Play Brazilian Choro: My Choros: Music for Solo Guitar Songbook (Sheet Music) with CD by Gastão Weyne

“My Choros: Music for Solo Guitar” Songbook (Sheet Music) with CD  by Gastão Weyne

“Meus Chorinhos” is a collection of 19 original Brazilian choros composed by Gastão Weyne, a Brazilian guitarist, intellectual & lover of choro. The choros were composed in homage to the great personalities of the Brazilian choro: Canhoto da Paraíba, Antonio Rago, Ronoel Simões, Izaías do Bandolim e Luizinho Sete Cordas, among others. These compositions are easy and fun! The CD that acompanies this book includes guitar arrangements of the tunes in the book.

MEUS CHORINHOS: MÚSICAS PARA VIOLÃO SOLO COM CIFRAS Livro & CD
Autor: Gastão Weyne

Álbum contendo 19 chorinhos de autoria de Gastão Weyne, intelectual e amante da música, compostos em homenagem a grandes personalidades do choro brasileiro (Canhoto da Paraíba, Antonio Rago, Ronoel Simões, Izaías do Bandolim e Luizinho Sete Cordas, entre outros). As composições são muito agradáveis e de fácil execução. Os arranjos para violão do álbum poderão ser ouvidos atrávés do CD que o acompanha.

IN PORTUGUESE ONLY

48pp

Comes with CD (audio for the 19 tunes in the book)

 

Tocando com Jacob PARTITURAS & PLAYBACKS Americans who are getting into choro especially like the CDs that come with this spiral-bound book, which include both original and “play-along” tracks. Book comes with parts for C and

Bb instruments.

 

Brazilian Choro: a Method for Mandolin by Marilynn Mair and Paolo Sá

Review by John Goodin

Brazilian Choro music has been very popular with American mandolin players in recent years and Choro workshops have often been featured at CMSA conventions. There are number of books on the market these days that offer fun and interesting approaches to the Choro repertoire but this new volume from Marilynn Mair and Paul Sá is unique in its scope.

Rather than offering another collection of interesting music with or without accompanying text, this book aspires to serve as a method to help the owner “play Choro with a true Carioca accent.” Aimed at both Brazilian and English-language audiences, the book and its accompanying CD present a combination of musical exercises, classic and recent Choro compositions, and essays on the history and practice of Choro.

The result is a potent 136 page text and CD combo that allows the mandolin/bandolim player to become immersed in the music, performance practice, and cultural aspects of Choro. For those of us in North America who have no access to this music in its native environment it provides the next best thing to being there.

The Context section at the very beginning is an excellent start, combining brief but definitive explanations of the music and its instruments while at the same time introducing some accessible tunes. This is followed by the first collection of exercises, which necessarily take up many pages.

Marilynn’s essay “Mandolin in Choro” is scholarly yet highly readable and her “A History of Choro in Context” is even more detailed in its approach. It includes fine sections on important persons in the history of Choro along with musical examples of their art. The book’s final section, “A Personal Touch”, includes original compositions from both Paolo and Marilynn that demonstrate their mastery of Choro style and give the student some satisfying material to work on.

The CD that comes with the book includes everything you could want. It has examples that illustrate various concepts and exercises and includes several complete performances from both Marilynn and Paolo. All told, this is a unique and highly valuable resource for the mandolinist who has been bitten by the Choro bug. Highly recommended.

Brazilian Choro: CHORO DUETOS PIXINGUINHA E BENEDITO LACERDA with Play Along CD

There are 2 new Brazilian Music books for musicians who play Brazilian Choro: CHORO DUETOS PIXINGUINHA E BENEDITO LACERDA Volumes 1 & 2 with Play Along CD

Based on recordings that Pixinguinha and Benedito Lacerda made in the 1940s. Each volume includes a play-along CD with complete tracks as well as “play-along” tracks; just the accompaniment without the melodies (flute & sax). Listen and Play Along!

Includes parts for C, Bb & Eb instruments–>parts for melody line and harmony line are included.
By Mario Seve & David Ganc
Paperback, 2010 1st Edition, with Audio CD, 100 pages each
12 tunes in each book

 

CHORO DUETOS PIXINGUINHA E BENEDITO LACERDA, Volume 1 with Play-Along CD

This collection includes:

• Acerta o passo
• Ainda me recordo
• Descendo a serra
• Naquele tempo
• Os oito batutas
• Proezas de Solon
• Sedutor
• Segura e ele
• Seu Lourenço no vinho
• Sofres porque queres
• Vou vivendo
• Um a zero

 

CHORO DUETOS Vol 2 PIXINGUINHA & BENEDITO LACERDA with Play-Along CD

This collection includes:

• Aguenta seu Fulgêncio
• André de sapato novo
• Atraente
• Cheguei
• Cochichando
• Displicente
• Ele e eu
• Língua de preto
• Matuto
• O gato e o canário
• Só para moer
• Urubatã

Brazilian Choro: a Method for Mandolin by Marilynn Mair and Paolo Sá

Review by John Goodin

Brazilian Choro music has been very popular with American mandolin players in recent years and Choro workshops have often been featured at CMSA conventions. There are number of books on the market these days that offer fun and interesting approaches to the Choro repertoire but this new volume from Marilynn Mair and Paul Sá is unique in its scope.

Rather than offering another collection of interesting music with or without accompanying text, this books aspires to serve as a method to help the owner “play Choro with a true Carioca accent.” Aimed at both Brazilian and English-language audiences, the book and its accompanying CD present a combination of musical exercises, classic and recent Choro compositions, and essays on the history and practice of Choro.

The result is a potent 136 page text and CD combo that allows the mandolin/bandolim player to become immersed in the music, performance practice, and cultural aspects of Choro. For those of us in North America who have no access to this music in its native environment it provides the next best thing to being there.

The Context section at the very beginning is an excellent start, combining brief but definitive explanations of the music and its instruments while at the same time introducing some accessible tunes. This is followed by the first collection of exercises, which necessarily take up many pages.

Marilynn’s essay “Mandolin in Choro” is scholarly yet highly readable and her “A History of Choro in Context” is even more detailed in its approach. It includes fine sections on important persons in the history of Choro along with musical examples of their art. The book’s final section, “A Personal Touch”, includes original compositions from both Paolo and Marilynn that demonstrate their mastery of Choro style and give the student some satisfying material to work on.

The CD that comes with the book includes everything you could want. It has examples that illustrate various concepts and exercises and includes several complete performances from both Marilynn and Paolo. All told, this is a unique and highly valuable resource for the mandolinist who has been bitten by the Choro bug. Highly recommended.

Recommended Books for Brazilian Choro

Want to get started playing Brazilian Choro? These are my suggestions of collections to get you started! Each of these is a “meaty” book that will give you lots of standard choros that are commonly played at choro jams and performances.

3 Volumes: Songbook do Choro Vol 1, 2, 3 (AKA “Choro White Book”)–>Each Songbook do Choro has 100 of the most popular choros, this collection will keep you busy playing chorinho for years to come!

Brazilian Choro: A Method for Mandolin and Bandolim with CD (by Marilyn Mair & Paulo Sá)

O Melhor De Pixinguinha  (A great collection of Pixinguinha choros)

Tocando com Jacob PARTITURAS & PLAYBACKS Americans who are getting into choro especially like the CDs that come with this spiral-bound book, which include both original and “play-along” tracks. Book comes with parts for C and Bb instruments.

There are 2 new Brazilian Music books for musicians who play Brazilian Choro, and these are great because they come with parts for Bb and Eb instruments (no more sight-transposing!): CHORO DUETOS PIXINGUINHA E BENEDITO LACERDA Volumes 1 & 2 with Play Along CD
Based on recordings that Pixinguinha and Benedito Lacerda made in the 1940s. Each volume includes a play-along CD with complete tracks as well as “play-along” tracks; just the accompaniment without the melodies (flute & sax). Listen and Play Along! Includes parts for C, Bb & Eb instruments–>parts for melody line and harmony line are included.

By Mario Seve & David Ganc
Paperback, 2010 1st Edition, with Audio CD, 100 pages each
12 tunes in each book

CHORO DUETOS PIXINGUINHA E BENEDITO LACERDA, Volume 1 with Play-Along CD

This collection includes:

• Acerta o passo
• Ainda me recordo
• Descendo a serra
• Naquele tempo
• Os oito batutas
• Proezas de Solon
• Sedutor
• Segura e ele
• Seu Lourenço no vinho
• Sofres porque queres
• Vou vivendo
• Um a zero

 

CHORO DUETOS Vol 2 PIXINGUINHA & BENEDITO LACERDA with Play-Along CD

This collection includes:

• Aguenta seu Fulgêncio
• André de sapato novo
• Atraente
• Cheguei
• Cochichando
• Displicente
• Ele e eu
• Língua de preto
• Matuto
• O gato e o canário
• Só para moer
• Urubatã

Brazilian Choro: a Method for Mandolin by Marilynn Mair and Paolo Sá

Review by John Goodin

Brazilian Choro music has been very popular with American mandolin players in recent years and Choro workshops have often been featured at CMSA conventions. There are number of books on the market these days that offer fun and interesting approaches to the Choro repertoire but this new volume from Marilynn Mair and Paul Sá is unique in its scope.

Rather than offering another collection of interesting music with or without accompanying text, this book aspires to serve as a method to help the owner “play Choro with a true Carioca accent.” Aimed at both Brazilian and English-language audiences, the book and its accompanying CD present a combination of musical exercises, classic and recent Choro compositions, and essays on the history and practice of Choro.

The result is a potent 136 page text and CD combo that allows the mandolin/bandolim player to become immersed in the music, performance practice, and cultural aspects of Choro. For those of us in North America who have no access to this music in its native environment it provides the next best thing to being there.

The Context section at the very beginning is an excellent start, combining brief but definitive explanations of the music and its instruments while at the same time introducing some accessible tunes. This is followed by the first collection of exercises, which necessarily take up many pages.

Marilynn’s essay “Mandolin in Choro” is scholarly yet highly readable and her “A History of Choro in Context” is even more detailed in its approach. It includes fine sections on important persons in the history of Choro along with musical examples of their art. The book’s final section, “A Personal Touch”, includes original compositions from both Paolo and Marilynn that demonstrate their mastery of Choro style and give the student some satisfying material to work on.

The CD that comes with the book includes everything you could want. It has examples that illustrate various concepts and exercises and includes several complete performances from both Marilynn and Paolo. All told, this is a unique and highly valuable resource for the mandolinist who has been bitten by the Choro bug. Highly recommended.

Tocando com Jacob Songbook for Brazilian Choro

Want to get started playing Brazilian Choro? Here’s a great book + CDs to get you started!

Tocando com Jacob PARTITURAS & PLAYBACKS: Americans who are getting into choro especially like the CDs that come with this spiral-bound book. Comes with parts for C and Bb instruments. Great for mandolinists, because Jacob do Bandolim was the mandolin star, but also great for other instrumentalists!

If you’re a musician playing Brazilian choro, then you should own this book. Period. Musicians in Brazil are using it as a Bible. Mandolin players are studying Jacob’s playing, of course. But guitarists and cavaquinho players are listening carefully to the ‘minus-one’ tracks to hear how the ‘greatest band in Brazil’ lays down some of the most respected grooves in the history of Brazilian music.

In summary, the book contains two CDs, representing two of Jacob’s commercially released albums. All the tunes on the CDs, though, are set in pairs, first the commercially released full version, immediately followed by a ‘rehearsal track’ that the band laid down for Jacob to practice against. There’s a very detailed and authoritative lead sheet for each tune, with many of Jacob’s playing details carefully transcribed. In the back of the book is an appendix of several of Jacob’s variations on the repeats, painstakingly and quite accurately notated. All the lead sheets are in two versions, one in the original concert key, and another in Bb, which clarinet and sax players really love.

Finally, for anyone who has tried to play along with or transcribe Jacob’s original recordings and been frustrated that the tuning is all over the map, all the recordings in this volume have been tweaked so that A-440 is the reference, which is a huge help.

I’ve just ordered this as a replacement for a copy that I lost at a recent jam. I wouldn’t be caught without this book!

This Songbook of Jacob do Bandolim songs includes 24 memorable waltzes & chorinhos recorded by Jacob do Bandolim and his group Conjunto Época de Ouro on 2 CDs: Chorinhos e chorões (1961) and Primas e bordões (1962). The CDs that accompany this book contain all of the original tracks from the 2 CDs as well as 24 “play-along” tracks which were also recorded at that time. You can listen to Jacob’s original recording and when you play along with the “play-along” tracks, you are playing with Jacob’s original band.

Jacob do Bandolim (Mandolim Jacob) was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1918. He  became one of the best-known choristas in his relatively short life (he died in 1969). He composed over 100 choros in his lifetime, and he recorded many more.

The tunes in this collection are:

Assanhado
É do que há
Proezas de Solon
Santa Morena
Os cinco companheiros
Falta-me você
Minha gente
Ameno Resedá
Bola preta
Teu beijo
A ginga do Mané
Um bandolim na escola
Glória
Naquele tempo
O vôo da mosca
Não me toques
Vou vivendo
Serpentina
Juventude saudosa
Benzinho
Araponga
Meu chorinho
Gorgulho
Negrinha
 

Álbum de partituras produzido pelo Instituto Jacob do Bandolim com 24 memoráveis valsas e chorinhos gravados por Jacob do Bandolim e seu Conjunto Época de Ouro em dois discos históricos: Chorinhos e chorões (1961) e Primas e bordões (1962). Nos CDs que acompanham o livro, além das gravações originais, foram incluídos os 24 playbacks criados naquela época. Dessa maneira, o músico poderá ouvir os solos do Jacob ou solar as melodias acompanhado pelos fantásticos instrumentistas do Época de Ouro. Dentre as músicas, destacam-se: Assanhado, É do que há, Proezas de Solon, Os cinco companheiros, Falta-me você, Minha gente, Ameno Resedá, Bola preta, Teu beijo, A ginga do Mané, Um bandolim na escola, Glória, Naquele tempo e O vôo da mosca.

 

Álbum de músicas populares – Diversos instrumentos
Coordenação de Sergio Prata
Arranjos para diversos instrumentos

Brazilian Black Friday in El Cerrito, California, and Brazilian Choro Books

Many thanks to everyone who showed up for “Brazilian (Music) Black Friday” in El Cerrito, California, last Friday! It was such fun to gather at Down Home Music, a fabulous independent music store in the Bay Area, and celebrate post-Turkey Day with the local musicians and lovers of Brazilian music.

We had a Brazilian choro jam with Gus Garelick (from the Hot Frittatas) and a Brazilian Choro set by Carol Ginsburg, Jim Rebhan, Barbara Hollinger, and Josh Cohen from Ellis Island Old World Folk Band. THANK YOU to Ellis Island and to Gus Garelick for organizing and performing the Choro jam and Ellis Island set! Many of my favorite tunes were played, including “Carinhoso”, “Rosa”, “Na Glória”, and many other Brazilian choro standards. All of these tunes can be found in the various Brazilian music books available from Atlantico Books.

And special thanks to John and Chris from Down Home Music for their collaboration.

A Brazilian mandolinist and composer I admire is Jacob do Bandolim, or “Jacob of the Mandolin.” Jacob do Bandolim was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1918. He  became one of the best-known choristas in his short life (he died in 1969). He composed over 100 choros in his lifetime, and he recorded many more. His book of choros, Tocando com Jacob PARTITURAS & PLAYBACKS, includes some of his best tunes as well as some of most-played choro tunes.  Tocando com Jacob PARTITURAS & PLAYBACKS has charts & recordings of Vou Vivendo, Naquele Tempo, Assanhado, Proezas de Solon, and more. The book includes 2 great CDs, one with Jacob’s original recordings with his band and the other with just the band, minus the melody, so a “play-along” CD with a fabulous band to accompany you while you play his choros in the book!

Free Live Music: BLACK FRIDAY (Nov. 25th) BRAZILIAN Music Day in California

Come to Down Home Music in El Cerrito on Friday, November 25th, “Black Friday” for Live Brazilian Music all afternoon!

Here’s the plan:

2:00pm Brazilian Music Book Table Open (by Atlantico Books)
2:30pm Open Brazilian Jam, with Gus Garelick (from the Hot Frittatas) and friends–please join!
3:30pm Brazilian Choro tunes featuring Ellis Island Old World Folk Band

We’ll celebrate post-turkey-day with live Brazilian music, great deals on Brazilian Music Books from Atlantico Books, and Down Home’s great CDs & Vinyl!

Down Home Music is at: 10341 San Pablo Ave – El Cerrito, CA – 94530

Come out to BLACK FRIDAY, BRAZILIAN MUSIC DAY in El Cerrito, California! We’ll have a blast! You can RSVP to Brazilian Black Friday on FaceBook, here.

What is Black Friday (Sexta-Feira Preta)?

Você conhece chama Black Friday? http://en.wikipedia.org/wi

“Black Friday” (Sexta-Feira Preta) é o dia depois do dia de acçao de graças aqui nos EUA (que é sempre no final de novembro). Supostamente todo mundo faz compras no dia depois do dia de acçao de graças–comprando presentes de natal. Ai, a gente fala “black friday” porque as lojas conseguem ganhar “in the black” (em vez de “in the red”). Em vez de perder dinheiro (vermelho) estao ganhando (preto). Entendeu?

Assim, na nossa “Black Friday Brazilian Music Day”, vamos festejar com muita música e muitas compras de CDs e livros de músicas brasileiras!

Brazilian Choro: a Method for Mandolin by Marilynn Mair and Paolo Sá

Brazilian Choro: a Method for Mandolin by Marilynn Mair and Paolo Sá

Review by John Goodin

Brazilian Choro music has been very popular with American mandolin players in recent years and Choro workshops have often been featured at CMSA conventions. There are a number of books on the market these days that offer fun and interesting approaches to the Choro repertoire but this new volume from Marilynn Mair and Paul Sá is unique in its scope.

Rather than offering another collection of interesting music with or without accompanying text, this books aspires to serve as a method to help the owner “play Choro with a true Carioca accent.” Aimed at both Brazilian and English-language audiences, the book and its accompanying CD present a combination of musical exercises, classic and recent Choro compositions, and essays on the history and practice of Choro.

The result is a potent 136 page text and CD combo that allows the mandolin/bandolim player to become immersed in the music, performance practice, and cultural aspects of Choro. For those of us in North America who have no access to this music in its native environment it provides the next best thing to being there.

The Context section at the very beginning is an excellent start, combining brief but definitive explanations of the music and its instruments while at the same time introducing some accessible tunes. This is followed by the first collection of exercises, which necessarily take up many pages.

Marilynn’s essay “Mandolin in Choro” is scholarly yet highly readable and her “A History of Choro in Context” is even more detailed in its approach. It includes fine sections on important persons in the history of Choro along with musical examples of their art. The book’s final section, “A Personal Touch”, includes original compositions from both Paolo and Marilynn that demonstrate their mastery of Choro style and give the student some satisfying material to work on.

The CD that comes with the book includes everything you could want. It has examples that illustrate various concepts and exercises and includes several complete performances from both Marilynn and Paolo. All told, this is a unique and highly valuable resource for the mandolinist who has been bitten by the Choro bug. Highly recommended.

Free Live Music: BLACK FRIDAY (Nov. 25th) BRAZILIAN DAY in El Cerrito, California

In the SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA for Thanksgiving? If so, come to Down Home Music in El Cerrito on Friday, November 25th, “Black Friday” for Live Brazilian Music all afternoon!

Here’s the plan:

2:00pm Brazilian Music Book Table Open (by Atlantico Books)
2:30pm Open Brazilian Jam, with Gus Garelick (from the Hot Frittatas) and friends–please join!
3:30pm Brazilian Choro tunes featuring Ellis Island Old World Folk Band

We’ll celebrate post-turkey-day with live Brazilian music, great deals on Brazilian Music Books from Atlantico Books, and Down Home’s great CDs & Vinyl!

Down Home Music is at: 10341 San Pablo Ave – El Cerrito, CA – 94530

Come out to BLACK FRIDAY, BRAZILIAN MUSIC DAY in El Cerrito, California! We’ll have a blast!
You can RSVP to Brazilian Black Friday on FaceBook, here.

Learn Portuguese: Os Sorrisos do Choro (The smiles of Choro)

Brazilian Choro is one of my favorite styles of music.  I just learned about a new Portuguese-language biography of the living choro legends, Os Sorrisos do Choro (The smiles of Choro). In Os Sorrisos do Choro, American flutist Julie Koidin travels from Rio to Brasília, from the Northeast to São Paulo, registering the live history of choro; 52 talks with a broad range of characters, from Altamiro Carrilho to Hermeto Pascoal, from Guinga to Sivuca and also journalists such as Ary Vasconcelos. By telling its picturesque tales, we see a common point between them: choro attracts everyone.

About the book (THE BOOK IS IN PORTUGUESE):

Os Sorrisos do Choro is the result of over 8 years of extensive research originating with a prestigious Fulbright lecture-research grant in 2002. Inspired by Alexandre Gonçalves Pinto’s 1936 book, O Choro: Reminiscências dos Chorões Antigos, author and flutist Julie Koidin registers into choro’s living history 52 conversations with a wide assortment of personages ranging from Altamiro Carrilho to Hermeto Pascoal, Guinga, Sivuca, author Ary Vasconcelos, among others. The reader travels with Koidin, from Rio to Brasília, then to the northeast and São Paulo, sharing through her colorful memoirs as she meets musicians, composers, researchers and listens to them tell their colorful stories. All hold one thing in common – choro has touched them all.

Julie’s work is certainly an important resource for all those interested in Brazilian music and culture.

About the author:

Born in Chicago, Julie Koidin is an active soloist and flutist, a teacher and chamber musician. She first came to Brazil in 1997 and since then has returned 15 times. She performs in Dois no Choro with Brazilian guitarist/vocalist Paulinho Garcia. Together, they have recorded three CDs: Carinhoso (1999), Juntos (2002) with special guests Altamiro Carrilho and Maria Teresa Madeira, and Asa Branca (2009). The latter two CDs received grants from the Illinois Arts Council.

Julie is one of the founders of the chamber music ensemble Ondas, which is devoted to the performance of works by Latin-American composers. The group annually performs at the Chicago Latin Music Festival, and has performed on radio station WFMT-FM and on the “Chicago Tonight” TV Program (WTTW).

She has received five Fulbright Association grants: a Lecture-Research Grant in Brazil (2002), and Specialist Grants in Norway (2005), New Zealand (2006), Serbia (2008) and Sweden (2011). Julie has presented courses and masterclasses at UNIRIO – the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the Federal Universities of Natal, Recife and Brasília; FAMES (Espírito Santos); and in festivals such as the international festivals in Domingos Martins (ES), Campos dos Goytacazes (RJ), and Brasília. She has given presentations on choro internationally, including at the National Flute Association Conventions (Chicago, 1997 and Washington, D.C., 2002) and at British Flute Society Convention in Manchester, England in 2010.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A composer and musician I admire is Jacob do Bandolim, “Jacob of the Mandolin.” Jacob do Bandolim was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1918. He  became one of the best-known choristas in his short life (he died in 1969). He composed over 100 choros in his lifetime, and he recorded many more. His book of choros, Tocando com Jacob PARTITURAS & PLAYBACKS, includes some of his best tunes, like Rosa, Carinhoso, Vou Vivendo, Naquele Tempo, Descendo a Serra, & Lamentos. The book includes 2 great CDs, one with Jacob’s original recordings with his band and the other with just the band, minus the melody, so a “play-along” CD with a fabulous band to accompany you while you play his choros in the book!

Classical Mandolin Society of America Convention (CMSA) in Baltimore and Brazilian Choro Books

Friday night’s concert started with “Mando for Kids.” These are young people who are mentored by members of the Baltimore Mandolin Orchestra, especially Laura Norris, Joyce Adams, Kitty Brown and Lorin Brown. Mando for Kids introduces children to the playing and hearing of the mandolin as a classical instrument. The kids entertained with familiar old tunes! BMO is doing a great thing, introducing young people to the mandolin.

Next up was the Baltimore Mandolin Quartet. They play the old-style bowlback mandolins and their instrumentation (3 mandolins and a mandola) is a “quartetto romantico” in the Italian tradition of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They play a lovely mix of classical works by the old masters  and new arrangements and original compositions by mandolist Jonathan Jensen. Their performance was spell-binding!

Members of the Pittsburgh Mandolin Orchestra performed a variety of tunes, including a lively British Isles Suite and some very fun songs, like “The Fox” (and English Folk Song), O Solo Mio, and Ose Shalom. Vocalist Gary Burdick was a pleasure to listen to, and I especially liked seeing that the membership of the Pittsburgh Mandolin Orchestra were all different ages–it’s great to see a new generation playing mandolin.

The Providence Mandolin Orchestra closed the show, with a performance of contemporary Greek composer Victor Kioulaphides’s “Sinfonia a pizzicato” an homage to composer Felix Mendelssohn in the year of his bicentennial (2009). It was the US premiere of this work. The Providence Mandolin Orchestra features a wide range of musical styles from Renaissance dances to Baroque concertos, from turn-of-the century nostalgia to avant-garde expressions. Within its wide range of musical tastes, the Orchestra is probably best known for its lively interpretations of traditional music from sources as diverse as Appalachian folk ballads and Brazilian chorinho. In addition, the PMO’s unique tonality has inspired exciting new works by composers Will Ayton, Stephen Funk Pearson, Michael Nix, Robert Martel, Owen Hartford, and others.

The members of CMSA are from many different mandolin orchestras in different parts of the USA. There are also mandolinists here who aren’t in orchestras, and even a few who travelled from Canada, Bulgaria, and other parts of the world! My mom is a member of Aurora, a mandolin orchestra based in the South San Francisco Bay Area, and several of the Aurora members are here. There are also members of the Baltimore Mandolin Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Mandolin Orchestra, and the Providence Mandolin Orchestra. Mandolin orchestras are featured at concerts during the convention, and there’s also the En Masse group–the biggest group of mandolin and guitar-players I’ve every seen, made up of many people who are here for the convention. The CMSA is a chance to meet other musicians, hear some great music, and also take workshops with accomplished mandolinists like Carlo Aonzo and Chris Acquavella. I can tell the musicians are having a blast! And I’m really enjoying the ongoing music all over the convention.

The mandolin is a beautiful little instrument–quite easily portable and not very expensive. It is a favorite in many styles of music, including Brazilian choro.  One composer and musician I admire is Jacob do Bandolim, Jacob of the Mandolin. Jacob do Bandolim was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1918. He  became one of the best-known choristas in his short life (he died in 1969). He composed over 100 choros in his lifetime, and he recorded many more. His book of choros, Tocando com Jacob PARTITURAS & PLAYBACKS, includes some of his best tunes, like Rosa, Carinhoso, Vou Vivendo, Naquele Tempo, Descendo a Serra, & Lamentos. The book includes 2 great CDs, one with Jacob’s original recordings with his band and the other with just the band, minus the melody, so a “play-along” CD with a fabulous band to accompany you while you play his choros in the book!

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