Mrs Crotty Documentary

[varney]

A very nice little documentary of Mrs Crotty was shown on Irish TV station TG4 this evening. The programme was called Cérbh Í, and can be viewed on their player. If you log on to their website at www.tg4.ie and select 'TG4 Player' from the menu you can then pop that programme title into the search box and hopefully view it.

 

Michael.

[la de da]

This was an extraordinary documentary, thank so very much for posting about it!

[varney]

Thanks... I thought it really good as well. The only problem is when I checked it on the TG4 player I found only part 1 was posted. Were you able to locate part 2? I think they only keep these up on their site for a week, which is a shame as an archive of these kinds of programmes would be wonderful.

[la de da]

The second part went up a couple of days ago. As you mentioned though, they'll only up up for a week or so. Thanks again!

[varney]

I'm afraid I can only find part 1 of the documentary on their site, and even when I Google it there's no sign of part 2. Do you have a link to the page? Thanks!

Michael

[Peter Laban]

Both parts are archived. Go to 'archive' and 'music' click the program and both parts will come up.

[michael sam wild]

Great programme. This is a link http://www.tg4.ie/en...tg4-player.html

If you click in the margins you get both parts. Aoife O'Connor did a nice job.

 

Peter, do you know anything about the concertina , it said it was a Lachenal.

I'm impressed by how she played in octaves in G mainly so assume it was a C/G concertina played mmainly off the C row or did she play along the G row ?

I have the CD and am amazed how fluid she was. I used to listen to her as a lad , we could get RE quite easily.

Edited November 18, 2011 by michael sam wild

[Dan Worrall]

Michael,

 

Playing in G in octaves is a snap. You can do two complete octaves of playing G in octaves, and only once do you have to venture off the C and G rows. See volume 2 p.233 of my concertina history books for that scale. Also see the transcription in Chapter 10 of Mrs Crotty playing the Wind that Shales the Barley; once you learn to play in octaves (muscle memory) what she is doing in octaves in the B part of that tune is not technically difficult. It is the A part that dazzles....change the tune to fit the instrument, not today's change the fingering of the instrument to fit the fiddle or pipe version of the tune. Big difference.

 

Cheers,

Dan

[la de da]

I spent more time listening and learning, note by note, her version of that tune than I've ever done. I wasn't well versed in octave playing at all before. Am now. lol I'm still in love with it.

Edited November 17, 2011 by la de da

[michael sam wild]

Thanks Dan, I'd forgotten you had that transcript, when I read it I was concentrating on cross row style so didn't study it too deeply I'm afraid.. Did she ever play a twin reeded German instrument? I suppose 'double' playingh on a twin reed concertina would be very powerful|!

 

Did you transcribe it by ear or can you use a slow downer? Does it show the two notes in the 'diad'? By the way when is your octave style CD due out?

Cheers

Mike

Edited November 23, 2011 by michael sam wild

[michael sam wild]

If Dan Worrall is out there, Concertina .net can't accept any PMs , have you cleared your backlog?

[Dan Worrall]

Thanks Dan, I'd forgotten you had that transcript, when I reasd it I was concentrating on cross row style so didn't study it too deeply I'm afraid.. Did she ever play a twin reeded German instrument? I suppose 'double'playingh on a twin red concertina would be very powerful|!

 

Did you transcribe it by ear or can you use a slow downer? Does it show the two notes in the 'diad'?By the way when is your octave style CD due out?

Cheers

Mike

 

Mike,

I always use a slowdowner to transcribe with. In the old days, I would slow a cassette tape down to half speed, which produced an exact octave drop in pitch. So I've always liked octaves!

 

I am indeed working on a project, but not exactly a CD. This is probably as good a place as any to mention my latest project, which has been in progress the last year or two and is now nearing completion: a sound archive of 'old-time' Anglo-German concertina players (which I define as those who were active players before 1920, thus in the instrument's heyday). All were born before 1910.

 

It will be produced as a digital book with embedded sound files, of nearly 50 old time German and Anglo-German concertina players from Australia, Ireland, England and South Africa, playing around 150 tunes. The vast majority of the musicians who played for house dances in all of these countries were octave players...the preferred technique in the era of the house dance, for many reasons. The included tracks are mostly field recordings that come from cooperating archives, libraries, organizations and private collectors from around the world; I am confident that there will be much new material (and new musicians) for even the most experienced and jaded listener - there is a lot of rare material here. At the end of the book are an additional dozen or so sound files contributed by a few accomplished musicians of today in these four countries who still play mostly or at least occasionally in the old octave style (most were taught by and/or were children of musicians in the archive), as modern examples - the tradition carriers, at least as I see them. There is also a tutorial section with tips on how to play in octaves, with examples resurrected from the old masters. Should be in production by mid December, and out some time next year as a data DVD, playable on PCs, laptops and tablets. It is a not-for-profit endeavor, done in cooperation with an established traditional music concern. More later.

 

Dan

[Chris Ghent]

Well done Dan, sterling effort...

 

Chris

[michael sam wild]

Great news Dan , look forward to it.

[michael sam wild]

Dan

Hayou or anyone else done a transcript of her Aminor , Reel with The Beryl (Birl) that follows on from Wind that Shakes the Barley in G?

 

Did she go down to the very low G, A and B on the LHS in her playing?

[Dan Worrall]

Dan

Hayou or anyone else done a transcript of her Aminor , Reel with The Beryl (Birl) that follows on from Wind that Shakes the Barley in G?

 

Did she go down to the very low G, A and B on the LHS in her playing?

Mike,

Never have transcribed that one, but it is fairly straightforward. She plays the lower parts of the melody on the C row, the higher parts on the G row.

Cheers,

Dan

[michael sam wild]

Thanks Dan. I 'instinctively' do that but wondered, just as old style players like Mikey O'Donoghue from E.Care seemed to play D minor (modal) more on the pull on the C row of a 2-row I assumed they would just transfer Am to the G row,

I have explored A minor all on the G row (apart from the E note . It seems OK but doesn't have the same sound to me so I use the C row too.. Mind you I don't find the inner G row sounds as good to my ear so tend to use the C row a lot when playing along to CDs at normal speed or in sessions although people say the G row notes do come out. I feel they are shielded by the hand.

 

When do you think unison octave platyers explored some of the chords of the three chord trick? They come easily as 1,3, 5 chords.

 

The very high notes on the G row RHS are hard to distinguish on record. How do you work out which row the notes are being played on. She seems to get some very 'busy' playing on both hands and must have had a very good coordination of both sides of the brain and hands. Maybe her piano playing at national school helped.

 

As she must have been a second generation Anglo player it would be fascinating to know more of how the first generation transferred tunes from other instruments and mouth organs ( which probably came first for a lot of players as youngsters).

 

I started on diatonic mouth organ in 1947 , aged 8, and my dad who had learned in about 1915 from older players like his auntie ( who came over in the 1880s from Mayo) in the Irish community of Ardwick, Manchester, showed me how to use the tongue to cut out notes and to 'vamp' . He meant to blow octaves where they fitted so I came easily to unison playing for volume. When I picked up the old German Anglo in the house I tried to do the same along the rows once I realised it was a mouth organ split in two.

Edited November 28, 2011 by michael sam wild