During the long pandemic winter, when the walls were closing in, I started thinking a lot about solo arrangements for mandolin (fiddle and violin).

Since playing live with other humans was still months away, the time seemed right for playing solo.

So I started writing solo arrangements for myself and for my students. This is a solo mandolin arrangement I wrote of a Spanish tune I picked up from Katie McNally, a fantastic Scottish-style fiddler. It’s a tune from Galicia, and it’s usually played on Spanish bagpipes (true!).

The arrangement is my humble nod to the chord melody style of players like Jethro Burns and Don Stiernberg.

It’s the perfect style for the pandemic. No need to mask up and share space with another musician — the accompaniment is built right in!

Feel like giving it try? Click here for the sheet music (standard notation and tab).