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Early American music, unusual & unique American sheet music,
and ephemera collection.
Atalanta
Fugiens may well be one of the first multimedia productions
ever created. The work was created in 1617, by Renaissance
alchemist Michael Maier.The complete
title is Atalanta fugiens, hoc est, emblemata nova de secretis
naturae chymica. The publication is a complex early example
of multimedia art made up of 50 sections. Each section
contains an engraved emblem and has a verse and an epigram
associated with the emblem, and a short prose discourse which
elaborates an alchemical interpretation of the symbolism in
the emblem. Each of the 50 sections also includes a short and
unique musical canon composed by Maier.
You can go to our Atalanta Fugiens page
to learn more about this publication and about alchemist Michael
Maier and to listen to MP3 samples of the music from Atalanta Fugiens and also download the music notation.
The
MusicOf The Spheres
Johannes
Kepler (1571-1630) published his work Harmonices
Mundi, in 1619. This
work, in which he attempted to explain the harmony of
the world, was a series of five books and contained
what is known today as his third law. The work was
founded on geometry, from which Kepler derived first
a theory of musical harmony and then a cosmology of
the heavens and the earth. Kepler
was attempting to find common rules between music and
movement in the solar system. His music of the spheres
is based on the relative maximum and minimum angular
velocities of the planet measured from the sun. Using
his theories, Kepler allotted to the planets musical
intervals and musical motion.
You can go to our Music Of
The Spheres page
and listen to MP3 samples of Kepler's theories and download the Music of the Spheres music notation and MP3 samples of various planetary audio combinations.
2 MP3 collections of bird songs
transcribed in different ways.
This latest Language Of The Birds MP3 collectionconsists of 20 recordings of bird songs transcribed using special software and then arranged with unique background instrumental accompaniments.
This earlier Language Of The Birds MP3 collection consists of 32 field recordings of bird songs adapted using 4 specially designed software programs and accurately slowed down and lowered in pitch so that the bird songs can be clearly heard. The audio is then prepared using various solo instruments, and occasionally groups of instruments where there is more than one bird in the recordings (for example - the sax ensemble performing the Canadian Geese flock landing on a lake gives a new meaning to "free jazz."
In
19th Century America, guitarists, composers and publishers were all very busy
producing guitar sheet music of all kinds. From classical
compositions, to jigs, reels, songs, arrangements
and even transcriptions from operas for solo
guitar. We are now making much of this often forgotten
American sheet music for guitar
available again.
The music of two interesting guitarists in the collections:
1. Vahdah Olcott-Bickford (October 17, 1885 – May 18, 1980) was an American astrologer and guitarist, composer, arranger and teacher, sometimes known as "the Grand Lady of the Guitar".
2. Justin Holland an African American who was one of the first
American classical guitarists, and he was a teacher
and a composer.
Included also are two unique collections of what may be the earliest arrangements for guitar of Sousa marches, and Stephen Fosters own arrangements of his classic songs for guitar accompaniment. This page also has large collections of old sheet music and instruction books for banjo, mandolin and ukulele.
In past centuries, more poets and writers than you might imagine created poems to and about their guitars, and to and about players of guitars. So many poems, in fact that many have the same titles! We have created a PDF with many of these unique poems gathered from quite old books published in the 1800s and early 1900s.
Haunting:
Continually recurring to the mind....
"haunting memories";
"the cathedral organ and the distant voices have a haunting beauty" Beautiful, but in a
sad way
and often in a way which cannot be forgotten:
"a haunting melody"
The world's
most haunting melodies,
chosen by people from all walks of life.
This experimental music has been developed over
three decades using a variety of special music
generating software programs. Some of the more
primitive programs and early experiments go back as far as the early "DOS"
operating system computers... all the way to custom
modern music software and artificial intelligence (AI) software developed
and/or adapted here at Amaranth Publishing.
Projects using music & sound from
old publications
This is a 60 page book containing simple parlour magic tricks using music and sound, many simple projects using music and sound, and even a section about learning ventriloquism and instructions how to build an "aeolian harp". We gathered these interesting projects from old books, published in the 19th century.
Hannah's Song The art & music of
Shaker mystic
Hannah Cohoon
Hannah Cohoon is the most famous of the many artists from the mystical Shaker communities in 19th Century America. What is not widely known is that she also composed interesing songs . Hannah's Song
Music from the Ephrata Cloister
The Ephrata Cloister or Ephrata Community was a mystical, communal religious community made up of both men and women members. It was established in 1732 by Johann Conrad Beissel at Ephrata, in what is now Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Beissel taught music at the Cloister and wrote hundreds of songs and choral works. The music of the Ephrata choir has been described as “sacred” and “alchemical.” Many of the other members of the cloister also devoted themselves to poetry and music and art. Their choir became widely known in early America for their ethereal and unique music, created in a musical notation system created by Beisell. We have created arrangements using melodies from Ephrata....
Unusual, Amazing, Magical,Wonderful
& Often Unexplainable Events
In Early America The
Early American X-Files
The Music of Fairies, Druids, Spirits (and more)
Throughout
history, in every culture, there have been tales
and legends about supernatural music, the music of
fairies, spirits, music with powers to enchant, heal,
charm, mystify and cause mischief.
We have prepared a PDF collection of such tunes as music notation.
Also PDF collections of old stories, legends and tales of fairies and music.
New: We have also now created an MP3 collection of many of the fairy tunes for those of you who may learn by ear, or for those who may be interested in hearing these tunes. Listen to samples on the Music Of the Fairies page... Even Newer: Three new collections:
A PDF collection of ancient melodies that were found by research in various quite old books. The melodies are arranged with guitar chords and a basic piano/harp accompaniment. You can use these basic arrangements as the basis for making your own arrangements of these pieces.
No
kidding, this page has music composed for
the infamous
Illuminati
conspiracy,
by one of the original members of that famous organization,
including..... "The Illuminati Anthem".
Apple Cider Music
& Poetry 5 collections related to apples,
apple cider and autumn
Poetry and prose,
traditional apple and autumn tunes,
19th Century aple/cider American sheet music
and traditional Halloween tunes
Robert Fludd, also known as Robertus de Fluctibus (17 January 1574 – 8 September 1637), was a prominent English physician with both scientific and occult interests. He is remembered as an astrologer, mathematician, cosmologist, Qabalist and an early Rosicrucian apologist.
There is an old manusript that contains a piece of music attributed to Robert Fludd..... we have transcribed that piece and offer the original 3-part music as well as a piano and guitar transcription.
The
Song Of Seikilos
The World's
Oldest Love Song?
In
ancient Greece a man named Seikilos inscribed
a funeral pillar with an epitaph, poem and song for his
deceased wife.
Athanasius Kircher
and the
Arca
Musurgica
The
"Arca Musurgica", designed in 1650 is a unique
device with which a musician or a non-musician can compose music in both
contrapuntal and homophonic settings using prearranged musical fragments
inscribed on inserts and arranged in columns inside the box. Each type
of insert corresponds to a particular metrical unit and on each section
there were examples of counterpoint on one side and more simple note settings
on the other. There are a few of these devices still in existence.
The Arca Musurgica was described in a publication Musurgia
Universalis by Jesuit Father Athanasius Kircher.
The early American Shakers practiced a celibate and communal lifestyle and pacifism. They are also known for their simple living, architecture, technological innovation, and furniture, art and music.
They also composed thousands of songs, and also created many dances; both were an important part of the Shaker worship services. In Shaker society, a spiritual "gift" or "vision" could also be a musical revelation or a musical dream, and they considered it important to notate such musical inspirations as they occurred.
James William Carling, poet, artist, musician, painter, philosopher, songwriter...... referred to himself as one of the "last hereditary bards".
He was born into a very poor family on New Year's Eve in 1857 to Rose and Henry Carling in the "Irish Quarter'' in Liverpool.
His father Henry was a singer and composer of songs, ballads and poems, and by trade a blacking maker, as was his father before him. There was music, song and talent in the family, both in the present and the ancestors.
I have arranged 6 pieces of music from the handwritten (often difficult to decipher) music notation of James Carling, as he says, "one of the last hereditary bards".
The creative queen who was a talented composer. Her nation was overthrown by the normal profit/power rogue types. She was imprisoned when she resisted. The nation later became the state Hawaii.
We have taken 9 melodies from Indian ragas (often referred to as "celestial music") notated by the legendary Indian poet, musician and artist, Rabindranath Tagore and prepared each to be played by western instruments. Each piece includes the raga melody, guitar chords, a basic piano (or harp) part and can be used as the basis for creating your own pieces of music and also as the basis for improvising using these melodies.
Celestial Melodies
The Music Of Gurdjieff .
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, (January 13, 1866? – October 29, 1949), was a mystic, teacher of sacred dances, and a spiritual teacher.
Born
in the Caucasus, crossroad of Asia and Europe, Gurdjieff traveled
for many years in India, Perse, Afghanistan, Turkestan and Tibet,
with a group of people known as the "Truth Seekers", made up of archeologists,
interpreters, doctors, engineers and more.
As a result of these travels, he had access to schools, monasteries and brotherhoods which had preserved various types of spiritual teachings.
Gurdjieff was also interested in and collected and remembered music from his travels. We have created 6 arrangements using Gurdjieff's melodies...
"The song that
I will sing is an old song, so old that
none knows who made it. It has been handed
down through generations and was taught to
me when I was but a little lad. It is now
my own song. It belongs to me. This is a
holy song (medicine-song), and great is
its power. The song tells how, as I sing,
I go through the air to a holy place where
Yusun (The Supreme Being) will give me
power to do wonderful things. I am
surrounded by little clouds, and as I go
through the air I change, becoming spirit
only."
In 19th Century America, the
Freemasons were busy publishing all kinds of
music related to their organization,
instrumental, choral, songs, you name it.
Beethoven's 10th Symphony Music From The Notebooks Of Beethoven (and a way you can work with
Beethoven's ideas for a 10th symphony)
Throughout his life Beethoven used many notebooks and sketchbooks to write down musical thoughts for pieces he was working on and for ideas that inspired him. Many of these ideas and fragments of music were either never completed or never published.
Beethoven's 9th Symphony that includes the world known "Ode To Joy", is course known across the world. What is not as widely known is that was working on ideas for a 10th Symphony and had made a few notation sketches for it in his music notebooks.
In an old book we discovered a transcription of an ancient Chinese melody from a chant called a "Taoist Incantation" We have created a PDF file with a basic notated arrangement using this melody, with various accompaniment, including guitar chords, keyboard and harp accompaniment, cello (or bass) line.
We have created an MP3 sample of this basic arrangement, with add improvised percussion track added.
You can uses this arrangement as a basis to create your own arrangements of this melody. You can download this arrangement below...
The swan song is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful song just before their death, having been silent (or
alternatively, not so musical) during most of their lifetime. This
belief, whose basis in actuality is long-debated, had become proverbial
in ancient Greece by the 3rd century BC and was reiterated many times in later Western poetry and art..
An early 19th Century periodical had a mysterious letter to the editor that contained a description and notation for the legendary swan song, entitiled "Gath nah cala, or the Song, or Note of the Swan" Read about it here: "Swan Song page"
Baseball
in Song and Music
"Build it, and
they will come"
Go to our page Baseball in Song and
Music where you can download PDF collections of old sheet music and traditional tunes, and old baseball ephemera. There is also a baseball screen-saver
created from dozens of early baseball images and
a collection of classic baseball MP3s. Go
and listen to Bob Dylan sing "Take Me Out To
The Ballgame", acapella.....
"Nothing flatters
me more than to have it assumed that I could write prose-unless it
be to have it assumed that I once pitched a baseball with distinction." - Poet Robert Frost
Some Of The Dumbest and/or
Strangest Music Ever Published!
In 19th Century & early
20th Century America, literally many thousands
of pieces of music were composed and
published. Some of this music was was odd,
some funny and some probably rates as the
dumbest or strangest music ever published.
Considering the crazy ways things seem to keep happening after we send the politicians from both political parties to Washington D.C., a new kind of candidate for President might not be a bad idea. Or, we could revive an old campaign.
Listen to the original Howdy Doody For President campaign songs..........
In old books such as "Witchcraft and Superstitious Record in the
South-Western District of Scotland, by J. Maxwell Wood", there is information about a quite old song called "The Witches Gathering".
We have created a piece of music using these lyrics and also arranged other traditional tunes related to witches.
" A few years back I thought I was past my “best before” date and I needed the spiritual support my grandfather had always given me. My memories of him and his tales form the basis of these stories. Montreal (and Weir in the summers) was my home for about two decades. The stories ended when my grandfather died on August 3, 1960. I was twelve.
Over the years I was able to record two vinyl LPs and two CDs (all my own work) and one LP with other musicians and writers. I earned a bachelor’s degree in education (secondary) and taught for twenty-two years, became an emergency medical responder for six years, a volunteer firefighter for fifteen, and a town councilor for two year"
The music career of TB Murdoch, known to the music world as "Bruce Murdoch" included recording for Elektra Records and performing at many forums and coffee houses during the heyday of the folk revival and the singer/songwriter movement in Greenwich Village during the 1960s that produced Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter Paul & Mary, Eric Andersen, Patrick Sky, Phil Ochs and many more. He also performed at the Newport Folk Festival, in Carnegie Hall and recorded an album produced by Richie Havens for his label and an album produced by Radio Canada.
He has recently recorded 2 new collections of his latest songs.
Sun Ra (May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993) was an amazing American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player (one of the first to use an electric piano and synthesizers for jazz). He was a poet, and was known for his "cosmic" ideas, large output of music, experimental music and colorful and often dramatic mythical and theatrical performances. Sun Ra made many recordings of his work, many of which re available for download, and as CDs and classic vinyl LPs.
A collection of traditional tunes related to Halloween, arranged with guitar chords and a basic harp (or keyboard) backup, that you can use as a basis for creating your own improvisations and arrangements.
The Oldest Christian Hymn?
Oxyrhynchus is an archaeological
site in Egypt, one of the most important ever discovered.
For the past century the area around Oxyrhynchus has
been continuously excavated, yielding an enormous collection
of papyrus texts. Among the texts discovered at Oxyrhynchus are plays of Menander and the Gospel
of Thomas (an important early Christian document), and
the oldest known
music notation and lyrics of a Christian hymn
Calling The Muse
In
the 2nd century, a lyric poet
Mesomedes
composed
the most complete existing examples of ancient
Greek music.
Music transcribed in Africa in 1920
We found these fascinating pieces of music in the appendix of an old book that was seriously damaged in the front of the book, but these pieces of music were in near perfect condition. The book was published in 1920 and these pieces of music were transcribed from live performances in Africa.
We have scanned the original music (68 pages) and prepared it as a PDF file, that is easy to read and print on standard size paper.
A 48 page book, published in 1907, giving simple and clear diagram instructions for Irish dances, and a list of the tunes to use with the dances.
Will
Kemp's Jig
How many people have danced 80
miles in 9 days?
Well, Will Kemp did; and you can read his
story and listen to a MIDI arrangement of Will
Kemp's jig.
Being both musicians and printers...
we have prepared the following collection:
Music of the Early Printers
Information about many of the first Renaissance printers who were also music publishers and composers featuring MP3 collections of examples of this early music printing.
Guān Yīn (literal meaning: "Observes the sounds (of the world)"), also written
Kuan Yin or Kwan-yin, is the bodhisattva of compassion as venerated by
East Asian Buddhists. Guan Yin is also reverenced by Chinese Taoists as
an Immortal.
In Japanese, Guan Yin is called Kannon or more formally Kanzeon; the spelling Kwannon,
resulting from an obsolete system of romanization, is sometimes seen.
In Korean, she is called Kwan-um or Kwan-se-um.
Guan Yin is one of the most beloved deities and Asian peoples
have been worshipping her as the Goddess of mercy and compassion for many
centuries.
We have created a free MP3 arrangement for ethnic harps and choir using the lovely traditional Buddhist "Song for Guan Yin" melody.
A Gaelic Blessing Gaelic Blessing This is something the world
could use a whole lot more of...
A musical memorial for Canadian First Nations
activist, songwriter and filmmaker Willie Dunn.
Sketches of Freedom Ron Bankley poems & other sounds Sketches of Freedom is a combination of printed book and compact disc featuring the reading and musical interpretation of all fifteen poems.
An interesting musical
game, Musikalisches Würfelspiel (musical
dice game) has often been attributed to Mozart.
On this page you can download an old free Windows program
you can use to create hundreds of Minuets in the
style of Mozart!
An
Unknown Mozart Improvisation? For the Mozart fans and music history fans out there, here is an
interesting piece of music that we recently discovered that was published in Baltimore
in 1874. The editor of this piece claims that this music was
improvised by Mozart, and later written down.
An interesting story to say the least! You can listen to an MP3 excerpt and download the sheet music for free.
In
1972, after 15 years of research Prof. Anne Kilmer
(professor of Assyriology, University of California,
and a curator at the Lowie Museum of Anthropology at
Berkeley) transcribed one of the oldest known pieces
of music notation in the world. Click here to go to our page about this unique
song and to hear MIDI arrangements of various transcriptions
of this song.
The complete
title is Atalanta fugiens, hoc est, emblemata nova de secretis
naturae chymica. The publication is a complex early example
of multimedia art made up of 50 sections. Each section
contains an engraved emblem and has a verse and an epigram
associated with the emblem, and a short prose discourse which
elaborates an alchemical interpretation of the symbolism in
the emblem. Each of the 50 sections also includes a short and
unique musical canon composed by Maier.
This latest Language Of The Birds MP3 collection consists of 20 recordings of bird songs transcribed using special software and then arranged with unique background instrumental accompaniments.
This earlier Language Of The Birds MP3 collection consists of 32 field recordings of bird songs adapted using 4 specially designed software programs and accurately slowed down and lowered in pitch so that the bird songs can be clearly heard. The audio is then prepared using various solo instruments, and occasionally groups of instruments where there is more than one bird in the recordings (for example - the sax ensemble performing the Canadian Geese flock landing on a lake gives a new meaning to "free jazz."
Robert Fludd, also known as Robertus de Fluctibus (17 January 1574 – 8 September 1637), was a prominent English physician with both scientific and occult interests. He is remembered as an astrologer, mathematician, cosmologist, Qabalist and an early Rosicrucian apologist.
The early American Shakers practiced a celibate and communal lifestyle and pacifism. They are also known for their simple living, architecture, technological innovation, and furniture, art and music. 
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, (January 13, 1866? – October 29, 1949), was a mystic, teacher of sacred dances, and a spiritual teacher.
The swan song is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful song just before their death, having been silent (or
alternatively, not so musical) during most of their lifetime. This
belief, whose basis in actuality is long-debated, had become proverbial
in ancient Greece by the 3rd century BC and was reiterated many times in later Western poetry and art.. 
In 19th Century & early 20th Century America, literally many thousands of pieces of music were composed and published. Some of this music was was odd, some funny and some probably rates as the dumbest or strangest music ever published.
also performed at the Newport Folk Festival, in Carnegie Hall and recorded an album produced by Richie Havens for his label and an album produced by Radio Canada. 
A collection of traditional tunes related to Halloween, arranged with guitar chords and a basic harp (or keyboard) backup, that you can use as a basis for creating your own improvisations and arrangements. 
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also written
Kuan Yin or Kwan-yin, is the bodhisattva of compassion as venerated by
East Asian Buddhists. Guan Yin is also reverenced by Chinese Taoists as
an Immortal.
