Hello, A couple weeks ago I was playing a street musician in a local adaptation of A Christmas Carol on Orcas Island, wa. I am both a begining hurdy gurdy player and musician. The individual I was paired with is a (very patient) professional violinist. One of the songs was a jig and started out in e minor and switched to d major. I had no idea what to set my drones to, and consulted her & her husband who is a professional pianist. Neither are familiar with the hurdy gurdy but both are top notch musicians and finally they decided that I should tune my minstrel gurdy as follows. the petit bourdon should be B, the chanter G, and the trompette E'. This was not their first choice, but were taking into consideration the tension allowances of the strings I had. It ended up sounding kinda cool. Has anyone else out there tried this sort of arrangement? Jim Kruse
Anthony Shostak <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi, folks. I'm sure this has come up before, but I'm wondering what your collective wisdom is regarding G/C or D/G for playing Irish and related tunes? It seems straightforward enough to play out of G/C, using the upper rows of keys and capos for the drones, but with much of the repertoire fitting well on pipes and flutes that don't go lower than D, perhaps D/G would wind up being a bit easier and fit within the range of the instrument without too much octave shifting. Or is it really just a matter of making a choice and sticking with it? Best, Anthony
