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Tune Of The Month, April, 2015: Harliquin Air


Jim Besser

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Here is my effort. I have just upgraded to a Marcus Music anglo, and this is the first new tune learned on it. I have recorded this in G major rather than D. I need to put in a lot more work on this tune - the B part took a bit of getting right.

 

Rich.

https://soundcloud.com/molecatcher/harliquin-air

 

Very tidy, as they say down Marcus's way. Nicely played. I especially like the three chords to emphasises the end of the A music.

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Sorry, I've been off this forum for a month or so. Just catching up.

 

I think I have to confess to starting the "Harliquin Air" conflagration at NESI that Jim refers to in the first post, above, and in the vote thread. I learned it from the Anahata/Mary H video linked in that post. Here's me playing it on my 46-key Wheatstone Hayden. I wish I could do Anahata's countermelody on the left hand at the same time. But although I know all the notes, I just can't make it happen all at once.

 

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Sorry, I've been off this forum for a month or so. Just catching up.

 

I think I have to confess to starting the "Harliquin Air" conflagration at NESI that Jim refers to in the first post, above, and in the vote thread. I learned it from the Anahata/Mary H video linked in that post. Here's me playing it on my 46-key Wheatstone Hayden. I wish I could do Anahata's countermelody on the left hand at the same time. But although I know all the notes, I just can't make it happen all at once.

 

Ah, that's the version I remember hearing first!

 

Thanks.

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Here is my effort. I have just upgraded to a Marcus Music anglo, and this is the first new tune learned on it. I have recorded this in G major rather than D. I need to put in a lot more work on this tune - the B part took a bit of getting right.

 

Rich.

https://soundcloud.com/molecatcher/harliquin-air

 

Thanks. You have a lot of harmonic stuff going on in the B part, which livens up the tune considerably.

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So here's my own effort:

 

Harliquin Air

 

(didn't succeed to really smooth some remaining shakiness out as yet)

 

Enjoyed the contributions so far myself!

 

P.S.: another couple of tunes to "my" Dahlhoff collection has been added some days ago..., this is in the same spirit, at least for me... :)

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So here's my own effort:

 

Harliquin Air

 

(didn't succeed to really smooth some remaining shakiness out as yet)

 

Enjoyed the contributions so far myself!

 

P.S.: another couple of tunes to "my" Dahlhoff collection has been added some days ago..., this is in the same spirit, at least for me... :)

 

Thanks. Interesting how different the English and duet versions are from those done on Anglo.

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It might be mentioned that this tune can serve as a perfect exercise for playing melody runs evenly, most notably not too fast. About two hours of playing and practising the tune didn't apparently suffice throughout for myself - but I will continue with playing the lovely and lively tune anyways (which hopefully will improve then)...

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Interesting how different the English and duet versions are from those done on Anglo.

 

IMO the different recordings are showing indeed how to take advantage of the particular system.

 

 

Agree. That doesn't mean Anglo players aren't sometimes envious of the duet and English chordal opportunities!

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Here is my effort. I have just upgraded to a Marcus Music anglo, and this is the first new tune learned on it. I have recorded this in G major rather than D. I need to put in a lot more work on this tune - the B part took a bit of getting right.

 

Rich.

https://soundcloud.com/molecatcher/harliquin-air

So here's my own effort:

 

Harliquin Air

 

(didn't succeed to really smooth some remaining shakiness out as yet)

 

Enjoyed the contributions so far myself!

 

P.S.: another couple of tunes to "my" Dahlhoff collection has been added some days ago..., this is in the same spirit, at least for me... :)

Some nice chordal accompaniments in both of these and it's interesting to listen to the different style of accompaniment on the two systems.

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Here's my version. Multi track with ukulele and recorders. I wrote my own counter melody which you can hear on the tenor recorder second time through.

 

Edit. As the recorders were badly out of tune and (ashamedly) I missed it, I have deleted it from Soundcloud. I'll try and get round to re-recording at least the tenor recorder part and will re-post with a new message.

Edited by Tootler
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Forgive me...

 

Please interpret this not as criticism, but as a bit of a music lesson (dare I use the word "theory"?). Several of the entries in this thread seem to be missing an opportunity that this tune offers.

 

Considering the tune in the key of D, the A section ends on an A chord (the dominant, or five chord), and this tonality will be considerably more convincing (satisfying, if you will) if it is preceded by an E major (or 7th) chord, with a G# in there that's not in the key signature of D. This creates a tension that drives the harmonic movement forward. This is called a secondary dominant, or "five of five."

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Forgive me...

 

Please interpret this not as criticism, but as a bit of a music lesson (dare I use the word "theory"?). Several of the entries in this thread seem to be missing an opportunity that this tune offers.

 

Considering the tune in the key of D, the A section ends on an A chord (the dominant, or five chord), and this tonality will be considerably more convincing (satisfying, if you will) if it is preceded by an E major (or 7th) chord, with a G# in there that's not in the key signature of D. This creates a tension that drives the harmonic movement forward. This is called a secondary dominant, or "five of five."

 

No need for apologies I guess, David...

 

You will know that I'm very fond of the concept of the secondary (or even tertiary) dominant. Thus I included the Emaj here in the spare form of playing a "B" note (which is not part of the Amaj harmony either but the fifth in the Emaj chord) in the (if you will) "bass" - a low E is not available on the treble, the G# alongside just the "B" sounded too strong (or tight) to my ears - and I wanted to thin out the harmony in order to keep the tune light anyways.

 

Do you nonwithstanding "hear" the tension in my take?

 

Best wishes - Wolf

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Forgive me...

 

Please interpret this not as criticism, but as a bit of a music lesson (dare I use the word "theory"?). Several of the entries in this thread seem to be missing an opportunity that this tune offers.

 

Considering the tune in the key of D, the A section ends on an A chord (the dominant, or five chord), and this tonality will be considerably more convincing (satisfying, if you will) if it is preceded by an E major (or 7th) chord, with a G# in there that's not in the key signature of D. This creates a tension that drives the harmonic movement forward. This is called a secondary dominant, or "five of five."

I did something completely different. I harmonised the last two bars of the A music with a Bm - Em progression. In effect you get a brief change not of key but of mode.

 

You may not agree with what I did but it works for my ears.

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Geoff, I agree, what you were doing harmonically is a nice variant, giving in fact the brief impression of a Mixolydian soundscape (similar to what I'm doing for an entire section of my playing Apley House). Thank you for bringing that up!

 

I like the countermelody too, maybe the pitch of the recorders could get slightly adjusted for a more pleasing listening experience... (would well be worth it IMO).

 

Best wishes - Wolf

 

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all very good versions above - here is my quick lunch time take, just one pass of part a & b - thanks Jim for the introduction to this very fine tune - it is definitely one that grows on you. I find this tune has a very interesting structure and to play it I have to remember the actual notes, rather than which buttons to press - if that makes make sense.

 

https://soundcloud.com/dc12/totm-harlequin-air

 

morse ceili g/d

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