Mandolin Heritage Association
Our first project at the Mandolin Heritage Association is creating a collection of transcriptions of the music of renowned musician and composer Buddy Merriam. Buddy is widely considered one of the greatest bluegrass mandolinists of his generation and was among the father of grass, Bill Monroe’s closest protegees. He has an immense catalogue of original music for the mandolin. The Mandolin Heritage Association feels strongly that Buddy's collected mandolin works represent one of the most profound musical legacies of any living American folk musician and we are committed to cataloguing and preserving it.
So, what does this look like?
High quality transcription is a demanding process. A professional musician is hired to listen to each piece of music, playing it many times to learn every note and rhythm. As sections of the piece are fully learned, they can be written down in music notation. Once a draft of the transcription is completed it is submitted to the MHA were it is checked, edited, professionally engraved in music notation software and placed in our digital archive, along with a recording and often a video of Buddy performing the piece.
Across 4 decades as a professional musician, Buddy has composed over 1000 pieces for the mandolin and continues to write prolifically, but less than 100 compositions are currently transcribed. This means that over 90% of Buddy's music is ]unavailable for others to learn from notation and will be all but lost to future generations. Our goal at the Mandolin Heritage Association is to transcribe and catalogue 200 of Buddy's most important works, but we need your help! Our cost to produce a single professional transcription is $100. This budget allows us to hire expert transcribers to capture this important music completely and accurately in high quality, professional sheet music which can be read and studied by students and performers on any instrument.
Please consider giving today! Any amount helps and together we can be sure that this remarkable music is preserved and shared in propriety.
