A bit of help please:
I want to learn this quick but all the abc files on the web show a different reel than that which I have recordings of, including the Farewell to Lissycasey, and Hayes and Cahill.
The abc versions on web all are in D minor and begin with the d minor triad.
The one i want begins like: G2 DE GABG or about…or DO2 sol la do re mi do (can’t play whistle to check key at “work”)
I know I can cop it off record but life is short and I would love to jump in with the blobs. This is a beautiful tune.
I have Breathnach’s vol 1 and 2 but haven’t noticed it there but with Erse titles it may be there…
The reel commonly named after Martin Rochford is the Dm one which Martin Hayes plays with the Green Gowned lass [which in itself is an almost exact copy of how Rochford played it]. Can you give a bit more than the first bar, I go into all sorts of tunes from that but nothing I know from Rochford’s playing.
Well, I went back to find more notes to show and looked at the abc and found a grafted first coupla bars that seemed more dminor than what I was hearing but later it matches the Hayes version… I had looked at about five different abcs prior to post before finding this latest.
I was too hasty but as usual, whats written down isnt quite what they play.
I will do the usual. Print it out and cross out a good portion until it matches the record or fix the abc. By that time I have learned it but still have to share with other Weekenders… Thanks, Peter!
It’s a simple enough tune, for the whistle you’ll be better off lifting it out of the Dm into the Em. Rochford loved the ‘dark keys’ as he called them, on the fiddle but it’s a bit more practical to avoid those on the whistle and go
GEDE GABd|dBAc Bee……….etc
[which is not exactly like Hayes plays it but more close to what Rochford had himself]
Yes, I did bring it to eminor. I can always cheat and use my nice C whistle if I play with fiddler!
HOWEVER, I listened this morning to the Farewell to Lisseycasey cd and there was the original source of my confusion. There is a reel called MARTIN ROCHEFORD’S followed by Sligo Maid, played by Vincent Griffin and it is a different tune than any of the variations I had found on abc or the Hayes recording that was sent to me…I had received two different but same tune versions of the “real” MR but here is this really jaunty tune that I still want to learn. i think its a misprint or something.
ADDING IN LATER: THANK YOU PETER! THE TUNE IS (AS YOU SUGGESTED) CALLED “FORGET ME NOT”.
I owe ya a pint!! Now how to play those low notes…hmm…time for the low A whistle!!
[ This Message was edited by: The Weekenders on 2002-10-11 17:04 ]
There are a few variants of Forget me not, the second part Vincent Griffing plays seems to be fairly common, I don’t exactly see why as I don’t like it at all. Rochford had a by far superior one. It has been suggested that Josephine Keegan composed the tune, it is not in her collection of tunes though so we can discard that claim fairly safely. Larry Redican is also named as the composer. I have a recording of Paddy Fahey and Paddy Carty playing that tune, very close to Martin Rochford’s version. This led me to think Rochford picked up the tune in East Galway. He spent used to quite some time there, picking up tunes, playing with Aggie Whyte and the players around the Ballinakil Band. He must have had the tune for donkey’s years though as I have a tape I recorded in 1989 where he says after playing it ‘Forget me not they used to call that’ implying the tune goes back a while at least.
It’s a great tune, where ever it came from.
And these few low notes, you just raise them an octave, not a bother.
[ This Message was edited by: Peter Laban on 2002-10-12 13:22 ]
Well, this thread is back from the dead! I have a question for you Peter (or anyone else who happens to know). Today I am in the process of learning the tune called “Rochford’s” on Claire Keville’s CD. I learnt the two first tunes, I really love the set. But anyhow, I can’t seem to find the real source of this tune, and the real name. Is it “Martin Rochfor’s”. It seems to be in “C major” and starts with a “high c”, so it doesnt seem to be the same version you guys are talking about…
Thanks for the info in advance!