Jig Phrasing (Top of the Cork Road)

Trad Irish Music
1

They played this at session last night and I love the tune. This morning I spent a bit of time with it, learning it off the music, but with the sound still fresh in my ear. I have a question about it, but first here’s the tune:

X:1
T:The Top of the Cork Road
R:Double Jig
L:1/8
M:6/8
K:Dmaj
A | dAF DFA | ded cBA | dcd efg | fdf ecA |
dAF DFA | ded cBA | dcd efg | fdc d2 :expressionless:
g | fdf fga | ecA ABc | dcd Bed | cAA A2c |
BGB Bcd | AFD DFA |dcd efg | fdc d2 :expressionless:

That high a in the first bar of the B-part. It sticks out, the tune peaks there, and I find myself wanting to accent it, to end the phrase there. But on the other hand it feels to me like it should be the upbeat for the second measure apreggio down to A, like this:

g | fdf f2 (a | ecA A2)c | dcd…

When I was trying to figure the tune out I found myself playing it

g | fdf fd(A | ecA A2)…

That takes some of the exuberance out of that bit of the tune, but it feels almost more natural, or I should say: easier for me not emphasize the high a in an awkward way that separates it from the ecAA.

Any thoughts?

Another little technical question: When a phrase in a jig ends like the one bar 4 of the B-part (lots of bits like it for example in the Mist-Covered Mountain),

d | cAAA2 …

how do you play/accent/ornament that? My fingers itch to put a roll there:

d | c~A3z c | BGB …

but that sound weird because the tap lands on the strong beat A2. I’ve tried to do a reverse roll like this:

d | cA{G}A{B}A2 c | …

but that is hard to convince my fingers to do, and it is quite wobbly. So, mostly I do

d | c.A.A {B}A2 c | …

where . marks a tongued note. That works fine, but seems a bit trite. Any suggestions there?

2

Hi Bloomfield,

I’ll leave the answers to your questions to an expert like Brother Steve. I recognized your tune as “Father O’Flynn” (page 15 of “Ireland’s Best Tin Whistle Tunes”). In that version the first F in the B section is a quarter note and would seem to be the note to emphasize. In fact as I sit here tapping my knee to the tune it seems like the first note of each measure gets the strongest beat. This might be true of all Jigs but I won’t bet my life on it! Just my thoughts on your first question.

Best wishes, Tom

3

Ah, thanks Tom - I was about to ask if it goes by another name, because I was sure I had heard it before.

Turns out I have a clip of this tune, by a flute player friend of mine from Salt Lake:

(tune has been removed for server space)

[ This Message was edited by: avanutria on 2003-02-15 10:00 ]

4

Gee, your friend doesnt get tired of playin’ the same tune all over again! :wink:

5

This is the correct one of your examples, I reckon,

| fdf f2 (a | ecA A2)c | dcd…

but there’s no reason it couldn’t be

| fdf fg (a | ecA AB)c | dcd…

as in your original transcription. The phrasing should place the a as a lead note into the stress on the e.

On the second query, the long roll on the A destroys the rhythm and I don’t think that two tongues in a row sound good. I would probably play

d | cA.A {B}A{G}A c | …

where {B}A{G}A is a short roll on A and a stop would sound better than a tongue.

Just my opinions. Keep analysing!

Jim.

[ This Message was edited by: JGrant-Skerries on 2003-02-14 11:44 ]

6

Re your second question: my rule in jigs is to use finger ornamentation on the beat and tongue (or glottal) elsewhere. It keeps the accents in the right place and keeps everything whomping the right way. So play

| cAA A2c | like this:

|c A (tongue) A (cut) A2 c|.




[ This Message was edited by: Ro3b on 2003-02-20 14:32 ]

7

I’ve never posted anything before to this board, so I’m not sure what the result will be. Anyway, thanks to Wizzer, whom I met last Sunday at the Irish Arts Center, I’ve been reading alot here.

The tune is, in fact, Father O’Flynn and it’s in gif form in the Archive. November, 1999. The high “a” in question doesn’t seem to be out of place there.

[ This Message was edited by: cavett on 2003-02-21 12:50 ]

8

Sorry, I did a topic search, but can’t find any explanation of this type of notation. I can imagine that the capitol letters stand for upper octave, but what is A2? Short roll, just two A’s? Can anyone point me to a thread or give a brief explanation? I’ve learned only by ear, so don’t have any experience with analyzing by notation, but am interested in doing so. Or anyone desire to post a clip of what
c A (tongue) A (cut) A2 c would sound like? Thanks again.

[ This Message was edited by: lawhistle on 2003-02-21 13:11 ]

9

On 2003-02-21 13:09, lawhistle wrote:
Sorry, I did a topic search, but can’t find any explanation of this type of notation. I can imagine that the capitol letters stand for upper octave, but what is A2? Short roll, just two A’s? Can anyone point me to a thread or give a brief explanation?
[ This Message was edited by: lawhistle on 2003-02-21 13:11 ]

It’s called abc notation. See http://www.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc/
The “2” in A2 means that the note has a time value twice as long as the standard note length. In the case of a jig, the standard note is an eighth note (one beat in one-two-three four-five-six), so A2 is a quarter note. The link should help explain all you want to know.

Sarah