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Theme Of The Month, April 2015: Your Newest


Jim Besser

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I find it really strange; I remember reading that Mendelssohn (I think?) once said that metronome marks - maybe even tempo markings - are unnecessary, and that the character of the music should give you all the pointers you need regarding the speed it should be played. While that's probably an oversimplification, there's a core of truth in it, I think - if I'd seen notation for Da Slockit Light before hearing the Tom Anderson/Aly Bain recording I'd like to think I would have played it at much the same speed I'm playing it now.

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Definitely my newest. Coleman's March which is what I voted for for the April TOTM.

 

The tune was new to me and I really like it.

 

Multi track with soprano ukulele and soprano recorder as well as CG Anglo Concertina. I added some variations the second time through.

 

https://soundcloud.com/tootlingeoff/colemans-march

 

Now for Harliquin Air. Another nice tune also new to me.

Edited by Tootler
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Here are my latest dance tunes:

 

http://youtu.be/tmYtuFVt8jc

 

Last week a friend with whom I share a love of Northumbrian music very generously sent me a packet of recordings and transcriptions. (Thanks again, John!) I was already familiar with "Dog Leap Stairs" from Alistair Anderson's orchestrated version on the album "Steel Skies" (which I don't attempt to reproduce here), but I'd never played the tune myself. I like the way it contrasts with another 3/2 hornpipe, the odd and haunting "If You Will Not Have Me You May Let Me Go," so I decided to learn that one too and record them together.

 

My friend's gift was waiting for me when I returned from a brief trip to Barcelona, so I included one of the Muses from the Palau de la Musica Catalana in the accompanying montage of images.

 

As for the dog who appears at the end, aside from its Newcastle context the title "Dog Leap Stairs" inevitably evokes for me memories of my whippet in his youth, when he could vault up the fourteen steps in my house in two effortless bounds. He's fourteen himself now, and has slowed down a bit. Me, too.

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

Edited by Bob Michel
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Sell one of those instruments and buy him a stair-lift.

When we get to that point, I expect I'll be the stair-lift. Exercising that function for a large, wobbly greyhound is what convinced me to downsize to whippets in the first place.

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

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Here are my latest dance tunes:

 

http://youtu.be/tmYtuFVt8jc

 

Last week a friend with whom I share a love of Northumbrian music very generously sent me a packet of recordings and transcriptions. (Thanks again, John!) I was already familiar with "Dog Leap Stairs" from Alistair Anderson's orchestrated version on the album "Steel Skies" (which I don't attempt to reproduce here), but I'd never played the tune myself. I like the way it contrasts with another 3/2 hornpipe, the odd and haunting "If You Will Not Have Me You May Let Me Go," so I decided to learn that one too and record them together.

 

My friend's gift was waiting for me when I returned from a brief trip to Barcelona, so I included one of the Muses from the Palau de la Musica Catalana in the accompanying montage of images.

 

As for the dog who appears at the end, aside from its Newcastle context the title "Dog Leap Stairs" inevitably evokes for me memories of my whippet in his youth, when he could vault up the fourteen steps in my house in two effortless bounds. He's fourteen himself now, and has slowed down a bit. Me, too.

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

Very nice Bob.

 

I remember finding Dog Leap Stairs early one morning. I had arrived too early for a meeting at the Open University (whose North East Office is just across the river in Gateshead) so I took a walk across the swing bridge and round that old part of Newcastle. It's something of a hidden gem with some gorgeous old buildings as shown in your pictures.

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Seeing that today is Easter, I thought I should find and learn Alan Day's tune "Chocolate Rabbit". Then I had serious problems with both my computer and my internet connection, which I've spent most of the day trying to solve. I usually make a hard copy of a tune while I'm learning it, but I haven't yet gotten my music notation program running (though it's worked fine up until today), so that was out.

Luckily, though, I could still play Alan's YouTube video over and over, so I did that until I had the tune (or something close to it) in my head. Thence into my fingers. Luckily, it's a catchy tune, so that wasn't really too difficult. And here's the result:

Chocolate Rabbit (take 1)

Quick and dirty, as the saying goes.

I had hoped to work up an arrangement of some sort, but I've run out of time. (It's now 10:00 pm here in Denmark, and I have to be nice to the neighbors.) Still, I'll hope to find time to do that before the month is out, and at least I did manage to submit this one while it was still Easter.

P.S. I was tempted to delete the last measure or two from the sound file and say that's where the rabbit's ear were bitten off (a chocolate rabbit, you must remember) B), but in the end I decided to forego that "joke".

Edited to add: Here's Alan's YouTube video that I used as a model. :)

Edited by JimLucas
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Seeing that today is Easter, I thought I should find and learn Alan Day's tune "Chocolate Rabbit". Then I had serious problems with both my computer and my internet connection, which I've spent most of the day trying to solve. I usually make a hard copy of a tune while I'm learning it, but I haven't yet gotten my music notation program running (though it's worked fine up until today), so that was out.

 

Luckily, though, I could still play Alan's YouTube video over and over, so I did that until I had the tune (or something close to it) in my head. Thence into my fingers. Luckily, it's a catchy tune, so that wasn't really too difficult. And here's the result:

Chocolate Rabbit (take 1)

Quick and dirty, as the saying goes.

 

I had hoped to work up an arrangement of some sort, but I've run out of time. (It's now 10:00 pm here in Denmark, and I have to be nice to the neighbors.) Still, I'll hope to find time to do that before the month is out, and at least I did manage to submit this one while it was still Easter.

 

P.S. I was tempted to delete the last measure or two from the sound file and say that's where the rabbit's ear were bitten off (a chocolate rabbit, you must remember) B), but in the end I decided to forego that "joke".

 

Edited to add: Here's Alan's YouTube video that I used as a model. :)

 

Happy to hear that tune return to c.net! And timely, of course.

 

Years ago, at a NE Squeeze In, I got a big bunch of players to play Chocolate Rabbit and I recorded it (on a cassette, so you know it was a long time ago).

 

We did it, but the tape broke and I could never send it to Alan!

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Years ago, at a NE Squeeze In, I got a big bunch of players to play Chocolate Rabbit and I recorded it (on a cassette, so you know it was a long time ago).

 

We did it, but the tape broke and I could never send it to Alan!

Did you throw it out, or is it still lying around somewhere?

 

It's possible to repair a broken tape. I've done it more than once, though the last time was about 25 years ago.

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Years ago, at a NE Squeeze In, I got a big bunch of players to play Chocolate Rabbit and I recorded it (on a cassette, so you know it was a long time ago).

 

We did it, but the tape broke and I could never send it to Alan!

Did you throw it out, or is it still lying around somewhere?

 

It's possible to repair a broken tape. I've done it more than once, though the last time was about 25 years ago.

 

 

Oh goodness, I probably threw it out when it happened.

 

As I recall, we had about 15 accordions and concertinas playing the tune and it sounded pretty good!

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I've been working on a lot of renaissance pieces recently, and here's one of the most well known renaissance chansons: Josquin's Mille Regretz. I am amazed sometimes how easily this sort of material fits under the fingers on an anglo. That said, I decided to use a lot of bellows reversals on this piece, to facilitate the fingering which gave the usual problem of little swells at every reversal. So it was a good exercise to try to get on top of these and keep the lines flowing nicely. I've recorded two versions, the first on a Bbf and the second, a forth lower on an FC (tenor). I find it's easier to control this piece at the higher pitch, but it sounds like it has a lot more gravitas lower (and when Mr Dipper has finished my baritone I'll be able to get even more gravitas...). What do you think? Any preferences? Next, I'll have to try to incorporate some diminutions on at least the top line!

 

Adrian

 

Edited to add the text (red face)

 

Text:
Mille regretz de vous habandonner
Et d'eslongiers vostre fache amoureuse,
Jay si grant doeul et paine doloreuse,
Quon me verra brief mes jours definer.

In Modern French:
Mille regrets de vous abandonner
et d’être éloigné de votre visage amoureux.
J’ai si grand deuil et peine douloureuse
qu’on me verra vite mourir.

English Translation:
A thousand regrets at deserting you
and leaving behind your loving face,
I feel so much sadness and such painful distress,
that it seems to me my days will soon dwindle away.

Edited by aybee
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This is pretty raw. I saw a video of the Monster Ceilidh Band doing this tune, Vralkada, by Roger Talroth, and thought it might work well for my ceilidh band at a brisker pace. But I'm having a hard time figuring out what do to with it solo. It's an awkward key on Anglo for chording, but I've tried Em and Bm (this is in Am) and they both have limitations.

 

It's also a good exercise for me since I'm weak in left hand low melody.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/68325595/C.net%20Tune%20of%20the%20Month/Vralkada1.MP3

 

I'll try to post another recording when I figure out what to do with it!

 

Played in Am on a 30 button Morse hybrid Anglo.

Edited by Jim Besser
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@Chocolate rabbit: When I first hear it, I wondered where I knew this tune from. Then I realised, that the introduction/chorus/reccuring phrase is very similiar to the polish classic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhc6ZgA4hrM

 

I was wondering if the similiar phrase (opening and chorus note sequence) is a complete coincidence, or it is a concious (or subconcious) quotation? Alan, if you see this, could you answer if you knew "Tylko we Lwowie" at the time you were composing this tune? :)

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