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Tune Of The Month For June: La Luna Dins L'aiga


Jim Besser

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The votes are in: this month we're going to learn and record La Luna Dins Aiga.

 

It's a sprightly little tune that can be played in a variety of very different ways.

I learned it from David Barnert at a Northeast Squeeze-In a few years back - and in a bit of fortuitous timing, David was visiting Washington this week and we got together for some tunes, including this one..

Here's a very quick and dirty recording we did - one take, standing on a public wharf under the roar of airplanes taking off from Washington National Airport, recording into an iPhone!

(Several passersby apparently liked our playing and - although we were not actually busking - dropped some money in David's concertina case. We earned all of two dollars).

Here's David's ABC transcription, which is more or less what we were playing.

X:2
T:La Luna Dins Aiga
M:C|
K:G %Transposed from Bb
P:A
|:dc|B3A BcdB|cdec A2Bc|d2G2G2AB|cBAGF2D2|
B3A BcdB|cdec A2Bc|d2G2BAGF|G6:|z2||
P:B
|:e3d efg2|f2e2d2B2|c2e2d2B2|A2^c2d4|
e3d efg2|f2e2d2B2|c2e2d2B2-|BAGF G4:|

Here's a somewhat more complex version (thanks to Tallship for posting it)

X:1
T:La Luna Dins l'Aiga (Pierre-Marie Blajà)
C:Trad 2, 35
M:2/4
L:1/16
K:C
e2gf e2ge|fgaf d2ef|g2ge c2de|fedc BABc|\
e2gf e2ge|fgaf d2ef|g2c2 edcB|c4 c2B2:|
a2ag abc'2|b2ba g2e2|fgaf g2e2|fef^f g4|\
a2ag abc'2|b2ba g2e2|fgaf g2e2|1 dcBd c4:|2 g2^f2 g2=f2||

 

So have at it, concertinists - novices and experienced players alike. Let's see how many different ways we can find to play this charming piece.

 

Remember, there is no 'right' way to play this. Do what works for you.

Edited by Jim Besser
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Here's a somewhat more complex version (thanks to Tallship for posting it)

 

To be honest I'd not heard of the tune and simply googled for an abc, several came up but they were all variants of the same file.

 

Pete.

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I love this tune, although I didn't realise that was what it was called until now. It crops up in French dances and sessions (or bouefs, as they rather wonderfully call them) every now and then ...

 

Here we go then - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDevDugAosc , three times through and designed to provoke mass spontaneous outbreaks of schottisching wherever it is heard.

 

Having tied myself in total knots trying to do a complex harmonised version of Parson's Farewell for May's TOTM; so much so that at the moment I can't even play the basic flipping tune any more!; I decided to go back to melody-plus-twiddles for this one, because melody-plus-twiddles is what I do :)

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Nicely played Steve; I particularly like the third, more gentle way through!

 

A more complex harmonisation is not necessarily to be developed on paper - it might emerge quite easily once one is familiar with chords (or for a start fifth) eligible (Geoff calls it "striding" over the keyboard).

 

Respecting the latitude I'd guess I will be able to squeeze some more melancholy out of the tune - I'll come back to this issue after having recorded it myself... :D

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Sorry, Geoff, if it's a little early in the month, but here's mine.

 

My playing of it has evolved a little since I first met it. I seem to have jettisoned the two pickup notes, for instance.

 

This is essentially my half of the duet that Jim and I played on the waterfront (that he posted), without the harmonies that I was able to add while he was playing the melody.

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Sorry, Geoff, if it's a little early in the month, but here's mine.

 

My playing of it has evolved a little since I first met it. I seem to have jettisoned the two pickup notes, for instance.

 

This is essentially my half of the duet that Jim and I played on the waterfront (that he posted), without the harmonies that I was able to add while he was playing the melody.

My wife danced a Scottish to your version and suggested that you could have played any notes you wished and it would still be very danceable.

 

I had just had a couple of runs through two partitions I found on- line and thought the piece not worth the bother... but that is the point, is it not.. to see what can be made out of an un promising composition ? No doubt I will warm to it in a while.

 

So, thanks for posting early and just in time to encourage me, and others I hope, to have a go.

 

Thanks too Steve , for donating an idea or two!

Edited by Geoff Wooff
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Thanks for posting so soon Steve and David. It's great fun to play along as I learn the tune and begin to figure out how and where to add chords and/or 'twiddles'. I've been in straight tune learning mode (as in, how many tunes can I get in my head and under my fingers), since I picked up the EC, but listening to the TOTM contributions, my chordal curiosity is aroused and I have questions.

 

What happens, for instance, when playing with others if, as Steve said, you develop and learn a harmonized version of a tune and then can't get back to the basic melody? Do most of you who regularly play with others learn both? From my limited experience of Sessions and jams, it seems that one is either melody or accompaniment and that too much harmony rapidly becomes a veritable cacophony. Perhaps it is merely a matter of experience -- the tune coming first, the harmony not learned, but showing up (or not) as needed?

 

Sarah

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I had just had a couple of runs through two partitions I found on- line and thought the piece not worth the bother... but that is the point, is it not.. to see what can be made out of an un promising composition ? No doubt I will warm to it in a while.

I myself found the tune kind of un-promising at first sight too, but since I choose a version (as mentioned before: from thesession.org, with just one minor change at the end of line three) I'm getting familiar with it however. I believe it is playable with taste and wit despite its insignifance (as two of us already did).

Edited by blue eyed sailor
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[quote name="Mildredestelle" post="147267" timestamp="

What happens, for instance, when playing with others if, as Steve said, you develop and learn a harmonized version of a tune and then can't get back to the basic melody? Do most of you who regularly play with others learn both? From my limited experience of Sessions and jams, it seems that one is either melody or accompaniment and that too much harmony rapidly becomes a veritable cacophony. Perhaps it is merely a matter of experience -- the tune coming first, the harmony not learned, but showing up (or not) as needed?

 

Sarah

 

The real fun starts when you play the same tune with two non-intersecting groups of musicians, and each group has quite developed harmonies which both work with the melody but don't work with each other :)

 

Personally I've come to concertina from a long time previously playing flute (and do still play a lot of flute) so, for me, the tune comes first. I love the way that the same tune can have multiple different harmonies, or indeed the supposedly same tune can have multiple different versions (there's a tune book on my shelf with two whole pages dedicated to different versions of the Morpeth Rant for example). So, for me, the tune comes first and the harmonies are built on top of that, or if you're playing in a bigger group /session I try to concentrate on playing the locally 'right' version and let others worry about the chordal harmonies.

 

Others will have very different approaches, and quite right too!

 

I've just read that back and I'm not sure whether that answers your question or not, but there you go! I can see this spinning off into a thread of it's own, leaving the June TOTM thread to get on with being about the June TOTM ....

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What happens, for instance, when playing with others if, as Steve said, you develop and learn a harmonized version of a tune and then can't get back to the basic melody? Do most of you who regularly play with others learn both? From my limited experience of Sessions and jams, it seems that one is either melody or accompaniment and that too much harmony rapidly becomes a veritable cacophony. Perhaps it is merely a matter of experience -- the tune coming first, the harmony not learned, but showing up (or not) as needed?

 

Sarah

 

 

Yes, something like that Sarah. I have played a lot of sessions, mostly of Irish music, and the type of thing I have been doing with TOTM is an attempt at solo versions and not what I would generally do in a session situation. It does all depend on the type of session and what instruments are employed too.

 

Last night I was the sole concertina in a very large group (35+) of loud instruments playing for dancing and I could use all and everything that I could think of in the way of Harmonies and rhythmic chording without disturbing too many people.

 

One usefull device is to be able to precis the tune, play a very bare version or even leave out some notes of the melody, just play the pivotal notes of the phrases. The use of this is in a situation where you know the tune but cannot play it at the speed that others want or need ( in the case of playing for certain types of dancing) to use. The other use of this 'short hand' is when learning a tune whilst it is being played by others.... I've known some people who just could not leave out some of the notes when under pressure and thus ended up falling behind the rest of the session and making a real mess.

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What happens, for instance, when playing with others if, as Steve said, you develop and learn a harmonized version of a tune and then can't get back to the basic melody? Do most of you who regularly play with others learn both? From my limited experience of Sessions and jams, it seems that one is either melody or accompaniment and that too much harmony rapidly becomes a veritable cacophony. Perhaps it is merely a matter of experience -- the tune coming first, the harmony not learned, but showing up (or not) as needed?

I guess it depends on the context of the playing. At a session, it's not unusual to hear different people playing different versions of the melody, much less different chords. Listen to the others (or watch the guitar player's left hand). Maybe you'll hear a harmony worth adopting (or maybe you'll notice someone switching to your version).

 

At a dance with a large "pick-up" band, you can often get away with that, too. Less so (in decreasing order) in a dance with a small band, a stage performance, or a recording session.

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All three of you seem to be advocating the sensible (to me) course of learning and understanding a skeleton tune well enough to add and subtract at will. No easy task, but enticing. I came to the English concertina from classical cello where the emphasis was on following the dots regardless, and fiddle music where the general feeling seemed to be, "when in doubt add five more notes." It's astonishing to realize that one can make choices, get messy, make mistakes, play what sounds good in the moment and even, eventually, adjust on the fly. How bright the future looks!

 

Sorry to highjack the thread. Back to getting to know La Luna...

 

Sarah

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I do find this tune difficult to stop once you get going on it.I never get tired of playing it.I do not think I can improve on the Utube version already submitted so I will take a rest this month.

Al

Edited by Alan Day
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A failed experiment: I wondered what this tune would sound like sorta hornpiped up.

 

I don't think it works, but here it is.

 

I concur in that judgement... :ph34r:

 

I think it works...the result just isn't a hornpipe. If you want to try that though the first TOM, Firey Clockface, works pretty well as a waltz, a strathspey, and sort of even as a reel.

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A failed experiment: I wondered what this tune would sound like sorta hornpiped up.

 

I don't think it works, but here it is.

I concur in that judgement... :ph34r:

I think it works...the result just isn't a hornpipe.

 

For me such an alteration would "work" if really adds something to the tune - which it doesn't in this particular case IMO. Its main virtue seems to be that particular "Schottische" flow which gets obviously lost in that horn-pimping... :D

 

If you want to try that though the first TOM, Firey Clockface, works pretty well as a waltz, a strathspey, and sort of even as a reel.

I might try that myself, but... maybe you'd like to record (or even have recorded) it, and provide us with the file? :)

 

Regarding a successful transformation of a given tune into a waltz the apparently common (in the UK) version of "The Star of the County Down" (which Adrian thankfully made me aware of) might well serve as an example IMO.

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Regarding a successful transformation of a given tune into a waltz the apparently common (in the UK) version of "The Star of the County Down" (which Adrian thankfully made me aware of) might well serve as an example IMO.

As I understand it, it was the American, John McCutcheon, who first played "Star of the County Down" as a waltz.

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