As usual, the DeWalt experience is a rich mix of music, video entertainments, shared tales, stomach art, caffeine, and, in this case, a field trip… to Powell Gardens.

Finally… as in ‘grand finale,’ came the Mandolin Orchestra of Kansas City concert. This took place at some church in KC, the name of which I didn’t retain in my … uh… notes. During rehearsal in the hours before the ‘house’ opened, I whipped out my trusty iPhone and took some video. From these clips, I have extracted a few still shots.

I’ve written about the MOOKC before on this blog. In general, the mandolin orchestra, which has a long and storied history, and was particularly prominent in the early years of the 20th century, has a unique and quite potent sound. Phil has become quite adept at arranging orchestral music for the ensemble. The chief concerns, as I, with my limited knowledge, perceive them, are the lack of sustaining power and range of the mandolins vs. the string family. I may be wrong about range: the mandolins include the ‘mandocello,’ and ‘mandobass.’ Obviously, certain string effects are different on the mandolin: glissandi, harmonics, pizzicati… these are doable, but certainly do not sound quite the way they do on violins. The sustain of the string sound is replaceable by tremolo. If you check out the link above to the wikipedia article on the mandolin orchestra, you’ll note that Phil’s piece Zephyrisms (2010), published by Trekel, is listed among works for the ensemble. In this concert, there was plenty of evidence of the zesty DeWalt flavors: jazzy, spicy, unusual, challenging (but not too! Phil must keep the orchestra and its audience entertained but not repulsed. A balancing act not unlike standing on a physioball!). The idea of the concert, expressed in its title, “Echos Through Time – Music That Refuses To Fade,” was a very DeWalt-esque look at music history. I always think of Lewis Lane of East Denis on Cape Cod tossing a coin on his floor, exclaiming ‘I’m no expert! If all of music history is this floor, what I know is what’s under that dime!’ The DeWalt arrangement of a mashup of ‘Dies Irae’ (Day of Judgement) and L’homme Armé (The Armed Man, Thomas of Celano, 15th century) started things off with a bang. The bang, which indeed continues to echo, comes from the side by side pairing (or maybe intermingled; I don’t have the score in front of me, and it’s two months on!) of the ‘day of judgement,’ of much fame from the countless masses, and this secular song the text of which:

The armed man should be feared.
Everywhere it has been proclaimed
That each man shall arm himself
With a coat of iron mail.
The armed man should be feared.

A couple of arrangements by other members of the ensemble are well worth singling out. Mike Worley, who I’d met at a dinner at DeWalt’s a few years back, arranged Les Baxter’s Quiet Village. He plays bass in the orchestra. Then, Unsquare Dance by Dave Brubeck was arranged by Phil Vinyard, who I think plays in the orchestra, but was not present at the concert. I loved this one, maybe best of all. It featured some simple but exposed percussion by Pamela Sherrod. I spoke to Pamela after the concert, and it turned out that she knew the BCR band! Smallish world, eh?

Of least interest to me, perhaps because, like Phil, I like my music strong and whacky, was Vivaldi’s La Folia. Not a DeWalt arrangement. You can hear an alternative mandolin orchestra play this MO boilerplate on youtube. Certainly OK. But pretty tame and lovely. I’ve got it playing as I type: straight up variations. Perfectly fine. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood. Also straight up MO material was the arrangement of Schubert’s Moment Musical No. 3. This little ditty was one of my ballet class favorites. It is good for dégagé and tendu at the barre. It’s cute, in a slightly military march sort of way.

After the concert, a bunch of us, including the incorrigible Mark Carrigan and the aforementioned Mike Worley, including wives, decamped to Joe’s BBQ. Follow the link and order nationwide shipping! I threw caution to the wind, diabetes be damned, and had the Bread Pudding for desert. Awesome. Now, what’s my name again?

Back at chez DeWalt, we followed the whole eventful day with a youtube, or some streaming service or other, investigation of Death and Robots, with a side of a now banned purveyor of ragtime coon songs. (Stay tuned for a tale of coons of a different order… ie., raccoons, the animals…) At length, a discussion arose about how rude it is to leave without saying goodbye. But I wanted to be on the road by 7:00 AM, and therefore…

I left without saying goodbye. I say hello. You say goodbye. ‘Bye, Phil ‘n Teresa. I’ll be back. You know I will…

The road back to Rantoul was the usual long, but uneventful slog. And thus ends my travelogue. So far…