23rd Woodworkers Showcase This Weekend!

Well I am pretty pumped to go attend the 23rd Woodworkers Showcase presented by the Northeast Woodworkers Association this weekend. I missed the one last year, but this March I am definitely ready to check out some amazing woodwork from local and regional craftsmen and women. For those of you in Upstate NY area, it will be located in the Saratoga Springs City Center, 522 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY. It will go both Saturday March 28th and Sunday March 29th, from 10am until 5pm. So what will be there? Everything wood related! From wood turning, scroll saw, carving, furniture, musical instruments, and everything in between. From what I have heard, it is supposed to be a very big woodworking show. There will also be vendors, talks, demonstrations, and workshops as well. Definitely a must-see event to attend for amateur and professional woodworkers alike. The cool thing too is that anyone, both hobbyist and professional, can enter their work in the show, either for just showcasing or in the judged competition, which covers pretty much all areas and categories of woodworking. The submissions have to be turned in before the deadline, and I hope to enter some pieces for next year's show, both in the general showcase and in the judged competition. I will try to take a bunch of pictures while I am there tomorrow, and will upload them in the next post or two depending on what I can get to. Looking forward to this great show and learning experience!

New Kantele Sheet Music! Melody #3

Just another kantele sheet music update for a newly added kantele sheet music composition. Titled Melody #3, this song is a simple composition for the five string kantele in D major. Like my other posted sheet music pieces, it includes staff notation and tabs for the strings, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. The song is available as PDF for download either in the link below or in the Kantele Sheet Music page at the top.

This particular piece is one that I wrote last year on my Kantele #001. It is a simpler melody, but one of my favorites to play. When I wrote it in sheet music form I wanted to simplify it with a repeat bar, but the timing and note placement did not work out cleanly for it to be implemented. It has a nice, upbeat and calming feel to it, and is a piece I play often, whether practicing or just plucking the strings. Have fun and enjoy, and check back for more sheet music and updates!

Melody #3
 

New Kantele Sheet Music! Melody #2

Just a quick update for a new available kantele sheet music! This composition, titled Melody #2, can be found on the Kantele Sheet Music page or in the provided link below. This melody is a composition for the five string kantele in D major. Like my previously uploaded sheet music pieces, the sheet music includes both staff notation and tabs, and is available as a PDF file for download. This is a fun but slightly challenging song which has overtones inserted into the phrasing of the melody, and requires smooth change in alternation between the overtones and the normal plucking technique. I will definitely need to upload a video for this song at some point for reference for the technique to make it easier to visualize and learn. In addition with the normal notes and overtone tabs as discussed in previous sheet music updates, this song includes a simple 2 note chord, which in the staff notation, consists of the stacked notes, and right underneath in the tabs are the two rows corresponding numbers representing the plucked string for the chord - in this case, the chord used consists of a "3" (marking the middle string on a 5 string kantele, or the F# note when tuned to the D major scale), and a "1" right under it (marking the lowest string, or the D note). All this means is to pluck both strings simultaneously when playing. Have fun and enjoy, and remember, practice makes perfect!

Melody #2

New Kantele Sheet Music! Melody #1 - Overtone Ending

Just an update for a new piece of kantele sheet music. This sheet music can be found in the Kantele Sheet Music Page tab located at the top, or in the link provided. This sheet music, as mentioned in my prior post, is the full version of Melody #1, with the overtone ending. I have just posted them separately since the overtone ending can be difficult to do quickly, but again, the music can be interpreted as fast or as slow as you want. Just as a reference, the octave overtone notes in the sheet music are marked with the string number followed by an "o", which is the format I will stick with for now for the tabs in the sheet music. So the octave overtone for string 1 (the longest string on the kantele) is marked as "1o" on the sheet music under the staff notation. I will try to post some videos at some point, both fast and slow versions of the song for reference and tutorial material. The music is in PDF form and is available for download. Check back for more sheet music to come, and enjoy!

Melody #1 - Overtone Ending

New Page Added! Kantele Sheet Music!

As promised in my last post, I have uploaded a dedicated resource page for kantele sheet music that I post, the Kantele Sheet Music page. This will make it easier to find and browse the sheet music that I add, in one convenient location. Right now the page only includes Melody #1, however, I have many more to add, and will continue to add them as I finalize pieces. As also mentioned in my previous post, my next post for this coming Sunday will include the original and full version of Melody #1, which has a short overtone section in the end. I decided to provide the sheet music separately because the overtone section can be a bit tricky if you want to play it faster. I do however plan on starting to upload videos and sound files as well, for not only the sheet music I post, but improvisations too. So check back for more updates in upcoming posts!

New Kantele Sheet Music! Melody #1

I have finally gotten around to preparing and uploading sheet music for the kantele that I have written, and is the first of many sheet music pieces I will be uploading for the kantele. I have never been good at naming things, and since it was the first piece I composed, named it as Melody #1. The piece is available in a link as a pdf at the bottom of this post.

This particular piece is a simple repetitive melody I wrote last year after completing my first kantele. At the time I was just starting to play around with the kantele, and this little melody arose, like most melodies, from improvising on the kantele. The song stuck, and serves as a simple practice piece. These kind of numbered melody pieces, as you will find, will generally share the same structure of a repeated first section intro, followed by a repeated second section, and third section ending which is a repeat of the first section. The sheet music is good reference, but the song can be proportionally played faster or slower depending on playing style. For myself, I tend to play rather rapidly, so the repeated sections go by fast for me when I play.

The melody is written for the 5 string kantele in D major, though any kantele can play it in the correct tuning. Since I use slightly thicker strings, I originally composed my songs in the key of C, since I tuned my kantele a whole step lower, but because just about all 5 string kantele are tuned to either a standard of D major or minor, I decided to transpose the final released piece in D for ease for the majority of kantele players. However, under each note is also a kind of "tab" notation for the kantele, so it can be played in any major scale regardless of tuning. The numbers go from 1-5, and correspond to the strings, with 1 being the longest and lowest string and 5 being the shortest and highest pitch string. The original melody was written with a short overtone section at the end that repeats the first and third parts, but for simplicity I left it out of this version. I will however release the full version in the next coming posts in about a week.

I wrote the song using MuseScore, which is an excellent and very powerful free music composition and notation program. When I write pieces for the kantele I choose the harp instrument setting and just delete the bass staff. MuseScore allows you to not only compose a multitude of instruments, but has many useful features such as playback which is very handy. I will probably post a basic tutorial for MuseScore at some point in the future.

In addition, I will also be adding a Kantele Sheet Music page dedicated to listing all of the sheet music I post, as further reference and resources to make it easier to find these pieces. From my posting schedule, which I have decided to keep at a post every four days, I will be posting this page with Melody #1 listed, this coming Wednesday for my next post. I definitely encourage you to check back for more material, and have fun playing! Many more songs and information to come, so happy plucking!

Melody #1

New Page Update - Terms and Conditions

Just a heads up to a new page that I have recently added involving the terms and conditions of the material provided here on this blog. I have, and will post, much of my own work, whether pictures, sheet music, or sound clips. Having spent a great deal of time arranging these original sources of information to share freely, I feel that it is at least appropriate and modest to request that users of such materials please provide credit/citation to where it is due - in the cases of pictures, sheet music, and sound clips, to myself as the original author. Anything else that I have re-posted or shared from other sources I have cited and linked to the original source and author to the best of my abilities, and would hope you do the same as well. I have posted and shared these materials with hopes of contributing to the community of this instrument and related topics, and as such is free to use for personal use and references, but again if you do, or share with others (which I strongly encourage), to please credit the author of this blog and material. I am always willing to help and make suggestions, so any questions just comment or send me a message and I'd be more than happy to help!