Where I find new music
Where do I get my music? It's a common question, and I thought I'd expand on an answer I recently gave by email.
At this point in my career I've come across enough music that I already have a solid foundation: for example, I know that lute pieces often convert well to the dulcimer and wikipedia has a list of composers whom I look up in a library. It helps that, at this point, I can often spot at a glance what pieces will translate well*, through various characteristics on the page. Every city I visit involves a trip to the local university library, and I almost always come across a new gem. And there's a massive book series of transcribed notation from the fifties on 14C polyphonic music, common to almost every conservatory, which I mine rather a lot.
For my current project I pulled two pieces straight out of music history textbooks. And I know that Edmund Bunting collected and arranged a lot of celtic music in the early 19C, combining traditional tunes with classical arrangements, so I went to his books for my next round of Irish music. Normally I get my celtic repertoire from fiddle music books and websites, which are plentiful, but I wanted a more formal style to match all the baroque repertoire on the next cd. I've been trying to stretch myself by using complicated historical arrangements as a way to tweak my style, which has started feeling stale and in need of different influences.
And, of course, I can't discount the input of my friends: several of them have published books of music, and others who have found treasures they've kindly shared with me.
*At a glance I look for lots of eight notes, with minimal half and whole notes, because of the lack of sustain on the dulcimer. The lute also has this problem, which is one reason its repertoire works so well (another being the similar range of the two instruments).
At this point in my career I've come across enough music that I already have a solid foundation: for example, I know that lute pieces often convert well to the dulcimer and wikipedia has a list of composers whom I look up in a library. It helps that, at this point, I can often spot at a glance what pieces will translate well*, through various characteristics on the page. Every city I visit involves a trip to the local university library, and I almost always come across a new gem. And there's a massive book series of transcribed notation from the fifties on 14C polyphonic music, common to almost every conservatory, which I mine rather a lot.
For my current project I pulled two pieces straight out of music history textbooks. And I know that Edmund Bunting collected and arranged a lot of celtic music in the early 19C, combining traditional tunes with classical arrangements, so I went to his books for my next round of Irish music. Normally I get my celtic repertoire from fiddle music books and websites, which are plentiful, but I wanted a more formal style to match all the baroque repertoire on the next cd. I've been trying to stretch myself by using complicated historical arrangements as a way to tweak my style, which has started feeling stale and in need of different influences.
And, of course, I can't discount the input of my friends: several of them have published books of music, and others who have found treasures they've kindly shared with me.
*At a glance I look for lots of eight notes, with minimal half and whole notes, because of the lack of sustain on the dulcimer. The lute also has this problem, which is one reason its repertoire works so well (another being the similar range of the two instruments).