The aim of this website is to provide transcriptions of the music of Ralph Towner, for anyone who wants to play or study his music.Very little seems to be published about Towner's music, except his "Suite for Guitar" (see Micellaneous) and his method book, but this book has been out of print for several years. Perhaps publishers, or Towner himself, do not want to publish the music.

The transcriptions on this site are FREE. They are intended for the education and enjoyment of musicians and fans of Ralph Towner's music. No profit is derived from these transcriptions. If the owner of this website is informed of any copyright problems, the site will be closed.

Also note that the transcriptions have not been read or certified as accurate by Ralph Towner.

- On this website, you will only find transcriptions for six-string guitar (Towner plays a nylon-strung classical six string guitar). I do not play 12-string guitar or piano. I am primarily interested in solo guitar pieces, as well as compositions or arrangements that are notable for beautiful melody, structure, or for being especially well "thought out" for the guitar.

- I have not written harmonic changes below the melodies to avoid "weighing down" the score.

- The transcriptions are standard notation only ; I have not taken the time to write tablature, and it would be possible to finger the pieces differently in places anyway.

- I use large ties to show the long sustain of notes in a chord. Don't mistake these ties (on several strings, indicating sustain) for legato ties (on one string, indicating slurs).

read this...	... and play that !

-I try to distinguish each voice in polyphonic passages. We often have to play "virtual" polyphony on the guitar; each voice might have a specific sound, attack, color, or dynamic level, but it's too hard to write all this on the page. Watch the note stems; I try to keep one stem direction for a voice.

- The fingerings I have noted are guesses, but because there are not too many ways to play dense chords or polyphonic passages, they are probably fairly accurate. Many fast passages are played "campanella" with the thumb and index finger, like in baroque guitar. Slides and sustained notes are easy to hear.

- It's my impression that Ralph Towner does not write his music as I have attempted to do. Perhaps most of the melodies are written in a jazz notation, like the "Real Book," with simple rhythm and jazz-chord notation.

I have written the music as I hear it; I don't mean to indicate that these are the only interpretations of his pieces. Music is for all the ears, minds, and hearts of the world. These are just my own transcriptions ; different ones are certainly possible.

- A few common rhythmic examples from Towner's music:

Steady measure : the measure is simple, or composed with a main rhythmic element (for example, 1/16th) that can be disrupted by another element (eighth-note triplets, etc.).

in "Mon enfant" into the chorus (mesure à 3/4)

Rubber measure : there is a main rhythmic element (ex. 1/16th) but little notes are grouped together in 3, 4, or 5. This gives the measure an "elastic" quality. Here, the melodic path may go unnoticed. So, don't be surprised if you find less or more sixteenth notes than in the previous measure. Time signature changes are not always noted.

in "Green and golden" - chorus

in "Green and golden" - theme

Blurred measure, tempo rubato, ad lib : I have tried not to write excessive liberty with rests, pauses, hidden beats, etc. "Janet" for example is a false ad lib piece. There are a few time changes and some rubato, but most of it seems to be quantifiable. On the other hand, "Winter Light" includes longer rests and often suspends the beat.

- I think the most important thing in transcribing and playing is to feel and understand the right rhythms. In any case, listening to the recordings of these pieces will be helpful!

- Scores have been scanned in at 300dpi, saved as bitmap (.bmp) files, and compressed with ZipIt (.zip). One bmp file averages around 1 MB and is less than 100 kb after unzipping.

- After downloading and unzipping:

PC: with Ulead Photo Express, Photoshop, etc.

MAC: JPEGViewer is perfect. Simple Text works too. Check the printing format (A4 sheet and +/- 24% resize). Graphic Converter should work too.

 

- In the future I will try to have .pdf files.

- A good, exhaustive index for Towner's work http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/8599/towner.htm

- A very complete discography of Towner, including collaborations http://www.dioxine.com/disco/oregon/towner-main.html

- The site of the President (Ariel ) of the very secret society of Towner fans. He'll give you more links, along with a few MIDI files of Towner's music.

- The "Suite for Guitar" is published by Theodor Presser Compagny

(Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania 19010, USA- http://www.presser.com).

This "Suite" includes 3 pieces: "Mevlana Etude" (from Blue Sun) - "Caminata" and "The Juggler etude" (from Five years later ... only LP (sold out !)).

- Towner's book "Improvisation and performance techniques for Classical and Acoustique Guitar" has been sold sold out for years. The last producor/publisher was "21st Century Music Production, Inc." (c)1985.

This method deals with left and right hand technique, articulation, dynamics effects, arpeggios, rhythms and modals and harmonic concepts. Pieces illustrates his book : Innocenti, Vessel, Serenade, Distant Hills, Beneath a evening sky and Along the way.