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Tune Of The Month, Nov 2015: Coilsfield House


Jim Besser

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This lovely Scottish air composed was composed by Nathaniel Gow (1763-1831). The basic tune is pretty easy to play on all concertina systems. It sounds wonderful played in a single note style, and wonderful with interesting chords and countermelodies.



Remember: the TOTM forum is not just for advanced players. Recording tunes is a great way to hone your skills. This isn't a competition - its a community effort intended to help all of us, at every level, improve our playing.



a nice version on English concertina, guitar and bass, and a slow, expressive
by the great Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster, and another by a
.


Here's a discussion about the tune on thesession.org, along with some ABC notation.



Lots of notation out there, starting with this on the ABCnotation page.



More notation in jpg form, with info about the tune here. And from Mandolin Cafe, several mando versions and a link to a multi-part version that should sound really good.



More here.



I've listened to a lot of recordings of this lovely tune, and believe me, there's no single 'right' way to play it. Most notation I've seen is in G, but don't feel you need to follow the herd!


Edited by Jim Besser
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Hmmm. I have trouble with slow airs. Smooth is not my forte.

 

A first take. I couldn't decide between playing it in low D, with much of the melody on the left hand, or in G, along the G/D rows, so I did both.

 

A first take. I'd like to get it smoother, and I"m not entirely happy with my chord choices.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/68325595/C.net%20Tune%20of%20the%20Month/CoilsfieldHouse_Besser.MP3

 

Played on a Jeffries G/D 30 button Anglo. Not from any notation - I guess sort of an amalgam of the various versions I've listened to in the last week.

Edited by Jim Besser
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I recorded it in D, which is the key Gearoid records it in. His other songs on the CD are on his C/G concertina, but for this one, he borrowed a G/D concertina, and he changed the key it was written in ,G,and played it in D.

 

Any idea why he went to all that trouble?

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I recorded it in D, which is the key Gearoid records it in. His other songs on the CD are on his C/G concertina, but for this one, he borrowed a G/D concertina, and he changed the key it was written in ,G,and played it in D.

 

Any idea why he went to all that trouble?

 

Because it sounds so cool in the lowest registers of the G/D, is my guess.

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I'll start. Here on SoundCloud is a straightforward version, played on George Case English 3087 - steel reeds, double reed chambers, old pitch. Played twice - once with repeat of A part, and second time straight through.

Listening to that, I decided it was too fast and too rigid for the tune, so here again is "Coilsfield House Revisited" - a second take, a bit slower and freer. On same George Case 'tina.

Edited by Paul_Hardy
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I'll start. Here on SoundCloud is a straightforward version, played on George Case English 3087 - steel reeds, double reed chambers, old pitch. Played twice - once with repeat of A part, and second time straight through.

Listening to that, I decided it was too fast and too rigid for the tune, so here again is "Coilsfield House Revisited" - a second take, a bit slower and freer. On same George Case 'tina.

 

 

Again, very nice!

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