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La Guinguette

4 (6.9%)

The History Man

22 (37.9%)

Gaspe Reel

20 (34.5%)

The Ook Pik Waltz

12 (20.7%)

Total Members Voted: 57

Voting closed: February 01, 2016, 12:37:41 AM

[Clive Williams]

Hi folks, 4 more tunes:

- La Guinguette - runner up last month; nice suggestion from one of my favourite players Norbert Pignol - I have to confess I thought a nice 2 row version of this was out of reach, but apparently not - it plays quite nicely, and as you would expect from something that Norbert writes can be played quite simply or has lots of opportunity for chords and melodic improvisation. Here we go! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpxfjUBjRhk

- The History Man; a slow piece written by Andy Cutting, and here played by the man himself... in 1993! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He6SdbpiCCs (Bristol Ron's youtube channel is full of great clips like this, by the way)

- Gaspe Reel - a Quebecois tune, with a couple of nice takes on it, here from Gavin Atkin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Od8fHhyiag and here at Quebecois speed by Serge Carrier https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_3_YeG9eL4
 
- The Ook Pik Waltz - from Forrest's youtube channel, comes this lovely tune by Frankie Rodgers; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMdUnZzsvF8 - lovely, isn't it? Always liked it, and plays on a 2 row too!

There you go folks; Happy voting!

Cheers,

Clive

[playandteach]

Can't decide between the first two. Cruel.

[benammiswift]

I vote for History man, I love the sound of it on a big castagnari like the mory or the handry and a good version can be achieved with a 2 row

[Jules0654]

Also History Man for me as it needs such good bellows control - a good learning piece for anyone!  (And I love it!)

[Thrupenny Bit]

I love the History Man but get frustrated.
I've the version notated in a lovely book published a while back ( currently at work and can't remember it's title!) where it notates exactly what Andy does.
I find I can't put the melody over the 'backwash' of held down chords as the melody gets lost. I'm led to believe that Andy takes out the low notes on his basses which allows the melody to come through, but my box hasn't this facility.
My only alternative is to just use chords only to achieve this effect and I'm unhappy with the result as for me I loose some of the lovely touches built into this fabulous tune, where the bass and chords 'interact' as it progresses through the sequences.
Consequently have let it rest for a while. No doubt I'll return to it at some point.

I'll be interested to hear other versions if it wins and see if others have worked out a better solution than I can achieve.
Frustrated of Devon 

[Clive Williams]

Yes, a tune like this is going to need compromise/alterations/simplification to fit on most people's boxes and skillset; after all, if we could all play like that, Andy would be out of a job :-)

[Thrupenny Bit]

Yes you're absolutely right Clive, trouble is, my modification and compromise didn't sit right with me.
I'll look forward to some inspiration if it wins!
cheers
Q

[Mike-T]

One more vote for The History Man.

Mike.

[arty]

Yes, a tune like this is going to need compromise/alterations/simplification to fit on most people's boxes and skillset; after all, if we could all play like that, Andy would be out of a job :-)

Surely not 'compromise', which suggests that there is only one good way to play it and that is how Andy plays it.
It is going to require imagination and creativity, certainly on a simpler box. I only wish I had more of those things - I'll just be happy to get the right notes in the right order! If the tune wins, I look forward to hearing the more experienced players, to hear how they have interpreted this lovely tune.

[Thrupenny Bit]

Arty, yes there are many ways to play a tune.
What I find with Andy's tunes are that it's often not just a melody alone, the accompniament lends much to the overall effect. It is very true of this tune. Maybe it's an overall effect that Andy gets that seems to make the tune 'bare' if you play it other ways.
Dunno, I expect it's just me having a 'moment'!
As said I'm eager to see how others fare with it.
Cheers
Q

[arty]

One of my problems Q, is that I listen to Andy's recordings constantly and therefore, I know them really well, in my head. In many ways, I think it is easier to take a tune that I am unfamiliar with and play it my way. It seems to me that whatever I do in my simplistic way with an Andy Cutting tune, is inadequate. Nevertheless, I always learn something.

[Steve_freereeder]

Yes, a tune like this is going to need compromise/alterations/simplification to fit on most people's boxes and skillset; after all, if we could all play like that, Andy would be out of a job :-)

Surely not 'compromise', which suggests that there is only one good way to play it and that is how Andy plays it.
It is going to require imagination and creativity, certainly on a simpler box. I only wish I had more of those things - I'll just be happy to get the right notes in the right order! If the tune wins, I look forward to hearing the more experienced players, to hear how they have interpreted this lovely tune.

The History Man can be played on a standard two-row instrument with a low-octave voice, i.e. LMM.

In this video...

- The History Man; a slow piece written by Andy Cutting, and here played by the man himself... in 1993! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He6SdbpiCCs

... notice how Andy plays the A-music in the upper octave of the keyboard, but using the LMM setting so the sound is not squeaky. It also gives him 'room' to drop down to the lower octave for the B-music.

A transcription of Andy's playing, including what he does with the basses/chords is in Alexandra Browne's* wonderful tunebook 'Diatonic Liaisons', discussed a while ago on this forum.

* 'Valkyrie' on this forum; search for her posts and the tunebook discussion, including how to obtain it.

[Thrupenny Bit]

Arty: yes, I too always take something from learning a tune, even if I don't succeed in learning it fully.
I confess, after starting this discussion, I've given it a go after walking round humming it!

Steve has just mentioned the book that I couldn't remember earlier - ' Diatonic Liasons' and yes that is a brilliant book. She's notated the tune as Andy plays it, the way he uses the basses and chord sequences etc.
As someone else has said if takes a lot of delicate bellows control, and it makes sense to use a 4 finger bass to enable holding down a bass whilst moving through different chords.

Steve's right in saying about playing it up the keyboard, in fact his tip when this tune was discussed previously has been a huge help.
All in all, this tune is a huge learning curve in itself. Might have to get off my @rse and give it another go!
Q

[playandteach]

Haven't tried History Man yet, but I think the difficulty is in not making the second half of the B section sound random wandering. The A section and the start of the B have clear direction and character, but the second bit of the B section is like a seemingly unnecessary character in a film - It's only once you take them out that you realise their function. I think without sensitive chording and dynamic direction, this is the hard bit to make meaningful.
Can anyone remind me what the unnecessary character in a book or film is called?