June 7 rehearsal will be indoors

Hi everyone - we can fit the whole orchestra in the living room of the building at Valentine by moving the furniture away to another room, so rather than suffer in the heat we can enjoy the AC indoors.

Please still plan to bring your own stool or chair, remove your shoes at the door, and please wear a mask as a courtesy in case of ongoing pandemic concerns or vulnerabilities.

The entrance is up the stairs on the left side of the building.

See you soon!

Mandolin orchestra rehearsal June 7

 The MMO board and I have scheduled the first full mandolin orchestra rehearsal of 2021. It's Monday, June 7, 7:00 p.m., outdoors at 2412 West Valentine Avenue in St. Paul. Take your own chair. If it's raining on June 7, the rehearsal will be on June 8 instead. We'll play music from the summer concert set lists.

Gloria Reverie: new parts for flute, m1, m2, mc, g

 I made new parts for the Gloria Suite Reverie for flute, mandolin 1, mandolin 2, mandocello, and guitar and put them in the dropbox. The new parts have file names that include "gloria-8." The parts have a few changed notes, so please update your notebooks with the new parts if you play one of those instruments.

Summer concert repertoire practice files

During April, I've been populating the dropbox 2021 season "videos" folder with play-along files for people to use when practicing at home. The folder has 14 ".web" files, mostly links to youtube videos. For the other pieces in the summer repertoire, the guide tracks we used in making videos are good for play-along practice.

Since we're not all able to meet in person yet, those practice files, along with small regional rehearsals, will help us get ready for the August concerts.

If you have any questions about the music, send them to me.

Breakfast with Tiffany

 Hi everyone, I just sent an email newsletter with Zoom link for us to chat with Tiffany (mandolin, mandola) who relocated to Zurich, Switzerland. She's seven hours ahead of us, so breakfast for us is happy hour in Zurich. Tune in on Sunday morning, April 25 at 10am CDT for an international edition of our Zoom Social Hour!

     For those of you using the larger mandolin family instruments, I was looking at some guitar rests, hoping to possibly get a better position for my Weber F-Style Mandocello when playing in a seated position and came across some videos analyzing different guitar rest products.

 I was so impressed with the Gitano Guitar Rest:  https://www.stringsbymail.com/gitano-guitar-support-1170.html

That I ordered one from Strings By Mail and have started playing with it; seems to be a good fit and I seem to  really get the Mandocello in a much better playing position, while at the same time taking quite a bit of strain off my neck and shoulders!  It folds into a very small foot print for travel and attaches easily to my Mandocello!

And of course the good news, I can also use on my classical guitar!

Daryl Clark (MMO - Mandocello)

The Loar Honey Creek LM-310F F-Style Mandolin $325

For Sale: 

The Loar Honey Creek LM-310F F-Style Mandolin $325

This is an excellent beginner mandolin or for those times when you don't want to risk your more expensive instrument. I bought it less than 2 years ago and it's in 'like-new' condition - has had only very light use, not a mark or a scratch on it. I also had new strings put on it and a setup done last year. Included in the deal is an Alpine Boulder gig bag (retail $70)

Here's the full description: https://www.theloar.com/p/lm-310f

If you are interested, want to see more pictures, or take it home for a spin please send an email to: joybous@gmail.com

Thanks, Joy

 

 

Summer 2021 set lists

 These are the set lists I made for our summer 2021 concerts. We'll distribute music for the new pieces and make the practice files available soon.

60-minute set

Minneapolis March
Expectation
Epilogue
Gloria Suite
Off to Minnesota
Benediction
Panhandle Rag (new)
Vous et Moi (new)
And I Love Her
Please Please Me
Waltz for Bill Monroe
Palladio

90-minute set

Minneapolis March
Expectation
Epilogue
Gloria Suite
Off to Minnesota
The Raven (new)
Benediction
Veritas Vincit (new)
Young America
La Serenata delle Naiadi (from Suite Marinaresca)
Panhandle Rag (new)
Vous et Moi (new)
Four on Six
And I Love Her
Please Please Me
Waltz for Bill Monroe
Palladio

Thank you

 Thank you, everyone, for contributing to the generous check that came in the mail yesterday. The mandolin orchestra is functioning differently this year, but it’s good that we can continue to make music together even when we cannot be in the same place.

Jonathan already mentioned some of the MMO's 2020 achievements, such as making the videos, including more players, and making a strong impression at the CMSA convention. I had a part in making those things happen, but I'm not the only one who put in some work. While I've been arranging and editing music and recording guide tracks, Jonathan deserves credit for producing the videos, and Ben deserves credit for mixing the audio and helping me with the guide tracks. Credit is also due to everyone who figured out how to make those individual videos. Our successes in 2020 were a team effort.  

In 2021, I’ll continue to find new music do the prep work for more videos. When COVID-19 is no longer a crisis, I'll work with the MMO board of directors to figure out when we can play together again in person.

Free USB microphone to good home

I'm looking for a good home for a CAD u37 USB microphone.  I decided to upgrade my USB microphone to an AKG Lyra.  Would any MMO member like a free USB mic?

I think the CAD is a nice basic microphone. It only has two switches, an overload protection mode and and a low-frequency filter, so it's easy to use.  The cardioid sensitivity takes a step in reducing background/ambient noise without dulling the sound.  The mic comes with a stable tripod, but you can also connect it to a standard mic stand.

I've used the CA mic with Android phones and tablets with a powered USB hub.

Hopefully, you are all enjoying our current recording project.  If you haven't received the sheet music and invitation, please let me know.

Jonathan