It’s a really nice tune, in my opinion, and I don’t believe I’ve heard it anywhere else…
I attempted to transcribe it, but it’s not clear enough, especially in the second part, and he’s also just playing so fast it’s impossible to keep up.
This is my attempt at the first part-
T:Gan Ainm
R:reel
K:Bmin (played on Eb whistle, transposed to Cmin)
|:B2dc- cAAc|~B2dc- cAAc|B2dc- cAAc|B2dB edcB|
|B2dc- cAAc|~B2dc- cAAc|B2dB edcB|dcAc B2z2:|
I was actually there that night. BF is utterly amazing. It was the first time he had played with Ed Boyd since Flook split I think. They are playing together again soon (october) in Cambridge UK.
He is also an amazing teacher of tunes, but takes no prisoners. It is great to work with someone who is an innovative player but tt was hard for me to keep up. Now I have a couple of his unpublished tunes plus the Hungry Rock which I reckon is a really hard tune to play.
I was there too, but I also have no idea what the tune is called - sorry. I also agree that the hungry rock was difficult but I know I put no effort into it because I just don’t like the tune, even with Brian playing it!
To me, it seems like Bminor/Dmajor, but I don’t know. Perhaps Bminor in the first part and Amix the second… Good tune either way. There’s a lot he’s written recently that aren’t recorded it seems… Nipperquin’s, Marga’s Moment, etc… Just learned “Three Little Steps”… gorgeous.
I’ve heard so many amazing things about Brian’s teaching from people… I’m hoping that somehow I can go to Burwell next year to learn from him… crossing my fingers…
You have to listen to the harmonic structure and backup, JSC. It’s hard to say it’s in B minor, when there’s not a B minor chord played anywhere in the tune.
The bVII - I cadence (G - A9 here) is a typical Mixolydian cadence. And the final cadence lands on A, with the Em as a common minor V substitute for the bVII (G).
Hmmm … I agree with others - I definitely hear the first part as in B minor (accepting the whistle transposition from Eb to D whistle). And I don’t think Ed Boyd’s playing straight G - A9 either. There’s definitely an F# in that ‘G’ chord - which also has a B root. I’ve listened a few times and it seems the same to me as to others - B min first part and A mix second.
Interesting tune, huh? I like Brian Finnegan’s stuff, but I often find myself wondering whether there are any connections left with traditional music at all …
You’re going to make me go back and try again, aren’t you, Ben.
Interesting tune, huh? I like Brian Finnegan’s stuff, but I often find myself wondering whether there are any connections left with traditional music at all …
I think of these as rants, though I know that’s the wrong term. Tight melodic patterns, often more rhythmic than melodically developed, close repetitions. Similar to trad single reels, but expanded. And with syncopations and interval choices that may push the older trad envelope. I know, my thinking about this is very fuzzy.
When I’ll play along, and also watching Ed’s fingers, being a DADGAD player myself, he’s definitely playing Bminor at the beginning, but I’ll agree about Amix in the second part.
I’m not always sure what to think of some of his tunes… they definitely break out of the norm a bit.
Yeah JSC, I usually play dropped-D, so I think about voicings differently, and I’ll definitely take another look from a DADGAD POV. Chord voicings are fungible anyway, especially when highly altered. Bm is GMajor7 with a missing root, even without alterations. Function in context suggests chord IDs. And notice that the very first chord that Ed hits in the tune is a G-root chord, before switching to inversions. Even without backup, I still don’t hear the melody as B centric. But different ears, different chords!
I like Brian’s tunes, too. And Mike McGoldrick, and Liz Carroll, and … All part of the living, changing tradition.
with these DADGAD fingerings (ignoring for now alterations, or allowing damped strings to ring):
Bm: 9x07xx
Aadd11: 7x06xx
D/F#: 4x02xx
G: 5x04xx
This is basically parallel Major/minor 3rds with a D drone: [B,d] [A,^c] [^F,A] [G,B]
Now if I stretch, I can hear Bm-Aadd11-Bm as i-bVII-i, or tonic-dominant-tonic, giving Bm tonality. But then I’m not sure how to hear the D or G chords.
To my ear, I hear Bm-Aadd11 as ii-I in A Mixolydian, where ii is a dominant substitute. Then D/F# is a either a passing chord, or V of the dominant. And the G is the half-cadence onto the dominant (bVII of AMix).
Or I can hear it in D Major tonality as vi-V-I-IV, with the last three a cycle of descending fifths down to cadence on the IV.
This stuff is like a musical Necker cube. Shift your mental position slightly, and you hear the same music in a different way.
Now maybe I can get this earworm out of my brain. Curses on both of you, JSC and Ben!
You gave me the biggest laugh of the week when Brian went out through the French doors to work out a tune. We were left looking at each other in silence and you said like you were thinking out loud, “Well, if Brian can’t play it I don’t think I can,”
It was definitely what was going through my mind and it slipped out of my mouth. I think that made everyone laugh! So Infernaltootler who are you? You didn’t go by this name at Burwell. Let me take a guess (without giving your name away), you wore a green hat?
I remembered to ask Brian about the tune when I met with him yesterday.
It was written by Glasgow accordionist John Somerville (of Croft No. 5) either for Scottish piper Gordon Duncan, or for the Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust. Brian just refers to it as “John Somerville’s”. But since it doesn’t have a proper name from the composer, it really is “Gan Ainm”.
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