friend music
Here is a drum part that was written for the Screaming Wretch by my good friend Scott Mitchell. The two of us performed this together on fife and drum at the Carmel Muster in New York many years ago. To my knowledge, it is the only time the tune has ever been performed.
Incidentally, Screaming Wretch, for whatever reason, is the tune that gets the most traffic on my site. Maybe it should be performed more often.
new music
There is a new musician that has been coming to John Stone’s for our session on Tuesday evenings. He plays the Uilleann Pipes.
Man, the pipes give the whole thing a different twist. Check out this mp3 that I was able to record on the Edirol last week. Pay special attention to the second tune. The piper dude is laying on all the regulator keys, or whatever they are called on that crazy contraption. In any case, it sounds like a musical traffic jam. It’s tough to get the flute to sound like that. Other instruments in this musical exuberance: Bouzouki, Flute, Tenor Banjo, Guitar, Fiddle. What fun.
announce
Blogging here about the Mariners and, more specifically, our follies in Switzerland has been quite enjoyable. I’ve received some great, and sometimes funny, feedback via comments, emails and in person about the ‘We Are the Mariner‘ series. One fellow even told me that he can’t read my blog anymore because I made him cry. Sorry about that one.
Also, there is a strong interest with other Mariners, both here and abroad, to share more stories with you as they unfold and to unearth stories from the past. Therefore, I am excited to announce a new blog where The Mariners can continue to chronicle their adventures.
Introducing: www.TheMariners.org
Please take some time to check it out. We look forward to seeing you there and we’ll do our best to write things that won’t make you cry.
general
For those that are interested, I did all of my audio recording in Switzerland on an Edirol R-09. I had never used it before and, in fact, a co-worker loaned it to me the day before I left for Europe. I threw some fresh AA batteries in, 2 gig of SD memory and I was off to the races. I found it very easy to use and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a high quality, compact recording device. I recorded in some very adverse settings such as bars filled with drummers and fifers. In spite of the conditions the quality of the recordings were consistently good.
In addition, I found it really easy to transfer tracks to my computer. Just plug it in via a USB port and it was instantly recognized as another hard drive. Simple.
Amazon has it listed for $349. I give it an A+.
friend music
Music is many things to many people. For some it is relaxing, others energizing. For some it is therapy and some healing.
I know of one man where music was his lifeline. It was the strand that connected him to the living. Though it may sound like hyperbole, it is not. Music was the needle that wove together a tapestry of friendship and love that buoyed him and actually kept him alive. This man, this Mariner, was diagnosed with ALS and given only a short period to live.
ALS is a horrible disease where if you don’t die quickly, you gradually lose the ability to move. You notice that your arms are shaky when you pour a glass of milk. You get tired walking to the mailbox. Putting on your own cloths becomes difficult . Tasks like brushing your own teeth become impossible. Eventually you find yourself entirely paralyzed, unable to talk and locked inside your own body. The sick irony is that you are entirely aware of your demise. ALS does not affect your brain, it affects your neuromuscular system, leaving you to contemplate all the things you would like to do but can’t.
My friend, Howard, upon being diagnosed with ALS and well aware of his fate, realized he had a decision to make. Before he would lose his ability to take matters in his own hands he had to decide if he wanted to live through the torture. So, one evening, when no one was home, he went out to the barn. Locked all the doors. He got into the car. He put the key into the ignition. He sat there. Thinking. What will I have to live for? How will I find any happiness? How much of a burden will I be to the people I love?
As he sat there contemplating his options his mind wandered back to an old friend. He heard this friend say to him, ‘You have two choices. You can choose to live, or you can choose to die. If I had half your ability and determination, I’d choose to live. This could be the greatest adventure of your life!’ Howard then took the keys and removed them from the ignition. He got out of the car. Unlocked the doors, went back into his home and lived happily ever after.
There were no medical miracles. His body ultimately failed him and he lived entirely paralyzed for years, physically paralyzed that is. But, the part about living happily I believe to be true. He found happiness in his friends. He found happiness in his children, and he found happiness in his music.
Howard was a fifer, a chanteyman and was learning to play the concertina. When he could no longer play the fife, he sang. When he could no longer sing he wrote. He wrote harmony parts for the Ancient Mariner Chanteymen. He wrote songs. He wrote poetry. He wrote a book. He did not write using his hands, they had long since failed him. He wrote by using a computer that read his eye movements, the only muscle control he had.
In doing so, all of us who new him, learned so much about living life with all you’ve got, and making the choice to be happy.
You may ask, ‘what does any of this have to do with Switzerland?’ It has to do with the lessons we learned from Howard, who was, years ago, freed from his shackles. It has to do with how we share those lessons with new Mariners everywhere. It has to do with the music he left for us in hopes that we would always sing it together. When we play and sing, we are sharing our love for music, brotherhood and the celebration of life with all those who care to listen or dare to join us. In Switzerland, they came to listen and that reaffirms, for us, all the lessons we’ve been taught by men like Howard. We all have to make choices. Our choice, as Mariners, is to do our best to celebrate while we can.
Take a listen to the words and music that Howard left for us, recorded back in 2007 in Switzerland.
So before our time is nigh
Teach our children how to sing
So they may raise their glasses high
And let the good times ring
~Dr. Howard Hornstein
general
I’d like to take a quick pause in my Mariner posts to give a nod to the spammers. Every day I filter out loads of spam that I receive as comments. Today I got one that I found amusing. It contained one line of compliments followed by a link to some porn site, followed by another line of compliments, followed by another link to porn, and so on. Just so they feel as thought they have some measure of success I am going to post the lines of compliments, minus the links to the porn. Here they are:
Very good web forum, great work and thank you for your service.
What beautiful text and visitors!
The Author, you – genius…
The Good lad an author! I much like site!
Very good contents…
The Author, you – genius…
I am glad to find this forum!
How does Mr. Spammer know that all my visitors are good looking? Impressive. I especially like the bit about ‘Author, you -genius’. Thank you spammers, you’re too kind.
O.k., now back to our regularly scheduled program.
history
In the early nineties, when I was fairly new to the Mariners, I decided that I wanted to write a medley. I had already played once at the Roman amphitheater in Augusta Raurica in 1990, didn’t think we were very good, and decided that for our trip back to Switzerland in 1994 we needed some new music. So, I began work on what would become known as Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis.
I was in college at the time and did most of my writing in the car. I worked as a calzone delivery guy and spend hours driving around campus. In between deliveries, I would work out a few notes at a time then drive with my knees and play the penny whistle on my way to the next stop. It took months but ultimately I ended up with a medley that was a mix between traditional sea chanteys and original tunes.
The medley was welcomed into the Ancient Mariner repertoire and has remained their ever since, which, as I’ve learned over the years, is not typically the course for new music. The Swiss Mariners, on the other hand, were originally much less eager to learn it. However, after hearing it again in 2004 they had newfound interest in the piece.
After thirteen years, and for the first time ever, the Ancient Mariners and the Swiss Mariners played Bonhomme Richard together, thus solidifying its place in the Mariner repertoire. It is the one contribution to the corps that I am most proud of. The icing on the cake is that everyone seems to really enjoy playing it.
So, a heartfelt thanks goes out to my Swiss friends. Standing with you and performing this together was a real highlight, not only of the trip, but of all my Mariner days. Thanks.
history
After posting my article about the Wettsteinmarsch I immediately received some important corrections from my Swiss friends. I had falsely asserted that the Wettsteinmarsch was named after the Wettstein bridge. There is however, much more to the story.
My friend Andri tells me the following:
The Wettsteinmarsch, the Wettsteinbridge and the Wettsteinsquare is so called in honor of Johann Rudolf Wettstein, who was mayor of Basel (1645) and a famous swiss diplomat who accomplished independence of the Swiss Confederation from the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation in 1648
Roman, another friend, tells me this:
As mayor of Basel, he went to the negotiations [for the Old Swiss Confederacy] after the 30 years war (Westfälischer Frieden – 1648) despite having no invitation.
Thanks for the corrections guys.
friend music
People often wonder why we travel all the way to Switzerland to play music. Incredibly, Switzerland, and I am speaking most specifically about Basel, has an amazingly rich tradition of piccolo and snare drum, which can be seen annually in their colorful festival called Fasnacht.
To an outsider the music may seem similar to American fife and drum. The literature, style and instruments, however, are all different. They are different sort of like how jazz is different from the rock’n roll. Throw a rock guitarist into a jazz band and without the proper experience he will likely flounder. Yet, there are enough similarities that will make the jazz-rock crossover intriguing. The same is true for American fife and drum and Basel piccolo and drum.
In addition, just about everyone I’ve met in Basel plays either the drum or piccolo. It is serious business. Consequently, many people from Basel are interested in hearing American fife and drum music. As a result, American fife and drum corps have been sprouting up in Switzerland over the last couple of decades. Likewise, we love to hear their style of music.
Fortunately for me, there was a piccolo and drum band, or clique, performing on the evening of our arrival. Incidentally, one of their piccolo players is also a member of the Swiss Mariners. So, the first bit of music I heard in Switzerland was actually Basel style music. It was a nice way to start the trip. The final piece the clique played is called the Wettsteinmarsch, which is a very well known tune in Basel, named after one of the main city bridges that crosses the Rhine. If you listen closely you will notice that they do not have bass drums, as they are not part of their tradition. Instead, you will notice, their snare style shifts abruptly between very soft and very loud much more so than our style of drumming. Also, I love hearing the high piccolo harmony that plays above the melody. Our American fifing very rarely has harmonizes in such a way.
So, the recording that I captured here is of the clique named 1884, which is an offshoot of another famous clique named VKB.
Let me warn you; I took some liberties with this recording. Hours after we heard the Swiss perform, the Mariners were in the Baggenstos cleaning their mugs with beer. My buddy Joe thought it would be a good idea to play the Wettsteinmarsch. Problem is, he does not know how to play it. So, as an intro to the Swiss playing on their native instruments, I’ve merged in the results of Joe’s attempt at playing this Swiss classic for our Swiss friends. I love how relentless the Swiss drummers are here. Joe played all of eight notes and the drummers jumped on his lead and continued on without him and, ultimately, the entire Baggenstos continued without him. What fun.
mariners
Hello everyone…or as they like to say in Basel, ‘Sali zaemme’. As the Mariners first entered the amphitheater in Augst, playing a marathon of a medley called Union Jack, we took the opportunity to greet the audience. Just in the middle of the medley, you see, there is a four beat rest where we usually yell ‘one, two, three, four’ in German. On this occasion we were, instead, asked to yell ‘sa-li zae-mee’. It was a nice way to start the show.
The video below starts with the greeting and chaotically progresses until the end of the medley. It is one of the few bits of video I have of both the Americans and the Swiss playing together. Also, I love the bit at the end of the video where all the drummers are tightening their drums. Did they forget to do that before the show started? I don’t know.