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Totm For November, 2013: Haste To The Wedding


Jim Besser

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I was all set to announce Mr. Moore's Hornpipe as November’s winner - but a last minute surge (if you can call 2 votes a “surge”) put Haste to the Wedding on top.

Which is fine with me: it’s an excellent jig, something beginners should be able to pick up pretty quickly and more advanced players can turn into something special.

It’s commonly thought of as an iconic Irish jig, but there’s speculation it might be English in origin. Not being an Irish player myself, I expect to play this Irish tune in a more English, harmonic style, but I’m eager to hear what our ITM aficionados do with it. And I’m betting the duetests among us will have something entirely different to add to the conversation. At least I hope so.

One of the things I love about trad music is the multiplicity of names for many tunes. According to thesession.org , a pretty authoritative compendium of Irish trad music, Haste is also known by these names:

Come Haste To The Wedding, Fast Trip To Reno, Gigue Des Petits Moutons, Haste To The West, Haste Ye Tae The Wedding, Hasten To The Wedding, Mary, Cut Your Toenails You’re Tearing All The Sheets, Quick Trip To Reno, Rural Felicity, Thurot.

Personally, I like the graphic "Mary Cut Your Toenails" title.

 

Here are some dots in several formats.

ABC:

X: 1
T: Haste To The Wedding
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|:AFA Agf|ede fdB|AFA dAF|EFE EFG|
AFA Agf|ede fdB|A2g faf|ded d3:|
|:afa afa|bgb bgb|afa agf|ede efg|
a3 f3|ede fdB|A2g faf|ded d3:|

PDF: Attached.

But this is just a starting point; I suggest visiting The Session's page on the tune to read more about Haste to the Wedding and look over notation for a number of different versions.

Here's a nice rendition with some cool dancing, concertina and melodeon - and some uncool audio feedback. But search YouTube, Spotify and whatever, and you'll find dozens of worthwhile versions to guide your learning and playing.

 

Have fun! If you're a beginner, don't be shy, this is all about learning and improving our skills; if you're an advanced player, share some of your expertise with the rest of us.


haste to the Wedding.pdf

Edited by Jim Besser
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Here's what I recorded, using my smartphone:

 

https://app.box.com/shared/static/0inmd8srv9agbpd7vqdj.m4a

 

UPDATE: Here's the very same sound file, converted to MP3 (Haste To The Wedding)

 

I can't find the recorder I usually use, but it's not a lot different, probably.

 

I know I said I was 'dropping out' of the audio sharing, but, well... since I did record this anyway, there it is. It's not a fantastic recording, nor is it any stellar rendition, but.... it is most definitely my rendition of Haste To The Wedding.

 

This is from my folder: box.com/hastetothewedding where I have this .m4a, and a .mid, and a .pdf.

 

I don't know how to get any other file but the .m4a, as is.

 

I don't mind if anyone comments, though I myself am not really seeking comments.

Edited by Wendy Stanford
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Here's a first go at HTTW. Played in pretty much a non-ITM style.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXhUusI29_8

 

Played on a Jeffries 30 button G/D Anglo. In honor of David's request for faces in videos, I've included mine, which I'm guessing does absolutely nothing to enhance the final product.

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...Haste to the Wedding....

 

...

It’s commonly thought of as an iconic Irish jig...

:unsure: Eh?

 

While generally known to the Irish folks I played with/learned from 30-40+ years ago, it was never among their top ten tunes for either dances or sessions, but seemed to be more of a special purpose tune, maybe because of the sudden "pause", i.e., the pair of dotted quarter notes amid all those triples of eighth notes.

 

I myself learned it first as a contra dance tune, and though it's been several years now, I'm pretty sure there's even a specific dance to the tune that may well go back 200 years or so.

 

Though not at my current location, I know I have a simple piano arrangement published in the US around 1820-30, and I'm pretty sure I have a Scottish set of lyrics with piano accompaniment from the late 1800's. This is definitely one of those tunes that's common almost throughout the former British Empire... USA, Canada, Australia, England, Scotland, and yes, even Ireland. ;)

 

I play plenty of both Irish and Morris, but I feel that other genres/styles -- e.g., contra dance, modern English country dance, old timey, even bluegrass -- have been neglected in the discussion of tunes found in multiple traditions.

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One of the things I love about trad music is the multiplicity of names for many tunes. According to thesession.org , a pretty authoritative compendium of Irish trad music, Haste is also known by these names:

 

Come Haste To The Wedding, Fast Trip To Reno, Gigue Des Petits Moutons, Haste To The West, Haste Ye Tae The Wedding, Hasten To The Wedding, Mary, Cut Your Toenails You’re Tearing All The Sheets, Quick Trip To Reno, Rural Felicity, Thurot.

 

Well, several of those -- Come Haste To The Wedding, Fast Trip To Reno, Haste Ye Tae The Wedding, Hasten To The Wedding, Quick Trip To Reno, and maybe even Mary, Cut Your Toenails You’re Tearing All The Sheets, -- are really just different, mostly locally colorful ways of saying "Haste to the Wedding". That reminds me of another tune with multiple titles that mostly seem to convey a common idea: My Love She's But a Lassie, Yet, also known as Seventeen Come Sunday, Over Young to Marry, and the graphic Jailbait. :)

 

Haste To The West sounds to me like somebody just misheard Haste to the Wedding. Rural Felicity, on the other hand, is the name of another song to the same tune.

 

Yeah, tune names are fun. :D

 

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...Haste to the Wedding....

 

...

It’s commonly thought of as an iconic Irish jig...

:unsure: Eh?

 

While generally known to the Irish folks I played with/learned from 30-40+ years ago, it was never among their top ten tunes for either dances or sessions, but seemed to be more of a special purpose tune, maybe because of the sudden "pause", i.e., the pair of dotted quarter notes amid all those triples of eighth notes.

 

I myself learned it first as a contra dance tune, and though it's been several years now, I'm pretty sure there's even a specific dance to the tune that may well go back 200 years or so.

 

Though not at my current location, I know I have a simple piano arrangement published in the US around 1820-30, and I'm pretty sure I have a Scottish set of lyrics with piano accompaniment from the late 1800's. This is definitely one of those tunes that's common almost throughout the former British Empire... USA, Canada, Australia, England, Scotland, and yes, even Ireland. ;)

 

I play plenty of both Irish and Morris, but I feel that other genres/styles -- e.g., contra dance, modern English country dance, old timey, even bluegrass -- have been neglected in the discussion of tunes found in multiple traditions.

 

 

I first heard/played it as a contra dance tune, but it's been played at some of the (very few) Irish sessions I've attended. And I was asked to play it at a wedding - of a contra dance player.

 

The naming confusion gets even more confusing with Morris dance tunes.

 

Just last night at practice, a dancer asked me if I knew Strike the Hedgehog.

 

Googled it, found a version, and in parens it had an alternate title - Room for the Cuckold. I learned Room many years ago, but it was a totally different tune (and i have a nice John K version of THAT tune in my CD collection. Making matters more interesting: the tune notated is the one we use for Rabbits in Australia - which I first learned with yet another name.

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While generally known to the Irish folks I played with/learned from 30-40+ years ago, it was never among their top ten tunes for either dances or sessions, but seemed to be more of a special purpose tune, maybe because of the sudden "pause", i.e., the pair of dotted quarter notes amid all those triples of eighth notes.

Not one of my favorites, either (I may have been one of those Jim refers to from 30 - 40 years ago, and we did a little playing together three weeks ago when I visited Denmark), but I will try to submit a recording in the next couple of days.

I myself learned it first as a contra dance tune, and though it's been several years now, I'm pretty sure there's even a specific dance to the tune that may well go back 200 years or so.

Yes, with a clapping figure on the longer notes.

 

Just last night at practice, a dancer asked me if I knew Strike the Hedgehog.

 

Googled it, found a version, and in parens it had an alternate title - Room for the Cuckold. I learned Room many years ago, but it was a totally different tune (and i have a nice John K version of THAT tune in my CD collection. Making matters more interesting: the tune notated is the one we use for Rabbits in Australia - which I first learned with yet another name.

In the Bucknell morris tradition, the same tune is used for Room for the Cuckolds and Rabbits in Australia.

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Not one of my favorites, ... but I will try to submit a recording in the next couple of days.

 

Here it is. I'm not really proud of it, as the tune really does nothing for me, but I pushed the buttons and this is what came out.

 

https://soundcloud.com/dr-sleep-1/haste-to-the-wedding

 

By the way, hit the "play" button here and count to ten:

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Happy-Yodel/dp/B000S4F2LK

 

Coincidence? Subconscious? Intentional?

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While generally known to the Irish folks I played with/learned from 30-40+ years ago, it was never among their top ten tunes for either dances or sessions, but seemed to be more of a special purpose tune....

 

Not one of my favorites, either (I may have been one of those Jim refers to from 30 - 40 years ago...)

 

I didn't have you in mind when I wrote that, David. Didn't know you were Irish. :unsure: ;)

 

By the way, hit the "play" button here and count to ten:

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Happy-Yodel/dp/B000S4F2LK

 

Coincidence? Subconscious? Intentional?

 

I'd guess intentional on Bill's part. He knows his music. Well done!

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It was composed by James Oswald (I think when he was still living in Scotland) and he called it "The Small Pin Cushion".

 

There is a set of words for the "Rural Felicity" title, illustrated here by Thomas Rowlandson (NSFW):

 

http://www.britishmuseum.org/collectionimages/AN00110/AN00110849_001_l.jpg

 

The fullest version of those lyrics I've seen is in a book called "The Gentleman's Bottle Companion" - you will only find it in big reference libraries, I don't think it's ever been reprinted.

 

EDIT: I just looked. There is an online scan of the 1768 edition of "The Gentleman's Bottle Companion", but "Rural Felicity" isn't in there. I used a copy in the National Library of Scotland, maybe they have a later edition. Since the (straight) version of the "Rural Felicity" song dates from 1767, it's unlikely a bawdy adaptation could have got into print that fast.

Edited by Jack Campin
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Here's a simple entry, and maybe a reminder that the primary concept is, I believe, "tune" (of the month) and not a competition for "best arrangement". Different arrangements, with chords, counter melody, etc. are great, but they're not required. What feeling does the melody have when you play it all by itself? (Does that change if you add chords or harmony?)

 

In this case I haven't tried to make Haste to the Wedding into a dance, but something more relaxed, which just happened to be my mood when I recorded it.

Haste to the Wedding

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Here's a simple entry, and maybe a reminder that the primary concept is, I believe, "tune" (of the month) and not a competition for "best arrangement". Different arrangements, with chords, counter melody, etc. are great, but they're not required. What feeling does the melody have when you play it all by itself? (Does that change if you add chords or harmony?)

 

In this case I haven't tried to make Haste to the Wedding into a dance, but something more relaxed, which just happened to be my mood when I recorded it.

 

Haste to the Wedding

 

Nice, and I agree: elaborate arrangements are not necessary, and sometimes a tune speaks the best in simplicity.

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Another simple entry -- but fun for me to play nonetheless, and it's nice to contribute something as I get such pleasure from hearing everyone else's contributions, even those (as with David's charming rendition), played by those don't even like the tune!

 

Sarah

 

https://soundcloud.com/mildredestelle/haste-to-the-wedding

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Another simple entry -- but fun for me to play nonetheless, and it's nice to contribute something as I get such pleasure from hearing everyone else's contributions, even those (as with David's charming rendition), played by those don't even like the tune!

 

Sarah

 

https://soundcloud.com/mildredestelle/haste-to-the-wedding

I like it. Nice and simple and very similar to the way it get's played for a North West morris side I occasionally play for.

 

Chris

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Here's a simple entry, and maybe a reminder that the primary concept is, I believe, "tune" (of the month) and not a competition for "best arrangement". Different arrangements, with chords, counter melody, etc. are great, but they're not required. What feeling does the melody have when you play it all by itself? (Does that change if you add chords or harmony?)

 

In this case I haven't tried to make Haste to the Wedding into a dance, but something more relaxed, which just happened to be my mood when I recorded it.

 

Haste to the Wedding

 

Especially since most of these tunes are not already in my memory bank, but are new to me, there's very little chance I'm going to play them any other way besides 'simple.' ('Simply.') But, even after so many years, it's likely that I'll still play them with a fairly bare-bones sound. This is just usually my preference, for playing. NOT always for listening -- I enjoy hearing others' more elaborate or 'evolved' arrangements.

 

It's not that I never want to sound any better. Of course I do. But, even if/when I do, it's likely that I still won't sound very showy or pro by many standards. I try to work on a few pieces that are more of a performance type -- i.e., the arrangement by Stanley of Dancing With Ma Baby, etc -- but only to say that I know a few of those! I don't like to perform.

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