Jim Besser Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 (edited) Well, it was incredibly close - and you can bet the runners up will show up in future TOTM polls - but we have a winner: Andy Cutting's beautiful tune The Abbess. I was intrigued by this tune because it is so obviously an outstanding melodeon tune that has great potential on concertina, as well. I'm posting it here with Andy's kind permission. (Visit Andy's Website here. ) Here's a pretty version with two melodeons. http://www.youtube.c...h?v=wlIt-DZqfh4 And another: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=B1ytDwuTkeI I've seen several ABC renderings of this tune floating around on the Web that don't look real authoritative (and which don't cite the composer). Here's what looks to me like the best rendering of this fantastic tune, taken from melodeon.net (PDF also attached): X:1 T:Abbess, The M:4/4 L:1/8 Q:1/4=140 C:Andy Cutting Z:Peter Dunk 2011 K:G G2 |:"G"B4 "D7"B3 "G/F#"c | "G" d3 "G/F#"G G2 "Em"Bd | "C" e2 e2- edcB | "Am"cBAG "D7"d2 GF |! "C"E2 c2 "Am"A3 F | "Bm"D2 d2 "G"BA"Em"GF |"C" E2 cB "D7"AB/A/ "C"GF |1"Gsus4"G4-GDGA :|2 "Gsus4"G4- GA"G"Bc |! |:"G"d4 "C"e3 d | "Am"cBAG "D7"d2 dc | "Bm"BAGF "Em"E2 cB | "Bm"BAAB "D"D2 GF |! "C"E2 c2 "Am"A3 F | "Bm"D2 d2 "G"BA"Em"GF |"C" E2 cB "D7"AB/A/ "C"GF | "G"G4- GA"Gsus4"Bc |! dGBd "Em"e2 ed | "Am"cBce "D"ddef | "G"gBfg "Em"e2 dB | "C"cBef "D7"d3 c |! M:6/4 "Bm"BAGF "C" E2 c2 "Am"A3 F | [M:4/4]"Bm"D2 d2 "G"BA"Em"GF | "C"E2 cB "D7"AB/A/ GF |1 "C"G4- GDGA :|2 "G"G8 |] As usual, the TOTM challenge is to take a tune and make it your own. And remember: this is not a competition, it's a learning and sharing experience. Nobody expects perfection. Feel free to experiment. If G doesn't work for you, change the key (helpful hint: with ABCs, that's really easy to do. (Andy plays it in C on his wonderful self-titled CD). One quick method: go to this site, paste in the ABCs, and use the buttons to change keys. Then recopy the results, paste them into the c.net Tune-a-Tron, and presto: notation in the key you want). So have at it and have fun! The abbess in G.pdf Edited August 1, 2013 by Jim Besser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Collicutt Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 Here is a Spotify link: Andy Cutting – The Abbess I hope to Andy Cutting playing the Abbess. It is in C but more importantly there is no repeat for the B part. Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Besser Posted August 1, 2013 Author Share Posted August 1, 2013 Here is a Spotify link: Andy Cutting – The Abbess I hope to Andy Cutting playing the Abbess. It is in C but more importantly there is no repeat for the B part. Graham Thanks, Graham. I didn't post this because I don't know if non-Spotify subscribers can hear it. It's a fabulous CD, by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Molkentin Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 (edited) ...there is no repeat for the B part. This had already been my guess just from reading the dots (due to the extent of the B part). Will require a "DC al fine" in the end then - don't kow how to do it with ABC (inserted just another repeat sign after note one as a workaround), but of course how to play it... X:1 T:Abbess, The M:4/4 L:1/8 Q:1/4=140 C:Andy Cutting Z:Peter Dunk 2011 K:G G2 [|:[|:"G"B4 "D7"B3 "G/F#"c | "G" d3 "G/F#"G G2 "Em"Bd | "C" e2 e2- edcB | "Am"cBAG "D7"d2 GF |! "C"E2 c2 "Am"A3 F | "Bm"D2 d2 "G"BA"Em"GF |"C" E2 cB "D7"AB/A/ "C"GF |1"Gsus4"G4-GDGA :|2 "Gsus4"G4- GA"G"Bc |! "G"d4 "C"e3 d | "Am"cBAG "D7"d2 dc | "Bm"BAGF "Em"E2 cB | "Bm"BAAB "D"D2 GF |! "C"E2 c2 "Am"A3 F | "Bm"D2 d2 "G"BA"Em"GF |"C" E2 cB "D7"AB/A/ "C"GF | "G"G4- GA"Gsus4"Bc |! dGBd "Em"e2 ed | "Am"cBce "D"ddef | "G"gBfg "Em"e2 dB | "C"cBef "D7"d3 c |! M:6/4 "Bm"BAGF "C" E2 c2 "Am"A3 F | [M:4/4]"Bm"D2 d2 "G"BA"Em"GF | "C"E2 cB "D7"AB/A/ GF |1 "C"G4- GDGA :|2 "G"G8 |] (someone will do better, I'm sure) Above all - thank you Pete for the quite helpful transscription! Edited August 2, 2013 by blue eyed sailor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Wooff Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 At Last! A tune I voted for wins. Have had a listen around and there are several nice versions on Youtube, untill you come across Andy Cutting playing the piece.... then the old adage " it's not what but how you play that is important". Thanks Peter for the dots and thanks Jim for all your hard work... here's my version. .... err no not quite yet... must finnish last months tune before starting this one... holidays and all that! Geoff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 ... must finnish last months tune before starting this one... I'm planning the reverse. I haven't yet managed a submission for any of the Tunes of the Month, so I figured I should start with this one and then work my way backward. But before the finish will almost certainly come the Finnish, as I'll be travelling to Helsinki later this month for a Morris tour with the Helsinki Morrisers, Stockholm's Eken Morris, and Sarum Morris from Salisbury. I don't know about Sarum, but the tour will have at least one concertina with the Helsinki side, and Eken has one strong concertina, plus a couple of aspiring players who haven't yet played for the dancing, plus myself as a guest. (If one of the sides dances Old Molly Oxford, I guess we should record it, just in case it wins a future TotM poll. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Dunk Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Will require a "DC al fine" in the end then - don't kow how to do it with ABC (inserted just another repeat sign after note one as a workaround), but of course how to play it... DC al fine can only be written in quotation marks, the words will appear but they have no musical significance as far as abc is concerned. !D.C.! will get you the proper italic/bold script but again it has no effect on the midi playback. There are times when I have to admit that abc lacks refinement. I don't recall doing the original transcription as it happens, it too lacks refinement - I'm almost ashamed of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Besser Posted August 2, 2013 Author Share Posted August 2, 2013 ... must finnish last months tune before starting this one... I'm planning the reverse. I haven't yet managed a submission for any of the Tunes of the Month, so I figured I should start with this one and then work my way backward. But before the finish will almost certainly come the Finnish, as I'll be travelling to Helsinki later this month for a Morris tour with the Helsinki Morrisers, Stockholm's Eken Morris, and Sarum Morris from Salisbury. I don't know about Sarum, but the tour will have at least one concertina with the Helsinki side, and Eken has one strong concertina, plus a couple of aspiring players who haven't yet played for the dancing, plus myself as a guest. (If one of the sides dances Old Molly Oxford, I guess we should record it, just in case it wins a future TotM poll. ) Funny how Morris stuff gets in the way of everything else. Looks like I'll miss the northeast squeeze in this year because of a Morris weekend in Charlottesville. But we all look forward to your TOTM contributions, not to put pressure on you or anything! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Looks like I'll miss the northeast squeeze in this year because of a Morris weekend in Charlottesville. Give my regards to Jim and Marney. (Oh, it's been a long time!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Besser Posted August 2, 2013 Author Share Posted August 2, 2013 (edited) An initial take in C on a C/G Lachenal/Dipper. And in G a G/D Jeffries. Haven't decided which key/concertina I prefer for this tune. It needs more work. I have a problem playing smoothly - the combination of being a Morris musician and playing an Anglo disposes me to a punchier style that doesn't work well for tunes like this. I find the B part of this tune wonderful to listen to, difficult to play smoothly. But I'll get there. Edited August 3, 2013 by Jim Besser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Besser Posted August 2, 2013 Author Share Posted August 2, 2013 Give my regards to Jim and Marney.(Oh, it's been a long time!) Will do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Collicutt Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 Here is my shaky effort: https://soundcloud.com/gcolli/the-abbess-mp3 Played on C/G Phoenix anglo with Wheatstone reeds. It is the hardest tune I tried to learn for a long time and needs lots more work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Molkentin Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 Here is my shaky effort: https://soundcloud.com/gcolli/the-abbess-mp3 Played on C/G Phoenix anglo with Wheatstone reeds. It is the hardest tune I tried to learn for a long time and needs lots more work. However, pretty nice by now - and quite "Anglo"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Barnert Posted August 4, 2013 Share Posted August 4, 2013 Here is a Spotify link: Andy Cutting – The Abbess I hope to Andy Cutting playing the Abbess. It is in C but more importantly there is no repeat for the B part. Graham Thanks, Graham. I didn't post this because I don't know if non-Spotify subscribers can hear it. It's a fabulous CD, by the way. When I clicked the link I was asked to sign in to my facebook account. Which I don't have. I was able, however, to hear a brief sample of Andy Cutting's performance on this page at amazon.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Wooff Posted August 4, 2013 Share Posted August 4, 2013 (edited) Here is a Spotify link: Andy Cutting – The Abbess I hope to Andy Cutting playing the Abbess. It is in C but more importantly there is no repeat for the B part. Graham Thanks, Graham. I didn't post this because I don't know if non-Spotify subscribers can hear it. It's a fabulous CD, by the way. When I clicked the link I was asked to sign in to my facebook account. Which I don't have. I was able, however, to hear a brief sample of Andy Cutting's performance on this page at amazon.com. There is a nice version on Youtube, just search " The Abbess" and find Andy playing it, with another tune (Old Light and The Abbess), at Lewes Folk club last November.... so quite an up to date version and beautifully played. The Abbess starts at about 2mins 30. Edited August 4, 2013 by Geoff Wooff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Mansfield Posted August 4, 2013 Share Posted August 4, 2013 There is a nice version on Youtube, just search " The Abbess" and find Andy playing it, with another tune (Old Light and The Abbess), at Lewes Folk club last November.... so quite an up to date version and beautifully played. The Abbess starts at about 2mins 30. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3XMGlbUYpI - thanks for that, not an AC video I'd seen before. The video is minorly marred by whichever eejit in the audience is humming along (completely out of key and obviously not knowing the tune very well), but a lovely version as ever, and a mountain for the rest of us to climb! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Barnert Posted August 4, 2013 Share Posted August 4, 2013 (edited) There is a nice version on Youtube, just search " The Abbess" and find Andy playing it, with another tune (Old Light and The Abbess), at Lewes Folk club last November.... so quite an up to date version and beautifully played. The Abbess starts at about 2mins 30. It is here. Very interesting. Unlike on the commercial release, he plays it in G. And he ends the performance after two A sections. As I suspected, much of the detail is revealed to be just ornamentation, that he plays differently every time. The difference, for instance, between the first measure of the B section and eight measures later. Getting back to Wolf's conundrum, the problem is that neither abc nor standard music notation provides a graceful way to say "repeat ad lib linking the end to the beginning with these notes but finally ending without them." Here's my solution. It loses the initial quarter note G, but I don't hear many folks playing it that way, anyway. X:1 T:Abbess, The M:4/4 L:1/8 Q:1/4=140 C:Andy Cutting Z:Peter Dunk 2011 K:G |:DGA |"G"B4 "D7"B3 "G/F#"c | "G" d3 "G/F#"G G2 "Em"Bd | "C" e2 e2- edcB | "Am"cBAG "D7"d2 GF |! "C"E2 c2 "Am"A3 F | "Bm"D2 d2 "G"BA"Em"GF |"C" E2 cB "D7"AB/A/ "C"GF |1"Gsus4"G4-G :|2 "Gsus4"G4- GA"G"Bc ||! "G"d4 "C"e3 d | "Am"cBAG "D7"d2 dc | "Bm"BAGF "Em"E2 cB | "Bm"BAAB "D"D2 GF |! "C"E2 c2 "Am"A3 F | "Bm"D2 d2 "G"BA"Em"GF |"C" E2 cB "D7"AB/A/ "C"GF | "G"G4- GA"Gsus4"Bc |! dGBd "Em"e2 ed | "Am"cBce "D"ddef | "G"gBfg "Em"e2 dB | "C"cBef "D7"d3 c |! M:6/4 "Bm"BAGF "C" E2 c2 "Am"A3 F | [M:4/4]"Bm"D2 d2 "G"BA"Em"GF | "C"E2 cB "D7"AB/A/ GF | "G"G4- G |] Edited August 4, 2013 by David Barnert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Besser Posted August 5, 2013 Author Share Posted August 5, 2013 (edited) As part of yesterday's rehearsal for The Squeezers, Randy Stein and I had a go at this great tune, with some interesting chord experimentation. Randy on Wheatstone English, me on Jeffries G/D Anglo. https://soundcloud.com/concertinist/squeezers-the-abbess-c-net Edited August 5, 2013 by Jim Besser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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