Here are two cakewalks I arranged, Freaks of Blackville and At A Georgia Camp Meeting.

Here’s the first excerpt from the By A Route Obscure concert.

Greetings.  First of all, check out these two clips:

Toirdhealbhach Ó Cearbhalláin, 1670  – 1738

William Billings (b. Boston, October 7, 1746 – d. Boston, September 26, 1800)

Colloquially now, O’Carolan, the blind harpist contemporary of J.S. Bach, and Billings, the quintessential New England composer who lived before and after Mozart’s earthly sojourn, have been united for a four tune set that will be performed during the By A Route Obscure concert later this month.  For me, these tunes provide intriquing evidence of much what was the rage throughout Europe during the classical style’s emergence from the baroque.  The added enchantment is when the epiphany occurs in one’s mind about the brillance of O’Carolan’s melodies.  I’ve always imagined that Johann and Turlough could have met by chance at a bar and shared some tunes and spoke of melody.  Unlikely, but an interesting notion nevertheless.  And Billings?  Of course my first recollection of knowing who he was was tied to learning the tune/hymn Chester which was cool because of it being my home town.  Anyway, when you happen to check out more of what William Billings wrote, it is pretty cool to close your eyes and imagine the context for these works during the earliest days of our nation.

So, on February 28, 2009 at The Company of Fifers and Drummers in Ivoryton, Connecticut, Ó Cearbhalláin & Billings will provide the inspiration for fife quartet and rudimental drums.  Come check it out.

A clip of a performance of a work by Johann Herman Schein.

While the German Schein (1586-1630) is generally considered a baroque composer along with his contemporary, Heinrich Schütz and while they both began an era that would climax with Bach and Handel, many of the elements heard in their works are distinctly Renaissance in flavor.  Schein’s magnum opus, Banchetto Musicale or loosely, banquet music, is comprised of 2o suites unified by mode and theme.  For years I’ve reflected on my introduction to these fabulous works during my Storrs Collegium Musicum sojourn under the direction of Dr. Bruce Bellingham.

By A Route Obscure is the perfect opportunity to revisit music by the great Schein.  We will be performing excerpts from Banchetto’s Suite X with an interesting mixture of winds accompanying a small fife ensemble.  Join us on February 28, 2009 at The Company of Fifers and Drummers in Ivoryton, Connecticut.

The clip at the top of this post exhibits a quartet of sackbuts, predecesors of the modern trombone.  The next clip shows a very unique recorder quartet performing another of Schein’s Banchetto suites.

One of the pieces we will be playing at The Company of Fifers and Drummers on February 28 for the By A Route Obscure concert will be an arrangement of a 14th century Italian dance called Saltarello.  It is fairly famous in the early music scene.  A really great version of this was recorded by the band Dead Can Dance.  Here’s a clip:

After a few rehearsals, some of us have already put this catchy tune into our heads, whistling and humming it away.

Saltarello will actually start our concert revealing our mixed ensemble including fifes with winds and percussion.  Back in my UConn days, I had the fortune of playing with the Storrs Collegium Musicum.  Recorders, crumhorns, the rauschpfeife, and racketts were among some of the instruments that captured my intrigue along with the mystique of playing the wonderful music from middle ages and the renaissance.  I always felt that these instruments would combine well with the fife.

Sadly, I am no longer associated with a group of this caliber (and even more sadly, the use of amazing and expensive instruments), but I have always imagined that an early music band could be simulated with a mix of modern day instruments and….the fife.  I look forward to performing this in February.

Just what is By A Route Obscure?  It is a multifaceted project that will emerge in various stages over the next few months.  Originally,  Edgar Allen Poe wrote it in a poem he called Dream-Land.  For the past few years, I have been working on my third book of tunes and will adapt it as its title completing  “The Obscure Tune Book Trilogy” that also includes Jig the Obscure and Idyll Works of a Madman.

By A Route Obscure is also a concert that will occur in February at The Company of Fifers and Drummers in Ivoryton, Connecticut.  I will be joined by Dominick Cuccia & The Not-So Traditional Players, a group Dominick formed this past year that performed at Massachusetts Day of Percussion at Boston Conservatory and in Austin, Texas for PASIC 2009 .  Joining Dominick on percussion will be Gus Cuccia, Therese  Cuccia, Brendan Mason, and Mark Reilly.  I will be joined by Deborah Malli, Catherine Cavallo,  and Mickey Andrews on fife, Tishka Musco on fife and flute, Maureen Mason on fife and trumpet, Jess Reed on bass trumpet and euphonium and Maria Paradis on baritone saxophone.

The concert will feature arrangements and compositions that illustrate directions fife music could have gone and might be going.  A variety of wind and percussion ensembles will enhance a progression of pieces adapted from different historical eras leading to original tunes I have composed over the past 35 years.

By A Route Obscure is also a documentary film that will premiere on April 25, 2009 at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.  The film will chronicle all the work I have been up to over the past year with electroacoustic music, photography, videography, and of course, tunes.

Stay tuned for more information as the New Year arrives.

Whether you are newcomer or past visitor of jigtheobscure.com, I would like to extend my greetings.  It’s always good to know who has been checking out the music.  My plan is to use this medium as a means for sharing some background on tunes that I have composed and to foster dialogue on traditional music, past, present, and future.  So enjoy, sign the Guestbook, and visit often.  Thanks.