Hi all, I've noticed that if you are playing in an ensemble of different instruments and they want to play a tune in a gurdy-unfriendly key, you might (just about) get away with playing the trompet without retuning it (eg using a d-trompette with the key of Em), providing there is enough volume from the other instruments. It all depends on how loud your trompette string is against the combined intensity of the rest of the ensemble. This trick relies on the fact that the sound of the buzz cuts through much more than the trompette's drone. The volume of the rest of the ensemble should nearly mask the drone, but not the buzz. It's also important to understand that the dissonance you hear never sounds as bad to the audience as it does to you. I'm not advocating that this is something that you would do as a matter of course, but if your choices are limited, and particularly if you are not taking part in a prestigous performance, then you might (just about) get away with it. regards Mike -----Original Message----- From: james kruse [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 10 January 2007 16:03 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [HG] Drones vs. Key Changes, was Irish?
hello everyone, Thanks for all the feedback. I definitely would have had an easier time if I had had the time to learn to count properly. That is probably linked with knowing rythm as well. The muskett method book stresses learning to play in time. That is what I am going to work on over the winter. I aquired the hurdy gurdy based on my interest in the group garmarna. I also have enjoyed hungarian, bulgarian,baltic music. It was at last falls over the water festival that confirmed my desire to learn the hg well. It was amazing to hear how good this instrument can sound. I had to jump ahead a little to give myself a chance to use my hurdy gurdy in The Christmas Carol this year. We only do the show every three years. Another trick I noticed is that it is better to practice a little every day rather than a bunch once a week. A correction. Martin Friedmann never was concert master of seattle symphony, he just was in it a long time. I only know him from his free concerts at the community church on Orcas. Different kind of setting. Thanks again, I have been eavesdropping on this list for quite a while. Jim Kruse Melissa Kacalanos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 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 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com This email, including any attachment, is a confidential communication intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. It contains information which is private and may be proprietary or covered by legal professional privilege. If you have received this email in error, please notify either the sender or telephone ++ 44 (0) 1963 370551 upon receipt, and immediately delete it from your system. Anything contained in this email that is not connected with the businesses of Thales Naval is neither endorsed by nor is the liability of this company. 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