Seasonal Suites for Octave Mandolin and Mandocello

21 Easy to Intermediate Original Tunes Arranged into Suites for Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn

by John Goodin

SuitesBookCover-OM1 SuitesBookCover-MC1

Seasonal Suites is a collection of four sets of tunes that I composed with the "big mandolin" family instruments in mind. In February of 2019 I wrote the Winter Suite, followed by the Spring Suite in May of 2019. In August of 2020 I got around to creating the Summer Suite and I finished the set in November of 2020 with the Autumn Suite.

The suites composed in 2019 include all new music. The suites created in 2020 are mainly reworkings of tunes chosen from my Postcards From the Crater solo mandolin collection of 2016. Many of these pieces include small additions and/or improvements and several appear in different keys. The music for Octave Mandolin (or "Mandola in G") is in treble clef (sounding an octave down) and the music for Mandocello is in bass clef. I should note that the Octave Mandolin edition can easily be played on the standard mandolin as well.

All of the pieces in this collection are arranged with the larger mandolin family instruments in mind. The longer scale lengths and deeper resonance of the mandocello and octave mandolin provide both challenges and opportunities. I enjoyed taking advantage of the opportunities and have tried to minimize the challenges.

Using my octave mandolin, I have made sample recordings of this music which can be found at my So Many Tunes blog. Currently, the first two suites can also be streamed as albums at my Bandcamp page. Recordings, and sheet music, for the Summer and Autumn Suites can be found here: Summer Suite : Autumn Suite

All of this music can be downloaded for free from my blog. You just need to go to the entry for each season. When you order this Seasonal Suites book you are getting the convenience of having them all together in one place, with a title page and introduction. This is a small book, only 16 pages. Here is a link to the table of contents.

I had a lot of fun working on this music and I hope that my octave mandolin and mandocello playing friends will enjoy playing these tunes as well.

Published by Rosie and Earl Music (ASCAP)

John Goodin, December, 2020