Music for Birds

Music with Mandolin

Music for Nature

Original Folk Tunes

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

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

Chipping Sparrow

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

Instruments:
Burke tin whistle, WuYou tongue drum

Daffodils Beside The Barn (version 2)

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

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

A tune written on a nice and chilly late summer morning.

Instruments:
Kentucky mandolin, Killarney tin whistle

Late Summer Morning

An original tune written on the third day of autumn. 

Instruments:
Kentucky mandolin, Jerry Freeman Blackbird whistle, bells

The Third Day Of Autumn

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

Four Pheasants

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 in the bright sunshine after a snow squall.

Instruments:
tenor guitar, Kentucky mandolin, Killarney D tin whistle, clapping

The Sun Beyond The Squall

An original tune that came about while sitting beside a San Pedro cactus.

Instruments:
Kentucky mandolin, Killarney tin whistle

San Pedro

While this tune was being written a turkey flew by the window beside me, and up into a tree. They're quite a sight to see when they're flapping their wings through the air by your window. And they always seem to look peculiar in a tree. But I always really appreciate wild turkeys, and I'm glad to finally have an original tune titled for them. 

Instruments:
Kentucky mandolin, Doug Tipple low D flute, sleigh bells, tingsha bells

The Turkey In The Tree

One track from my duo with Baron Collins-Hill.

www.velocipedemusic.com

Velocipede - Quail is a Pretty Bird

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 Turkey In The Tree

Zach Schneider