Every year, before Christmas, I try to get hold of a spare pocket diary to note down the names of the tunes I pick up during the year. My own company gives away diaries, and I use one of them. But I’m too mean to provide myself an extra company pocket diary. So I try and get a gift one from a supplier or something. This year, nobody gave us any pocket diaries at all. Are they obsolete or something???
Anyway, one of the places I’ve been working is a building site. The other day the site foreman came up to me out of the blue and said “Could you use a pocket diary? I’ve been given one and I don’t use them.” Made my day, I can tell you. But now, I need to Christen it with a new tune.
Gimme a tune to learn, folks. Nice reel would be good, but anything a bit different. What’s your fave at the moment? Maybe I don’t know it yet. Gotta be good, mind, for the sake of the diary. First new tune of the year ‘n’ all.
How about The Tosspot? A good fiddle hornpipe, and ya gotta love the name, unless you prefer The Queen Of The West. This one’s getting play lately in my stomping grounds, in case you don’t know of it yet.
There’s a few variants of it so you may well have played a version. I haven’t heard it played in Skye other than by myself to be honest. I picked it out from the Gesto Collection - I live 7 miles from Gesto.
Here’s another variant of what was likely originally the same tune. It dates to around 1700 so plenty time for Chinese whispers!
It looks pretty poor on paper but is a total beauty up to speed. It’s on the fantastic Matheu Watson album released last year…
X: 1
T: Niall Anns a’ Bhata Mhor
C: Iain Dall MacKay ?
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
|: g | d2 B d2 B ~d2 | d2 B d2 B ~e2 | ge ~e2 edBG | AABd eee
|: f | g2 gB d2 ef | g2 ag f2 ef | ge ~e2 edBG | AABd eee
Let me know if you’re in Skye again if you fancy some tunes
Will do. I was at the Edinbane Sunday afternoon sesh last summer. Well, it was supposed to be afternoon. It seemed to start around 2pm and go on 'til midnight and beyond.
Well, you didn’t say it had to be trad… Here’s one I wrote for a whistle playing friend. Don’t know if it fits your idea of good. Use the alternate B section for good fun…
Peter, any chance of getting recordings of those tunes you gave Ben? Could use a few of your tunes whenever I get myself back to Skye (assuming visa stuff doesn’t go tits up and they don’t kick me out ). I’m the world’s worst sight reader so dots alone don’t do me any good.
(I’m greedy. 
)
). I’m the world’s worst sight reader so dots alone don’t do me any good.