MEMORIAL DAY AND CIVIL WAR MUSIC

 

 

Memorial Day is a time to remember the many patriots who gave their lives defending our  freedom and fighting for our country.

We honor those who died in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and others.

On this day I'm thinking of the American Civil War, during which approximately 620,000 men lost their lives. It is certainly one of the most romanticized wars. I regard it with haunting nostalgia, acute sentimentality, heart-wrenching sadness.

When I lived in the Missouri Ozarks my home was only two miles away from Wilson's Creek National Battlefield (near Springfield), which was the site of a major Civil War battle in August, 1861.  I visited Wilson's Creek countless times and never failed to be mesmerized by the haunting, almost-surrealistic aura of the place.

It was during this time that I began arranging songs from the Civil War for solo piano. A few years ago I put some of these songs into a video, along with photos taken during the Civil War.

I decided to post this video in honor of Memorial Day. It includes seven songs and is ten minutes long.
I initially thought it was too long and planned to edit it - but finally decided to leave it complete.

My very favorite arrangement is the last song (When Johnny Comes Marching Home), which I wrote as a set of variations.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend.    Jon

This video is definitely best viewed full-screen

The volume (of the video) doesn't seem to be working properly on my blog. You can always watch it on my YouTube channel Jayveesonata.

 

ECHOES FROM THE PAST

Echoes from the past, music from the American Civil War.

About a year ago (I can't remember exactly) I made a video of music from the Civil War that I had arranged for piano. I didn't particularly like the video because it was way too long and haphazardly done.

So yesterday I made another video with some new recordings of my Civil War music arrangements. 
Unfortunately this new video is way too long and haphazardly done (*smile*). If nothing else, my attempts at creativity are consistent. 

I originally (long ago) recorded twelve songs from the Civil War, which I arranged for solo piano. In this new video, I've used four of them:

1. Battle Cry of Freedom
2. Lorena
3. Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier
4. Variations on When Johnny Comes Marching Home.

I haphazardly threw a bunch of  Civil War photos together with the music and called it a "video".

BUT there's a  method to my madness, sort of.
For the first song I used all photos of soldiers on the "front".

The second song Lorena is rather saccharine and sentimental, so I used photos of soldiers with their wives/sweethearts.

The third song Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier is a sad lament, which reminds me of death on the battlefield. 

The fourth piece is (are) my own variations on When Johnny Comes Marching Home. It's one of my personal favorite arrangements. 

I had to transfer all my Civil War piano recordings from mp3 to WAV and then splice them together for the video. The result is far from perfect - but what the heck... I'm being annoyingly modest and unduly self-critical.

Video is best viewed in full-screen

MUSIC FROM THE CIVIL WAR

When I moved away from California I went to the Missouri Ozarks (for reasons I won't bother to disclose here). I lived very close to Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, which is near Springfield.

Wilson's Creek was the site of a Civil War battle that took place in 1861. It's an impressive and haunting place, where I used to spend endless hours wandering around in a solitude that seems to be populated by spirits of the past.

Around this same time, I was intrigued by the Civil War documentary by Ken Burns which had originally aired on PBS - and, as a musician, I was especially inspired by the music. I extracted some of my favorite tunes and arranged them for piano solo. 

A few days ago I decided to make a Civil War video using original photos from that era and my piano music as an accompaniment.

The video is rather long - ten minutes - but it contains seven selections. The fifth song is a sentimental waltz, the Ashokan Farewell. It was used in the Ken Burns documentary, but it's not an original Civil War song. It was composed by folk musician Jay Ungar in 1982. I thought it was too lovely to omit.

I turned the last song - Johnny Comes Marching Home - into a series of variations (which I think is neat!).

I took lots of photos at Wilson's Creek, but they're presently in a Dropbox file and I'm not in the mood to go on a scavenger hunt. These are the only two I have at hand.

 That's me - firing at nobody in particular.