I’ve been working on a jig I lifted off of a CD of dance music by “Two Left Feet”. It is the first of a set they just call “Light Jigs”. It’s in Amin or Ador (no F’s in it to tell which), in 6/8 of course, and begins:
azA AGE|GAB Aze|eag edc|eAB AGE|cde dcA|~G3 GBD|eAa ged| cAG A … Anybody know what this tune is called?
Thanks! – Joe
It’s one of a set of jigs on Mike McGoldrick’s great album “Morning Rory”. I can’t tell you the name of the tune because I don’t have the CD. I imagine he composed it.
I’d advise you to play it in B dorian, which, I’m pretty sure, is what McGoldrick does. If you grab a low F whistle you can play along with him.
PS In place of the azA in the first bar, try cde (which is what Mikey plays, only up a tone).
PPS A bit of detective work reveals that Mike McGoldrick calls the tune “Custy’s”, which suggests that he didn’t compose it. A friend thinks that Karen Tweed, the box player, did. But I doubt she would have named it “Custy’s”, either.
[ This Message was edited by: StevieJ on 2001-10-01 12:39 ]
From the CD notes for ‘Morning Rory’:
Crusty’s Trip To Brittany
“Crusty’s comes from a great fiddle player from County Clare called Mary Crusty”
–
Keith
“Crusty’s comes from a great fiddle player from County Clare called Mary Crusty”
Mary Crusty? You can see her picture at her MP3com site. She doesn’t look the least bit crusty.
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/65/mary_custy.html
Steve
How on earth did I manage to repeat a typo three times 
Keith
Yep, that’s obviously it. Thanks!
On 2001-10-01 18:27, BruceW wrote:
Try this address:Bruce
Please explain this. I can see playing in Gmin or G dorian, or Cmin on an F whistle, but not B dorian. In fact, I can play this tune fairly easily in B on a D whistle (low or high), since there’s no G#s (when transposed to B) Am I missing something?
I’d advise you to play it in B dorian, which, I’m pretty sure, is what McGoldrick does. If you grab a low F whistle you can play along with him.
PS In place of the azA in the first bar, try cde (which is what Mikey plays, only up a tone).
PPS A bit of detective work reveals that Mike McGoldrick calls the tune “Custy’s”, which suggests that he didn’t compose it. A friend thinks that Karen Tweed, the box player, did. But I doubt she would have named it “Custy’s”, either.
[ This Message was edited by: StevieJ on 2001-10-01 12:39 ]
I looked at the score in the gif file.
The GIF file is notated in the key of C.
However, you can easily play it in the key of G on a D whistle because there are not any F naturals nor F sharps in the actual tune. There are several C naturals which is why I am suggesting the key signature of G.
So you can play it on a standard D whistle and further …
Yes, that’s right. The CD I got this off of uses a lot of Am chords, which is why we were considering it to be in Am (same key signature as C). The gif file is in the same key as my recording.
What StevieJ is suggesting is to play it one step up: in Bmin (Bdorian, if there were any G#s), or D, depending on how you chord it. And it turns out that this can also be easily done on a D whistle.
On 2001-10-02 14:21, LeeMarsh wrote:
I looked at the score in the gif file.
The GIF file is notated in the key of C.
However, you can easily play it in the key of G on a D whistle because there are not any F naturals nor F sharps in the actual tune. There are several C naturals which is why I am suggesting the key signature of G.So you can play it on a standard D whistle and further …
On 2001-10-02 13:49, jomac wrote:
Please explain this. I can see playing in Gmin or G dorian, or Cmin on an F whistle, but not B dorian. In fact, I can play this tune fairly easily in B on a D whistle (low or high), since there’s no G#s (when transposed to B) Am I missing something?
Jo, maybe you’re right that the absence of a 6th means the tune is not in the dorian mode. Let’s not argue about that.
Sorry I didn’t make it clear, but I never transpose the keys I’m talking about when referring to tunes played on whistles other than D. At least, not when talking to whistlers. (Accompanists often have to be given special consideration. Tell yer average bouzouki player “B minor on a Bb whistle” and enjoy the look of panic and frantic, almost audible whirring of brain cogs as he pushes the capo up and down the neck…)
So, in case you haven’t figured it out already, what I meant was this: on the Mike McG record, the tune comes out in D-[gapped]-minor/dorian/whatever.
He could be playing it using “A-fingering” on a G whistle, I guess, but it sounds like B-fingering to me, which would mean an F whistle. When I try the tune myself, on any whistle, it seems considerably brighter and more powerful in B-fingering.
Cheers
S
Ha! You can listen to Mary Custy playing the tune on her mp3 site, the link to which Steve Kendal gave above. She calls it “Karen Tweed’s cowboy jig”! So maybe my friend was correct in saying that KT composed it.
For the record, she (MC) is playing it as if it were in A-whatever. Except that she has the fiddle tuned up a semitone, so it comes out as Bb-whatever.
This is my last word on this subject. (For now.)
Ah! Ok, I get it. Thanks!
Joe
On 2001-10-02 15:46, StevieJ wrote:
So, in case you haven’t figured it out already, what I meant was this: on the Mike McG record, the tune comes out in D-[gapped]-minor/dorian/whatever.He could be playing it using “A-fingering” on a G whistle, I guess, but it sounds like B-fingering to me, which would mean an F whistle. When I try the tune myself, on any whistle, it seems considerably brighter and more powerful in B-fingering.
Cheers
S
Goes under all these and probably more names
X: 262
T:Custys
T:Siobhan O’Donnel’s
T:John Bradys
T:Karen Tweeds
R:Jig
M:6/8
K:Bm
f|def BAF|ABc B2B|fba fed|fBc BAF|
def edB|A~A2 Ade|fbf afe|dBB B2:||
a|b~b2 afe|fda fed|(3Bcd B ABd|efd efa|
bfa efd|B~B2 AFA|def afe|dBB B2:||
“Version 2”
f|def BAF|ABc B2e|fba fde|fBc BAF|
def BAF|~A3 Adf|fbb afe|dBA B2 :||
a|b2b afe|fea fed|B/c/dB ABd|efd efa|
bfa efd|BdB AFF|def afe|dBA B2:||
“G version”
K:G
E|GAB EDE|DEF E2E|Bed BAG|BEG EDF|
GAB AGE|D2D DGA|BEF DBA|GEE E2:||
d|e2e dBA|BGd BAG|(3EFG E DEG|ABG ABd|
eBd ABG|B2B DED|GAB DBA|GEE E2:||
“Am version”
K:Am
d|ced AGE|GAB A2 d|eag ecd|eAB AGE|
ced AGE|G~G2 Gce|eaa ged|cAG A2:||
g|a2g ged|edg edc|(3ABc A GAc|dec deg|
aeg dec|AcA GEE|cde ged|cAG A2:||
“Am version 2”
K:Am
A|a2A AGE|GAB A3|eag edc|eAB AGE|
cde dcA|G3 G(3Bcd|eAa ged|cAG A2:||
A|a2a ged|edg edc|A3 BAc|dec deg|
aeg dec|A3 GEG|cde ged|cAG A2 :||
