Been away for a while . . . Have some Carolan dot

Whistle
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I’ve been away for a a year of two . . . other things took precedence. However, picked up my whistles again. While I’ve been gone, I picked up an interest in Ubuntu Linux (great for your computer) and since I was using Linux, I needed something other than Finale for music scores. I’ve found Lilypond and it is great for simple melody lines. (the difficulty using lilypond using the formidable 600 + page manual to dig out the info for simple tasks. They thing tells you how to write symphonies . . . )

Anyway, I’ve posted a few of my favorite Carolan tunes done with lilypond. Check the link. I know that most whistlers want to either play by ear, or use abc, but I’d like an opinion on my work here anyway. I’d be happy to share the source code to anyone who is interested

file:///home/steve/Dropbox/Public/Link%20to%20Carolan_Tunes.pdf THIS DOESN"T WORK
IF this doesn’t work, I haven’t learned how to correctly create the link. If so, I’ll keep working
THIS DOES WORK!!!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14761303/Carolan_Tunes.pdf

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Thanks much, I saved it to my desktop.

Jude

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Another great spot for Carolan tunes, aside from CloydW’s kind offerings, is at http://www.oldmusicproject.com/occ/tunes.html You’ll find the abcs and sheet music for almost the entire repertoire, although not in as elegant a layout.

Best wishes.

Steve

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Nice of you to do this. They are a good selection, and seem to be in the “right” keys. That is, the keys I’ve most often heard them played. I found a couple of tiny things you might want to fix:

  1. page 8 two sets of unbeamed eighth notes in Geo. Brabazon 2nd Air/
  2. page 9 “betgah” in the title. My memory says the spelling is wrong (betagh) but I might be remembering wrong. However I’m sure you want to capitalize the name.

Finally, and not to raise the hackles of anyone: You can do layout like this with abc and abcm2ps. Lillypond however may be more flexible for the folks willing to deal with the somewhat more complex encoding.

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Just played through some of them. There seem to be some fairly serious errors in the transcriptions. I don’t want to embarrass you, or anyone else, on a public forum, so if you can’t find the errors PM me and I’ll try to provide chapter and verse. The only reason I mention this issue at all on the forum is to warn others that there may be some issues for you if you learn from these versions and go out to play with a group.

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PM also sent.

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Hey, thank you all for your input. I noticed the “betgah” after posting. I’ll be looking the other things as soon as I get the time (hopefully this evening). I will say that I did at times knowingly move a few phrases up an octave because of a low “b” or other unavailable low note. . . I did experiment so that the phrase at least sounded complete to me, and not just jumping all over the place. I have done this several places, changing keys, and moving phrases up or down to stay within the range of the whistle. (not only Mrs. Judge, but notably Loftus Jones. When I first started doing this, I made a few notes on the score. Kinda quit doing that. However, my goal was to make decent arrangements that were playable on the whistle as written, without having to remember “to make this work, I have to raise (drop) this phrase an octave.”

You gave me exactly what I wanted. I was aware of a few things, and wanted to fix them. (but was anxious to share). Some of your input told me some things I really didn’t know. “The South Wind” really not Carolan? Makes sense . . . it has no one’s proper name it it. And the tune at the end of Mrs. Judge . . . it did always sound really different, but I had heard the two played together, so when I copied a transcription, (probably changed keys), I included them together.

I have a question. in Squire Parsons, about measure 14, there are 3 c# quarter notes. In most of the transcriptions I’ve seen, these are c naturals. In the one cd recording I have of this, they are definitely c#. C# “sounds” right to my ear. But does
anyone really know what it should be?

I have a similar question about Lord Inchiquin. I frequently see the first two measures (after the pick up measure) written quite differently. Many of you no doubt have noticed that. Can anyone enlighten me here? My problem is that I’ve learned to play it the way I’ve transcribed it here, and it is hard (no, not impossible) to change.

Again, I appreciate your input. I wanted to put something attractive and useful out there for others. I wanted it to look nice. And, lastly, I like writing code.

CloydW



EDIT: Rather than make a new post, I’m simply editing this one. I’ve made several changes. I am a beginner on lilypond and the unbeamed notes were simply what lillypond did by default in the particular situations. (who knows why?). Lilypond can be simple, or very complex, depending on what you want to do with it. The problem comes with digging out the simple things from the complex documentation.

My sources for some of this are online such as the Old Music project, and also Ireland’s Best Carolan Tunes. I have at times changed keys, and in some cases moved a phrase up or down an octave to stay within the whistle’s range. I am learning that different sources give somewhat different information . . . from differences in melodies, down to the attribution or the title of the piece. Is there a critical online source where I can check out some of these? I am not a music historian, but would like this to be accurate, with allowances made for keeping within the range of the instrument (I really want to preserve the integrity of the piece . . . or go get a r*****er). I really like Carolan’s tunes.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14761303/Carolan_Tunes.pdf

same link as before, but changed a bit.

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The file is changed more than a bit. Things seem right now. There are some individual notes that I question and some accidentals I wonder about, but those things can be seen as variations of the tunes. As to what is “right:” About the only references we have are things like the O’Sullivan bio and collected works and a handful of other early copies none of which really goes back to the composer’s time. So, things like the D# in the E minor pieces and perhaps the C# you refer to happen because folks hear it that way. I prefer not to use those changes, but YMMV.

No time to answer your specific questions now. Maybe later if the thread stays of interest.

Thanks for fixing things. I’m much more comfortable about it now.

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If you like ubuntu, I think you will love linux mint. ubuntu on steroids - made in Ireland by a frenchman !

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Think I spelled wrong when I checked. Is fixed.

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5/11/11 Just wanted to say, I found a c# that should be an a in measure 17 of James Betagh. It is fixed. Honest, I try to play these through before posting, but sometimes, when I play, I play what I think I’m supposed to play and not what is on the paper. One day, I forgot how it was supposed to sound, and had the read the music. It didn’t sound right. It is now fixed.

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Nice job Cloydw…
I like it that the dots are… BIG…
I’ve saved the page as well …thank you…