Finally... My October Tune Of The Month Entry

[Jody Kruskal]

Click here to see and hear the October entry for my Tune of the Month blog. Here’s the text.

 

Gånglåt från Mockfjärd is a Swedish walking tune made popular by the playing of Anders Frisell in Sweden and by David Kaynor in the US. Gånglåt are walking tunes and this one is from Mockfjärd, a little village in the area of Dalarna in Sweden.

 

I’ve been playing this tune for years because it is just right. The mp3 on my site is played by Sam Zygmuntowicz on fiddle and me on Anglo concertina playing our version of the original tune.

The other day I was fooling around with this tune and out came a very nice jig. So, you can also listen to us playing the jig that segues into our band, Grand Picnic playing the same at a contra dance here in New York City.

Also, I’ve put up a raft of new images in the Gallery of Vintage Concertina Pictures. This includes:

 

• Troops assembling for the march to Parihaka in 1881 from Chris Ghent.

• French Postcard from Stephen Chambers

• Men In Boat circa 1900: A group of men wearing bowler hats and playing instruments in a rowing boat

• Crossing The Transvaal Painting by Frank Dadd

• The Ritherdons circa 1863

• Cabinet card of concertina playing mummers, just acquired iy Perry Werner. Incredible!

[spindizzy]

Click here to see and hear the October entry for my Tune of the Month blog. Here’s the text.

 

Gånglåt från Mockfjärd is a Swedish walking tune made popular by the playing of Anders Frisell in Sweden and by David Kaynor in the US. Gånglåt are walking tunes and this one is from Mockfjärd, a little village in the area of Dalarna in Sweden.

 

Great stuff ... Lovely tune(s)!

[Chris Drinkwater]

Click here to see and hear the October entry for my Tune of the Month blog. Here’s the text.

 

Gånglåt från Mockfjärd is a Swedish walking tune made popular by the playing of Anders Frisell in Sweden and by David Kaynor in the US. Gånglåt are walking tunes and this one is from Mockfjärd, a little village in the area of Dalarna in Sweden.

 

Great stuff ... Lovely tune(s)!

 

Lovely tune(s), I agree. My favourite Ganglat is the Ganglat fran Appelbo, which can be found in Nick Barber's English Choice book. They are called walking tunes because they are tunes the musicians would play as they walked home from a festival.

 

Chris

[JimLucas]

Gånglåt från Mockfjärd is a Swedish walking tune....

A fine tune it is. Recorded also by (among many others, I'm sure) Gordon Bok, Ann Mayo Muir, and Ed Trickett on their LP/CD "And So Will We Yet". I learned it from that to use as a processional for a friend's sister's wedding, where I played it on whistle with pipe-organ accompaniment.

 

And somewhere I have a (non-digital) photo of the sign at the edge of Mockfjärd, announcing entry into the town. (I swung by there one year on my way home from the Falun Folk Festival, specifically to take the photo.) If I can figure out what box it's stored in, I could scan it an send it to Jody. Unfortunately, that's a big if.

[spindizzy]

Lovely tune(s), I agree. My favourite Ganglat is the Ganglat fran Appelbo, which can be found in Nick Barber's English Choice book. They are called walking tunes because they are tunes the musicians would play as they walked home from a festival.

 

Chris,

 

I have a couple of these walking tunes from the Folkworks tune books - Appelbylatten and Gardebylatten (I'm sure I've spelt those wrong!) Is the first one, the same as your "Ganglat fran Appelbo" ? (edited to say ...yes it is - I just found it under that title on JC's tunefinder)

Edited October 9, 2007 by spindizzy

[Animaterra]

These are great fun!

Allison

[Chris Drinkwater]

Lovely tune(s), I agree. My favourite Gånglåt, is the Gånglåt från Appelbo, which can be found in Nick Barber's English Choice book. They are called walking tunes because they are tunes the musicians would play as they walked home from a festival.

 

Chris,

 

I have a couple of these walking tunes from the Folkworks tune books - Appelbylatten and Gardebylatten (I'm sure I've spelt those wrong!) Is the first one, the same as your "Gånglåt från Appelbo" ? (edited to say ...yes it is - I just found it under that title on JC's tunefinder)

 

 

Yes, you're right, the first one is the same.

 

Chris

[ragtimer]

Click here to see and hear the October entry for my Tune of the Month blog. Here’s the text.

 

Gånglåt från Mockfjärd is a Swedish walking tune made popular by the playing of Anders Frisell in Sweden and by David Kaynor in the US. Gånglåt are walking tunes and this one is from Mockfjärd, a little village in the area of Dalarna in Sweden.

That's a nice rollicking straightforward jig, Jody -- thanks!

It lays out very well on my Hayden Duet -- no need for the pinky finger until the final bar.

I may try it in various other keys just to hear the difference.

--Mike K.

[Jody Kruskal]

That's a nice rollicking straightforward jig, Jody -- thanks!

It lays out very well on my Hayden Duet -- no need for the pinky finger until the final bar.

--Mike K.

Hi Mike,

 

You don't like using the pinky? My left had pinky gets a workout every time I play and it has gotten used to it. Clever thing.

 

Yes, I like that word "rollicking" and it seems to fit the Swedish Walking Jig. I tend to use the term "marchy jigs" but I wonder if the proper term is "single jig"... that would be opposed to a "double jig" I suppose. I've never quite understood the single/double thing. It seems like maybe it's more of a sliding scale. A tune could even have elements of single and double going on?

 

Anyway,what do you think would make a good tune to go with the Swedish Walking Jig in a medley?

What other tune has that same kind of jaunty rollicking rhythm do you think?

Edited October 12, 2007 by Jody Kruskal

[JimLucas]

That's a nice rollicking straightforward jig, Jody -- thanks!

Yes, I like that word "rollicking" and it seems to fit the Swedish Walking Jig. I tend to use the term "marchy jigs" but I wonder if the proper term is "single jig"... that would be opposed to a "double jig" I suppose. I've never quite understood the single/double thing. It seems like maybe it's more of a sliding scale. A tune could even have elements of single and double going on?

I'd guess that one reason you "never quite understood the single/double thing" is that the "single jig" vs. "double jig" distinction is used by different groups to differentiate quite different, and generally mutually incompatible, categorizations. Here are a few:

• Both describe tunes in 6/8 time. The subdivision of beats in the "single" jig is into two parts, a long one followed by a short one (say "Humpty Dumpty"), while the subdivision of beats in the "double" jig is into three ostensibly equal parts (say "Bellingham, Washington"). (Why aren't these called respectively "double" and "triple"? I don't know. I don't subscribe to this school.)
   
   
  
• "Single" jigs are properly notated in 3/8, indicating that every beat ("triplet", indicated by the "3", rather than simply a "1" in the time signature) constitutes a separate measure. Division into measures is defined by the primary stress, and every beat is getting the "same" primary stress.
   
  "Double" jigs are properly notated in 6/8, which in jigs means two beats (two triplets = 2x3 = 6) per measure. Such tunes have alternating beats of greater ("primary") and lesser ("secondary") stress, and the primary stress which begins each pair defines the start of a two-beat measure.
   
   
  
• Many people use the terms "jig" and "double jig" as synonyms for dance tunes in 6/8 meter, apparently without assigning any meaning to the term "single jig".
   
   
  
• In (Cotswold) Morris dancing, a "jig" is a solo dance. But sometimes these may be done by more than one dancer at a time, usually two, and so the term "double jig" has arisen for this. By contrast, the standard one-person jig is sometimes called a "single jig". This use of the the word "jig" has nothing to do with the meter of a tune, so this particular "single" vs. "double" distinction is irrelevant outside of Morris.
   
   
  
• I seem to recall that some Irish dancers distinguish "single" vs. "double" jigs on the basis of the type (or is it speed?) of the dance being done, and not as a classification of the tunes which might be used to accompany them. Beyond my unreliable memory, I can't find the reference for that. (There are a few references in Topics returned by the C.net Search facility to an older thread discussing all this, but it seems to have disappeared. Part of the old Forum, perhaps?)
  

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there are even more.

 

Your "Swedish Walking Jig" does start out like a "single jig" under that first definition, but I would be inclined to not describe it that way as a general classification.

 

By both the second and third definitions, your tune could be classified as a "double jig", and I think more people would understand that classification than any other which uses "jig". But there are also many marches in 6/8, and the "walking" feel of your tune would be compatible with that. To me, it sounds like a "contradance jig"... a term I have just coined to indicate a jig-type tune with the "feel" of a New England contra dance. That feel is definitely a "walking" feel, but lighter than a march step, yet not so light as to leave the ground, I'd say somewhere between the feel of a march and that of jigs for Irish dancing.

 

By the way, here and here are earlier threads which touch on this subject.

[ragtimer]

That's a nice rollicking straightforward jig, Jody -- thanks!

It lays out very well on my Hayden Duet -- no need for the pinky finger until the final bar.

--Mike K.

Hi Mike,

 

You don't like using the pinky? My left had pinky gets a workout every time I play and it has gotten used to it. Clever thing.

Hi again, Jody. A Hayden player is always torn between two goals: to minimize use of the sluggish and dangerously inaccurate pinky (as in hitting the wrong button), and delibereatly working it into normal playing in order to strengthen it and hopefully tune up its accuracy. But it's very hard to use it on buttons in the upper right corner.

 

Also, my new 67-key Hayden has its buttons closer together and the pinky is way to dangerous to use on it, so far. Tho I still use pinky on my trusty old Stagi 46.

Yes, I like that word "rollicking" and it seems to fit the Swedish Walking Jig. I tend to use the term "marchy jigs" but I wonder if the proper term is "single jig"... that would be opposed to a "double jig" I suppose. I've never quite understood the single/double thing. It seems like maybe it's more of a sliding scale. A tune could even have elements of single and double going on?

Without trying to include quotes from Jim Lucas' posting, I would say that your Swedish Walking Jig begins as "double" or 6/8, then goes into "single" 3/8 halfway thru the A strain. The B strain is mostly double again, with single at the end.

 

I a defining "double" as keeping the same chord thru a 6/8 measure, so you could play the "oom" on the first triplet and the "pah" chord on the second. If the two main beats require a separate chord, then it's "single" to me. (My feeling agrees with Jim's 2nd definition).

 

To me, a double jig is more smooth and flowing, and can use parallel 3rds and 6ths in place of oom-pah. I don't knwo about the term "marching jig", but a march is really 6/8, not 3/8, since you alternate feet, and the left foot should always come down on the bar's first beat. Same would apply to "walking jig", I'd say.

 

(Apropos of nothing, the Swedish usage of thsi jig reminds me of funeral goers and musicians marching back from a New Orleans funeral, joyfully jazzing up the funeral hymns.)

 

As you say, it's a sliding scale -- you sort of know which type a tune is, kind of liek Art and Porn.

 

Some jigs permit "double" playing, but on a final chorus I play them "single" (pounding solid chords, rather than oom-pah" for extra drive when playing wiht a group.

Anyway,what do you think would make a good tune to go with the Swedish Walking Jig in a medley?

What other tune has that same kind of jaunty rollicking rhythm do you think?

Gosh Jody, I hardly know that many tunes yet -- more waltzes than anything else (of course, a hopped-up waltz makes a good "single" jig, and there are plenty of Scandihoovian waltzes).

 

Howeer, from the collection book "Along the River", I'd suggest "The Susan Birds of Wendell" by Bill Tomczak, and "Tobin in the Morning" by Cammy Kaynor.

--Mike K.

Edited October 12, 2007 by ragtimer

[Jody Kruskal]

Hi Jim,

 

 

David Barnert puts it well in one of the previous topics you suggested... “Single jigs go: "Humpty Dumpty" and double jigs go "Higgledy Piggledy."

 

He also linked to this.

 

It’s a FAQ that describes all the rhythm types in eye glazing detail with examples, all from the Irish perspective. Well written and rather an interesting read.

 

The author distinguishes single jigs as having a “high frequency of heavy-light pairs” and gives Miller's Maggot as one of many examples. None of the examples goes "Humpty Dumpty" exclusively. They all have some "Higgledy Piggledy" mixed in and some of the single jig examples can sport only a few "Humpty Dumptys". So perhaps “high frequency" should really be "relative high frequency."

 

I think the the Swedish Walking Jig is clearly a single jig because though it’s got both going on, the feel of it is much more "Hump" than "Higg."

 

I like your "contradance jig" idea, but it does not address the relative “frequency of heavy-light pairs” or another way of putting it would be the Hump/Higg ratio.

 

I just read your response Mike. You raise an interesting notion that single vs double is determined by the frequency of chord changes. In my reading of these various threads, no one else has ever used that as a criterion. I think I see what you mean though. Two chords per measure can certainly emphasize the bounce and march feel of what I would call a single jig. On the other hand, I often use two chords per measure to define a moving bass line in double jigs with long phrases.

 

Is this starting to sound like anothr topic Jim?

 

Back to the Swedish Walking Jig... anyone got some medley suggestions?

[ragtimer]

David Barnert puts it well in one of the previous topics you suggested... “Single jigs go: "Humpty Dumpty" and double jigs go "Higgledy Piggledy."

 

I just read your response Mike. You raise an interesting notion that single vs double is determined by the frequency of chord changes. In my reading of these various threads, no one else has ever used that as a criterion. I think I see what you mean though. Two chords per measure can certainly emphasize the bounce and march feel of what I would call a single jig. On the other hand, I often use two chords per measure to define a moving bass line in double jigs with long phrases.

It seems to me that there's often a high correlation between Humpty-Dumpy measures and one chord prevailing thru that measure, whereas higgledy-piggledy bars seem to call for a different chord on each triplet, or two chords per measure. Your Swedish Walking Jig fits these rules-of-thumb almost perfectly.

So we may be onto something here (or am I just on something

 

Of course you can pound out the same chord (maybe "spelled" differently) twice per measure for emphasis. I also find higgledy-piggledy bars a good place to harmonize with parallel 3rds or 6ths, which has just the opposite efffect -- smoothness instead of driving rhythm.

Is this starting to sound like another topic, Jim?

Doesn't every good thread end up that way?

We'll probably get two threads -- how to classify jigs, and how to play accompaniment for them.

Back to the Swedish Walking Jig... anyone got some medley suggestions?

Jody, have you looked up those two I suggested, from "Along the River"? Betcha you have that book already. --Mike K.

[Jody Kruskal]

Anyway,what do you think would make a good tune to go with the Swedish Walking Jig in a medley?

What other tune has that same kind of jaunty rollicking rhythm do you think?

Gosh Jody, I hardly know that many tunes yet -- more waltzes than anything else (of course, a hopped-up waltz makes a good "single" jig, and there are plenty of Scandihoovian waltzes).

 

Howeer, from the collection book "Along the River", I'd suggest "The Susan Birds of Wendell" by Bill Tomczak, and "Tobin in the Morning" by Cammy Kaynor.

--Mike K.

 

Thanks for the suggestion Mike. "Tobin in the Morning" by Cammy Kaynor is a fine tune and can be found at Cammy’s Dance and Music site:

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~manystrings/dance3.html

 

He has dots in pdf and midi to listen to for a number of tunes there. I think that you are right about it working well with The Swedish Walking Jig. I looked for "The Susan Birds of Wendell" by Bill Tomczak but could not find anything on the web. I don't have Bill's tune book, shucks.

 

Any other ideas out there?

[Boney]

Hi again, Jody. A Hayden player is always torn between two goals: to minimize use of the sluggish and dangerously inaccurate pinky (as in hitting the wrong button), and delibereatly working it into normal playing in order to strengthen it and hopefully tune up its accuracy.

At least if you play a Stagi or Bastari...