Continuing on the stuff I’ve been doing all along, but adding ‘Kinnegaad Slashers’ (and we all know what I’ve been calling it) Timour the Tartar, Frieze Britches and Old Grey Goose.
Gonna revisit Christmas Eve because I have ‘lost’ part three. Bugs me when I have a tune down pat, then after a vacation from it I find I can’t do it any more.
At some point I coúldn’t do Christmas Eve and Flowers of Edinburg in the same month for fear of starting one and finishing with the other. Now that’s happening with Golden Keyboard and Dunmore Lasses. I need to find something to hang my tune memory on to keep them apart.
I’ve been trying to memorize Murphy’s Marathon Hornpipe. Okay, I added the marathon part in to the title, but it’s a very long tune. I may play it on the fife in competitions next spring, but not if I can’t remember it all!
I’m also trying to keep up with the class I’m taking - Bill Ochs’ learning from the masters. I should be there right now, but my 5 year old son is sick and I didn’t have the heart to leave him with his 14 year old brother, which is the usual plan on Monday evening.
I am rediscovering breath control, having quit smoking 2 days ago
1/2 of my inspiration to quit has been to better my whistle playing…
I am also working on:
Jig of Slurs - I heard a rousing live performance on mp3.com and it inspired me.
The Red-Haired Mans Wife - I plan to play at a Pub in WV in December and my sister-in-law will be there. She and her red-haired husband got me interested in the whistle (and reinterested in Celtic music) 2 1/2 years ago in St. Augustine, crawling pubs. I sat in with the Irish band at her wedding last June.
Other than that - subtleties, beat, and tone.
Probably start thinking Christmas tunes and carols shortly.
Currently, I’ve just wrapped up memorizing the nameless slow jig Tony Higgins posted for the SF Bay Area get-together in a couple of weeks (should we call it “Tony Higgins’ Fancy”? ) Makes a nice set with “The Sheigh o’ Rye” from A Dossan of Heather.
Got it fine on the whistle but on flute my embouchure still comes and goes, and if I mind my embouchure I sometimes flub the fingering - practice, practice, practice . . .
Debating starting “Ballydesmond Polka #2” tonight (to make a set with #1, which I already have down) or work on the section on Irish ornamentation in the Clarke tuturial.
Later:
Working on the Clarke first - “Tarmon’s Polka” was so easy I couldn’t resist it. When I get “Tralee Gaol” down to my satisfaction I will work on “Ballydesmond Polka #2”
The piano version keeps the same main melody, but changes the chords. I improvised the following and am pleased with it.
GAB2 AGA2 GABA GA2-
G/2 F/2 ED2 G/2 F/2 ED2 G/2 F/2 ED2 EGG2
Kristy’s Gift is the prettiest melody I have heard in a long while.
As always I work on original songs as they drift in.
Blarney Pilgrim, Crib of Perches, Jackson’s Mistake, Seven Stars, and some wonderful tune called the Sunset which may be a composition of someone on the board, but I can’t remember where I got it from.
Also I have vague delusions of playing Gravel Walk someday, but for now I’ll be content with Winamp playing it.
Working on the tunes on LE’s Video - Down by the Sally Gardens, Britches Full of Stitches, Hanging Out to Dry and Off to California. Plus Ornaments, which I don’t quite have a grasp on yet.
I’ve been working on my fiddle, trying to nail down a couple of pieces by Peter Ostroushko, an American fiddler/mandolinist, whose songs appeared on the documentary about Lewis and Clark, as also did L.E. McCullough’s. I have also been working on trying to play as many songs as I can, from the 120 Irish Tunes, by L.E., for the up-coming session in the bay area.
A stack of new things on concertina (and whistle) the names of which I forget. The two I remember are ‘Oh Love Lie Beside Me’ and ‘Sullivan O’Moore’s March’.
On whistle I’m playing a bunch of new tunes but again can’t remember names. Dan Murphy’s (O’Keefe’s?) Slide. I’m also trying to figure out exactly what Johnny Doran does on Harvest Home and play it on high and low whistle up to speed. And I’m on the quest for the competent roll.
I’m also trying to get a consistent sound out of my first flute.
been working on Gravel Walks, Salamanca, Skylark and Atholl Highlanders.
so far I’ve got gravel walks up to 120bpm and pushing for more, and I’ve almost got atholl highlanders down except for the pain in the butt B part. the other ones I just started working on, usually I’ll listen to a recording until it’s thoroughly stuck in my head and then I’ll play a couple times through the sheet music to get it into the fingers and finally go into the ritual of playing it 3 times through at whatever speed I can without missing a note at least 4 times a day for about a week.
Byrne’s Hornpipe, Kerry Jig, Shores of Loch Gowna. The last two are challenging for me because of the A and B rolls that are still a bit uneven and because my left hand fingers often play an extra cut without my permission.
Mike
Haste to the Wedding, Saddle the Pony, and a couple others. Stewy, hang in there on the quitting smoking. I’ve been smoke-free for 15 years now, and if I can do it, anyone can!
The Sunset = (I believe) a Cathall McConnell tune.
I’ve some Scoiltrad lessons I need to go back and finish some day … the Glass of Beer is one I’ve worked up but just never sat down and got a really good recording of yet.
) Makes a nice set with “The Sheigh o’ Rye” from A Dossan of Heather.
In Search of the Perfect Roll
