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Author Topic: John of the Greeny Cheshire Way by John Offord - thoughts please.  (Read 2261 times)

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Thrupenny Bit

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Hi Gang,
Am stumped when asked what I'd like for a forthcoming birthday, and this tune book is one of the few English ones I don't have.
From some of the 3/2 hornpipes I've heard, I think all are taken from this book. I do like their sound though can't seem to replicate them properly, so it could be a learning opportunity for me.
I also vaguely remember there's a newer version out, which presumably is the one on John Offord's website.

So.... How do you find it?
Thanks in advance
Q
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Thrupenny Bit

I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

robotmay

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Re: John of the Greeny Cheshire Way by John Offord - thoughts please.
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2015, 04:30:41 PM »

I bought this for myself just before christmas; it's a fantastic book, probably the best tune book I've bought. I would very highly recommend it if you fancy plenty of odd tunes (some are reeeeeally weird) and some real corkers.
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Thrupenny Bit

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Re: John of the Greeny Cheshire Way by John Offord - thoughts please.
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2015, 04:49:56 PM »

Oh great,  that's a positive statement if I evesr heard one!
Did you get it from here?
http://johnofthegreen.co.uk

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Thrupenny Bit

I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

olly

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Re: John of the Greeny Cheshire Way by John Offord - thoughts please.
« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2015, 05:13:47 PM »

I've had this book for a couple of years and still keep finding gems in it. I'm a bit of a 3/2 junky which helps!
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TedK

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Re: John of the Greeny Cheshire Way by John Offord - thoughts please.
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2015, 05:21:36 PM »

I would really recommend this book, many great tunes and a fascinating publication in terms of piecing together the early origins of "folk". The music is often closer to baroque than what we might think of as "folk" these days, and there are several longer pieces

It's worth mentioning that IMO it's not particularly D/G melodeon friendly, the pieces are rendered in their original keys and there are probably an equal number in Gm, Dm, F, Bb as there are in the more familiar "folk" keys.  Nonetheless, many of these tunes can sound really good on the melodeon.

On a similar note Jeremy Barlow's edition of Playford, which includes the tunes from all editions, is also well worth a look for interesting tunes in odd time signatures.
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robotmay

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Re: John of the Greeny Cheshire Way by John Offord - thoughts please.
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2015, 05:41:51 PM »

Did you get it from here?
http://johnofthegreen.co.uk

I got mine from hedinghamfair.co.uk because I think it was out of stock (or I looked at the wrong website) when I last checked there, but as I believe that's the official site I assume it'd be a good place to order it!

On a similar note Jeremy Barlow's edition of Playford, which includes the tunes from all editions, is also well worth a look for interesting tunes in odd time signatures.

And that book was one of my christmas presents!
I'm going to know even fewer standard session tunes by the time I'm finished filling my head with all of these :o
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Graham Spencer

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Re: John of the Greeny Cheshire Way by John Offord - thoughts please.
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2015, 06:01:24 PM »

I've not seen the current edition, which I think is quite a bit different from the original one. I bought mine in 1985 and it's still a super source of tunes, so if the new edition is anywhere near as good as the original I'd jump at it.

Graham
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Fsamuel

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Re: John of the Greeny Cheshire Way by John Offord - thoughts please.
« Reply #7 on: January 07, 2015, 06:11:00 PM »

Full of great tunes, Spiro use them as stepping off points for their stuff and together with Playford has been used a lot at the EAC summer school
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Anahata

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Re: John of the Greeny Cheshire Way by John Offord - thoughts please.
« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2015, 06:50:53 PM »

JOTGCW is a great book, but don't expect all of the tunes in it to be melodeon friendly unless you've got a fat half-row of accidentals and/or you don't mind transposing some of them. It's a totally fabulous book for an ambitious fiddle player.

I don't know if there's been a recent new edition, but there was a first edition that went out of print in 1990 or so, a very different book with 3/2 hornpipes in the first half and 18/19th century dance tunes in the second half. I learned Stoney Steps from that one, but the book vanished mysteriously from my possession about twenty years ago.

If you're looking for interesting new tune books, I can also recommend those on sale here:
http://www.blastbooks.co.uk/publications/

I have "The Musick Meeting" - again may of them will need transposing for a D/G box and some are a diatonic challenge to say the least, but there's some interesting music in there.
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pbsalt

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Re: John of the Greeny Cheshire Way by John Offord - thoughts please.
« Reply #9 on: January 07, 2015, 07:35:03 PM »

I'd also recommend John of the Greeny Cheshire Way - I 've the original 1984 version and the recent edition.

Also if you're interested in 3/2 hornpipes I'd recommend "Three Extraordinary Collections" - compiled by Pete Stewart which has tunes from the 18th century manuscripts of Thomas Marsden, Daniel Wright and John Walsh . Published in 2007 by Hornpipe music,  www.hornpipemusic.co.uk - but haven't checked to see if its still available
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Thrupenny Bit

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Re: John of the Greeny Cheshire Way by John Offord - thoughts please.
« Reply #10 on: January 07, 2015, 08:02:36 PM »

Thanks for the replies.
I do understand some aren't D/G friendly, but it's another learning exercise to make them so!
Also my daughter sight reads with a fully chromatic flute, so that's an option for a 'Dad I'm bored' day  (:)

Thanks for the other recommendations it is always good to be aware of options available.
Thanks
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Thrupenny Bit

I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

Steve_freereeder

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Re: John of the Greeny Cheshire Way by John Offord - thoughts please.
« Reply #11 on: January 08, 2015, 10:40:45 AM »

I can only endorse what has been said already. JOTGTCW is a great resource, full of fascinating tunes and some interesting explanatory notes. I've also recently acquired Pete Stewart's book - 'Three Extraordinary Collections', mentioned by Pbaslt earlier. The two books complement each other and you will have enough triple-time hornpipes to last you a lifetime!
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Thrupenny Bit

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Re: John of the Greeny Cheshire Way by John Offord - thoughts please.
« Reply #12 on: January 08, 2015, 12:49:22 PM »

Thanks Steve...... just have to learn to to play the rhythm!
Am dipping into the other current thread on 3/2's with interest. Every hint helps!
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Thrupenny Bit

I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!
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