Re: [scots-l] Re: Matt Seattle's 'Border Seasons'
| If expecting a reply, please read my signature | On Wednesday, 3 December 2003 at 14:29, Matt Seattle spake thus: Rather than intervene between David F and Jack C about the merits of Fred Freeman's work I'd like to say a huge thank you to Erika Mackenzie for her review of Border Seasons - thank you Erika! snip Gosh...now I feel all self-conscious g. I'd have thought that you'd be used to receiving encomiums from people, at your level of experience and musicianship. Now if someone had written something like that about *my* playing, on the other hand...well, I think I'd be needing the smelling salts g. I'm more used to Could you please play that whistle/fiddle/piccolo/whatever a bit more quietly? I'm trying to sleep! Anyhoo, if my review is at all useful to you, please feel free to use it in any way you see fit. It's yours to keep g. Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
[scots-l] Re: Cavehill abc's?
Steve Wyrick wrote: Can anyone help me with abc's for the jig Cavehill? It's supposed to be in Kerr's 3rd collection of Merry Melodies but I don't find abc's for it on the web. Sorry, might be too late... X:602 T:Cavehill B:Kerr's Merry Melodies Bk 3 Z:Nigel Gatherer L:1/8 M:6/8 K:G d2B BcB | def gfe | d2B BcB | A2B cBA | d2B BcB | def gfe | dBG DEF | G3 G3 :| D2G GAG | B2G GAG | E2A ABA | cBA GFE | D2G GAG | B2G GAG | dBG DEF | G3 G3 :|] -- Nigel Gatherer, Crieff, Scotland Friday-Monday: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Tuesday-Thursday: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
[scots-l] Miss Jean Milligan
Nigel Gatherer wrote: X:349 T:Miss Jean Milligan C:Winifred Bird Matthew D:Jimmy Greenan, The Jeenius of Jim Z:Nigel Gatherer L:1/8 M:4/4 K:A E2|A2 cB A2 ce|fefg a2 af|e2 c2 dcBA c2 B2 B2 cB| A2 cB A2 ce|fefg a2 af|eagf edcB|c2 A2 A2|| e2|a2 ed cB A2|dcde f3 e|a2 e2 efec|d2 B2 B3 e| a2 ed cB A2|dcde f3 d|eagf edcB|c2 A2 A2|] I once incorrectly attributed this tune to Jimmy Shand (because it said so on a record). It appears that the correct composer is one Winifred Bird Matthew, about whom I know nothing. -- Nigel Gatherer, Crieff, Scotland Friday-Monday: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Tuesday-Thursday: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
[scots-l] Auld Graden Kirn
Philip Whittaker wrote: Nigel, great to hear that Borders music has its fans also that young exponents like Lori WAtson are being heard wider afield. Just a wee point. It's Kirn - end of harvest celebration. You are such a precise person, I'm sure you'd want me to let you know. Yes - thanks, Philip, and to Matt Seattle who contacted me with the same info off-list. I have now found my Tam Hughes record, where it says: When Tom and his father played for dances this was the common tune for the St Bernard's Waltz. Tom had no title to the tune but the kirn at Old Graden near Yetholm was always a great gathering. Now that I've re-listened to the record I prefer Tam's version of it: X:597 T:Auld Graden Kirn S:LP, Tom Hughes and his Border Fiddle (1981) Z:Nigel Gatherer L:1/8 M:3/4 K:D A2| fe dB AG | FA df ed | B2 d2 B2 | A4 f2| g2 f2 a2 | a2 f2 d2 | Bc dB cd | e4 A2| fe dB AG | FA df ed | B2 d2 B2 | A4 f2| g2 f2 a2 | a2 f2 e2 | d3 edc | d3 || efg | a3 faf | a2 f2 d2 | c2 B2 A2 | g6 | g3 fgf | g2 f2 e2 | d2 c2 B2 | A4 df | a3 faf | a2 f2 d2 | c2 B2 A2 | g4 (3gag | f2 e2 d2 | e2 B2 c2 | d4 d2 | d4 |] I'm now looking for another waltz to go with this in a set. I'm favouring this at the moment: X:598 T:Home Farm Waltz C:Nigel Gatherer, 1983 Z:Nigel Gatherer L:1/8 M:3/4 K:G Bc | dc Bd cB | dc Bd cB | A2 f2 (3efe | d4 e2 | cB Ac BA | cB Ac BA | G2 g2 f2 | (3efe d2 :| d2 | ec Ac e2 | dB GB d2 | cA F2 D2 | GB d2 d2 | ec Ac e2 | dB GB d2 | cA F2 D2 | G4 :|] -- Nigel Gatherer, Crieff, Scotland Friday-Monday: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Tuesday-Thursday: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
[scots-l] Laura Risk _Celtic Dialog_
Hi all, My dad bought me the CD _Celtic Dialog_ by Laura Risk for Christmas. When I saw the title, my first thought was ug. It's on Dorian, and was released in 1999. But I've been to a few workshops that Laura has done (she's a great teacher, if you ever get the chance). Anyway, I played the cd the other day, and it wasn't at all what I was expecting. I've got another of her CDs and the playing is more cosmopolitan, but this is just fiddle and piano. To my ears, the style is Scottish. I looked at the liner notes this morning, and she says the cd was inspired by David Johnsons book _Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th Century_ (Which I've read twice now). She also says that all of the tunes are found in the book, but that thier approach in playing them was modern (as opposed to trying to recreate ancient music, I suppose). It's not like jazzy or anything. One of the tracks is William McGibbon's _Minuet in A_. I wonder if there are any other recordings of that ilk. There aren't that many CDs of Scottish fiddle music (compared to Irish, or Bluegrass, say) so I thought I'd mention it. I don't think it will ever be my favorite CD, but I like it well enough so far. Bob Rogers South Carolina Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Laura Risk _Celtic Dialog_
Hi Bob, I agree with you about Laura; I attended a workshop she gave out here in Summer 2002 and she's a great teacher. I have her CD The Merry Making which I like quite a bit, but I was initially disappointed in it because I'd first heard her play for a dance I attended and her playing on the CD was nothing like what she did at the dance; that was much more spirited and jazzy, where the CD is more polished and much tamer. I suppose some of that is just the difference between sitting down in the studio and recording vs. playing live for a group of appreciative dancers! I think it's not that there aren't a lot of Scottish CDs out there (although I'll agree that there are probably a lot more Irish recordings); it's just that so many of them are so hard to find here in the States. I end up going online to MusicScotland.com for a lot of my purchases. Regarding performances of older tunes, have you heard Elke Baker? She's based more or less in your area, in Maryland. In addition to being a superb fiddler (former US National Scottish fiddle champion) she's a music scholar and tends to unearth fairly obscure old tunes; her CD liner notes have a lot of detailed info on tune sources history, etc. I own 2 CDs by her: Over the Border and Glenelg, and can recommend them both (of the 2, Over the Border is my current favorite but that might be because I only recently purchased it, whereas Glenelg has been on my frequently-played list for a couple years now). BTW, Elke is also the only fiddler I know who can simultaneously play and dance a Highland Fling! -Steve [EMAIL PROTECTED] said: Hi all, My dad bought me the CD _Celtic Dialog_ by Laura Risk for Christmas. When I saw the title, my first thought was ug. It's on Dorian, and was released in 1999. But I've been to a few workshops that Laura has done (she's a great teacher, if you ever get the chance). Anyway, I played the cd the other day, and it wasn't at all what I was expecting. I've got another of her CDs and the playing is more cosmopolitan, but this is just fiddle and piano. To my ears, the style is Scottish. I looked at the liner notes this morning, and she says the cd was inspired by David Johnsons book _Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th Century_ (Which I've read twice now). She also says that all of the tunes are found in the book, but that thier approach in playing them was modern (as opposed to trying to recreate ancient music, I suppose). It's not like jazzy or anything. One of the tracks is William McGibbon's _Minuet in A_. I wonder if there are any other recordings of that ilk. There aren't that many CDs of Scottish fiddle music (compared to Irish, or Bluegrass, say) so I thought I'd mention it. I don't think it will ever be my favorite CD, but I like it well enough so far. Bob Rogers South Carolina -- Steve Wyrick - Concord, California Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
[scots-l] Abc for Rhona's reel?
Hi all, I listened to a great tune called Rhona's reel on a Cd called Best of Scottish Dance bands. I can't find it. Any ideas? Thanks! Dominique Renaudin http://domren.free.fr Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Laura Risk _Celtic Dialog_
Steve Wyrick wrote: Hi Bob, I agree with you about Laura; I attended a workshop she gave out here in Summer 2002 and she's a great teacher. I have her CD The Merry Making which I like quite a bit, but I was initially disappointed in it because I'd first heard her play for a dance I attended and her playing on the CD was nothing like what she did at the dance; that was much more spirited and jazzy, where the CD is more polished and much tamer. I suppose some of that is just the difference between sitting down in the studio and recording vs. playing live for a group of appreciative dancers! I've always been of the mind that a good studio recording should capture the energy and organized chaos of live performances. It can be done, but it's a hard thing to do. I don't think it's a matter of skill with the musicians, alot of top notch pro session players here in Los Angeles and Nashville make studio recordings that sound totally dead. They just too tight sounding.. Maybe it's a matter of production.. I'm learning that there are alot of tricks that can be done to make things come across alot more live on studio recordings. For instance, instead of plugging straight into the board, running through a really warm tube amp and then mic'ing it. Another thing that adds is to mic the players feet. Ashley MacIssac's recordings where you can hear his feet, are definately live sounding.. It's too easy nowadays to load everything into Pro Tools and basically build a really sterile, really perfect album straight off the computer.. Plus there's the habit they have of seriously compressing everything in the mix, to where it sounds like it's going to explode. That technique came from producing pop music for FM radio. I'm not into that sound :-) Don't get me wrong, those sterile types of recordings have their place (for Scottish Country Dance Teachers to rehearse their dancers), but they certainly aren't musically interesting. BTW, Elke is also the only fiddler I know who can simultaneously play and dance a Highland Fling! -Steve Actually there are quite a few players who can step dance and play at the same time.. I've always though the whole dancing playing thing is kind of a cool showmanship thing. Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Laura Risk _Celtic Dialog_
Toby Rider said: Don't get me wrong, those sterile types of recordings have their place (for Scottish Country Dance Teachers to rehearse their dancers), but they certainly aren't musically interesting. Wearing my dancer's hat (as well as fiddling for dancers, I do performance and social dancing in the San Francisco Branch of the RSCDS), it's my experience that any warmth and energy the musicians can impart to their recordings helps to energize the dancers, which makes for much better dancing! You're right that there are a lot of sterile SCD recordings out there (particularly some of the ones accompanying the Society publications) but they're usually as little fun to dance to as they are to listen to. There are certain ones my SCD teacher uses, typically because there isn't anything else available, that we always groan at; we might as well just be dancing to a metronome! Although Scottish dance recordings obviously need to be in strict tempo, and tend to be fairly repetitive by nature, I don't think that necessarily precludes being musically interesting; I have a few dance CDs at home that I enjoy just listening to (e.g. John Taylor/Andy Imbrie Live, Green Ginger Miss Ogilvie's Fancy). So really, I'd go further than you and argue that sterile recordings DON'T have their place (at least, not in SCD)! -Steve -- Steve Wyrick - Concord, California Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Auld Graden Kirn
Nigel, et. al., Thanks for the tunes. CA Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Laura Risk _Celtic Dialog_
...but I was initially disappointed in it because I'd first heard her play for a dance I attended and her playing on the CD was nothing like what she did at the dance; that was much more spirited and jazzy, where the CD is more polished and much tamer. Please listen to anything by Tony MacMahon and Noel Hill. They usually have a few sides with live dancers in the background and, thus, really deliver the goods. Oh, baby! CA Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Laura Risk _Celtic Dialog_
Steve Wyrick wrote: You're right that there are a lot of sterile SCD recordings out there (particularly some of the ones accompanying the Society publications) but they're usually as little fun to dance to as they are to listen to. There are certain ones my SCD teacher uses, typically because there isn't anything else available, that we always groan at; we might as well just be dancing to a metronome! Although Scottish dance recordings obviously need to be in strict tempo, and tend to be fairly repetitive by nature, I don't think that necessarily precludes being musically interesting Absolutely! Music with guts is just alot more interesting all-the-way-around.. There's not exactly a big market for recording SCD dance CD's though, and you're not exactly allowed a whole lot of creative freedom with some of the SCD dance sets :-) So it doesn't surprise me that you don't usually find people's most inspiring performances on those recordings. :-) Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
