Sci-Fi Song #7 is a solo acoustic guitar piece played in the DADGAD tuning and was inspired by Elizabeth Haydon's Requiem For The Sun.
My initial interest in fantasy literature was fueled by the experience of reading Elizabeth Haydon's original Rhapsody trilogy. I vividly remember ordering the first book from Amazon when I discovered that the main character was a musician. For me, this trilogy functioned as a gateway to the works of Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, and Tad Williams. Here are a few links to a series of excellent reviews of the first three Rhapsody books at Dragons, Heroes, and Wizards.
Merithyn is a character of great importance to the history and backstory of the Symphony of Ages series. Merithyn's Promise refers to the oath that the sailor Merithyn made to his lover, Elynsynos, swearing that he would return to her from his long voyage at sea.
Hope you enjoy it,
John
Very nice. I also picked up these novels because the main character was a musician. (I play the violin and piano, but I'm nowhere near as good as you.)
ReplyDeleteI do wish the author had included more "musicy" easter eggs for us musicians. One of the reasons I loved Anne McCaffrey's Killashandra novels is because McCaffrey wove her knowledge of music throughout the novels.
That tuning looked interesting. I should experiment with messing with the tuning on a violin; I've never played it any other way than GDAE. However, like I said, I'm not very skilled. I just do it for the love of it.
Thanks Tia.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Anne McCaffrey recommendation. I haven't read the Killashandra novels. I will have to check them out.
I've been using alternate tunings on the guitar for years. Its a great way to extend the range and color of the instrument.
Have you ever played the mandolin? It is tuned just like the violin. Celtic fiddle tunes adapt quite nicely to the mandolin.
I also play the octave mandolin (sometimes it is called an Irish bouzouki) It is also tuned like a violin. However, I know that some Irish Bouzouki players tune GDAD. It can create a nice droning effect.
There is a great musician named Tim O'Brien. He is a fantastic multi-instrumentalist. He plays guitar, violin, mandolin, and Irish bouzouki. He's also a fantastic singer. His music is somewhere between bluegrass, folk, and Celtic. He is worth checking out.
I have not tried the mandolin, but I have long wanted to. I do find the thought of tuning all those strings quite daunting. When I lived in Arizona, tuning my violin was a cinch, but now that I live in Florida, the pegs tend to stick. I feel like I'm going to break them off when I attempt to tune. Fortunately, the strings stay in tune better here than they did in AZ.
ReplyDeleteI also play the Irish tin whistle, brought back from Ireland by my Irish mother. It's tuned to D. I can get two octaves out of it.
But I love the violin for the vibrato. I'm mostly playing slow pieces on the violin to learn better bow control and to improve my vibrato. When I get it right, that violin can just bleed emotion.
this is really good..very soul-touching..it makes merithyn,and rhapsody, and gwydion and the others more real..
ReplyDeleteThanks Gene,
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that you enjoyed the piece.
John