Macintosh keyboards and mice

Titles (alphabetically)

Titles

The ones that have dedicated pages at this blog:

• Branle (Nordberg)
• Drowsy Maggie
• Ragnhild's Song 
• Sleepy Maggie When She Wakes

Drowsy Maggie

Drowsy Maggie

"Drowsy Maggie" (aka "Sleepy Maggie when she wakes") is a reel with a wonderful mysterious mood - I wonder what this lass is dreaming of.

It was published twice by Francis O'Neill, as no. 1425 in "Music of Ireland" (1903) and no. 662 in "Dance Music of Ireland" (1907) and I believe it is Irish although it may be English.

The tune has always been very popular among Irish fiddler for obvious reasons and in England it is the standard music for the Ockington morris dance. It became even better known all over the world when it was performed in the "Titanic" movie

Arrangements

Guitar

I have made two slightly different guiatr arrangements of the tune, the first is a fairly straight forward rendering of the tune with a bass line and a few chord notes added:

The second is more elaborate with an intro featuring some simple percussion effects and a section where the tune is played with pull off note in a higehr octave:

Frank Nordberg: Ragnhild's Song

Ragnhild's Song

• For solo guitar (classical/nylon stringed or acoustic/steel stringed)
• Composed by Frank Nordberg (2011)
• Key: C major
• Difficulty level: Moderately easy
• Available from: Sheetmusic Plus

Frank Nordberg: Branle

Branle

• For solo guitar (classical/nylon stringed or acoustic/steel stringed)
• Composed by Frank Nordberg (2011)
• Key: A minor
• Difficulty level: Fairly easy
• Available from: Sheetmusic Plus

The branle was a French village dance popular during the 16th and early 17th century. This one is far more recent than that, it was written in 2011, but it's still very much in the old style.

I wrote this piece mainly as a technical exercise for some of my students but I always try to turn my exercises into good music too. Practising is more fun that way and you also get to learn more pieces for your repertoire.

The exercise part of this tune is the change between the Em and the A5add9 chords:

It's such a simple trick - just the same chord shape on different strings - but it's so effective  if you want to spice up your acoustic rhythm guitar playing. It's well worth learning, especially when you get a nice little solo as a bonus.

Oboe duets

Oboe duets

Not just for oboes- suitable for most any two equal treble instruments!

All titles are available as downloadable PDF files from Sheetmusic Plus.

Arrangements of traditional tunes

• A Man's a Man for A' That (easy)
• Go From My Window with variation (easy) 

Violin duets

Violin duets

Not just for violins - suitable for most any two equal treble instruments!

All titles are available as downloadable PDF files from Sheetmusic Plus.

Arrangements of traditional tunes

• A Man's a Man for A' That (easy)
• Go From My Window with variation (easy)