This month...a free Irish Christmas carol arrangement, a holiday sale, Echoes Radio interview/performance, lots of gratitude, and some recommendations.

It's Been a Year...

I cannot believe that I have stuck to this newsletter for an entire year. I appreciate all of the messages that I have received letting me know that you have enjoyed them. Those messages and comments motivated me to keep going with it. I also love the challenge of writing a new piece to give away each month.

This Month's Free Piece

November seemed to fly by, and I started this week realizing that I hadn't even thought about writing a piece for December's newsletter.

I decided that wanted to arrange something for the holidays, but I am not really a fan of Xmas music. (Teaching general music in the elementary schools for 17 years burned me out on all of it.) So, I searched for carols that aren't so well known. I decided on the traditional Irish carol Don Oíche Úd i mBeithil (This Night in Bethlehem).

If you were thinking that I would select an upbeat cheerful holiday tune, you don't know me very well. I went for a minor and haunting Irish melody. It's in my blood.

I added a four measure intro to the tune, and the first half of the second verse (mm 21-26) is an improvisation over the chord changes. I hope you enjoy playing it.

Don Oíche Úd i mBeithil (This Night in Bethlehem) - Notation/TABs

Don Oíche Úd i mBeithil (This Night in Bethlehem) - Video

Did you miss any of this year's free pieces? No worries...here are all 12 TABs. There are also videos for 8 of the tunes.

Free Pieces from 2022 Newsletters

Holiday Sale

I am offering CD and TAB bundles at a reduced price for the month of December. If you are thinking about giving the gift of music, please consider purchasing some CDs. If you have a fingerstyle guitarist in your life, maybe they would enjoy some sheet music/TABs

I have 7 CDs, 2 EP downloads and 53 TABs available. CDs are signed and can be personalized upon request. 

Just go to my website and click on "Holiday Sale" in the main menu.

Individual CDs, downloads, and TABs are also available by clicking on "store" in the main menu.

Echoes Radio Live Performance & Interview

My interview with John Diliberto and live 5 song "living room" performance was aired on Echoes Radio on Thanksgiving Day. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to be featured on this iconic program. 

If you missed it, it can be streamed on the Echoes website. In order to listen online, you need a membership. If you don't have one, I highly recommend trying the one week trial membership for $2.99. Echoes has some of the finest music programming out there, and has been around for 30 years. I have discovered countless new, and new to me, artists on Echoes. Please do check it out.

Recommendations...

Bert Jansch - Bert at the BBC

Over eight hours of rare and unreleased BBC performances by the incredible Bert Jansch. This is freaking amazing!

Bill Frisell & Thomas Morgan - Small Town

Recorded live at the Village Vanguard in 2016. This is my favorite Frisell setting...just guitar and bass. This record is perfect.

No Love is Sorrow - Buck Curran

I have been fortunate to connect with lots of talented artists over on Twitter. Buck Curran is one of those people. Buck is a solo singer/songwriter/guitarist and one half of the alternative folk duo Arborea.

His music is deeply rooted in folk music, with subtle undertones of psychedelia. It is wonderfully moody and ethereal.

He also just released a brand new album  called Delights and Dangers of Ambiguity (Improvisations 2017 - 2022) It is full of wonderful experimental, ambient, drone-y, and modal instrumental improvisations. 

Check out his solo work as well as his work with Arborea.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers

I have a thing for American literature from the early 20th century, especially the 1930's - 40's.

Centered around a lonely deaf mute in a small southern town in the 1930's, this is a poignant story of a group of people who are often unseen or mistreated. I really enjoyed this book.

Unbelievably, Carson McCullers was only 23 years old at the time of the book's publication. 

Looking Back at 2022 - A Year of Growth and Opportunities

It has been a year of growth for me on all platforms this year. I am very grateful.

Streaming continues to steadily increase in numbers, but unfortunately the pathetic royalty rates do not. We all know which company is the worst with this. Maybe some day artists will receive a whole penny per stream from Spotify. It doesn't seem like a big ask since they are making billions. (Over 12 BILLION from Sept 2021 - Sept 2022) *end rant*

This was the first year I put my music up on Bandcamp, and it has gained momentum there. I also had another song added to the XM Sirius Spa channel. Best of all, I think I sold more CDs, downloads, and TABs this past year than ever before. It is wonderful to receive that kind of support.

It was also the first year I had music published for classical guitar. I have to thank my friend Keith Calmes for introducing me to Manley Mallard at Guitar Chamber Music Press, who published my Ten Studies for Classical Guitar Vol. 1 book, as well as five of my pieces that work really well for classical guitar. I am currently writing volume 2 of the studies, a sonatina for guitar, and some guitar trios that I hope to publish next year.

Please consider supporting this wonderful guitar publishing company. They have lots of music from some of the finest composers writing for guitar today.

You can purchase copies of my music at Guitar Chamber Music Press. (These are standard notation only.)

(*Kian's Blues - Coming Soon)

I am also writing music for a new recording in 2023. This will be my ninth album. I may stretch out a bit and try new things this time around...nylon string guitar, electric guitar, guitar trios??? We will see. I hope the one thing that will stay the same is working on it with Tom Eaton as engineer/producer/co-writer. 

That's all for now. Thank you for your continued support of my music over the last year. I appreciate you taking the time to read these newsletters too. It motivates me to keep doing them. 

I hope you have a joyful holiday season with your families and friends. Merry Ho, Ho, Ho.

See you in January... 

Vin