The Gael

[Folderol]

Hello friends! I’ve been playing around with a well known Tune called The Gael, aka The Kiss, aka The Last of The Mohicans theme song. I use to play this on the fiddle but now I’m trying to work through it on the concertina. Has anyone else attempted to learn this? I’m wondering what key would best suit this tune on the squeeze box as I’m still a newbie. When I try to mimic what I did on the fiddle I feel like the notes are going to low and this throws me off! Here are some notes from the session that I’m “kinda following”.

 

T:The Gael
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:D dorian
|~A,3 FED|EDC DCG,|~A,3 FED|EDC DCA,| 
|~C3 ~E3|GEE EDE|~C3 ~E3|GEE EDE|
|~F3 FEF|GFF FED|~E3 EDE|GEE EDC|
|D3 DCD|FED EDC|DED DCD|FED EDC|

[Roger Hare]

8 hours ago, Folderol said:

...I’m wondering what key would best suit this tune on the squeeze box as I’m still a newbie. When I try to mimic what I did on the fiddle I feel like the notes are going to low and this throws me off!... (my emphasis)

A somewhat naive suggestion, but have you tried simply transposing the whole thing up by one octave (so the key is unchanged)? I just did this, and looking at the score, it looks as if it would 'work'. I haven't tried it because it's 5am here, and I don't want to wake the neighbours.

 

Here's the ABC code I ended up with...

X:1
T:The Gael
M:6/8
L:1/8
Q:3/8=90
R:Jig
K:Ddor
| ~A3 fed | edc dcG | ~A3 fed | edc dcA | 
| ~c3 ~e3 | gee ede | ~c3 ~e3 | gee ede |
| ~f3 fef | gff fed | ~e3 ede | gee edc |
| d3 dcd | fed edc | ded dcd | fed edc | 

 

Edited January 17 by Roger Hare

[Folderol]

Not naive at all Roger, I appreciate your suggestion! I’ll try this out after work tomorrow! Cheers from Kentucky!

[David Barnert]

It really depends on your instrument. What kind of concertina? How many buttons? What keys? The tune as notated can easily be played as is on a 48-key English concertina, so I’m guessing that’s not what you have.

 

And BTW, apropos of nothing, there’s no way it’s in D dorian. As notated by the abc above, it’s in A minor. If it were in D (anything) you could just as well call it D minor as D dorian because the whole tune has no B or Bb. But the first 4 measures clearly establish A as the tonal center, in the minor mode. Then it flirts with C major, but not strongly enough to move the key away from A minor.

[John Wild]

Composer Dougie MacLean, in his own tune book, shows it in G major.

Here is a recording I made of it a few years ago. there are a few points where my fingers stumble in getting to the right notes, but it came out better than I expected. I was playing a 48-button tenor English concertina.

The tune book is available from Dougie MacLean's website.

https://dunkeld.com/collections/dougie-maclean-music

 

Edited January 17 by John Wild
added extra detail on instrument.

[Roger Hare]

2 hours ago, David Barnert said:

...apropos of nothing, there’s no way it’s in D dorian. As notated by the abc above, it’s in A minor....

No arguments from me - if I use an automagic chord generator to add simple chords, the result does very strongly

suggest that it's in Amin.

 

As a general rule, I'm not competent enough to assign a key sig. with any confidence, but I'm increasingly uneasy

with some of the key sigs. I do see in tunes posted on the internet...

 

 

[Folderol]

7 hours ago, David Barnert said:

It really depends on your instrument. What kind of concertina? How many buttons? What keys? The tune as notated can easily be played as is on a 48-key English concertina, so I’m guessing that’s not what you have.

 

And BTW, apropos of nothing, there’s no way it’s in D dorian. As notated by the abc above, it’s in A minor. If it were in D (anything) you could just as well call it D minor as D dorian because the whole tune has no B or Bb. But the first 4 measures clearly establish A as the tonal center, in the minor mode. Then it flirts with C major, but not strongly enough to move the key away from A minor.

I have a mcneela 30 button Anglo concertina. 

[David Barnert]

7 hours ago, Folderol said:

I have a mcneela 30 button Anglo concertina.

 

So, assuming it’s a C/G anglo, the tune, as it’s spelled out in the abc above, ranges one octave from G3 to G4 and is playable, but all in the left hand. If you take it up an octave, as Roger suggests, it’s nicely split between the two hands. Or you could take it up a 5th, starting on E4 to play it in E minor/G major, as John says it appears in the composer’s book. Then it spends a most of its time in the left hand with a few excursions to the right.

 

I don’t play Anglo (but I know where the notes are), so I can’t speak to how simple it is to get through the tune in any of the configurations I’ve mentioned, but I don’t think it will be too difficult.

[Roger Hare]

17 hours ago, Roger Hare said:

...I'm increasingly uneasy with some of the key sigs. I do see in tunes posted on the internet...

Drifting off-topic...

 

Purely by chance, a couple of hours after I submitted that post, I came across a 'legacy' script which had been

cast in Cmaj. It was actually in Gmaj - except it wasn't - it was really (as near as I could tell) in Emin. This stuff

about key sigs. is bewildering for a wretch like me who has a very imperfect, and unstructured knowledge of

music theory. My limited understanding of this key sig. business is that a 'key sig.' does not indicate the actual

key of a tune, but indicates the modal scale which is used for the tune - ie: the number of flats/sharps in that

scale, (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, etc.) The real key is deduced (by real musicians) from the actual structure of

the tune - which leaves a worm like me with my 'bum oot the windae', if I may use a colloquialism from North

of the Border...

Edited January 18 by Roger Hare

[David Barnert]

3 hours ago, Roger Hare said:

It was actually in Gmaj - except it wasn't - it was really (as near as I could tell) in Emin.

 

Exactly. And the confusion you reference is evidenced by the posts already in this thread. I said:

 

23 hours ago, David Barnert said:

As notated by the abc above, it’s in A minor. ... Then it flirts with C major, but not strongly enough to move the key away from A minor.

 

John said (referring to a version of the tune a 5th higher than posted, with one sharp in the key signature):

 

21 hours ago, John Wild said:

Composer Dougie MacLean, in his own tune book, shows it in G major.

 

So to be consistent with my statement, I would have called that E minor. Horses for courses.

[RAc]

5 hours ago, Roger Hare said:

This stuff

about key sigs. is bewildering for a wretch like me who has a very imperfect, and unstructured knowledge of

music theory. My limited understanding of this key sig. business is that a 'key sig.' does not indicate the actual

key of a tune, but indicates the modal scale which is used for the tune - ie: the number of flats/sharps in that

scale, (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, etc.) The real key is deduced (by real musicians) from the actual structure of

the tune

 

I would consider that description accurate. For me it helps to look at it from a practical rather than theoretical point of view, though: The key signature roughly indicates the melodic (scale notes) and harmonic (chords) material to use in the piece. I would not use the term "real key" at all. What is important to the ear is the "mode," ie the location of the tonal center of the piece and how the material revolves around that center. For example, in dorian and myxolydian mode (widely used in irish music), the characteristic chord is the major below the root chord, and there is no half note step leading up to the center node (which is the trademark of the ionian mode which 90+% of "western" music is made of). That is clearly audible and what makes the two modes exotic to our ears.  

 

It is confusing when looked at in theory, I agree.

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

That ABC tablature looks complex to me.. I think I will stick with notes on staves😊

[John Wild]

5 hours ago, David Barnert said:

 

John said (referring to a version of the tune a 5th higher than posted, with one sharp in the key signature):

So to be consistent with my statement, I would have called that E minor. Horses for courses.

The last note in Dougie MacLean's book is a G. That is why I referred to a G major.

The first note is an E, if that counts.

[Folderol]

13 hours ago, David Barnert said:

 

So, assuming it’s a C/G anglo, the tune, as it’s spelled out in the abc above, ranges one octave from G3 to G4 and is playable, but all in the left hand. If you take it up an octave, as Roger suggests, it’s nicely split between the two hands. Or you could take it up a 5th, starting on E4 to play it in E minor/G major, as John says it appears in the composer’s book. Then it spends a most of its time in the left hand with a few excursions to the right.

 

I don’t play Anglo (but I know where the notes are), so I can’t speak to how simple it is to get through the tune in any of the configurations I’ve mentioned, but I don’t think it will be too difficult.

I Appreciate your responses! I’m still getting use to the range of the c/g concertina. I love the bass sound of the left but man it gets low fast haha I’ll try splitting the tube up between both sides! 

[David Barnert]

9 minutes ago, John Wild said:

The last note in Dougie MacLean's book is a G. That is why I referred to a G major.

The first note is an E, if that counts.

 

Same as the abc above, with C. But the last three notes (EDC of BAG) could go either way in terms of suggesting a major key or its relative minor.

[Folderol]

11 hours ago, Roger Hare said:

Drifting off-topic...

 

Purely by chance, a couple of hours after I submitted that post, I came across a 'legacy' script which had been

cast in Cmaj. It was actually in Gmaj - except it wasn't - it was really (as near as I could tell) in Emin. This stuff

about key sigs. is bewildering for a wretch like me who has a very imperfect, and unstructured knowledge of

music theory. My limited understanding of this key sig. business is that a 'key sig.' does not indicate the actual

key of a tune, but indicates the modal scale which is used for the tune - ie: the number of flats/sharps in that

scale, (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, etc.) The real key is deduced (by real musicians) from the actual structure of

the tune - which leaves a worm like me with my 'bum oot the windae', if I may use a colloquialism from North

of the Border...

I get confused to Roger. Being self taught and learning a lot of tunes by ear, I’m not the best at reading music or at understanding music theory but lord knows I’m trying haha It’s a fun process non the less! 

[Roger Hare]

43 minutes ago, Folderol said:

...Being self taught and learning a lot of tunes by ear, I’m not the best at reading music or at understanding

music theory but lord knows I’m trying haha It’s a fun process non the less! 

Me too! I try to apply the little theory I have in a 'sensible' way, and also couple it with ear'oling the tunes.

Yes, it is fun. but sometimes it's bloody hard work. Usually, I fall apart completely when I see these final

sometimes (to me) confusing notes (eg: EDC as mentioned by DB). Still, it keeps me off the streets and out

of the public houses...

Edited January 18 by Roger Hare

[John Wild]

4 hours ago, David Barnert said:

 

Same as the abc above, with C. But the last three notes (EDC of BAG) could go either way in terms of suggesting a major key or its relative minor.

The ABC above is 16 bars. The full tune is 32 bars.

However, your point still applies as the 2nd half also ends in BAG.

When i played it, I played the whole tune twice in the sequence AABB AABB. The last time through, I held on to the last note for longer to make an ending.