First, a thank you to Teri for the elegant transcription and Peter for the recording of this haunting air and beautiful playing. I found myself listening over and over. One of the things that fascinated me about it was the tonality, or, more accurately, how I was beginning to hear the tonality. Thanks to the gentle browbeating of some people on this board, I am gradually overcoming my classical music training. As I listened to this air, I heard it as mixolydian in its own right, not as a major key with a flatted seventh. In fact, I was startled when I heard what sounded like a raised seventh in the second half of bar 13: that one “errant” note gives so much flavor to the rest of the air. Again, I found it interesting and encouraging that my ears were hearing that raised seventh (a defining element of a major key) as out of place, although certainly by that point in the tune there have been enough f naturals to make our ears surprised to hear an f#. I wondered if there should be a sharp before that f in the transcription (the usual rule being that an accidental holds force throughout a measure unless otherwise indicated), but I wanted to play along and make sure I was hearing things right before posting that query.
So…
I took out my D whistle and began to play along, and then realized that Donahue is playing a full step above–playing in A mixolydian, not G. That raised the question in my mind: why is the transcription in G, then, and wouldn’t it be easier for a whistler to play in Amix, and have a g natural instead of an f natural in so many places in the melody and all those pretty little graces, leaving only that one g# near the end to half hole?
I understand that old recordings often play back at different speeds, so perhaps there is an explanation along those lines. I hope Teri or some of the others who know the recording can help me understand a little more what’s behind this transcription.
Whatever the explanation, the tune and the playing are a great addition to this site and once again I thank Teri for her painstaking work.
The fact is that Teri originally wrote the tune in A. When she sent us the transcription to look it over over this surprised me but I dug out the original tape, checked it for speed, took out the D whistle and played so I figured it was probably OK even if it somehow surprised me as I instinctively think of the tune asa Gmix one. It bugged me all day so eventually I went back to the tape again and listening closely I came to the conclusion Brid was actually playing an Eflat whislte and not a D. You can hear the tone of certain notes the tune and the only conclusion is that the tune is played in Gmix.
Now, I know Brid has the tune from Willie Clancy who played the tune in G, for the simple reason that that key has a haunting quality when played over the drones of the pipes using Willies trademark sliding Fneutrals. Amix over the drones does not work really.
So, I transposed the tune [feeling guilty for telling Teri in the first place Brid palyed it on a generation D]and all agreed by the end of the day to let the notation out in that key.
I played at a fundraising concert for one of the local school, among others Brid played with a load of her pupils [and the general standard of the concert was such that anywhere else there was anough musical manpower to run a medium sized trad fest rather than a back of beyong parish hall do]
anyway, there was one ten year old playing this air and mightily close to the recording here. All you need is a good teacher and the right environment.
That said, on a different note but it the image is bouncing around around in my head, I was just coming back from Ennis in the car, turning onto the Miltown road in Inagh there was a group of some 60 schoolchlildren in the 8-12 bracket coming down the road walking towards Inagh school. When I drove past them I realised they were all playing the whistle while walking. It was somewhat surreal image in the sunny frosty landscape with Mount Callan behind them. I can tell you that much.
[ This Message was edited by: Peter Laban on 2002-12-11 04:35 ]
A marching tin whistle band? Good grief!! Those Americans are evidently using the Willie week to as part of their dastardly plan to achieve world cultural homgenisation!
Thanks, Peter, for that interesting background. Not to beat a dead horse, but if she’s playing an Eb whistle, the playback speed must be off a bit, because that would result in Ab mixolydian, not A. I only bother to mention this in case others want to play along–an E whistle, playing from this Gmix transcription as if it were a D whistle, will make everything come out just fine.
Thanks too for the memorable scenes you shared: the 10 yr old playing this air at the local school fundraiser, the children whistling through the frosty morning under Mount Callan. Your desciptions add so much to these conversations.
[ This Message was edited by: cskinner on 2002-12-10 10:34 ]
On 2002-12-10 10:33, cskinner wrote:
Thanks, Peter, for that interesting background. Not to beat a dead horse, but if she’s playing an Eb whistle, the playback speed must be off a bit, because that would result in Ab mixolydian, not A. I only bother to mention this in case others want to play along–an E whistle, playing from this Gmix transcription as if it were a D whistle, will make everything come out just fine. > >
[ This Message was edited by: cskinner on 2002-12-10 10:34 ]
I played along with the mp3 last night, using an Eb in Gmix as though it were a D whistle. I tuned sharp and it was pretty dead on. I think the recording speed may well be just a touch fast; but to be expected with older recordings.
Older recordings, I recorded that one in 1998 and it seems fairly recent to me. The original tape is fairly much dead on in e flat. The speed problem lies with the tape recorder I use to play the tapes into the computer, it’s my son’s cheap concertina class recording gizmo, it has a speed control on it which I now use sometimes to get it right but there are no guarantees.
Oh no you don’t. I have a decent taperecorder but that is not in the same room as the computer I stick the tapes in hte small machine and play them into the microphone of the computer, that’s why on some clips hear tractors driving by or [in the Packie Duignan one]hear a cat jump onto the keyboard before being thrown off. Very atmospheric all.
