no idea where this one's from--it's played at our Irish/English session, but i'm fairly sure it's neither. i tend to play the B part in 6/8 (BGE BGE, etc), but it sounds okay either way (it's not a jig, though!). as for the fingering, you can stop the D/A strings at E/B then E/C for the first four bars of the B part, then you only need to finger the G. this is one of those tunes that's much, much easier on the flute.


X: 1
T: La Ciapa Rusa
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
K: Emin
|: EF GA Bc | B4 B2 | cB AB ce | B4 B2 | AG FG AB |
GF EF GE |[1 F2 A2 G2 | F6 :|[2 F2 G2 F2 | E4 G A :|
|: BG EB GE | BG EB GE | cG Ec GE | cG Ec GE |
BA GB AG | BA GB AG |[1 F2 A2 G2 | F4 G A :|[2 F2 G2 F2 | E6 :|


not much to say about this one--it's just awesome. i didn't write this ABC; i found it in C at 4/4, but it's clearly 2/2 A minor. could be a polka, but i like to play it fairly fast and driving, more like a reel.


X: 1
T: St. Martin's
M:2/2
L:1/8
Q:160
K:Amin
E2|AB c2 Bc d2|c4 c2 d2|e^f g2 f3 e|e6 e^f|g2 ^fe d2 de|f2 ed c2 cd|e2 d c B3 A|A6:|
|: B2 e2 B2 c2| B3 A G^F G2|cde^f d3 e|c6 e^f|g2de f2 cd|e2 Bc d2 cd|e2 dc B3 A|A6:|


lastly, an Irish tune! (i know, i'm such a genre-sl_t). i heard Uiscedwr play this on Saturday, and managed to find Anna afterwards to get the name. they played it as the last of a set of 3 called "Feathers", but i don't remember the names of the other two tunes.


X: 1
T: The Congress Reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Ador
|: eAAG A2 Bd | eaaf gedg | eAcA eAcA | BGGA Bdeg |
eAAG A2 Bd | eaaf gedB | cBcd eged | cABG A2 Bd :|
|: eaag abag | eaag egdg | egdg egdg | eaaf gedg |
eaag a2 ag | eaaf gedB | c2 cd e2 ed | cABG A2 Bd :|

Fine tunes! I played the congress last night in a session, only we play it in A.

Do you play the reconciliation - there's a cracking reel for you (and a good one if you fancy position work). Goes nicely with the congress.

so today i've been playing a couple of old-timey hornpipes - Staten Island and Soldier's Joy. i can't pull off the real old-time style, but with a liberal application of drones and double stops (something my teacher also mentioned i might work on), and a nice crunchy attack, i think it's starting to sound reasonable.

one thing i've learnt so far: that kind of aggressive bowing style is really hard work! i usually have a pretty light touch on the bow, and i can play for hours; after working at this for 45 minutes, i think my arm is about to fall off...

i think i'll try this with some of the English tunes, too. i can't really do convincing ornamentation on the fly yet, but in English music, it seems that a nice drone or double-stop is perhaps more common than left-hand ornamentation (compared to the Irish music i've heard, at least).

ETA: i wonder if this sort of bowing is more common in the "North Donegal" style? i have to admit a complete ignorance of the various regional styles in Irish music...

Is this why people don't seem to play this stuff on the viola? They tell me that the viola is harder work for the bowing arm than the violin. So, if fiddling is also harder work than the classical style, fiddling on the viola might be very hard work indeed!

well... i'd guess the main reason for the lack of violist fiddlers is the instrument's range: there are not many tunes that don't make some use of the fiddle's E string, while the G string is much less used. to play on a viola, you'd either have to shift a lot, or play in different keys (G instead of D, say), or else transpose everything down an octave. no reason you couldn't do that, of course, but it seems easier to just play the fiddle in the first place.

for "arranged"/band music, though, a viola might work quite well playing accompaniment/harmony; i wonder why that isn't more common.

but, as i say, i don't normally use such an aggressive style, and i don't think fiddling should be more work than classical playing... i'm sure there are classical pieces where a similar style might be appropriate, and i'm sure all that shifting must be hard work for the left hand ;-)

ETA: i'm also sure that a better fiddler or violinist than me could produce the same "crunchy" sound with a lot less arm-work than i need for it. it's interesting than many old-time fiddlers use the thumb-under-frog grip for this stuff; it seems less flexible, but definitely allows more leverage with less effort. i hold the bow up past the leather grip, which is generally better for what i play, but does make this kind of playing harder.

Primrose - it's much harder work to produce the same effects on the viola, yes - but River's right too the range doesn't lend itself well to traditional music, not as a lead instrument anyway. I often play slow sad tunes on the viola in our session and if there's a lot of fiddle players, then instead of adding another fiddler to the pot to play lead, I often play choppy chord accompaniment on the viola - sounds lovely (but then violas sound lovely in general).

River, you'll get used to the agressive bowing - it sounds great and is well worth the hard work at first! Try to make sure that all the weight is going in through the index finger and that the upper arm is remaining totally relaxed. Before you know it you'll be donegalling your way through all your tunes!

I'm a bit of a b_gger for drones, mind - they're not particularly Irish (but then neither am I ) - I can't help myself - I have to add them in all over the place, especially in the higher positions. I do the left handy stuff too, mind, just so's I don't get shouted at by people with bigger beards and dustier fiddles.

Crunchy bowing is THE way forward.

Allan

(off to listen to some Tommy Peoples)

hmm... you know, if you do this a lot, it could mean you are secretly a bluegrass fiddler.



i've noticed it doesn't seem that common in Irish music... i suppose because Irish music tends to emphasis clear articulation and left-hand ornamentation, and too much droning might muddy that up a bit. (obviously i'm generalising a bit here!)



oh yes - i forsee some old tunes being revisited tomorrow...

I have been accused of bluegrass before (I also have a secret dirty passion for sliding notes and changing position a lot which they other players refer to as 'bl__dy 'armonies' or 'stop it or I'll kick you') but I do love the jigs and reels, so I'm staying on the trad side of the fence, with only a little desultory chop now and then!

Here's a wee jig wot I composed last week in honour of the glorious French sunshine and cakes, accompanied by lashings of lovely English tea :

X: 1
T: Tea at the Table
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: A
|: ~c3 c{d}Bc | efe {cd}cAB | c3 {d}cBc | {g}EF{Bd}B AFB |
~c3 cBc | efe c2A | aga {fa}fec | BcB A2B :|
|: ~a3 {fa}fec | Bce {fg}feg | aga fec | ~B3 efg |
~a3 {fa}fec | Bce {fa}f2e | ~a3 fec | BcB A3 :|

Just to keep the exchange going!

Thanks so much for this, I love Uiscedwr and particularly love that set Anna is one of my heroes, I think she's amazing, as a person and a musician. Did you enjoy the gig?

Hi!,

I love fiddle music, but am having problems with it. While I can play a little English and Scottish folk, I am having real (reel?) difficulties with my main love, Irish. Can you recommend any songs I can get used to, because the Beginners book I got is in no way to my mind for beginners!

Furthermore, how does one learn to jam? Sounds daft, I know. I went to a folk festival recently, and simply couldn't work it out. There is a session at our local pub, but the musicians there are really experienced, and I am cautious about wading in and causing chaos.

Thanks

ros can answer this better than me, but the main thing i'd suggest is: listen to the music. that's the only way to learn how it's meant to be played. you can't just pick up a book of sheet music and play the tunes; you might get the notes, but it's going to sound all wrong. (once you do know how it's played, though, i think you can learn tunes from the book if you're careful; opinions differ on this, though. it's probably a good idea to listen to at least one recording before you look at the book.)

you don't say what grade you are on violin (i'm assuming you're a classical player here...), but i think there's a tendency, at least at the lower grades, to look at trad tunes and assign a grade to each one, then decide whether you can play it--which is not how trad music works. all the music is easy to play, in terms of where the notes are. what's hard is developing the style in which they should be played.

if you look at LSM's trad music grade exams, they don't set tunes for each grade, and in fact you could play the same tunes for every grade, because what they're marking is not what you play, but how you play it.

my knowledge of Irish reportoire is pretty limited, but i believe it's common for new players to start with polkas, since they tend to be easier to play, and have a simple rhythm that's easy(ish) to pick up. Egan's Polka (in D) and Britches Full of Stitches (in A) is probably a good set to start off with. (careful with these two though, they're very, very popular starter tunes, and tend to be a little overplayed at sessions.) a few others, off the top of my head: The Banshee (reel), King Of the Fairies (hornpipe) (i still can't play this one properly...), Lannigan's Ball (jig), Drowsy Maggie (reel), Mountain Road (reel) (these two make a nice set), Killarney Boys of Pleasure (reel). before you try any of these, though, listen to someone else playing them.

two good sources for dots are thesession.org and jc's tunefinder.



at the risk of being pedantic... don't confuse a "session" and a "jam session".

in a jam session (which is the norm in old-time, bluegrass, and a few other styles), a lot of things are "open to interpretation". even when playing a standard tune or song, it's common for each instrument to "take a break", where they'll either play lead melody while other players play backup, or perhaps improvise something over the existing chord progression. each set is often based around a chord progression more than a melody, since if you know the progression, you can improvise a harmony, or just play chop chords, even if you don't know the tune. sometime you'll see people calling out chord changes for that reason.

in Irish traditional music (and also Scottish and English, at least), jamming is basically never done. in an Irish session, typically, someone starts a tune, and everyone except the guitar/bouzuki and bodhran plays the same melody. apart from ornamentation, there's no improvisation, and rarely any harmony (unless you count those pipers and their drones...). tunes are often played in sets, and the person who started the first tune decides what will follow it, as well as the tempo of the set--trying to speed up a set because a newbie started it "too slowly" is usually considered fairly rude. it's common to shout "hup!" or "change" or "last time" to indicate when the next tune's coming up. if there's someone playing accompaniment, they might also say the key, but personally i can't manage more than one word while i'm playing ;-) for flute players, working out how to indicate a change without interrupting the music is an interesting skill, involving a finely honed "now we're going to change" look. i think it's in the eyes. 3 times round is normal for most tunes; sometimes 2 or 4 if it's particularly long/short. sometimes people will lift up their leg to indicate the end of the set.

if you go to an ITM session, and start playing like you're at a bluegrass session, you will get some very odd looks.

as to how to get started: the first thing to do is, go and listen! that way you can find out what sort of music they play, and what the "standard" tunes are at that session. if you don't recognise a tune, most people would be happy to give you the names of a few tunes that are likely to be played at the session. when you want to join in, just show up with your instrument; most likely someone will invite you to join, and if not, just approach a friendly-looking musician and ask if you can join.

most sessions will welcome people who aren't experienced musicians who've been playing for 50 years. just use common sense--if you don't know a tune, don't play as loudly as you can while trying to remember how it goes. (but if you want to work it out quietly, that's usually fine.)



i did, but i have to say, i don't know if i'd go again. that's the second time i've seem then, and it seemed very similar to the first. maybe if Karen Tweed was with them...

ETA: that's weird; i made two separate posts, and the forum combined them into one...

i couldn't wait until Sunday for our next session, so today i tried something a bit different: our local "village band", which happens to meet just down the road from me. well, it was very different!

the instrumentation was thus: two fiddles, one viola, three piano accordions (!), one Anglo concertina, two recorders, one Boehm flute, one clarinet, and one trombone.

the music is mostly traditional English dance music, arranged into three parts: melody, harmony, and bass. the band was split into strings+boxes on one side, woodwind+concertina on the other side, and the trombone playing bass. each side alternated between playing melody and harmony.

the overall result worked pretty well: definitely not what i'm used to playing, but i've taken some music home, and will probably turn up again next week... (where it'll be nice to actually play instead of trying to sight-read, which is not one of my better skills).

Sounds like great fun, River. A local Scottish trad band contacted me last year, but I didn't have the time to get involved - I wonder if they're still looking for a fiddler / singer... hmmm.

In response to Bob1purpleviolin :

I agree with river, the best thing to do it ditch the book - it doesn't tell you how the music is to be played anyway, it's not really a music that you can transpose correctly (we've had great fun with some colleagues playing the stuff into transcription programmes and watching what comes out!). Here's some pointers.

1) learn what the different tune types mean and what the dances that go with them look like (if you're feeling brave enough, learn to dance some of them - it will help enormously with strong beats which do not occur at all where you would expect them to). Broadly tune types for Irish trad would be :

i) reel - the most common tune type by far, many regions of Ireland favour just playing reels and ignoring other tune types. It's in 4/4 but you're going to feel it like it's in 2/4, with a lilting back-beat accent that makes it dance.
ii) jig - second most common type, I'd wager. A 6/8 dance that is once again counted heavily in 2. Good players accent the back-beat a lot of the time in the jig, so that you're hearing ONE two three four five SIX ONE at lot of the time which is not very helpful as it's something you need to hear rather than see. Listen to Liz Carroll playing a jig on Youtube- she plays them perfectly. Whatever you do, avoid playing equal quavers in these.
iii) hornpipe - not at all like English hornpipes (which are generally played as barndances in Irish circles) - these have an almost dotted (but not quite) rhythm, with a very strong offbeat accent. Written, and counted, in four (one TWO three FOUR, or sometimes one two THREE FOUR - depending on the melody)
iv) Polka - not massively popular in sessions as they aren't played a great deal in Ireland apart from in dancing competitions and in sessions in the Sliabh Luchra area. These are written and counted in two and are played VERY fast. Many beginners try to start with polkas mistakenly believing them to be easier than reels because they have less notes - the rhythm and bow strokes for a polka are ridiculously difficult to get right. My teacher started me directly on reels on the basis that polkas were too hard for a beginner and were hardly ever played at sessions anyway.
v) barndances - a kind of 4/4 very dotted bouncy thing that resembles and English hornpipe.
vi) slip jigs - gorgeous sounding jigs in 9/8, counted in three with the first and third beats of the bar being strong.
vii) hop jigs - jury's out on this. If it goes tai-ti tai-ti ta, tai-ti-tai-ti ta with the stress only on the first beat, it's probably a hop jig. In 9/8 too.
viii) slides - a kind of jig in 12/8 that sounds somewhere between a slip jig and a barndance. Pretty rotten sounding things but the dancers like 'em.
viiii) airs - twee tunes that beginners are often taught to play by classical teachers who have no business teaching fiddle. Run away.
ix) Slow airs - fabulous, unmetered tunes based on the sean nos singing style - highly ornamented, no rhythm to speak of and heart-rendingly haunting. Lovely. For a few years down the line though.

A couple of notes on ornamentation and articulation :

1) forget the classical rules. The downbeat is not necessarily the strong beat, nor will it necessarily be on a down bow. Bowing patterns might seem illogical at first but you'll get used to it. Avoid separate bows and avoid classical bowing patterns. It's meant to feel upside down.
2) the music is in the bow - everything else is glitter. If the bowing isn't right, it won't swing.
3) learn how to vary the tunes on the fly - we don't play the same thing three times in a row. Whilst jamming doesn't really happen, gently stylish modification of the melody and rhythm do and the art of it is playing variations that fit with what everyone else is playing. If it goes horribly wrong, grin at everyone and say oops!
4) learn how to do things like rolls (an ornament produced on a dotted crotchet that mimics the piper's burl by interrupting the vibration of the string twice so that we hear three of the main note with a fluttering effect), short rolls (same but on a crotchet), cuts (splitting a note in two by swiping your finger across the string to cut the vibration without sounding another note - sounds like tipping on the pipes or whistle), trebles (a fluttery kind of effect using the bow), bowed triplets (same thing with a run of notes hidden in it).

There are loads of other things to learn, but the main thing is that this should be a fun journey - so listen to as many players as you can (for fiddle I can highly recommend Kevin Burke, Martin Hayes, Liz Carroll, Tommy Peoples, Zoe Conway, Michael Coleman, John Carty - all very different styles but all great in their own way), get to a session and see it happening live. Listen for a few weeks. Then approach a fiddler and ask if they know anyone who teaches. Have a few classes, preferably from someone who attends the actual session because they will teach you tunes that will be played at that session and when you feel ready join in the fun!

Remember that to really participate in an Irish session in a meaningful way and truly play a great deal of the evening, you'll need a fair few hundred tunes in your head, but don't let that stop you from joining in earlier - play the tunes you can, asking more experienced players to start them for you if you don't feel ready to start the set yourself, and record any tunes you like the sound of so you can learn them at home later.

If you've got any questions, fire away!

Thanks, rosfrog, for taking the trouble to explain all that. I will bookmark it for future reference!

I have been watching the first of Kevin Burke's videos on how to play in his style. This one covers jigs (Saddle the Pony, Connaughtman's Rambles), slides (John Leary's, Micko Russell's), polkas (Bill Sullivan's, Britches Full of Stitches) and The King of the Fairies (is that a slow air?). Notation is included, with full bowing marks. But this is just an aide-memoire because he plays each tune several times, starting off quite slowly, and explaining as he goes along. He stresses that the bowing is not set in stone - he says that if you watch several fiddlers playing the same tune, the bows will all be going in different directions most of the time (sounds like some classical ensembles I have played in ...) - but he also says that some aspects of the bowing are important, such as slurring the last note of a bar into the downbeat of the next bar. He explains how to do grace notes, rolls etc, and the explanations seem reasonably clear. Even at my humble level - and on the viola! - the tunes sound a lot better if I try to play them his way. I would recommend this video, and will look out for the second one, which presumably covers reels.

What I particularly like about his style is the way he sometimes slides up to a note from underneath. He says that he shouldn't do this because it's not really authentic, but a lot of people seem to like it, so he gets away with it. (He has an engaging, laid back sense of humour.) I also like his use of double-stops - or rather an open string under the melody note - is that inauthentic too?

Kevin Burke is a bad man where fiddle technique is concerned, but he's also a genius with style and panache in his playing - so I reckon he can do what he likes and get away with it (If I remember that video correctly doesn't he at one point extoll the virtues of playing open strings instead of fourth finger and then play an entire piece where he uses fourth finger saying something like 'I don't know why I just did that?' - brilliant)

Those are great DVD's if you haven't got a teacher - really first rate. You'll notice what he plays, even bowing wise, isn't at all what's on the score (or at least maybe the first time through, but not the second or third) and that he ornaments differently each time.

I love his playing and fondly remember him saying once in a workshop, in response to a haughty lady who announced that she was taking proper classical lessons and only wanted to have some light fun on the fiddle : Go ahead and learn the classical way, it won't hold you back.

I nearly snorted me tea everywhere. She looked most put out that he wasn't in immediate reverence of her.

The last tune on the CD you mentioned, King of the Fairies, is either called an Air (not a slow air though - it's got a definite metre), a barndance or - most frequently - a slow hornpipe - very nice tune.

I love that first set of jigs too - the swap between G and D is so nice as the second tune starts on the fsharp and you have that little semi-tone drop.

Long live Burke!

Double stringing isn't very authentic but he does, Saint Elisabeth of the Burning Fiddle (Liz Carroll) does it, so I do it to (not as well, mind) - if it's good enough for Royalty...

Sorry, came into this thread expecting something about MP's expenses

*slinks out unnoticed*

Thanks so much for this response, river!

I have now arranged to go to a folk night tomorrow night. I am about to have a look at the songs you suggested too. I'd been to a folk-night before but got hopelessly lost when not playing the lead because I had no idea at all how to join in (and they looked so 'into' it that you didn't feel you could ask). This time hopefully I'll have a bit more idea about what I'm doing.

Thanks again for your advice!

Hi rosfrog

I suspect I'm a bit of an oddity in that I listen to a lot of traditional fiddle music at home - I'm currently trying to perfect Bill Harte's Jig/Favourite. What I tend to struggle with is working out how to make me sound the same.

I also do Irish dancing (just won my first feis ;-) ), but our teachers have never explained thing in terms of the rhythm, more in terms of 'do this at this time'. I learn the rhythm of my heavy jig wrongly by accident and it's taken me the best part of the year to correct it!

I'm hoping I can team some experience with music theory to try and get the vaguest idea of what I'm doing!

Thanks for your help!




Sorry river, forgot to say in previous post, I started learning classical and folk at the same time using the book "Learn Violin Today". I haven't taken any grades as I'm self-taught, but suspect that I'm hovering between grades 1 and 2.

Thanks

Congratulations on the feis !

If you're serious about sounding right, you'll need to look very much at the bowing before anything else. If you have the time, cash and inclination, I can highly recommend a consultation lesson with legendary Irish fiddler Jim Kelly - he lives in the States but gives lessons via Skype (devilishly good ones too) - I think they're around 70 dollars for an hour and worth every penny - you'll probably only need one to get a load of helpful tips to work on.

X: 1
T:Mrs Saggs
C:Chris Woods
N:Lester's Version
M:2/4
L:1/8
Q:1/8=200
K:G
d | ga b2- | b2 a2 | gf g2- | g2 bd' |
e'/f'/ g' d'g'| c'g' d'g' | g'2 f' e'|
f'd'e' f'g'- | g'2 d'2 | c'b ag | d2 c2 |
B2 d2 | ec eg | ba gf | g3 :||
A | B c3- | c B2 A | GD FA | df de |
f g2 d- | dc BA | G B2 A | G A3 |
B c3- | c B2 A | GF Ad | f a2 g |
f g2 d- | dc BA | G G2 :||

a nice tune, fairly popular around here, but not one i play--and i'm not sure what instrument it was written for, but if that's the fiddle version, i probably won't be learning it any time soon! (i shall have to ask my teacher if he knows a more reasonable version... i think some of those notes are illegal in traditional music.)

Are you kidding?!!! I've just had a play of it and if I try to sneak that one into my session I'll be the only one playing it!

Perhaps we might sneakily drop the first part an octave?

hm, forgot to ask about Mrs. Saggs... but i'll remember next week.

X:1
T:Nail that Catfish to a Tree
Q:1/4=240
M:4/4
L:1/4
K:G
|: D | \
B B/B/ A B | c/B/ A B2 | A/B/A/G/ F D | A/B/A/G/ F D |
B B A B | c/B/ A B2 | A/B/A/G/ F/D/E/F/ | G2 G :|
|: D | \
C2 E2 | c2> B2 | A/B/A/G/ F D | A/B/A/G/ F D |
C2 E2 | c2> B2 | A/B/A/G/ F/D/E/F/ | G2 G D |
C2 E2 | c2> B2 | A/B/A/G/ F D | A/B/A/G/ F D |
C2 E2 | c2> Bc/ | d c B A | G2 G ||

one thing i'll say about Americans, they sure know how to name a tune.

They certainly do! Some years back, I bought a tunebook called "St. Patrick Was A Cajun" by a bloke called L.E. McCullough - an American who learned Irish flute and tin whistle while living in Dublin and then started composing his own trad style tunes.

I have to shamefacedly admit that I've still never played a tune from the book - it's been relegated to the back of the bookshelf with all the other impulse buys - and that my main reason for buying it was the pure comedy value of some of the titles - there's the tune of the title itself, along with others such as "A Snake Is A Chiropractor's Dream" and "The Big Bouncin' Bag O' Bunny Luv". And then there are the ones which are obviously taking the michael out of traditional Irish tune titles - "The Sporting Lass of Tel Aviv" springs to mind.

There are some pretty strange titles to some traditional Irish tunes doing the rounds too - I came across one ages ago (can't remember where now) called "I Buried My Wife And Danced On Top Of Her"!!

I love playing irish stuff.
esp riverdance.....currently "learning" the countess cathleen

x

I have a new favourite tune.

X: 1
T: Tom Clarke's Trip To Russia
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Bmin
Bffe eddA | Bffe eddB | ceea aceg | gceg fgec |
Bffe eddA | Bffe eddB | ceea aceg | fgec B2 BA :|
BGBd dccA | cAce eddc | Bgge aegf | edef e2 dc |
BGBd dccA | cAce eddc | BggB Affd |1 cAfe d2 dc :|2 cAfe d4 |

Sheet Music

that's a fun tune ;-) hmm, wonder if it would go with "Trip to Bavaria"...

i heard this wonderful pipe march last night:

X:0
T:Farewell to Nigg
C:Duncan Johnstone
Q:1/8=200
L:1/8
M:3/4
K:Bmin
|: Bc |\
d2 cB Ac | B4 de | f2 de fa | f4 fa |
f2 B2 de | c>B A2 ce | f2 ec Ac | B4 :|
|: de |\
f2 f2 ae | f2 B2 de | f2 fa fe | c4 ce |
f2 B2 de | c>B A2 ce | f2 ec Ac | B4 :|
|: Bc |\
d2 e2 cA | B4 de | f2 de fa | f4 ae |
f2 B2 de | c>B A2 ce | f2 ec Ac | B4 :|
|: de |\
f2 fa fe | f2 B2 de | f2 fa fe | c4 ae |
f2 B2 de | c>B A2 ce | f2 ec Ac | B4 :|

i play it fairly unornamented; i like to accent the F#s by adding a very quick E before; the effect is somewhat like typical highland pipe ornaments. it's also nice to add a slide up to the F# and B, but not too often. the dotted notes sound good if you let the first note hang on a bit longer than the music would suggest.

That's beautiful.

i'm having one of those days where i just can't play anything right. so, i wrote something instead!

X:1
T:The Willow Tree
C:River Tarnell
Q:1/4=220
M:2/2
L:1/4
K:Emin
D \
|: E B E G | F G A2 | E B E G | F/E/ D E2 |
| E B E G | F G A2 | c> B A F | G F E D :|
M:4/4
K:Gmaj
|: G G F/G/ A | G/A/ B A2 | B B A/B/c/B/ | A F G2 |
| G G F/G/ A | G/A/ B A2 | c B/A/ G F | E F G D :|

in the A part, try playing the 2nd and 4th crotchet of each bar staccato.

Can anyone point this thicky to an explanation of how to read that as music??! I can see the barlines, and clearly the letter names and CAPS and such refer to notes, but I don't understand at all how you render that into an actual tune with a rhythm and wotnot...

Pwease?

I live beside Nigg!

You can copy it into here to get sheet music.

Comparing the ABC to the music, capitals are the lower octave, small letters (only the C in this case are the higher octave). A '2' after a note means a minim, a '/' is a quaver and the '>' has made it dotted (the B afterwards is a quaver, so I'm guessing it makes up beats by default.). The :| and |: are repeats but you'd probably worked that out.

T is the name of the piece, C is where the composer's name would normally be, Q is the tempo (in this case, crotchet = 220), M is the time signature, L I think must be the default length of note and K is the key.

I think that pretty much covers it in this case, but I know there's more that can come up - I'm just learning it as I go.

Thanks Sarah, that helps a lot! Especially as I'd thought the 2 referred to pitch Will check out that link, too.

Thank you!

this is all true, but note that the meaning of 2 and / depend on the default note length (L). if i'd written it L:1/8, so the default note was a quaver, 2 would make it a crotchet and / would make it a semiquaver. (and yes, "A>B" will dot A, then halve the length of B to make it fit.)

I seem to change my favourite tune on weekly basis. This one's a scottish air for viola, although I think it was originally a song. Anyway, I couldn't find it anywhere on the internet so we're going to have to see how I manage writing abc in alto clef. Hmm, seems you can't do that and I don't particularly fancy all the riduculous ledger lines, so I'm going to write it a fifth higher as if it was for fiddle.

X: 1
T: Oh Ono Chrio
T: Air
M: 3/4
L: 1/4
K: Dmaj
|:u(A,/B,/)|D2 (D/E/)|{E/}F2 (D/E/)|F2 A,|{A,/}B,2 (A,/B,/)|
D{E/}(D d)| B2 (3(A/B/d/)| (B/A/G/) (F/E/D/)|A2 (A,/B,/)|D2 (D/E/)|
{E/}F2 (D/E/)|F2 A,|{A,/}B,2 d|B>(A F/B/)| {B/}A>(F E/A/)|(F>E) (F/E//D//)|
{E/}D2:||: (d/e/)|f2 (e/!uppermordent!d/)|B2 (A//B//d//e//)|(f>e) (d/f/)|
(f e) (d/B/)|(B/A/G/F/) (B//c//d/)|!uppermordent!B2 A|
(B/A/G/) (F/E/D/)| A2 (A,/B,/)| D2 (d/B/)| {B/}A>(G F/E/)|
D>E F/A/| {A/}B2 (A/B//d//)| B>(A F/B/)|{B/}A> (F E/A/)|
(F> E) (F/E//D//)|{E/}D2:|

I hope someone likes it, that took ages to work out.

Wow - that's really pretty Sarah (haven't got a viola to hand, but I've had a wee sing of it - can't wait to try it on my viola later!)

a song indeed: http://burns.scran.ac.uk/database/record.p...0-000-499-638-C - and apparently in Fmaj originally (though i assume that as with most songs, the key is negotiable).

you might also like Niel Gow's Lament for the Death of His Second Wife, another Scottish air.

Give over ! That's my favorite ever Scottish air - I love it.

I'm off to play it now - I can't resist the Niel Gow !

ros, i take it without question you know that one, but in case other people don't... ;-)

Ah that was a 'Give Over' of child-like joy at finding it posted - not a 'Give over' in a rolling eye, everyone knows that.

Sorry!

so, i took my new fiddle ( - although it's only on approval, not mine yet) to the session last night; had a couple of people try it, and it seemed to be approved of. for a not-cheap fiddle it didn't seem to have been set up too well; the action is very high, and the pegs rather sticky. hopefully that stuff should be easy enough to sort out. i'm also waiting for an "improved" Gama from Elida, which should arrive tomorrow. will be interested to compare the two.

so, to celebrate a new fiddle, here's some new tunes:

X:0
T:Unknown mazurka 1
L:1/8
M:3/4
K:G
DG \
|: B2 Bd BG | B2 Bd BG | A2 Ac BA | B2 G2 DG |
B2 Bd BG | B2 Bd BG | A2 Ac BA |1 G2 z2 DG :|2 G2 z2 dB ||
|: GD GB dB | c2 A2 cA | FD FA cA | B2 G2 dB |
GD GB dB | c2 A2 cA | FD FA cA |1 G2 z2 dB :|2 G2 z2 DG ||

X:1
T:Unknown mazurka 2
M:3/4
L:1/8
K:G
|: DG GF G2 | DB BA B2 | cB AG FG | AG FE D2 |
DG GF G2 | DB BA B2 | cB AG FG |1 AB G2 z2 :|2 AB G2 Bc ||
|: d2 de dc | B2 B2 AB | c2 cd cB | A2 A2 Bc |
d2 de dc | B2 B2 AB | cB AG FG |1 AB G2 Bc :|2 AB G2 z2 ||

Earlier this week I went with a friend from my dance class to hear the fiddler Tom McConville playing in Exeter. He was excellent of course, and he can even sing and play at the same time.

When we chatted to him at the interval he was so friendly and easy-going. Then coming up for the end of the show he played a couple of pieces from Northumbria and the north of Scotland and dedicated them to us (because those are the places we hail from). Needless to say we thought he was wonderful.

Can anyone point me to the notes/music for Proudlock's Hornpipe? My friend was a Proudlock before she got married and I'd like to play this for her.

there's a version on The Session, here, and JC's tune finder has some slightly different settings, like this one.

nice tune.

Here's the version I play ::

X:1
T:Proudlock's Hornpipe
R:hornpipe
M:4/4
K:G
(3DEF | GFGB AGAB | G2gf gedc | (3Bcd BG (3ABc AF | GFGA GFED |
GFGB AGAB | G2gf gedc | (3Bcd BG (3ABc AF | G2GF G2 ::
Bc | dedc BGAB | cdcB A2Bc | dedc B2g2 | agfe dcBA |
GFGB AGAB | G2gf gedc | (3Bcd BG (3ABc AF | G2GF G2 :|

Hope that helps !

Allan

Thanks guys. With this combination I can now figure out the ABC notation.

Hm.. well, this thread seems to have died a bit!

There's a nice set of polkas:



I always thought polkas were undeservedly maligned as a tune type...

Nice tunes, River - I quite enjoy Polka's if they're played at a nice speed and with a good swing. They're not as easy as people think!

Hi guys, just wanted to ask a quick question of you - not really fiddle-related but I'm slightly at a loss and I thought you people would probably have some ideas:
As part of my A2 level Music Tech, I'm making a multi-track recording of the song Neptune by Uiscedwr. However, I haven't been able to find an accordian player to record and it looks unlikely that I will in time. Does anyone have any ideas as to what instrument(s) I could use to replace this part? I initially thought of using a plugin on Cubase fed out through an amp, but apparently that's not allowed
Any suggestions at all very appreciated
You can listen to the song here

That's Karen Tweed playing the piano accordion, right? If you already play keyboard, perhaps you could learn enough piano accordion yourself to record it. If you can't handle the bass and melody at once, use the multi-track recorder to do one at a time ;-)

Good suggestion from river !

Otherwise, a smallpipe will have a similar reedy sound - a concertina is another option, or you could use a sax or clarinet at a push...