Magnificent Mountain for Mandolin Orchestra

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Magnificent Mountain for Mandolin Orchestra by Rob Lunn

This is the world premiere performance by the En Masse Orchestra led by Jim Bates at the Classical Mandolin Society’s national convention. The performance took place at the Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois on October 12, 2019.

I had a ton of fun at this conference. I enjoyed meeting people, doing workshops and working with the orchestra. The score/parts is available at my website http://robertlunn.com

The piece was inspired by a trip I made to the Smoky Mountains last June (2019). One day my son and I drove up into the mountains and it was amazing to me see how the landscape changed. At times, when the fog was heavy, it was very mysterious. At other times, when the sun was shinning it was very magnificent. I tried to covey those feelings in this piece. The instrumentation is: mandolin 1, mandolin 2, mandola, mandocello, classical guitar, and double bass.

Here are a few pics from the conference:

Speaking about the piece before it was performed.
Giving a workshop on recording

Leviathan

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Leviathan is a piece I composed a few years ago. I started messing with techno beats in Cubase and started improvising to them. I would say that 90% of this came from one of those improvisations. Score/tab is free at my website.

I am finishing up another album and messing around with album cover ideas. None of these will work but here are a few…

This one might have possibilities….

Improv with Vocalization

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Here is something I haven’t posted before: an improvisation with some vocalizing. I certainly wouldn’t call it singing. At some point I would really like to learn how to overtone sing. I can get it a little but it certainly isn’t something I can control. If you are unfamiliar with this type of singing check out this video:

I also love the singing style of Manuel Molina. He just belts it out:

I also love the all-white suit!! I need one of those!

-Rob

Fun Jazzy Piece

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Happy Friday!! Or Friyay!! I actually hate that phrase. I have a friend who says, “I don’t hate.” I’m not above a little hate. OMG what am I talking about???? Is it even OK for a 45-year-old man to use the phrase, “OMG?”

This is the end of my piece, Fun Jazzy Piece. I composed this piece around 4 or 5 years ago. I wrote the original bass line 25 (??) years ago. Maybe 20. I wrote it on the piano but could never really do much with it. About 5 years ago I decided to try the bass line on the guitar and I ended up writing the entire piece in a few days. I recorded it on my “There’s a New Sheriff In Town” album which for whatever reason my bandcamp page is down so I can add a link. Not cool.

I have been making a lot of arrangements lately and I plan on recording a new album next week. The album will be all arrangements and will include:

Nothing Else Matters (Metallica)

Hurt (NIN/Johnny Cash)

The Godfather Theme

Schindler’s List Theme

and about 7 other arrangements.

-Rob