Leo Welch

Early American Melodies for Flute and Guitar

Brief, tuneful melodies arranged for intermediate flutists and guitarists from early American (1817) popular music. Written in standard notation, these delightful arrangements feature collections of popular melodies from that era as well as airs and dances. In keeping with performance practice of the traditional music played during this time, these arrangements are organized into sets of pieces as they may have been performed during this era. The sets include jigs, slow airs and marches as well as melodies that were popular from the continent. These arrangements are appropriate both for background music as well as public concert performance. The arrangements are derived from a book of flute melodies entitled 'Riley's Flute Melodies. ' Published in 1816 and 1817, this book was possibly used as jazz musicians use lead sheets to develop spontaneous arrangements of pieces depending upon the occasion and the musicians at hand. The guitar arrangements were modeled upon existing guitar practice during that time and use idiomatic guitar devices such as pizzicato and harmonics to provide an imaginative underpinning for the melodies. Many of the arrangements give equal treatment to both the guitar as a harmonic and melodic instrument.