Hi. Does any one play “The Ivy Leaf”? I’m learning this tune right now and finding it’s rythm very difficult to grasp. It seems different from any other tunes I know (reels or otherwise).
Is it what I’ve heard referred to as a “crooked tune” ?
I’ll post my version on clips&snips tonight and see if I’m on the right track.
-Brett
P.S. I am learning it by ear (my whistle tutor recorded it for me).
The reel ‘The Ivy Leaf’ is No. 622 in O’Niell 1001 tunes.
The fiddler’s ‘crooked’ bowings - if any - may be expressed on TW or any wind instrument by rephrasing parts of the toon into the same insane irregular emphasis; though I can’t imagine why you would want to do that.
As commonly played, the Ivy Leaf is not what people around here would call “une toune croche” (of which “crooked tune” is a rather lame translation) - that is to say there are no extra beats or measures, it’s just a regular 16-bar reel.
The first part can be a little tricky to get hold of though, depending on how it’s played. There are many ways of playing it, but a common one involves snippets of an A-major arpeggio repeating “across the beat”, giving a syncopated effect. “Off-beat rolls” on the high e are often used too. It’s a fun tune to mess around with, once you have the bones of it down.
But who knows, your teacher’s version might be “croche”. Maybe you should post that?
I’m still trying to get my head around this “crooked tunes” term. StevieJ, what you’re talking about sounds like the same thing that happens in the Irish set dances esp. in the B parts. It looks as if Toasty’s talking abt. bowings as can be translated into winds techniques. Haven’t heard of it before this, myself.
The “extra beats or measures” is what I meant by crooked.
Sorry, I didn’t get around to posting on Clips&Snips yet…will have to try again tonight (many noisy children, a chirping bird, etc… by the computer).
However, I no longer think it’s crooked…I think it was just the things StevieJ mentioned that were throwing me:
“A-major arpeggio repeating “across the beat”, giving a syncopated effect. “Off-beat rolls”” (that is the version I’m working on)
update - here’s the tune:
http://www.bloomington.in.us/~brett/ivyleaf_bretton.mp3
-Brett
Sort of. It seems to happen frequently in Canadian tunes, and isn’t nearly as regular as the strangeness of set dances, in my experience. For instance, I know (though I’m having trouble recalling how to start it at the moment) a tune which has (I think) eight beats in the A part, seven in the B part, and sixteen in the C part, and the repeat pattern is AAABBBBAAACCAAA (yes, that’s not a typo).
There’s a great Newfoundland tune called “Payne’s Choice” which is mostly in 9/8, but has an extra beat at the end of each part, and has four bars in the A part and ten in the B part. Plus the B part is just an elaboration of the A part. It’s insanely wonderful.
For historiocity [is that a word?], the Ivy leaf was recorded on cylinder by Patsy Touhey, who also played in something called the Ivy Leaf Quartet; the “Ivy Leaf” was a stage play which featured famous pipers Eddie Joyce and his temporary replacement Barney Delaney. Tom Ennis and James Morrison recorded it as “The New Steamboat,” Ennis taking it as a solo before Morrison soloed on the Bucks of Oranmore. Concertina man William Mullaly recorded it too, closer to the alternate version in O’Neill’s Music of Ireland than the piping versions. Leo Rowsome recorded it, too. A popular tune with pipers, in A. A, not A major or minor, too; C#s in the first part, Cnat in the ascending penultimate bar of the second part. Paddy Keenan likes this tune, too, lots of unique variants in his playing.
Well, Bretton, you are not alone in your quest for the Ivy Leaf. The freaking beginning of the first part is giving me trouble. When I start the tune, it’s okay, but when I come back to the first part, after playing the second part twice, well, there’s something, I don’t know what, but it makes me lose my beat. I’ve got Mary Bergin’s version, and everything is clear, I can hear the notes, but there’s something tricky, it’s like 1/8 of a beat I’m missing or something.
Oh well, life would be boring without any challenge would it? But I personally agree, that tune has something different than most reels out there. It certainly has a special touch, like “Sean sa Cheo” has.
I’m waiting for you guys to sort it out so I can learn it. I listened to an abc. Didn’t make any sense to me. If it’s on Mary Bergin’s first feadoga stain, I"ll check it out.
Tony
Tony, it’s on the second album. So I’ll be waiting for you to come up with a version!