Tune Of The Month For Dec 2013: William And Nancy

[Jim Besser]

Wow, what a poll: a two way tie between Whistling Rufus and William and Nancy, with Jämtlands Brudmarsch just one vote behind. Only one way to settle this, with a coin flip.

 

And the winner is: the punchy Cotswold Morris tune William and Nancy.

 

My group, the Foggy Bottom Morris Men, dances it in the Bledington tradition. Here's some notation (also attached as PDF) that reflects in a general way how we play it, although the C part looks squirrely to me.

 

The pattern for the Bledington dance is:

 

AA-BB

A-BB

A-CC

A-CC, where the Cs are "slows," with portions of the B part slowed down dramatically to go with what the dancers are doing - in this case toebacks and uprights.

 

But since you're not playing for dancers, don't feel compelled to do the C part unless you want! Think of it as extra credit. Or extra fun, as Jim Lucas put it.

 

Here's my quick and dirty simple version without the C part; I'll try to post a fuller version later today.

 

And here's a recording I made of the late Big Nick Robertshaw playing the tune for my Morris group at a rehearsal, posted with his widow's kind permission. Nick was the consummate Morris musician and master of the Jeffries Duet system. I'm still assimilating the lessons he taught me.

 

It's most commonly played in G - once again the influence of the melodeonists - but lately I've been experimenting with playing it in A on the G/D Anglo, which to my way of thinking gives it a nicer sound, although it's harder to achieve the punch that a Morris tune requires.

 

Here's a video showing what the dance looks like. Unfortunately there's no video of my group doing it.

 

The issue of chording in Morris music is controversial, to say the least. I've been told not a few times that it's never proper to play a 7th chord in a Morris tune.

 

I disagree - putting a 7th in the B part of this tune really livens it up. I learned that from Nick and I'm sticking to it. So sue me.

 

Don't feel that you need to play this like a Morris tune. Do it faster, if that pleases you, or slower - any way you slice it, it's a great tune. (At a Morris event late one night, after a fair quantity of beer, I seem to recall a bunch of us playing it as a waltz, and that it sounded pretty good, although that could be the beer).

 

Have fun! I look forward to a great variety of versions. Beginners more than welcome.

william_and_nancy.PDF

Edited December 1, 2013 by Jim Besser

[Jim Besser]

To start things off, here's the tune more or less the way I play it for Morris. It's slower than the Big Nick version - our dance style has changed in the last few years. Like most Morris musicians, I take my cues from the dancers, and am somewhat at a loss when there aren't any to watch!

 

This is the normal Bledington format, except that I left out the introductory A customary in Cotswold dance tunes. I have included the C part. In our version, the "slows" are a little faster the second time around.

 

The first two times thru are in G, the second two in A. I sometime do that key change for the dancers. Such key changes are not common in Morris music, but they are traditional with our group. I think G provides more punch on the GD because I'm hitting the emphasis notes on the push, but I like the sound of A better.

 

Played on a 30 button Jeffries GD

Edited December 1, 2013 by Jim Besser

[JimLucas]

But since you're not playing for dancers, don't feel compelled to do the C part unless you want! Think of it as extra credit.

We're being graded?

 

Credit, schmedit! I'm gonna think of it as extra fun!

[Jim Besser]

 

But since you're not playing for dancers, don't feel compelled to do the C part unless you want! Think of it as extra credit.

We're being graded?

 

Credit, schmedit! I'm gonna think of it as extra fun!

 

 

Well, yeah. I agree. Just a figure of speech.

[Chris Drinkwater]

Good choice. I am looking forward to learning the tune and posting a recording at some point.

 

Chris

 

 

PS Jim, surely the length of the slows varies according to the age of the morris men and their ability to jump up?

Edited December 1, 2013 by Chris Drinkwater

[Jim Besser]

 

PS Jim, surely the length of the slows varies according to the age of the morris men and their ability to jump up?

 

Oh yes. There are dramatic differences. Some of the younger, more athletic guys get real height, and the music slows even more; others barely get off the ground and the music is faster.

 

If I played Morris music with a metronome the dancers would string me up. In the Wm and Nancy slows, each pair of dancers requires an adjustment in the music. Morris tunes are generally simple, but playing them for dancers and getting it right is always a challenge!

[JimLucas]

PS Jim, surely the length of the slows varies according to the age of the morris men and their ability to jump up?

 

Oh yes. There are dramatic differences. Some of the younger, more athletic guys get real height, and the music slows even more; others barely get off the ground and the music is faster.

 

If I played Morris music with a metronome the dancers would string me up. In the Wm and Nancy slows, each pair of dancers requires an adjustment in the music.

 

This is getting a bit off the topic of the tune itself, but does your team pair its corners according to the height they jump in the capers?

 

P.S. Why this apparent assumption that the older dancers are automatically the ones with less "spring"?

[Jim Besser]

 

PS Jim, surely the length of the slows varies according to the age of the morris men and their ability to jump up?

 

Oh yes. There are dramatic differences. Some of the younger, more athletic guys get real height, and the music slows even more; others barely get off the ground and the music is faster.

 

If I played Morris music with a metronome the dancers would string me up. In the Wm and Nancy slows, each pair of dancers requires an adjustment in the music.

 

This is getting a bit off the topic of the tune itself, but does your team pair its corners according to the height they jump in the capers?

 

P.S. Why this apparent assumption that the older dancers are automatically the ones with less "spring"?

 

 

No, we don't pair, which is a big problem for me; sometimes we have big mismatches, and you can't time the music to their landing.

 

And you're right, age is not the determinative factor. We have a couple of older dancers who get a lot of height and a few younger ones who get very little.

[Don Taylor]

A plea to all the wonderful gifted players who are gearing up to make their submissions to TOTM.

 

Please write up a commentary with your piece telling us about your approach to arranging the tune. I find that I can usually pick up a melody line OK, but am at an almost complete loss on what to do to add an accompaniment. I am pretty sure that most beginner players share the same problem so I think that these commentaries would be very valuable.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Don.

[Jim Besser]

A plea to all the wonderful gifted players who are gearing up to make their submissions to TOTM.

 

Please write up a commentary with your piece telling us about your approach to arranging the tune. I find that I can usually pick up a melody line OK, but am at an almost complete loss on what to do to add an accompaniment. I am pretty sure that most beginner players share the same problem so I think that these commentaries would be very valuable.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Don.

 

"Arrangement" is too generous a term for what I do.

 

For Morris tunes, my goal is twofold: to maximize volume (I generally play solo, in noisy environments, with guys making noise with bells and sticks), and to really emphasize keys note and phrases to facilitate the dance. Along the way I try to make it sound good - to me, Morris music is part of the performance, not just a tool for the dancers - but punching the rhythm and putting emphasis at all the right places are the priorities.

 

If I was playing this for a ceilidh, I'd be more interested in finding creative ways to make it sound good - more interesting chords, more interesting stuff with the left hand. A little more like when I play it in A in this example.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Jim Besser

[JimLucas]

To start things off, here's the tune more or less the way I play it for Morris.

 

And now here's my first entry (I intend that there will be more), played on my bass (i.e., cello range) English, just for the fun of it. Not the full length of the Morris dance, but the B and C parts with three repetitions as they would be for the dance.

 

The "harmonies" aren't an "arrangement", but improvisation. They're simply things that my fingers naturally fall into when I'm playing my treble English. Down that low, I think they're too heavy to be "musical", certainly as a steady diet. But their oddness can still be "fun" (IMO) if they're used (very) sparsely.

 

As the saying goes, "warts and all". How about the rest of you? Warts are in! Let's hear your experiments, too.

[JimLucas]

A plea to all the wonderful gifted players who are gearing up to make their submissions to TOTM.

 

Please write up a commentary with your piece telling us about your approach to arranging the tune.

 

"Arrangement" is too generous a term for what I do.

 

I think "style" would be a better term than "arrangement". Those of us who have been playing for many years tend to develop personal styles which are cobbled together from various bits and pieces of technique we've picked up along the way, some very general and others more specific. We aren't all exposed to the same bits and pieces, and we also make different choices (often unconsciously) of which ones to adopt, as well as which ones to use at a particular moment.

 

I guess you're asking us to tell which bits and pieces we used in working up our particular renditions. Good if we can, though we often don't know, maybe not even if we think about it. (I'm reminded of a friend who tried to teach me how he played the bones. It didn't work... until I stopped listening to what he said and just watched what he was doing. They weren't at all the same.)

[Jim Besser]

 

To start things off, here's the tune more or less the way I play it for Morris.

 

And now here's my first entry (I intend that there will be more), played on my bass (i.e., cello range) English, just for the fun of it. Not the full length of the Morris dance, but the B and C parts with three repetitions as they would be for the dance.

 

The "harmonies" aren't an "arrangement", but improvisation. They're simply things that my fingers naturally fall into when I'm playing my treble English. Down that low, I think they're too heavy to be "musical", certainly as a steady diet. But their oddness can still be "fun" (IMO) if they're used (very) sparsely.

 

As the saying goes, "warts and all". How about the rest of you? Warts are in! Let's hear your experiments, too.

 

 

 

What a wonderful sound. Really nice!

[bellowbelle]

...................................................(etc.)

And now here's my first entry (I intend that there will be more), played on my bass (i.e., cello range) English, just for the fun of it. Not the full length of the Morris dance, but the B and C parts with three repetitions as they would be for the dance.

 

The "harmonies" aren't an "arrangement", but improvisation. They're simply things that my fingers naturally fall into when I'm playing my treble English. Down that low, I think they're too heavy to be "musical", certainly as a steady diet. But their oddness can still be "fun" (IMO) if they're used (very) sparsely.

 

As the saying goes, "warts and all". How about the rest of you? Warts are in! Let's hear your experiments, too.

 

 

I love the sound of that bass English -- and it seems perfect for this tune! Sounds great.

 

That's how I prefer to do my "unarrangements," most of the time; going with what the fingers tend to fall to.

[Robert Fisher]

I've managed to find time for Bill and Nancy between the Christmas tunes. William is a little warty, and Nancy's not fancy, but at least they're here . As you'll hear, if you have a listen, once I finally got into the swing of it I didn't remember to stop...

 

https://soundcloud.com/7wheels-1/williamnancy

[Chris Drinkwater]

And here's my version; A+B+C parts played twice each, three times, although the "slows" in the C part are not, ahem, slow, though slower!

 

http://soundcloud.com/aeolaman/william-and-nancy-vn1

 

Chris

[Jim Besser]

Keep 'em coming; lots of nice versions here!

[Wolf Molkentin]

And here's my version; A+B+C parts played twice each, three times, although the "slows" in the C part are not, ahem, slow, though slower!

 

http://soundcloud.com/aeolaman/william-and-nancy-vn1

 

Chris

 

Very elegant, with a nice light touch on the instrument!