Would anyone have the notation for the tune Doinna as played by John McSherry?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0KQTv8qvkE
Many thanks in advance!
Richard
A rough transcription can be found at
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/8154
Click the “Sheetmusic” tab.
Thanks Jumper.
I checked out the rough transcription and found that it was close, but not exact.
I even put it into ABC on the Concertina Tune-o-Matic and listened to the MIDI file. Doesn’t seem quite right to me.
Anyone have a better transcription of this tune or know where I could find one
Cheers! Richard
Dots are just the skeleton of a tune and use the eyes.
Music is for the ears, not the eyes!
After all, it is an aural tradition. 
True, but I’m glad Capt. O’Neill and his helpers had a different attitude about it!
I am glad too (1850 tunes version, not the yellow book)!
I would be willing to bet (if I had some money) that he would recommend learning directly from the original musician, one on one.
I also appreciate the Patsy Touhy and Willie Clancy transcriptions by Pat Mitchell.
I use these to study up on a tune that I can’t find in my jukebox or a technique that I have heard them play.
Of course, after I get it close, I shut the book and attempt to make it “mine” by trying other licks I have learned.
I still wish I had recordings for all the tunes I want to learn, but so many tunes, so short a life…
I agree that it wonderful to learn by ear which is the way I learn most tunes.
However, I have a problem with transposition. Seems that John is playing a C set in the video and I can’t quite figure out the tune from listening to it.
The same thing applies for me when I am trying to learn a tune from a recording that is played on a flat set.
I’m a “D” man ya know.
It is at this point that I usually ask for the notation. Once I have learned the tunes basic melody, I will add my own personal style to it.
Thanks for all the responses. This is a wonderful community.
Cheers! Richard
The pipes call and raise the spirit. They also quieten and open up the daydream part of people."
Seamus Heaney
Another way around this is to pick up the tune on a whistle in the flat key you’re after. Once you’ve got the fingering down on the whistle, you will probably have secured the tune in your head, as well. I don’t think it should be a very long walk from there to putting the tune onto a D set.
djm
I just pick up a whistle that is in the key of the pipes they play when it isn’t in C (my working pipes).
" Seems that John is playing a C set in the video and I can’t quite figure out the tune from listening to it. "
It seems to me that McSherry is playing a D set in the video clip mentioned above. Some one set me straight, please!
Well…it seems John is playing a D set. My mistake.
Some of his fingerings looked strange, so I assumed it was a C set.
Nevertheless…a beautiful tune well worth learning.
Cheers! Richard
I used quicktime on my mac to slow down the video, so I could work it out. The tune is also on his “At First Light” CD.
Windows users can download Winamp and the PaceMaker plugin and Loop Master Musicians Tool to help you learn aurally.
Indeed! There seemed to be a lot of “finger twisting” embellishments going on there. Once I got past those (ignored them), I found that the tune fit on a D whistle. Also, I thought the pipes “sounded” like a concert pitch set rather than a flat set.
I also tried to transcribe the tune and failed miserably. I want to impose some kind of time signature on it and just haven’t been able to find the right meter. Very frustrating. It bugs me that I can “play along” with the tune and not be able to notate what I hear. When I get some more time, I might re-visit this tune.
It’s almost impossible to “draw the dots” for a slow air, there is no “soul” with a regular time signature as the airs are played with rubato and with variations.
The Winamp and tools I mentioned before will allow you to take various sound files, CDs you rip, mp3 and other audio formats you can download off the internet for free (example, Naomi’s Fancy offers free downloads of their first album in my sig).
If you can find that tune in one of the audio formats, transposing, speeding up/slowing down and looping to get that “hard to learn” phrase/part/turn.
Does anyone know how to extract the audio from a youtube video?
Othewise, just keep listening to it and playing along, it will eventually come.
Yep! I know that. I keep trying anyway. Even when I successfully transcribe something, I end up playing it differently anyway. I don’t have a problem with learning by ear - I just like to have written documentation.
I use a program which captures any audio that goes through the pc soundcard to grab the audio from videos. It saves as a .wav file and then I edit it and save it as mp3. I’ve grabbed a lot of good tunes that way. I love grabbing that stuff from TG4 and RTE. My audio grabber is called Silent-Bob and it’s old, old, old, but it works. There’s probably lots of similar programs out there, but I don’t know what they are specifically.
Audacity is what I use…
Here’s my basic transcription from McSherry’s setting on the album “At First Light”. The tune fits nicely into 9/8 meter, but played very freely of course. I left out the twiddly bits except for a few of the runs. There should be enough here to follow the tune, and it’s pretty close to the YouTube setting.
Cut and paste the ABC into the Concertina.net Tune-O-Tron converter for a nice PDF. Enjoy!
X:1
T:Doinna
R:Lament
S:John McSherry & Michael McGoldrick: At First Light - Track 03 - Doinna
S:YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0KQTv8qvkE
Z:MTGuru for Chiff & Fipple, 2008-01-25
M:9/8
K:ADor
"Slow and Very Free"e3- (4:3edef g2e|d2c/A/ B3 A2G|=f3 He6|
e3- (4:3edef g2e|d2c/A/ B2E A2B/c/|B2A HA6||
e3- (4:3edef g2e|d2c/A/ B3 A2G|=f3 He6|
e3- (4:3edef g2e|d2c/A/ B2E A2B/c/|B-B/A/B/c/ d2c/B/ HA2|]
E|A2B c2e B-{c}B/A/G|g3 e2d ^c2d|e3 d3- Hd2A|
d2e =f3 e(5:4{f}e/d/c/B/d/|c3 B2A G2B/c/|B2A A3- HA2||
E|A2B c2e B-{c}B/A/G|g2a e2d ^c2d|e3 d3- Hd2A|
d2e =f2a e(5:4{f}e/d/c/B/d/|c3 B2A G2B/c/|B2A HA6|]
A great BIG thank you to MTGuru for your transcription.
Just what I needed. You made my day!
Cheers! Richard
OK…so now that I have half way learned this tune (meaning I haven’t got it completely memorized) thanks to MTGuru…
How do you pronounce Doinna?
What does Doinna mean in English?
Is this a Trad tune or was it written recently? Any history appreciated.
The F natural and C sharp in the tune are discordanlty beautliful!
Excuse my ingorance, but it IS bliss!
Cheers! Richard