Re: [scots-l] Cumbernauld House
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
GA|(BA) (Bd) {c}B2 AG|ED EG A2 Bd| e2 (ge) (dB) (AG)|E2 GA G3A|
BA Bd {c}B2 AG |ED EG A2 Bd|(ed) (eg) (dB) (AG)|E2 GA G2||
BA|GABcd3e |(dB) AG d2 gf| efga {g}f2ed |B2 ef e3f|
(gf) (eTd) B2 (e3/f//g//)|(dB) TAG A2 Bd |(ed) (Be) (dB) (AG)|E2 (GA) 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
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack * 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
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Re: [scots-l] Cumbernauld House
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 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] Cumbernauld House
Richard Evans wrote: I've started playing this tune on Northumbrian Pipes, having found it in 'Bewick's Pipe Tunes', published by Matt Seattle. In his notes, Matt says that this version is similar to James Oswald's. It sounds like a harp tune to me, and the title would possibly support that. Is this right? Any further information much appreciated. I've been playing it as an air- it's a beautiful, relaxed melody. Since Oswald published anything he could lay hands on, who knows what source... 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). But Oswald also played violin and keyboards. Rob MacKillop would know if Oswald played harp - have a look at www.robmackillop.com for more about Oswald. 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
I've started playing this tune on Northumbrian Pipes, having found it in 'Bewick's Pipe Tunes', published by Matt Seattle. In his notes, Matt says that this version is similar to James Oswald's. It sounds like a harp tune to me, and the title would possibly support that. Is this right? Any further information much appreciated. I've been playing it as an air - it's a beautiful, relaxed melody. If I remember right, Oswald didn't mention the harp on the title pages of the _Caledonian Pocket Companion_ (where that tune was published): there wouldn't have been much reason to, as it wasn't very fashionable in the 1740s. His own favourite instrument was the cello, though he had a professional knowledge of all the instruments in use in his time. The early volumes of CPC are primarily intended for transverse flute as the melody instrument with cello doing the bass, or keyboard doing both - later volumes get more fiddle-friendly. It's a derivative of The Duke of Albany's Tune printed in garbled form in Playford's Apollo's Banquet of 1687, which has a preface saying the fiddle is all the rage at the moment and forget about playing anything else if you want to keep your street cred. On the other hand it sounds like a march, which would imply that when it was first played a few years earlier (as the title implies) it might have been for a band. The harp wasn't greatly in favour in the 1680s either, except in Ireland (which the Duke did not yet have any links with). I suppose you could rewrite history a bit and pretend it's a Carolan tune (written before Carolan was 15). It is also used as the air of a song in the _Scots Musical Museum_ which you do not want to know about. If you can adapt it for the pipes as well, it'll fit on anything. Must include it in my forthcoming collection The Caledonian Ophicleide. There is scope for some good accordionist to have a go at Oswald's tunes, perhaps one of the free-bass fraternity. Or given the Catholic/ Jacobite associations of this particular tune, perhaps a Glasgow-Irish-Republican accordion street band (if there are any still - I haven't heard one in years). - Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760 http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack * 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
Jack, Thanks for the information. It is also used as the air of a song in the _Scots Musical Museum_ which you do not want to know about. If you can adapt it for the pipes as well, it'll fit on anything. I didn't need to adapt it. Matt's book is a selection from the 'Bewick's Pipe Tunes' held in Gateshead Public Library, mss. dated 1830s/40s. It plays excellently as written on Northumbrian Pipes. It's written out in G with a range from low D to high a, couldn't be better for that instrument. Or given the Catholic/ Jacobite associations of this particular tune, What associations are they? Cheers Richard -- Richard Evans 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
Or given the Catholic/ Jacobite associations of this particular tune, What associations are they? Playford's title - the Duke of Albany was James V before he became king in 1685. === http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ === 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] Cumbernauld House
I've started playing this tune on Northumbrian Pipes, having found it in 'Bewick's Pipe Tunes', published by Matt Seattle. In his notes, Matt says that this version is similar to James Oswald's. It sounds like a harp tune to me, and the title would possibly support that. Is this right? Any further information much appreciated. I've been playing it as an air- it's a beautiful, relaxed melody. Cheers Richard -- Richard Evans Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
