If I can change the tune in question to illustrate a point.
Oyster Wives' Rant which appears in Peacock's Tunes is also well known
in another tradition as Mullen Dhu. In that tradition it is played
against A drones and becomes yet another Scottish tune with not a lot
to recommend it. When the Northumbrian pipers got hold of it, I am
sure they would have played it against G drones and played in this way
it becomes to me a very exciting and harmonically interesting tune.
In the days of the simple chanter, Northumbrian pipers mercilessly
butchered tunes from other traditions to fit them to the pipes. -
Anyone remember the story of The Bed of Procrustes? In doing so we got
such gems as The Bonny Pit Lad.
I remember well being at a 'G' music session with Johnny Handle
playing accordion and at one time he stopped playing, and at the end
of the tune said, "That's a real pipe tune. Ye cannot put any chords
to it."
I don't think we should expect our music to always obey rules derived
from other traditions.
From an earlier e-mail
Quoting gibbonssoi...@aol.com:
But is the best thing we can say about it that it's grammatical?
So is Chomsky's 'Colourless green ideas sleep furiously',
though it is totally meaningless.
The sentence may be meaningless but it is still pleasant to the ear,
and very challenging in a 1960s sort of way.
Barry
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