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[Gary P Chapin]

A suite of tunes written by myself: The Egret's Suite. Written in what was intended to be a breton-ish style (but drifted). The first tune is definitely one idea of what Breton folks might write as mazurka, if they wrote mazurkas. The second tune is influenced by my hero, Yann-Fañch PERROCHES. You can hear it in the 7th chords, though it's a bit of a heavy handed approach compared to le maestro. The third tune is a happy retreat -- a release from regrets and aggression.

https://accordeonaire.com/2018/04/18/suite-des-aigrettes/

[Grape Ape]

Not sure why this thread is so quiet.  I enjoyed that quite a bit Gary (i imagine your name being said by a frenchman and am shaking my bellows uncontrollably- your comment in another thread about this- having spent time in France myself- definitely made me laugh).

I think the tunes work well together as a suite, and I enjoyed the first piece and the way it switched between time signatures- this is something I sometimes do on accident when improvising.

Although I am still after all these years very much a beginner, and nowhere near as experienced as you, I hope I can be so bold as to offer some constructive criticism.  In my own playing, I often get caught in a rut of using the same “safe” chords and basses.  As a result, my pieces are less dynamic than they could be.  I’ll find myself literally trading back and forth between say A and E, unable to escape.  Every time I do venture out of these safe zones, the result is something better and more dynamic.  I guess what I am trying to suggest is that these three tunes could benefit from a bit more range and shifts on the bass end.  I think there are more varied possibilities available while still playing the same melodies on the right hand.  I hope this makes sense and is not out of line- as I said, I really enjoyed this and the way the tunes interact with one another- I just feel they would be even better if you explored more options on the left hand....

PS The Mory sounds great!

[playandteach]

I too find it difficult with only 8 basses to add variety to chords. Obviously cross chording is part of it, but with my limited selection sometimes the best choice is to avoid any chord that actually contains the melody note. No criticism intended here, as we only have 3 tunes in a group, so no obvious habit forming. Well done for uploading your pieces. It's hard taking the risk to share.

[Gary P Chapin]

Thanks, gentlemen,

I appreciate the comments and suggestions! In fact, the second tune is me venturing in to new territory with those 7th chords, so this is a bit of a frontier for me. I was very inspired by Yann-Fanch Perroches and the tunes from Daou a Daou.

[Stiamh]

The thing that struck me, Gary, particularly in the second and third pieces, is the limited range of the melodies: no. 2 spans a fourth and no. 3 a fifth. Is this a French thing?

[Gary P Chapin]

It's an old fashioned French thing. I think. If you look at the most "standard" bourrees (like On d'onoren garda) they happen all within a few fingers on the box. I'm pretty sure this is because they were originally pipe tunes, with only one-ish octave to play with. Even later original tunes (like F Paris's Bec a Bec) fall within an octave.

Combine that with the Breton penchant for repetition and brevity and you've got my compositional strategy figured out.

[Tone Dumb Greg]

In the first tune there in an intriguing ambiguity about the metre. It seems almost like 4/4 at first but later it resolves into 3/4. Is that your own thing, or a French thing, or a Breton thing, or am I reading something into it that isn't there

[Gary P Chapin]

It is in 3/4 (look at the sheet music), but the ambiguity is a definite French thing. If you look at the old bourrees, this happens all the time. It's a simple seeming trick. A friend of mine describes it as taking a tune written in four and superimposing it over three, the same melody with emphasis shifted. So what might have been a pickup becomes the one. It might scan as 1+2 3|1 2+3| ... In my tune it becomes 1 2+3|1+2 3+| ... Just that little shift makes all the difference. I mentioned On d'onoren Garda, to me that's the ur-bourree, and captures all of these principles.

Me:
youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GnTSKYAPsw

Alan Day:
youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bC6oaobAgw

[Tone Dumb Greg]

I saw it was in 3/4, but sheet music isn't the tune. In this case it's lying through it's teeth (at first), but I'm happy to be lied to. It works brilliantly.

[Gary P Chapin]