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Discussions => Tune of the Month => Topic started by: Clive Williams on February 01, 2018, 01:22:04 PM

Title: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Clive Williams on February 01, 2018, 01:22:04 PM
Hi all ; this month's theme is the followup from last month's - any tune whose composer is not known, lost deep in the mists of time, and which is labelled as being composed by Mr Traditional. Which is a very, very, big set of tunes!

Have fun!

Clive
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: folkbluesnbeyond on February 04, 2018, 05:15:46 PM
https://youtu.be/SSVA3qudfr4

Bonnie Kellswater: Transposed from Sam Henry's songs of the People where the song and tune are described as 'collected from J Carmichael of Waring St, Ballymena. Restructured/arranged by Bill, (whose middle names are John Carmichael which is nominally synchronous).

Thank you to Jo Arcand-Goodluck for sending me in search of a 'Kellswater' tune earlier in the week. I have no idea if this is the one she meant, but the find arose from that activity!

Tranposed from Eb to G and played AABB, so not as the song tune, and slightly faster than might be sung.

Apologies for the essay. Melody PDFs attached, lots of options on harmony, (works well in D also if you have the low b).

All the best

Bill
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Clive Williams on February 11, 2018, 03:35:12 PM
Quiet here innit....

Here's the Radstock Jig, played on the Preciosa in Bb/Eb (so we're in F minor here I think!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wJAukviUw4

Experimenting with new microphone (Zoom H2n), new mixing software (updated to Mixcraft 8 ) and thanks to the latest Windows 10 update which scuppered my old webcam, a new webcam. Didn't quite figure out aspect ratios in time for this recording; next time, eh?

Cheers,

Clive
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Saul Bailey on February 13, 2018, 01:08:48 PM
First ever post (woohoo!) Thought I'd contribute with Tom Mellin's Hornpipe from John of the Green (perhaps not exactly lost to time but oh well...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9MSbA25C-0

Cheers,
Saul
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Steve_freereeder on February 13, 2018, 02:04:13 PM
First ever post (woohoo!) Thought I'd contribute with Tom Mellin's Hornpipe from John of the Green (perhaps not exactly lost to time but oh well...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9MSbA25C-0

Cheers,
Saul
That was superb! Very nicely played with a lovely steady rhythm and most imaginative basses and chords. Trying to fit melodeon left hand accompaniments to these triple-time hornpipes is not always straight forward, but you have got it just right in my opinion.
 :|glug
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Jesse Smith on February 13, 2018, 02:10:53 PM
First ever post (woohoo!) Thought I'd contribute with Tom Mellin's Hornpipe from John of the Green (perhaps not exactly lost to time but oh well...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9MSbA25C-0

Cheers,
Saul
Thanks, I really enjoyed that! I like those weird 3/2 hornpipes, although I'm interested in knowing how they were danced.
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Theo on February 13, 2018, 02:14:34 PM
The way Saul played that one it would work quite nicely as a Hanter dro.
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Thrupenny Bit on February 13, 2018, 03:35:08 PM
That was lovely Saul, thanks for that.
Yes, I'd love to know how these tunes were danced.

I've just recorded two tunes, so thought I'd share here.
The Gloucestershire Hornpipe.
https://soundcloud.com/thrupenny-bit/gloucestershire-hornpipe

Taken from the playing of Old Swan, and brings back memories of playing with Paul and Floss in the Radway at Sidmouth when playing concertina.
A firm session favourite down here.

A personal favourite, The Charming Maid.
https://soundcloud.com/thrupenny-bit/the-charming-maid

First heard from the playing of John Kirkpatrick, a brilliant tune.
cheers
Q

Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Tone Dumb Greg on February 13, 2018, 08:14:40 PM

Thanks, I really enjoyed that! I like those weird 3/2 hornpipes, although I'm interested in knowing how they were danced.

Don't know how authentic this is. He's certainly doing something that is something  (:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6vPVIREgXQ

Edit to add Squeezy might know more. I believe he has a fair bit of experience of the beast.
Further edit to add Anahata seemed to be very knowledgeable when I asked a question about 3/2 and 6/4 tunes. Maybe he has experience of dancing to them.

btw, The example above is a clog dance, rather than a hornpipe.
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Thrupenny Bit on February 13, 2018, 08:19:16 PM
You've just reminded me of something.... a friend is a 3/2  enthusiast and helped with John of the Greeny... I'll get in touch and report back if anything of significance comes....
Q
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Winston Smith on February 13, 2018, 08:49:15 PM
Loved the dance, Greg!
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Jesse Smith on February 13, 2018, 08:55:00 PM
You've just reminded me of something.... a friend is a 3/2  enthusiast and helped with John of the Greeny... I'll get in touch and report back if anything of significance comes....
Q

My understanding is that we have no actual dance figures for these 18th c triple hornpipes, just informed conjecture that people have used in revivals of the music.

Do you have the John of the Green book? I'm wondering if it's worth ordering. It would cost me £26 shipped from the UK to the States. I was blown away by John Kirkpatrick's rendition of the "title track" in his English Choice tunebook/CDs, and I'd like to learn more about these strange little tunes.
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Thrupenny Bit on February 13, 2018, 10:17:57 PM
I've just got a message from my friend. He's one of the acknowledged people inside the cover of John of the Greeny, a professional musician and a step dancer too. He *loves* 3/2 hornpipes!
I asked if he knew anything about the dances, whether they were step dances or social dances.
His reply is
"There are so many that it's probably likely that there was a step that everyone knew but wasn't written down. There are 3/2's in Playford with specific dances. The Cellar Door Key has a dance ( not sure if it's Playford ) also they're pretty similar to slip jigs so they can be used for strip the willow"
It's a fb message so he hasn't gone into details ( and he's on holiday! ) but from this I take it that some were step dances, some had specific social dances allotted to them and some could be used elsewhere for more common dances. My interpretation here.

Not sure if this moves us on, but his knowledge is far greater than mine.

I  do have John of the Greeny, it's a fascinating book. There are a lot of unusual tunes to mine, but some need transposing to get onto a DG box. They aren't for the faint hearted!
cheers
Q
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Tone Dumb Greg on February 13, 2018, 10:54:49 PM
You've just reminded me of something.... a friend is a 3/2  enthusiast and helped with John of the Greeny... I'll get in touch and report back if anything of significance comes....
Q

Do you have the John of the Green book? I'm wondering if it's worth ordering.

I can let you have an abc of the 3/2 tunes in the original "Greeny Cheshire Way". pm sent. It's on edition 3 now, much expanded, I believe.

There was an interesting thread on 3/2 hornpipes on mudcat, a wile back
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=100071

Edit: Just noticed that Anahata has posted on this thread saying he thinks there is no record of the dances.

Further Edit: Found the on line copy of this
http://richardrobinson.tunebook.org.uk/Document/JohnotGCW
or abc
http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/England/Cheshire/Cheshire.html
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Thrupenny Bit on February 14, 2018, 02:18:59 PM
Jesse, you have JK's tune book.
There are a set of three 3/2 hornpipes in there to give you a flavour of them, and in a key that'll fit on your box.
It's a taster for you to try!
cheers
Q
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Peter Savage on February 15, 2018, 03:25:12 PM
First ever post (woohoo!) Thought I'd contribute with Tom Mellin's Hornpipe from John of the Green (perhaps not exactly lost to time but oh well...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9MSbA25C-0

Cheers,
Saul

Super arrangement Saul, and some excellent playing.  It looks easy enough on the video but I sat down to learn this one today and well...the tune itself is tricky enough with plenty of F-naturals, but the syncopated basses have me beaten for now.  Long-term project I think. 
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Tone Dumb Greg on February 15, 2018, 11:20:41 PM
First ever post (woohoo!) Thought I'd contribute with Tom Mellin's Hornpipe from John of the Green (perhaps not exactly lost to time but oh well...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9MSbA25C-0

Cheers,
Saul

Hello Saul, very nicely done. Love the arrangement.
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Mcgrooger on February 19, 2018, 05:38:17 PM
Thought I'd have a bash at a pair of triple hornpipes - Cheshire Rounds and The Old Lancashire Hornpipe.  First heard all those years ago on the album that helped kickstart the English revival - Albion Band's Battle of the Field. Sorry about the knee which seems to be moving independently of the tune!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9Uwf7KB6jg
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Ellisteph on February 21, 2018, 12:08:28 PM
Here's a couple of Rants I put together recently - An Italian Rant from Playford and as a sideways nod to the tune of the month Portobellos Rant from volume one of Robin Shepherds excellent books of Joshua Jackson's collection of tunes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAFNuNr9TA8
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Ellisteph on February 24, 2018, 11:15:15 AM
Thought I'd have a bash at a pair of triple hornpipes - Cheshire Rounds and The Old Lancashire Hornpipe.  First heard all those years ago on the album that helped kickstart the English revival - Albion Band's Battle of the Field. Sorry about the knee which seems to be moving independently of the tune!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9Uwf7KB6jg
Sounds really good! I'm sure I have a copy of 'Battle of the Field' somewhere. Time to give it another listen.
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Fred on February 25, 2018, 03:17:42 PM
Very nice playing, both from Mcgrooger and Ellisteph! Thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Ellison on February 25, 2018, 08:19:14 PM
Hulloo

I really hoped to be posting something new for this ToTM because trad arr. is usually what I do. However, I haven't had time to record so, yet again, I'll post an old recording.

Many years ago I travelled over to Skipton with old friends, some no longer with us, to see a trad jazz band, Max Collie's Rhythm Aces. I bought their album and was enamoured by a tune on the LP. Initially, I had no idea of its provenance but enjoyed it enough to see if I could learn it.
It's called 'Girl in Clover' and, I found out later that it's a traditional East European tune (I'm sure I knew the country of origin once) and I later heard it played on an anti-dandruff commercial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQE1GFRaoEA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQE1GFRaoEA)

I've gradually been going bald ever since. Draw your own conclusions.

Martin
 

Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Jesse Smith on February 25, 2018, 08:43:39 PM
Thought I'd have a bash at a pair of triple hornpipes - Cheshire Rounds and The Old Lancashire Hornpipe.  First heard all those years ago on the album that helped kickstart the English revival - Albion Band's Battle of the Field. Sorry about the knee which seems to be moving independently of the tune!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9Uwf7KB6jg
Really nice, and gave me the motivation to order "Battle of the Field". I know this set from The John Kirkpatrick Band's "Force of Habit" live album, presumably a similar arrangement.
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Jesse Smith on February 26, 2018, 03:56:59 PM
I have only been playing the melodeon for a little under four months, but I wanted to record something since this month's theme is so accessible. Here is Donkey Riding, originally a sea shanty documented to at least 1850. I learned the tune from Mally's beginner book, although I added the push D bass and chord in the penultimate bar of each part, and also a bit of right hand harmony.

This certainly isn't up to the standard of the other TotM entries, but I can at least hear the beginnings of a good "pulse" in the playing. I was originally planning to sing a verse of the shanty as well, just as an experiment as to whether I can sing and play at the same time (it turns out I can!) but it was frankly all I could do to get a single once-through without mistakes. Maybe someday I'll be able to record three or four times through like everyone else. ;D

https://youtu.be/ceVpvEnuwGc
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Tone Dumb Greg on February 26, 2018, 08:44:02 PM
Nicely done Jesse.

Someone once said there are no coincidences but, sometimes the pattern is more obvious. I found this this morning when looking for something completely different (actually, it was Vivian Stanshall, of the Bonzo Dog Band).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7DYijyLVwk
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Mcgrooger on February 27, 2018, 10:46:01 AM
Well played Jesse! Just because some of us play a tune through more than once doesn't mean they're done in one take! I thought I'd got through my tunes without too many mistakes after a number of attempts to find that I'd had the recorder too close so I had to start all over again and play the set over a good few more times till I was happy enough with the result.
Keep it up, you're obviously making good progress. The singing will come in time if you want it to.
Cheers. Mcg. (:)
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Clive Williams on February 28, 2018, 10:43:24 PM
THanks everyone; onto the next theme! Stick late contribs on the end here of course as usual.
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Jesse Smith on February 28, 2018, 11:12:32 PM
Well played Jesse! Just because some of us play a tune through more than once doesn't mean they're done in one take! I thought I'd got through my tunes without too many mistakes after a number of attempts to find that I'd had the recorder too close so I had to start all over again and play the set over a good few more times till I was happy enough with the result.
Keep it up, you're obviously making good progress. The singing will come in time if you want it to.
Cheers. Mcg. (:)
Thanks, McGrooger. I expect that playing in front of a camera will become easier with time, independent of actual playing improvement even. I figure it is good practice for eventually playing live in front of others and listening to a recording of oneself definitely shows you where the gaps currently are!

It's funny about singing. I was surprised that I was able to sing while playing, first with just a left hand chord accompaniment and then while playing the tune as normal. But I've been playing and singing for 25 years now, so maybe I got over that hurdle a long time ago.

By the way, on the topic of singing, I very much enjoyed your recording of Amphitrite!

Next month's "fast tunes" theme is not so accessible to a beginner. I may have to sit this one out. ::)
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Peter Savage on March 02, 2018, 02:50:10 PM
My (late) contributions to this Theme of the Month:

Roslin Castle: https://youtu.be/B35rxPTRqMo (https://youtu.be/B35rxPTRqMo)

This is an 18th century Scottish tune that appeared in several tune books of the time.  I only learnt it this week having heard it on the CD "Dominion" by the The Melrose Quartet.  It fits quite nicely on a D/G provided that you have the Eb available. 

The Northern Lass https://youtu.be/yQ9YVzVwh9s (https://youtu.be/yQ9YVzVwh9s)

I don't know too much about this one, apart from that it appears on the Banquet of Boxes CD plated by Andy Cutting.
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Fred on March 03, 2018, 06:17:44 PM
Holy moly, Mr Bavarian Pete! I'm very much in love with this song, Roslin Castle, which I did not know before, and want to thank you a lot for even posting the dots to it. Even though I'm not used to learning songs by dots but normally use ABC, I have to say it's working out quite well. I've listened to your version five times already and will definitely listen a few more times to make sure I have the melody right. The song just feels so contemplative to me. (:) Thanks!
Title: Re: Theme of the Month for February 2018: Traditional, Arranged...
Post by: Peter Savage on March 04, 2018, 07:27:23 AM
Holy moly, Mr Bavarian Pete! I'm very much in love with this song, Roslin Castle, which I did not know before, and want to thank you a lot for even posting the dots to it. Even though I'm not used to learning songs by dots but normally use ABC, I have to say it's working out quite well. I've listened to your version five times already and will definitely listen a few more times to make sure I have the melody right. The song just feels so contemplative to me. (:) Thanks!
Thanks Fred - I have the ABC too (below) as that is now I generated the dots.  I also hadn't come across the tune until someone gave me that Melrose Quartet CD, and agree that it's a lovely tune that feels like it comes from that area of the world.  The Melrose Quartet recording is on Spotify - have a listen (track 13) - it's a nice with some violin added in. 

X: 3
P: Roslyn Castle (The House of Glamis)
O: Pastoral Pipe Tune, 18th c
M: C
L: 1/8
K: Em
GF \
| E2B>c B2AB | c>BAG F2GF | E2e>f g2fe | d>efd B2AB |
| c>BAG F2GA | BGFE ^d2ef | gf/2e/2f^d eBAB | G2 BG F2 E2 :|
|: zB | e>B ef g2fe | b>aga f2ef | e>Bef g2fe |b>aga f2 AB |
cBAG F2GA |  BGFE ^d2ef | gf/2e/2f^d eBAB | G2 BG F2 E2  :|
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