Hi. Can someone tell me what tune this is. I transcribed it from a session recording and made it fit into 4/4…I’m not positive that’s correct. It is played slow, but I don’t think it’s an air…maybe a harp tune?
Also…do you think it sounds okay to replace the G# in the B part (3rd measure) with an A (just play two A’s in a row)? I’m playing it on a melodeon and I don’t have a G#.
thanks!
-Brett
I think it’s called Da Slocket Light, if that helps you any.
I’d say 2 As in the third bar of the second part (I hate those explanation bits) will sound just fine. I hear that retuning your melodeon to include a G# for one tune isn’t worth the hassle… 
Deirdre
Thanks! Someone at the session told me that title but I had no idea what they’d said…now I understand why. 
nice tune…
Composed by Tom Anderson from the Shetlands.
Kevin Krell
Another wonderful tune by this fiddler is Da Auld Resting Chair.
But Da Slockett Light is the one we play when one of our Session has had a death in the family. Except for Steve…for him by his request, we played Banish Misfortune.
Oh, da slockett light is the light at the end of the day. I believe Tom Anderson wrote the tune on the occasion of his wife’s death..and I know a slightly different B part. You may want to try JC for it.
Here’s what it says about this tune in the liner notes to Moving Cloud’s Foxglove CD:
Tom Anderson (1910-1991) from the Shetland Islands wrote this piece on a visit to his native Eshaness in Northern Shetland. He was saddened to see many house lights extinguished as a result of depopulation.
Carol
My personal opinion on replacing the G# with an A is NO. It clashes pretty badly with the harmony at that point (which is most likely an E major chord leading to A major). I’d think a B would be better than the A. I’ve played this at session before and just halfholed for the G#, though it doesn’t sound all THAT great.
~Crysania
I agree with Crysania, play a high b instead, and if that gets too tiresome stick in the odd e for variety.
Last time I tried, halfholing on a melodeon was exceedingly difficult without getting your fingers stuck!
The G# sets up a secondary dominant (E7) that Scots-style players don’t mind, but Irish players often find awkward to present (by taste, not execution) because it doesn’t seem trad. But I figure because its a known composer and modern at that tune, its “okay” to play both on melody and chord.
In same fashion, I keep notice of who plays the G# in B part of Salamanca reel. Goes by very fast tho. My working theory is that PERHAPS more people played it (the G#) in ceilidh band days than today but who knows…It’s in the old ONeills, at any rate. I have run across a few other accidentals there that seem out of place as well. Because early chroniclers of Irish Music often tried to “fit” the tunes into regular Western harmonic styles and replace modal sounds, I think there is always some suspicion about such accidentals and it seems safer to avoid 'em.
The Whistle and Sing books have a version of The Hunt with a very prominent F Natural played in three quarters on the third measure of the B section. I learned it that way first then discovered no one on records doing it..
The only other tune I play with a G# is “The Trip to Cullenstown” (another nice tune). I don’t find it too hard to 1/2 hole G# on the whistle (F isn’t too bad either), but on melodeon there’s not much you can do but find another note to play… I may eventually switch back to a 2-row C#/D box (chromatic), but I like the minimalist idea of the melodeon.
Thanks for all the comments!
-Brett