Hm. Some tunes just aren't meant to be played on hg. Many tunes, I suspect like
this one you mention, just wouldn't work with a constant drone on any note,
whatever the note is. In your example, your trompette and petit bourdon are
playing a constant open E chord. Then whenever your open chanter sounds (which
it almost inevitably will), between some notes) you're playing an E minor
chord. I suspect that if this worked at all, it did so by making the whole tune
seem like it was in E minor, so people couldn't hear the D major-ness of the
first part.
Actually, how do we know it really switched from D major to E minor? That
might just be the interpretation of these musicians, who are trained to think
in terms of key changes and chord progressions all the time instead of drones.
Maybe if one of us drone-based people heard it, we would just say, "Nice tune
in E minor, and I like how the dissonance at the beginning resolves in the
middle."
Or, if they wanted to keep the D to E shift, in a situation like this, I
might have turned my drones off for the beginning, and then turned on a drone
in E at the change. This makes for a nice dynamic change as well as a key
change. This only works if the changes don't come too fast or frequently,
though.
But in general, I don't like to waste my efforts trying to get my hg to play
tunes with certain key changes or chord progressions, which would work much
better on a piano or violin or something. What hgs are good at is playing tunes
that work well with drones. This includes, besides the vast world of early and
traditional hg music, tunes from drone-loving traditions from around the world.
That includes bagpipe tunes from Sweden to Morocco to Bulgaria, much Indian
music (which often uses a tambura to provide a drone), and much Arabic and
Turkish music (which often use plucked string instruments with both drone and
melody strings). That's a lot of music. Let's not get greedy and try to play
music that sounds better on piano or violin.
Melissa
james kruse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
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
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