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Theme Of The Month, Jan. 2015: Hornpipes And Other Swingy Things


Jim Besser

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I don’t know about you, but for me, there’s nothing as much fun to play on concertina as a good hornpipe.


Most hornpipes I know are English or Scottish, with a few Irish ones that have come my way over the years. I’m showing my musical ignorance here, but I’m assuming there are similar musical forms in other traditions.


And there are plenty of other tunes that may not technically be hornpipes - but have a nice, swingy feel to them and are just as much fun to play. I was at a dance once when the band played an infectiously swingy version of the Hokey Pokey.


I’m sure we can get into lengthy discussions about exactly what constitutes a hornpipe - a term I believe originally referred to the dance - but I’d rather play music. So dig out your hornpipes, and tunes that you think may be hornpipes, and tunes with a strong swing to them that resemble hornpipes. If you need inspiration, go to YouTube and just search on 'hornpipes.'


As an aside, in American and Irish traditional music, there are quite a few tunes that have the word 'hornpipe' in the title that lack the dotted, swingy quality we associate with the term. And in New England, they take real hornpipes and smooth them out for dances. If you have Spotify, search for FIsher's Hornpipe and hear the very different ways it's played - sometimes smooth, sometimes swingy and chunky. It's OK if you want to play a smooth hornpipe, but that's not what I'm talking about.


As always, this isn't about achieving perfection, just having fun and benefiting from the feedback of others.


Ready, set, swing…..

Edited by Jim Besser
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I was working on Galway Hornpipe, learned from a CD by Hugh and Colm Healy that I got for Christmas and the theme of the month turns out to be hornpipes. (Pardon my son the guitarist- he would only accompany me if I let him wear the mask -not sure why )

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOLvNkmdhNM

 

Nice. And I like the mask!

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A medley of 3 hornpipes I like:

 

George Green's College Hornpipe

The Wonder Hornpipe

Welsh Cuckoo's Nest.

 

Played in G, G and Em on a 30 button Morse G/D Anglo.

 

Dang, I forgot the chords on Welsh Cuckoo's Nest. I learned the tune from an English tuba player!

I'm pretty sure I first heard Wonder Hornpipe played by Jody Kruskal for a sword dance group, but I could be mistaken.

 

And a little different treatment of a hornpipe, my band Frog hammer at a ceilidh workshop a few years ago playing Three Jolly Sheepskins. Concertina is in there somewhere after the second hot sax solo.

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Here are two of my favorite swingy concertina tunes.

 

I originally learned "The Ebb Tide" from the wonderful playing of Jacqueline McCarthy on "The Wind among the Reeds," and my setting obviously owes a lot to hers, though I find that it's diverged a fair bit over the years (it's much swingier, for one thing). As for "The Flowing Tide," I have no idea where I got it; I suspect I just picked it up osmotically from hearing it at countless sessions.

 

The odd thing is that I've never heard anyone else play these two hornpipes together, though they'd make a lovely pair even without their complementary names.

 

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

Edited by Bob Michel
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A medley of 3 hornpipes I like:

 

George Green's College Hornpipe

The Wonder Hornpipe

Welsh Cuckoo's Nest.

 

Played in G, G and Em on a 30 button Morse G/D Anglo.

Terrific tunes, lovely playing. Coincidentally I've just been working on "The Wonder." And "Welsh Cuckoo's Nest" goes on my to-learn list.

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

Edited by Bob Michel
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A medley of 3 hornpipes I like:

 

George Green's College Hornpipe

The Wonder Hornpipe

Welsh Cuckoo's Nest.

 

Played in G, G and Em on a 30 button Morse G/D Anglo.

Terrific tunes, lovely playing. Coincidentally I've just been working on "The Wonder." And "Welsh Cuckoo's Nest" goes on my to-learn list.

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

 

 

Thanks. If you need dots for Welsh, I have them

 

jb

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Here are two of my favorite swingy concertina tunes.

 

I originally learned "The Ebb Tide" from the wonderful playing of Jacqueline McCarthy on "The Wind among the Reeds," and my setting obviously owes a lot to hers, though I find that it's diverged a fair bit over the years (it's much swingier, for one thing). As for "The Flowing Tide," I have no idea where I got it; I suspect I just picked it up osmotically from hearing it at countless sessions.

 

The odd thing is that I've never heard anyone else play these two hornpipes together, though they'd make a lovely pair even without their complementary names.

 

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

 

Ebb tide - a very cool tune, never heard it before. Thanks!

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Here are two of my favorite swingy concertina tunes.

 

I originally learned "The Ebb Tide" from the wonderful playing of Jacqueline McCarthy on "The Wind among the Reeds," and my setting obviously owes a lot to hers, though I find that it's diverged a fair bit over the years (it's much swingier, for one thing). As for "The Flowing Tide," I have no idea where I got it; I suspect I just picked it up osmotically from hearing it at countless sessions.

 

The odd thing is that I've never heard anyone else play these two hornpipes together, though they'd make a lovely pair even without their complementary names.

 

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

Really nice playing! Love your renditions of both the tunes and I especially like your back up guitar and mandolin.

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Really nice playing! Love your renditions of both the tunes and I especially like your back up guitar and mandolin.

Thanks, Daria. It's hard to go wrong with such lovely tunes. I'm enough of a hornpipe enthusiast that my session mates ration me pretty strictly.

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

Edited by Bob Michel
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Another version of George Green's College Hornpipe and Welsh Cuckoo's Nest, from last night's rehearsal of The Squeezers: English concertina, Anglo concertina and D/G melodeon. Complete with rehearsal chatter and mistakes.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/68325595/C.net%20Tune%20of%20the%20Month/Hornpipe_set_Jan6.MP3

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