There is a lovelier version on Ronan Browne/Peadar O’Loughlin’s CD, The South West Wind.
X:1
T:The Queen of the Rushes
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:G
d/c/|B2 G GdB|c2 A AGA|B2 G GAB|cAG FED|
B2 G B2 G|c2 A AGA|BdB cAd|G3 G2
g|fed efg|afd dcA|gfg bag|afd d2 e|
=f2 d e^fg|afd dcA|BdB cAd|G3 G2
B/c/|d3 gdB|d3 gdB|cBc ABc|cBc ABc|
d3 gdB|d3 gdB|BdB cAd|G3 G2
If you’d rather play from the dots, you can have the abc converted here: http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html
Copy the above and paste. But you should familiarize yourself by listening to the tune a bit first.
Isn’t that the one that Ronan Browne plays solo on flute once thru before going into some other jig (familiar, but I forget which one it is right now)? I liked it, and indeed I thought it was a piper’s tune if ever there was one. I believe he plays it in D there rather than G (D fingerings, anyway, whatever the pitch of the flute; the flattened seventh sounded crossfingered). Gotta flog those low D cranns, y’know. Piperly-like.
Although, if memory serves, he didn’t do much cranning, actually. But it’s the thought that counts.
I love this tune. Brid O’Donohue has a wonderful version on WFO 3, disk 1, track 11. Also, Lesl Harker has the dots for two versions of this tune in the book she compiled from Mike Rafferty’s teaching. Thank you for posting the link.
Not the same version. Listen to the tune and all will be clear. Don’t trust the dots. Ever! Dots are like following a fifty year old guide book.
BTW, I don’t think it’s Ronan Browne playing the flute on this track on The South West Wind. Peadar O’Loughlin also plays the flute and on this track the playing is pretty old school.
C-A-R-E-F-U-L-L-Y reread. BTW, neither was the version you posted, ignoring the wrong key. And since we’re in a flaming mood, why should the dots version be any less trustworthy than the audio version? They’re just different versions. Take it out on a metronome already, sheesh.
C-A-R-E-F-U-L-L-Y reread. BTW, neither was the version you posted, ignoring the wrong key. And since we’re in a flaming mood, why should the dots version be any less trustworthy than the audio version? They’re just different versions. Take it out on a metronome already, sheesh.[/quote]
Because the dots are a transcription by another party who isn’t guaranteed to be accurate…an audio recording is real-time. Transcriptions into notation are only as good as the transcriber and don’t neccessarily include ornamentation and variations as well as whatever rhythmic and stylistic techniques the player employs…nuff said
I understand what you’re saying because I’ve said the same thing in the past. Sheet music is merely an approximation of the delivered form (i.e., audio). However, on the issue of “trustworthiness”, the audio version that was provided as a link is no more the “gold standard” than the dots version, correct?..nuff said.
So O’Loughlin was probably the fluteplayer for the chune on The South West Wind, then. Good to know. Anyone have the name for the second jig, by the way? I play it, but I couldn’t name it to save my life.
Well…audio “trustworthiness” is subjective. As you said, there are many different settings of tunes. No right or wrong really. It’s like a snapshot. I don’t play Queen of the Rushes the same way as Peadar O’Laughlin plays it, or Cocusflute, or even the piper who I first learned it from. It seems moot to me to enter a recording into the debate over what is the right setting of a tune. I understand what you’re saying, I just think that perhaps contexually that argument is out of place. I think the point that Cocusflute was making is that to “get” that specific setting, you’re better off listening, as with all tunes, than using the dots. The feel of it comes that much quicker and easier. It’s like learning what a certain dish tastes like by eating it rather than reading the recipe…best analogy I can think of. I’ve been learning tunes almost my whole life, for twenty years before I ever started actually playing this stuff (as Cocusflute knows!) and I can attest to the wisdom of using your ears first.
No, it was good ol’ fashion backpeddling. Dots were offered and then I offered an alternate version (i.e., pointed out an error) and then they were outlawed, Don’t trust the dots. Ever! Dots are like following a fifty year old guide book. Then why provide dots in the first place? What if the tune had been recorded 50 years ago? Whatever. Connect the dots as you see fit. Or take up crossword puzzles. Live and let live. Some just don’t get that.
Yeah, but if you were pointing out an alternate version with the dots then that would make the point that the dots are not to be trusted for this version…correct? That’s the whole point. He’s not saying not to use dots, he’s saying don’t trust the dots to be the definitive and correct transcription of one player’s setting of a tune.
Well, I played to the score of the ABC I provided along with the Maloney clip and while not 100% it had more things in common than being in the same key.
But the dots can be deceiving. If you see a note on the staff you might not notice if the player plays a different one, especially if it’s just a quaver in a driving jig like the one in question.
