A little bit of Irish

[Alan Day]

A one row tune in G

Al

[fernando]

Nice Alan! never heard of this one. Do you have a name for it? I suppose it is a jig

 

Fernando

[Alan Day]

Thanks Fernando

No name yet as I only roughly put it together yesterday on a car ride to East Anglia.

I will take advice on this one if it sounds Irish enough then I can give it an Irish name, my personal thoughts are that there may not be enough Irish influence in it and many will think it is an English tune.

So it could be

"Snakes and Ladders" or "The Girl from Sligo"

Al

[Grrrr]

Hearing this bouncy tune, makes me picture morris dancers, so I'd vote for Snakes and Ladders.

[Geraghty]

I like it! Another vote for English here, in my inexpert opinion the A and B parts would have to be the same length/number of repeats to sound Irishy, but of course I'm sure there are many exceptions to that.

[JimLucas]

Another vote for English here, in my inexpert opinion the A and B parts would have to be the same length/number of repeats to sound Irishy, but of course I'm sure there are many exceptions to that.

Not only are there exceptions to that in Irish music, and not just the long dances, but the same pattern holds for most contemporary English dance music, notable exceptions being Morris dances with corner crossings and/or slows.

 

I personally think the tune would fit nicely in either tradition, as so many tunes do, the fit depending on the style in which it is played more than on the tune itself. Alan's tune may sound "English" because he is playing it. Give it to an Irish concertina player, and I'm pretty sure you'd think it sounded quite "Irish".

 

So instead of "Snakes and Ladders" or "The Girl from Sligo", how about a name suggesting dual (not duel) citizenship? My first thought was "Dreadnought", as in the shanty/forebitter about the packet ship of that name, containing the lines,

"Now she is sailing o'er the wild Irish Sea,

Her passengers merry, their hearts filled with glee."

But I don't think that will work, because most folks (and especially those with Martin guitars) won't make the same connection. My next thought was "The Snakes from Sligo"... but that would have St. Pat rolling in his grave. Time to let others do the thinking.

[Alan Day]

The first four bars of this tune are almost the same as the concertina recording on The Chieftans first record,

hence the little bit of Irish, from then on it changes. Going along with Jim's comments (as I usually do)perhaps if we put the tune halfway across the Irish Sea and called it " Ferry to Ireland ".

What throws the thoughts in the direction of English is my lack of Irish ornamentation.I may add another recording with more Irish flavour to it and see what you all think.

Unless of course someone else fancies having a go and it would be very welcome.

Al

Edited November 16, 2010 by Alan Day

[Alan Day]

Mit ornamentation

1st try

Al

[Rod]

The first four bars of this tune are almost the same as the concertina recording on The Chieftans first record,

hence the little bit of Irish, from then on it changes. Going along with Jim's comments (as I usually do)perhaps if we put the tune halfway across the Irish Sea and called it " Ferry to Ireland ".

What throws the thoughts in the direction of English is my lack of Irish ornamentation.I may add another recording with more Irish flavour to it and see what you all think.

Unless of course someone else fancies having a go and it would be very welcome.

Al

 

No need to debate whether the tune sounds 'English' or 'Irish. Look upon it as 'Alan Dayish' !

[Alan Day]

The first four bars of this tune are almost the same as the concertina recording on The Chieftans first record,

hence the little bit of Irish, from then on it changes. Going along with Jim's comments (as I usually do)perhaps if we put the tune halfway across the Irish Sea and called it " Ferry to Ireland ".

What throws the thoughts in the direction of English is my lack of Irish ornamentation.I may add another recording with more Irish flavour to it and see what you all think.

Unless of course someone else fancies having a go and it would be very welcome.

Al

 

No need to debate whether the tune sounds 'English' or 'Irish. Look upon it as 'Alan Dayish' !

Thanks Rod ,but I shouldn't do these recordings after a long day of driving,I have got the B part wrong so I will redo it tomorrow. Even with the ornamentation it dosn,t sound very Irish to me.

A good night's sleep may do it.

Al

[Chris Drinkwater]

Mit ornamentation

1st try

Al

 

 

Well, Al, knowing how much you like the Morris tune, Constant Billy, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it wasn't lurking somwhere in your subconscious when you composed this tune. Also, I find the end of the 'B' part doesn't seem to quite transfer smoothly back to the 'A' part, and I would prefer it without ornamentation. I think it spoils it.

 

Chris

[Alan Day]

Thanks for all the comments

Here is my final version and one I think I will stick with.It has a few modifications to the original I posted.

This now seems to have a lot more drive to it.

Hope you like it.

Al

[Alan Day]

For any beginners, the tune is all played on the CG Anglo - G Row with the exception of the fast repeating A note right hand where I am using the C row A and the G row A . All the other notes are on the G row playing left and right hands.This tune can be played on any Anglo, but very little movement of the bellows are required at very low volume.

Hope this helps

Al