Monday 1 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Courante by Boismortier

 from Sonata for 3 Flutes in D minor

This is the second movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in D minor by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. It was first published in Paris in 1725.

Categories: Baroque Courantes Sonatas Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Tuesday 2 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Study in A minor by Ferling

 from “48 Famous Studies for Oboe or Saxophone”

Today's piece is the third study from 48 Études pour hautbois ou saxophone, composed around 1835 by German oboist and clarinetist Franz Wilhelm Ferling.

Categories: Etudes Difficulty: intermediate
Wednesday 3 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Botany Bay

 Traditional folk song

This song can be traced back to the musical burlesque Little Jack Sheppard, first staged in London in 1885 and then in Melbourne in 1886. The show's music was composed and arranged by Wilhelm Meyer Lutz, but the show's programme credits “Botany Bay” as “Old Air arr. Lutz”.

The melody's earlier history is not quite clear. The British weekly paper The Era of 25 October 1890 describes it as “written over a hundred years ago”, and it appears to have been adapted from a folk song known as “Mush, Mush”, whose refrain goes “Mush, mush, mush, turaliaddy! Sing, mush, mush, mush, turalia!”

Botany Bay was the designated settlement for the first fleet when it arrived in Australia in the eighteenth century. It was a settlement intended for the transport of convicts to Australia. The song describes the period in the late 18th and 19th centuries, when British convicts were deported to the various Australian penal colonies for seven-year terms as an alternative to incarceration in Britain.

After the production of Little Jack Sheppard, “Botany Bay” became a popular folk song, sung and recorded by Burl Ives and many others. It is also played as a children's song, particularly in Australia.

Thanks to Michael for suggesting this tune!

Categories: Nursery rhymes Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Thursday 4 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Rondeau by Braun

 from “Pieces sans basse”

This rondeau is the first of Jean-Daniel Braun's Pièces sans basse for flute or bassoon, published in Paris in 1740 together with Braun's Flute Sonata in E minor. These solo pieces are usually attributed to Braun, even though the front page states that they are “by the same author as well as by various others”.

Categories: Baroque Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Friday 5 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Allemande by Boismortier

 from Sonata for 3 Flutes in D minor

This slow allemande is the third movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in D minor by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. It was first published in Paris in 1725.

Categories: Allemandes Baroque Sonatas Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Saturday 6 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Study in C major by Clinton

 from “A Theoretical and Practical Essay on the Boehm Flute”

Today we propose a little study in C major by British flutist and composer John Clinton. It was first published in London in 1843, as part of his A Theoretical and Practical Essay on the Boehm Flute.

Categories: Etudes Written for Flute Difficulty: easy
Sunday 7 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Shenanagans

 Jig by Corri Campbell

Today's tune is taken from a collection kindly donated to us by piper Roddy Campbell from the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. This jig was composed by his grandson, Corri.

Categories: Celtic Music Contemporary Jigs Difficulty: easy
Monday 8 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Gagliarda

 by Vincenzo Galilei

The gagliarda was a form of Renaissance dance and music popular all over Europe in the 16th century. This particular one was composed in the 1550s by Vincenzo Galilei, the father of famous astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei. Vincenzo was an accomplished lutenist and composer, as well as a music theorist.

The piece only really became popular in 1917, when composer Ottorino Respighi used Galilei's music as the basis for the second piece of his Ancient Airs and Dances Suite No. 1.

Categories: Renaissance Difficulty: easy
Tuesday 9 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Menuets by Boismortier

 from Sonata for 3 Flutes in D minor

This pair of minuets constitutes the fourth and final movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in D minor by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. It was first published in Paris in 1725.

Categories: Baroque Minuets Sonatas Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Wednesday 10 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Study in C major by Ferling

 from “48 Famous Studies for Oboe or Saxophone”

Today's piece is the second study from 48 Études pour hautbois ou saxophone, composed around 1835 by German oboist and clarinetist Franz Wilhelm Ferling.

Categories: Etudes Difficulty: advanced
Thursday 11 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Owen Malone

 Traditional Irish jig

This jig was first published in Glasgow in 1799 by James Aird, under the title “Miss Dawson's Whim”. Later, it was published in Irish violinist R.M. Levely's 2nd collection (1873) as “Molony's Jig”; “Malone” and “Molony” are so close as to strongly suggest one title was a mishearing of the other. The first strain of the melody is shared with the earlier English tunes “Shepherd's Jigg” and “Trip to Ankerwick”, but the second strain differs.

Categories: Jigs Traditional/Folk Difficulty: intermediate
Friday 12 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Giga by Braun

 from “Pièces sans basse”

This gigue is the second of Jean-Daniel Braun's Pièces sans basse for flute or bassoon, published in Paris in 1740 together with Braun's Flute Sonata in E minor. These solo pieces are usually attributed to Braun, even though the front page states that they are “by the same author as well as by various others”.

Categories: Baroque Jigs Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Saturday 13 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Allemande by Boismortier

 from Sonata for 3 Flutes in G major

This is the opening movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in G major by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. It was first published in Paris in 1725.

Categories: Allemandes Baroque Sonatas Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Sunday 14 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Study in C major by Clinton

 from “A Theoretical and Practical Essay on the Boehm Flute”

Today we propose a little study in C major by British flutist and composer John Clinton. It was first published in London in 1843, as part of his A Theoretical and Practical Essay on the Boehm Flute.

Categories: Etudes Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Monday 15 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Tremargat Lake

 Jig by Corri Campbell

Today's tune is taken from a collection kindly donated to us by piper Roddy Campbell from the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. This jig was composed by his grandson, Corri.

Categories: Celtic Music Contemporary Jigs Difficulty: intermediate
Tuesday 16 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Minuetto by Braun

 from “Pièces sans basse”

This minuet is the third of Jean-Daniel Braun's Pièces sans basse for flute or bassoon, published in Paris in 1740 together with Braun's Flute Sonata in E minor. These solo pieces are usually attributed to Braun, even though the front page states that they are “by the same author as well as by various others”.

Categories: Baroque Minuets Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Wednesday 17 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Légèrement by Boismortier

 from Sonata for 3 Flutes in G major

This is the second movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in G major by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. It was first published in Paris in 1725.

Categories: Baroque Sonatas Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Thursday 18 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Study in C major by Ferling

 from “48 Famous Studies for Oboe or Saxophone”

Today's piece is the first study from 48 Études pour hautbois ou saxophone, composed around 1835 by German oboist and clarinetist Franz Wilhelm Ferling.

Categories: Etudes Difficulty: intermediate
Friday 19 January 2024

Tune of the Day: The Overlander

 Traditional Australian song

This venerable ballad dates back at least to the 1840s. It was first published in 1865 in the Queenslanders' New Colonial Fire Song Book, where the tune given is “Dearest Mae”, attributed to a Phillip Somer (‛Remos’). It has since been in circulation in a number of versions, and is still to this day one of the most popular traditional Australian songs.

There's a trade you all know well,
It's bringing cattle over.
On ev'ry track, to the Gulf and back,
Men know the Queensland drover.

Pass the billy 'round boys!
Don't let the pint-pot stand there!
For tonight we drink the health
Of every overlander.

Categories: Ballads Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Saturday 20 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Rondeau by Braun

 from “Pièces sans basse”

This rondeau is the fourth of Jean-Daniel Braun's Pièces sans basse for flute or bassoon, published in Paris in 1740 together with Braun's Flute Sonata in E minor. These solo pieces are usually attributed to Braun, even though the front page states that they are “by the same author as well as by various others”.

Categories: Baroque Rondos Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Sunday 21 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Lentement by Boismortier

 from Sonata for 3 Flutes in G major

This is the third movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in G major by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. It was first published in Paris in 1725.

Categories: Baroque Sonatas Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Monday 22 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Study in C major by Clinton

 from “A Theoretical and Practical Essay on the Boehm Flute”

Today we propose a little study in C major by British flutist and composer John Clinton. It was first published in London in 1843, as part of his A Theoretical and Practical Essay on the Boehm Flute.

Categories: Etudes Written for Flute Difficulty: easy
Tuesday 23 January 2024

Tune of the Day: The Worcester Kiltie Hornpipe

 by Rory Campbell

Today's tune is taken from a collection kindly donated to us by piper Roddy Campbell from the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. This hornpipe was composed by his son Rory.

The Worcester Kiltie is a pipe band from Worcester, Massachusetts. Formed by a Scottish immigrant in 1916, it is one of the oldest active pipe bands in the United States. They were also the first US band to compete at the World Pipe Band Championships.

Categories: Celtic Music Contemporary Hornpipes Difficulty: intermediate
Wednesday 24 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Minuetto by Braun

 from “Pièces sans basse”

This pair of minuets constitutes the fifth of Jean-Daniel Braun's Pièces sans basse for flute or bassoon, published in Paris in 1740 together with Braun's Flute Sonata in E minor. These solo pieces are usually attributed to Braun, even though the front page states that they are “by the same author as well as by various others”.

Categories: Baroque Minuets Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Thursday 25 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Gigue by Boismortier

 from Sonata for 3 Flutes in G major

This is the fourth and final movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in G major by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. It was first published in Paris in 1725.

Categories: Baroque Jigs Sonatas Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Friday 26 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Study in C major by De Michelis

 from “24 Exercises”

Today's piece is the first study from a collection of 24 esercizi by Italian flutist and composer Vincenzo De Michelis.

Categories: Etudes Romantic Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Saturday 27 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Bessy Murphy

 Traditional Irish jig

This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's celebrated collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. O'Neill's source for this tune was Chicago police patrolman, piper and flute player John Ennis, originally from County Kildare, Ireland.

Categories: Jigs Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Sunday 28 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Double by Braun

 from “Pièces sans basse”

This double is the sixth of Jean-Daniel Braun's Pièces sans basse for flute or bassoon, published in Paris in 1740 together with Braun's Flute Sonata in E minor. These solo pieces are usually attributed to Braun, even though the front page states that they are “by the same author as well as by various others”.

Categories: Baroque Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Monday 29 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Modérément by Boismortier

 from Sonata for 3 Flutes in E minor

This is the opening movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in E minor by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. It was first published in Paris in 1725.

Categories: Baroque Sonatas Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Tuesday 30 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Study in C major by Clinton

 from “A Theoretical and Practical Essay on the Boehm Flute”

Today we propose a little study in C major by British flutist and composer John Clinton. It was first published in London in 1843, as part of his A Theoretical and Practical Essay on the Boehm Flute.

Categories: Etudes Written for Flute Difficulty: easy
Wednesday 31 January 2024

Tune of the Day: Ian MacLean

 by Rory Campbell

Today's tune is taken from a collection kindly donated to us by piper Roddy Campbell from the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. This slow air was composed by his son Rory.

Categories: Celtic Music Contemporary Slow airs Difficulty: easy