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Octaves For English


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I made a wonderful discovery all by myself today with no help (with apologies to Wim Wakker and Jim Lucas) whatsoever. I FOUND THE OCTAVES !

 

The person I'm supposed to be studying with later this summer told me this was very important. Obvously, it makes the chordal sound much richer and is going to be very handy. I am still just fumbling around with the box as it is and not expecting much from myself. While messing about today, I stumbled upon the fact that the octaves are on opposite hands and on the diagonal from each other. LO AND BEHOLD! Now I have some cool voicings to add to my getting-better attempts at playing "La Mer."

 

Hooray!

 

Yes, I am tooting my own horn. And loudly, thanks for asking.

 

ldp

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While messing about today, I stumbled upon the fact that the octaves are on opposite hands and on the diagonal from each other.

And the second octave above will be on the same end as the original note, but the opposite side of the center line. (Your Jackie has only 3 of these -- G, G#, and A, -- but a 48-button English has 1½ octaves -- 20 button pairs -- of them.)

 

There are lots of these neat "geometrical" relationships to be discovered on the English. Have fun with your exploration. :)

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And the second octave above will be on the same end as the original note, but the opposite side of the center line. (Your Jackie has only 3 of these -- G, G#, and A, -- but a 48-button English has 1½ octaves -- 20 button pairs -- of them.)

 

I haven't been exploring the top end of the stave just yet. I'm in a bit of a good position because I know where the notes stop. :P The range of the Jackie approximates the mandolin up to to the fifth fret of the fourth course of strings, which is an A above the staff.

 

Don't mess my mind up with those extra 18 buttons! Not yet!

 

ldp, still plunking along on "La Mer" ... but "London Bridge" rocks!

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I also am exploring a new Jackie, coming from a 30-button Anglo. The Jackie is a nice instrument, but the big frustration is the range. As noted, it stops at the A above the treble stave. A quick survey of my repertoire, much of which is in G or A dorian, found that the vast majority called for the next B. Even higher notes were not such a problem.

 

I have no prior experience dealing with this, as my other instruments had wide ranges.

 

Solutions:

(1) Transpose down. The octave is rarely a solution, as most pieces would transpose below the bottom of the Jackie. If you transposed from G to F, say, your fellow musicians would likely object. In my case, these fellow musicians are imaginary friends, but they try to be faithful to reality.

 

(2) Just substitute the B in the middle of the treble stave. This works occasionally, but rarely sounds good, in my experience.

 

(3) Substitute another note, say the G just below the missing B. This often works in tunes where the B is a "transitional" note, but not where the B is pivotal.

 

(4) Substitute an ornamented note in that range. This often sounds good, but I sometimes get the feeling it's like mumbling when you've forgotten the words.

 

Help! You more experienced musicians, perhaps especially those of you who also play whistle, must have extensive experience dealing with this. How do you solve this sort of problem?

Edited by Stephen Mills
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Help!  You more experienced musicians, perhaps especially those of you who also play whistle must have extensive experience dealing with this.  How do you solve this sort of problem?

A standard flute/whistle trick is to octave-switch not just the single note, but a short note sequence, subphrase, or phrase. This sometimes has to be done in fiddle tunes that go too low, and that jump is up an octave. But I also hear high-register parts of tunes dropped an octave for musical variety, though on other repetitions they'll be played in the "proper" octave.

 

One place I consistently drop an octave, though, is when I play Lanigan's Ball on the tabor pipe (in D). If I could play all the notes of the B part in the upper octave, the listeners would require reconstructive eardrum surgery. Instead, I just play the entire B part in the same octave as the A part. Works just fine.

 

I do also use your techniques (2-4), though as you've noted, none of them works well all the time. On (3), though, you might sometimes reconsider what you mean by "pivotal". I've heard some wonderful versions of tunes where particular notes or passages are significantly different from what I'm used to. At first, it's jarring, but if I don't try to fight it I realize that though the tune now has a different flavor, it's still tasty. Also on (3), a note that might sound out of place on its own could turn into a nice dot of harmony if you are playing with others and they play the "correct" note.

 

Then there's (5): Ignore those tunes/songs/pieces that just don't work, but concentrate on learning new ones that do. If you can already play the "don't works" on a different instrument, then you might want to switch instruments temporarily for them. But it also doesn't hurt to stop playing for a while and just listen to the others. :)

 

Don't I do your (1), transposing? Well, yes, but mainly for musical variety, and rarely because I'm missing a note.

 

Eventually, of course, you'll want to graduate to an instrument with more buttons, probably the standard 48, but at least the 37 of a Button Box Albion. But I'm sure it will be a while before you exhaust the possibilities of the Jackie.

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