I can not get it!!! It seems like such a simple tune and when I start to try to play it my fingers feel like they not connected to my brain in any way!
I learned The Fair Haired Child for my three year old and now I’m under a lot of pressure to learn this one for my eldest.
Arrghh! Any tips when you have a tune that seems to not want to stick?
T:An Buachaill’in Donn
T:The Brown-Haired Boy
B:Joyce, P. W.; “Old Irish Folk Music and Songs”
R:song air
M:3/4
K:C
L:1/4
% TUNEdb Number 7212
G|fec|ec/A/G|cEG/A/|cec/A/|AGG|G2:|G/A/|
cce|g e/d/c|eGG/A/|cce|ge/d/c|
d2d/e/|gg/e/d|ce/d/c|cEG|fed/c/|AGG|G2||
On 2002-09-22 17:28, peeplj wrote:
Very nice tune!
You don’t think it sounds like it is kinda chopped off at the end? Something about it confounds me.
My youngest child’s tune, The Fair Headed Child, is very lovely and was fairly easy for me to learn. You can listen to it here</a](http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mustard_seeds/files/The%20Fair%20Haired%20Child.wav">here</a)>. Disclaimer…this recording was made by a slightly pudgy housewife/novice whistler who makes no excuse for the errors or lack of talent therein. It was merely blown into the mic of her computer and is very amateurish in nature. Also, it usually plays better on the second run-through, on my 56K connection.
On 2002-09-22 18:03, Kim in Tulsa wrote:
You don’t think it sounds like it is kinda chopped off at the end? Something about it confounds me.
Maybe it’s the mode. It’s written as if it were G Mixolydian, but it could just as well be G Dorian, since it’s hexatonic (missing the B). It sounds weird at first, but after hearing a few tunes in this ambiguous mode, it begins to sound natural.
For me it’s easier to play transposed up a whole step, thus avoiding the F-natural.
On 2002-09-22 20:14, Ridseard wrote:
Maybe it’s the mode. It’s written as if it were G Mixolydian, but it could just as well be G Dorian, since it’s hexatonic (missing the B).
On 2002-09-22 20:26, Kim in Tulsa wrote:
Oh yeah…that’s probably it…
I was sorta kidding with the big words, but the basic idea is this. If the key signature is C, we’re conditioned to expect the tune to be in C major or A minor. (For example, most hymns would be like that.) I.e., we would expect the last note to be either C or A. However, here is a tune written in C, but it begins and ends on G. That might not sound right, depending on what you’re used to.
If the key signature is C, we’re conditioned to expect the tune to be in C major or A minor. (For example, most hymns would be like that.)
I had a feeling you were kidding around, and I was too, really, because I did get the jist of what you were saying. This isn’t the type of tune I’m used to and it’s throwing me.
I downloaded the midi to my Media Player and looped it over and over till my brain got a grip on it…then I was able to play it. But it still sounds off.
On 2002-09-23 01:07, Dewhistle wrote:
Hey, thanks for the new tune… I have two faired-headed little children
Well, you’re welcome! I suppose some will think it’s silly that I learn tunes specifically for my kids and I’ll probably be teased about it in the newsletter or something (like when I asked how to play It’s a Small World).
I’m learning this for my best friend. Her last name is Parker.
T:Mrs Parker’s Waltz
R:Waltz
M:3/4
L:1/8
K:G
% TUNEdb Number 8656
D2|
G2 GA BG | c2 cB Ac | B2 BA GB | AG FE FD |
G2 GA BG | c2 cB AG | FE DE FD | G4
|:Bc |
d2 dc Bd | c2 cB Ac | B2 BA GB | AG FE D2 |
d2 Bc de | c2 AB cd | BA GB AF | G4
When I tried to use Concertina’s converter it said that it could not produce an image, possibly due to an error in the ABC script… can someone let me know what might need to be changed? (on The Brown-Haired Boy)
On 2002-09-23 10:01, Kim in Tulsa wrote:
Well, you’re welcome! I suppose some will think it’s silly that I learn tunes specifically for my kids and I’ll probably be teased about it in the newsletter or something (like when I asked how to play It’s a Small World).
Actually, I found it impressive at how much they seem to like your playing! I was beginning to think no one liked whistles… I used to think everyone did, for some reason.
On 2002-09-23 10:32, Dewhistle wrote:
I was beginning to think no one liked whistles…
Oh, some people do…
I was at the Tulsa Scottish Games this past weekend and I heard a whistle. I followed the sound till I came to a booth where a man was selling Feadógs. This other guy was standing there playing one and after he finished I showed him mine. He asked if I would play a duet with him and so I played Amazing Grace and he played the harmony!! A bunch of people were standing around listening and afterward, a few bought some whistles and others were looking at them seriously. And I’m not even good!
The booth owner was really grinning. It was a red-letter day in my life!
Its a pretty inconclusive tune , or rendering of it. I fooled around with it on my guitar and ended up wanting to play a lot of sixth chords or I 6/4.
I really wonder if its been transcribed correctly. And what little I can hear seems more Scots to me…
But another thing that happened is this: I am convinced there is a rift in the abc world or at least my software. Most tunes that are published here on C&F do not work on my Barfly program. I can cut and paste text but the message if I try and go into split screen mode is that “There is No Tune.” Even the tune from the link you gave wouldnt work when pasted into barfly window. Any ideas out there?
And if I was you Kim, I would learn Redhaired Mary or some other hair song!!
Too much work for a song title.
Hi Kim,
I was going to suggest Red-haired Boy, but thats a real tuffy. We are recording it for
our next album, if we all get ever get thru
it correctly…and we even have slowed it down twice, ha ha
Lolly
I just checked JC’s Tune finder and they have a different tune named The Brown Haired Boy. If the point is the name rather than the tune, you might check to see if you like that one better.
The version they have is in G, which puts a lot of it at the high end of the range of a D whistle. You could transpose it to D, though.
I have that tune on one compilation recording or another. It is played by a harpist who does indeed make reference to it as being Scottish. He calls the tune “The Yellow-Haired Laddie” and states that it is a minuet. The rhythm is indeed a bit different to the ear, at least initially. In cases where the form is not eventually apparent, notation can be extremely useful.
edited to correct the title after a bit of back-tracking
He died to take away our sins, not our brains.
[ This Message was edited by: U2 on 2002-09-23 18:02 ]
