Andrew Lardner
patreon
Requiem for Mississippi John Hurt
🕑 Added 2022-07-01 13:00:11 +0000 UTCFriends:
I'm glad to be back with another monthly post. Thank you for participating in the vote that decided this month's lesson.
Fahey's "Requiem for Mississippi John Hurt" was originally recorded in January of 1967 and would be included on the album titled Requia later that year. Requia was Fahey's fifth commercial record, and the first that would not be released on Takoma. He wanted a release on a large label to maximize exposure and the album sold relatively well, about 9000 copies in the first month.
"Requiem for Mississippi John Hurt" is a deceptively difficult piece to memorize and master. Most of Fahey's catalog is characterized by an alternating bass with the thumb playing lower notes on beats 1 and 3, and higher notes on beats 2 and 4. Most sections of the piece are played with this reversed, but he frequently flips it around to keep you on your toes. This is the only recording or "Requiem for Mississippi John Hurt" I'm aware of that has this characteristic.
My YouTube performance can be found here https://youtu.be/TFJKl-l2pzA
The Patreon lesson can be found here https://youtu.be/CvCs1OOtQfg
The score is attached below. If you have any questions or comments about this piece please post them here.
Comments
Edward Winter
I can't wait to dig into this. Thank you Andy!
mark blomquist
Hey Andy! Just finished this wonderful piece and will start trying to memorize it. My second favorite Fahey after "Impressions of Susan". Loved going through the lesson and seeing all the nuances that this genius came up with. Don't quite know how to thank you for this but am so grateful as I'm sure we all are. See you soon!
