was this connection merely mythical, or could it have had a basis in truth?" (http://www.rakkav.com/biblemusic/pages/instruments.htm)

The Celts had lyres too; they also brought some kind of harp from the Middle East; and Jeremiah is said by Irish tradition to have brought  a "harp". There is also a tantalizing ancient Greek source, which may well be referring to the lyre being played in Ireland: for full details, see the bottom of the section of my website blog on the Northern European lyres, in the details about the 1st century BC ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus's description of the musical practices of the people from the island of "Hyperboria" - See more at: http://ancientlyre.com/the_earliest_historical_evidence_of_the_northern_european_lyre_yet_discovered/

In all likelihood, there was confusion in the transmission of historical facts in this little-known Gem of Irish Folk-Lore. However, in order to give this legend some of basis in truth, I have arranged the Irish musical gem, "Spancil Hill"  on my evocation of the 10-string Lyre of the Ancient Hebrews (the Biblical "Kinnor"), which King David himself once played, some 3000 years ago, and which was later played by my very own, very ancient Levite ancestors in the Temple of Jerusalem, to accompany the legendary singing of the Levitical Choir.

I am not attempting to be "controversial" in trying to re-write history, and my intention is certainly not to offend any person's particular religious beliefs or traditions. It is merely a fascinating, harmless myth...but just maybe, with some hint of truth behind it? See more at: http://ancientlyre.com/blogs/the_myth_of_the_origin_of_the_celtic_harp__the_lyre_of_the_ancient_hebrews/

Spancil Hill - Arranged For Solo Lyre

A lever harp arrangement based on Dawayne Stamper's Agnus Dei (composed by Michael W. Smith, John Dykes, and Reginald Heber's) and the hymn Holy Holy.

Agnus Dei / Holy Holy

Porcupine

Lake Toad in the Fall

Blob Goblin
Oh Blob Goblin
Blob Goblin
Oh Blob Goblin

In early spring 
When spring peepers sing
The blob goblin rings
It's bells

To awaken a flood 
Of early spring mud
Since blob goblins love
To dance in the mud

Instruments:
Lyre Harp, Tin Whistle, Sitar

Blob Goblin

Pitcher Plant

Improvisation with a Lyre Harp and Tin Whistle in a Japanese Mode

Instruments:
Lyre Harp, Tin Whistle, Synthesizer, Small Greek Baglama

Elephant King (reprise)

Instruments: Lyre Harp, Tin Whistle, Bell

No Cry Babies

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

A tune written while playing a tin whistle as I was wading down a river. Every now and then I'd catch up to a duck, eventually getting fairly close as I continued to wade and whistle, then once I was quite near it, the duck would fly further down the river. This pattern continued for a little while and it seemed I was accidentally slowly chasing the duck. Which is where the name arose from. 

Instruments:
Kentucky mandolin, Killarney D tin whistle

Accidentally Following A Duck Down A River

Instruments:
lyre harp, Doug Tipple flute

The Lyre Of The Shire

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

Four Pheasants

An original waltz.

Instruments:
shruti box, Killarney whistle, sleigh bells, Doug Tipple flute, bongos, glockenspiel, jaw harp, wooden spoons, guiro, tongue snaps

The Luminous Gnome

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

I really enjoy the "Flotsam and Jetsam" chapter in "The Lord of the Rings", where Pippin's pipe is smoked during a very peaceful and silly feeling moment of storytelling and reuniting, so I named this original tune for that moment.

Instruments:
tenor guitar, Parks high D whistle, Kentucky mandolin, ghungroo bells, tinghsa bells, a regular bell, sleigh bells, and clapping

The Hobbit Pipe Hornpipe

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

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

Instruments:
Doug Tipple flute, Burke tin whistle, Gold Tone tenor guitar, triangle, iPad organ

A Long Line Of Yaks (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

The Lyre Of The Shire

Zach Schneider