[scots-l] Navan

[Sue Richards]

I don't know whether they have been mentioned yet on this
list, but a new young group from Madison, Wisconsin, called
"Navan" is well worth listening to. Really tight harmonies and
excellent singing. They have one CD out. 
Sue Richards
At 11:40 AM 1/21/03 -0800, you wrote:
> Slainte Mhath (from Cape
Breton) makes some really
> interesting and danceable music using pop/techno
> fusion. They play fiddle, bagpipes, bodhran,
> keyboards, flutes and more (and stepdance!). A nice
> description of their style from their website:
>
(http://www.slaintemhath.com)
 Slainte Mhath is great. I love those guys (and girls). I've still
got
their first CD on constant rotation. They're definately on the 
right
track I think.

> As far as I can tell, thru logic and listening to many
> musicians, the "secret" to making good fusion music
is
> to know traditional music inside and out. If you know
> where it's coming from and what makes it unique, and
> respect that, then you're more likely to understand
> what will mix well with it.

 Not only knowing trad. music inside out, but you've also got to
know
whatever genres that make in into your "sound".


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] Oswald's English guittar (was Cumbernauld House)

[David Kilpatrick]

Toby Rider wrote:

Oswald himself specialised in guittar (English guittar) which has a
sound like a very quiet harp or lyre. It's also a very easy instrument
to write music with, as it transposes and the tuning forms two major
chords (CEGceg, GBDgbd or AC#Eac#e normally).





 Are there any pictures of these instruments online? I'm going to have a
load of questions about these once I see pictures of them :-)





But Chris Egerton, a luthier in London, has just made me an entire set
of bone string pins and it's sounding very good as a result!

David




 Wow, how well do those bone pegs work? Are they subject to the same
problems that the wooden pegs on fiddles are?


Whoa! slow down... take a look at -

http://www.maxwellplace.demon.co.uk/pandemonium/guittar.html
and also at
http://www.robmackillop.com/

The bone string pins are at the *other end* of the instrument, the 
tailpiece, and you loop the wire round them (I will shortly replace that 
photo with the beautiful pins that Chris made for me). The tuner 
mechanism is different from anything you will have seen apart from a 
Portugese guitarra or German waldzither, and operates using a captive 
nut on a threaded shaft, turned by a watch key. The closest equivalent 
is the fine tuner on a fiddle but the action is entirely different. The 
instrument uses double-loop-ended strings which must be made up to 
measure, and the range of possible tension is limited, but the tuning 
accuracy and 'hold' is 100 per cent.

The guittar was extremely popular in 18th century Scotland, and over in 
Massachussetts the 'cittern' (which it gradually replaced) outstripped 
the fiddle as the most popular instrument in the early 1700s. There are 
loads of surviving guittars in museums (Edinburgh Reid Collection, 
Colonial Williamsburg Museum, University of Leipzig collection) but very 
few being played by anyone today. Rob reckons there are maybe six 
concert-level performers in the world, and after I got mine (folk level 
playing, sadly) he said 'that now makes two in Scotland'!

It survived as the waldzither, losing one string, in Germany but was 
killed off when Hitler encouraged German folk music (and effectively 
signed its death warrant). The closest living relative is the 4-course 
folk cittern, but most players would never use a guittar type tuning. 
Banjo and dobro players use the tuning all the time, however, so a book 
of banjo chord shapes helps a long way to playing guittar or waldzither.

David

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] Cumbernauld House

[David Kilpatrick]

Jack Campin wrote:

Barfly is so frustrating on my Mac! I can't use anything except
'beep' and it plays in a way which bears no resemblance to your
demosntration - all the note lengths are wrong and the result
doesn't even sound like a tune. More like some very long horrible
ringtone.



1. Reinstall QuickTime - early versions of QT 5 are no good, up to
   4.0.3 is okay and so is 6 - and make sure the musical instruments
   are installed.


OK, my Classic installation has QT5. The instruments stutter and some 
don't sound at all.
That may be the explanation - no problem adding them to Barfly, they 
simply don't work.

David

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] Good fusions, bad fusions (was SHSA Comps)

[Toby Rider]

> Slainte Mhath (from Cape Breton) makes some really
> interesting and danceable music using pop/techno
> fusion. They play fiddle, bagpipes, bodhran,
> keyboards, flutes and more (and stepdance!). A nice
> description of their style from their website:
> (http://www.slaintemhath.com)

 Slainte Mhath is great. I love those guys (and girls). I've still got
their first CD on constant rotation. They're definately on the right
track I think.


> As far as I can tell, thru logic and listening to many
> musicians, the "secret" to making good fusion music is
> to know traditional music inside and out. If you know
> where it's coming from and what makes it unique, and
> respect that, then you're more likely to understand
> what will mix well with it.


 Not only knowing trad. music inside out, but you've also got to know
whatever genres that make in into your "sound".




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] Good fusions, bad fusions (was SHSA Comps)

[Irena Aligizakis]

Slainte Mhath (from Cape Breton) makes some really
interesting and danceable music using pop/techno
fusion. They play fiddle, bagpipes, bodhran,
keyboards, flutes and more (and stepdance!). A nice
description of their style from their website:
(http://www.slaintemhath.com)

"The Slainte Mhath (Gaelic for "good health to you")
sound draws from a wide range of influences. This
high-energy group features traditional instruments
associated with the Celtic genre and adds drumbeats,
hooks, and sub-bass lines, all augmented with
contemporary arrangements."

Their latest CD took some getting used to (it has more
pop rhythms than their original CD) but after a few
listens I love it.  One the more straightforwardly
traditional tracks, they also show they do indeed know
how to play trad music. Their strathspey/reel set is
my favourite set to dance to right now--it has
purrfect speed and rhythm.

As far as I can tell, thru logic and listening to many
musicians, the "secret" to making good fusion music is
to know traditional music inside and out. If you know
where it's coming from and what makes it unique, and
respect that, then you're more likely to understand
what will mix well with it.

Anyway, I'd definitely recommend checking out Slainte
Mhath to anyone who isn't aware of them, especially if
you like bagpipes...

A brief note on the Rankin Family: I remember
hearing/reading from one of them that their
country/celtic mix is a reflection of the "cabaret"
type of performance they put on locally before they
became a major recording/touring band. For example,
they might play some tunes at a dance then do a
country number for people to cool off to. :-D So,
while they took lot of flak for trying to get more
radio time with country music (and there is truth in
that) it's not the whole story of their music.

Personally, I find their brand of country totally
different from usual radio country or even western
folk. I think of it as "country eastern". I like it
because--with the exception of a few silly
songs--their songwriting makes a real effort (and a
successful one) to reflect the local culture they come
from. I.E. their songs include fishing boats, ocean
metaphors, references to local legends and traditions.
 My favourite kind of music has always been that which
brings me to a specific time and place, and theirs
does that.

cheers,
Irena

--- Toby Rider <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> > I think what he really wants to know is what you
> listen to that inspires 
> > you write that you'd like to hear: < inspired "fusion" sort of
> > harp-playing. >>
> 
>  I guess it's because it's not so common to hear
> really listen-able
> fusions of different musical genres in general, but
> especially (as Jack
> just mentioned) traditional Scottish or Irish music
> along with anything
> else. It's genuinely tough to get it to work
> beautifully. Not to say
> that it isn't done regularly with success. Some of
> my favorite artists
> in Scottish music are doing what I guess could be
> called "fusion", or
> have done "fusion" projects in the past (don't
> worry, I'll include them
> on my desert isle list :-) For instance, every album
> Alasdair Fraser has
> released except for one, is basically "fusion" and I
> think they've all
> come out great. I'm sure he'd be touched to hear me
> say that :-) 
>   I've heard plenty of attempts to combine North
> American Country music
> with Scottish music, and it's mostly been really
> hard for me to listen
> to.. I hate to pick examples, but as talented as the
> Rankin Family is, I
> really can't get into their music for that reason.
> If I want to hear
> country music, there folks who make more listen-able
> country music then
> the Rankin family, and since they're trying to
> combine their country
> influences into their albums, it keeps the
> traditional sets down to a
> minimum on their albums. So it keeps me from
> listening to them. Plus the
> teenage fan club aspect of their band used to really
> bugged me too..
> Ha.. Ha.. Speaking of "teenage fan clubs", they're a
> killer band from
> Glasgow. They'll be on my list.
>  
> 
> 
> Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music &
> Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your
> browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html


=


__
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com
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] Oswald's English guittar (was Cumbernauld House)

[Toby Rider]

>>>Oswald himself specialised in guittar (English guittar) which has a
>>> sound like a very quiet harp or lyre. It's also a very easy instrument
>>>  to write music with, as it transposes and the tuning forms two major
>>> chords (CEGceg, GBDgbd or AC#Eac#e normally).


 Are there any pictures of these instruments online? I'm going to have a
load of questions about these once I see pictures of them :-)



> But Chris Egerton, a luthier in London, has just made me an entire set
> of bone string pins and it's sounding very good as a result!
>
> David


 Wow, how well do those bone pegs work? Are they subject to the same
problems that the wooden pegs on fiddles are? Are they just the
traditional material for pegs of that time period, and not necessarily
really use to tune with?
 Speaking of tuning pegs. I went over to World of Strings this weekend and
traded him my least favorite fiddle for one that has a much gutsier
sound. I had to play several dozen axes to find this new one. Half of
them were out-of-tune and had either slippery or super-tight pegs. Plus
some of them had some weird wonky-sounding super stretchy gut strings and
those high round bridges that feel fine above 3rd position, but feel like
holding down a suspension bridge down at the nut.
 That type of setup is probably great for Mendelssohn's violin concerto,
but not the thing for Miss Lyall's strathspey :-)
 All those poorly adjusted wooden pegs had me spending as much time tuning
as I did playing. It almost made me wish they all had modern metal tuning
pegs, or at least those metal fine tuners on the bottom.
 It was worth it though, after I found "the one", I had him shape the
bridge just right and put on a set of Helicores, now it sings and plays
really easily. I took it over to a friend's house on Sunday evening and
played a bunch of tunes in the kitchen for hours. They liked the tone and
openess of it, I even brought over my favorite fiddle as a
point-of-reference. It especially sounds good with a 12-string guitar
chording.
 I think I got a good deal, even though the new fiddle cost less
originally then the one I traded him, I threw in a bunch of needed guitar
stuff and it ended up being an even trade.


-- 
Toby Rider ([EMAIL PROTECTED])

"He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,
That puts it not unto the touch
To win or lose it all."

- James Graham, Marquis of Montrose


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] Cumbernauld House

[Jack Campin]

> Barfly is so frustrating on my Mac! I can't use anything except
> 'beep' and it plays in a way which bears no resemblance to your
> demosntration - all the note lengths are wrong and the result
> doesn't even sound like a tune. More like some very long horrible
> ringtone.

1. Reinstall QuickTime - early versions of QT 5 are no good, up to
   4.0.3 is okay and so is 6 - and make sure the musical instruments
   are installed.

2. Give the program 4Mb of memory (comes set up for 2Mb, which sometimes
   isn't enough).

3. Run it in Classic, not native X, and install the Tune Daemon anyway
   (it does some X-specific wizardry).

4. (This is possibly where you're going wrong) go to the Play menu,
   Add an Instrument... and select something.  You have to tell the
   program what sound to use: the boring "Beep" is the default.
   Instruments are added one at a time by the user; there are so
   many of them it isn't reasonable for the interface to show you
   the lot.


-
Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760
 * food intolerance data & recipes,
Mac logic fonts, Scots traditional music files, and my CD-ROM "Embro, Embro".


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] Cumbernauld House

[David Kilpatrick]

Jack Campin wrote:

Oswald himself specialised in guittar (English guittar) which has a 
sound like a very quiet harp or lyre. It's also a very easy instrument 
to write music with, as it transposes and the tuning forms two major 
chords (CEGceg, GBDgbd or AC#Eac#e normally).


Here's the tune, in the vocal version from the Scots Musical Museum -
I don't have Oswald's original handy.  How easy is it on the guitar?



I'll have a look, printed it out - but Barfly is so frustrating on my 
Mac! I can't use anything except 'beep' and it plays in a way which 
bears no resemblance to your demosntration - all the note lengths are 
wrong and the result doesn't even sound like a tune. More like some very 
long horrible ringtone.

The tune looks OK on guittar, but I'll report back after trying it. The 
speed of the ABC would be a little fast for guittar. I would transpose 
the entire thing to A instead of G (my guittar transposes A, Bflat, B, 
or C and that's it - Irish ones transposed G, Gsharp, A, Bflat)

since I have not yet made a capo I just play in A.

But Chris Egerton, a luthier in London, has just made me an entire set 
of bone string pins and it's sounding very good as a result!

David

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] Cumbernauld House

[Jack Campin]

> Oswald himself specialised in guittar (English guittar) which has a 
> sound like a very quiet harp or lyre. It's also a very easy instrument 
> to write music with, as it transposes and the tuning forms two major 
> chords (CEGceg, GBDgbd or AC#Eac#e normally).

Here's the tune, in the vocal version from the Scots Musical Museum -
I don't have Oswald's original handy.  How easy is it on the guitar?

I suspect there isn't much difference from Oswald; Johnson didn't
often simplify instrumental tunes to make them more singer-friendly.

X:38
T:Where winding Forth adorns the vale
T:Cumbernauld-house
S:SMM no. 142
M:C
L:1/8
K:G %Transposed from F
G>A|(B>A) (B>d) {c}B2 A>G|E>D EG  A2 Bd| e2   (ge)  (dG)|E2 G>A G3A|
 B>A   B>d  {c}B2 AG |E>D E>G A2 Bd|(e>d) (eG)|E2 G>A G2||
B>A|G>AB>cd3e   |(df| e>fg>a  {g}f2ed  |B2  e>f  e3f|
   (gf) (eTd) B2 (e3/f//g//)|(dG)|E2 (G>A) G2|]

The Scots Musical Museum would have been a far more accessible source
for Bewick to use than Oswald's original, which had not been reprinted
for 90 years.


-
Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760
 * food intolerance data & recipes,
Mac logic fonts, Scots traditional music files, and my CD-ROM "Embro, Embro".


Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To 
subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html