I’m curious what other people would consider their candidates for most challenging fingerings in tunes.
These days, I’m learning the version of “The Maid in the Cherry Tree” #265 in the John Walsh book, and the B section is a great exercise to try play cleanly. In ABC format the challanging passage goes:
c2ec gcec | c2eg dBGB | c2ec gcec | dBGB | cA~A2
Anyone else have candidates for similar passages? I’m finding that working on this passage for a couple of weeks has done wonders for my ability to cleanly move between various cross-fingerings.
Ofcourse if you’d actually had listend to any piper playing it, take Tommy Reck you’d have heard c2 eA gAeA etc which is really the sensible and piping thing to do.
Langstrom’s Pony, a 4 part Jig in Amaj. I’ve known this tune ever since I heard James kelly play it years ago, and then Davy Spillane with Moving Hearts. I never felt comfortable with the fingering on the pipes, 10 years ago. In the second part, the C# was hard to keep from hitting Cnat first, I mean hard to keep from sliding in. So, I had kind of given up, but the other day I heard a recording of Seamus Ennis playing this tune with the D (C#) drones going and I decided to try it again, just for fun, and it didn’t seem too bad…I should be able to think about something else while I’m playing, in about a week…isn’t that how to determine if you’ve got a tune down?
Oh, the difference? I think it’s having an excellent reed, which is working quite nicely this winter. so, I’ve been playing quite a few Amaj tunes lately, I guess because the chanter/reed will now hit a true C#, finally.
The gravel walks! I know exactly what (and where) you’re talking about, but I haven’t tried it on the pipes yet. Oh boy, I bet it’s harder than The Musical Priest in Bm. Hey Bill, have you tried the Contradiction Reel? Now there’s a challenge! I defer to the fiddle for that one. I find that tunes are played differently on different instruments, what ever fits the instrument best. Then you’ve got to put up with the fiddlers claiming it was their way first, the pipers are the ones who altered it. Right.
PS: you shouldn’t even be playing Maggie Brown’s Favorite on the pipes.
The last part of the B part of the Chicago Reel defeats me; like a very rapid back-stitch pattern. I know some pipers just sluff this off and play something simpler, but I would like to get it right. Another ten years ought to do it.
I don’t play the Contradiction at all. It’s not played locally and I haven’t gotten around to it yet. All those leading c# notes would send me back to the fiddle in a hurry. Problem is that I had a hard time keeping up fiddle and pipes at the same time and had to opt for the pipes. My bowing arm is toast now.
Dark Haired Lass is another tune that requires a strong c# on the chanter ( and no drones ). Langtrom’s Pony used to cause me some grief last year and I had a fiddling buddy who insisted on playing it often. A slight tweaking of the reed and some diligent woodshedding has made it a fun tune.
I grew weary of playing the Musical Priest some time ago and never bothered with it on pipes. When I became more active in session playing, I was more or less compelled to try to work it out. It’s wild trying to get my reed to play the tune the same way I would play it on fiddle. I have to sit out on the tune if it gets started too fast.
So what’s wrong with Maggie Brown?
I thought that the A part of the Chicago Reel was tough on pipes and never messed with it much. This summer, I managed to record Jerry O’Sullivan’s version of it in North Hero. I’ve adopted his setting of the tune and it works pretty good for me.
Anybody have a good piping transcription of Loftus Jones?
Maggie Brown? I use to play that tune a lot for contras (another instrument I’m embarrassed to admit). I ran the “B” part through my head, when I saw your mention of it, and if the latter part of the B section is anything like the version I know, I can’t imagine it being done accurately on pipes…it bounces all over the place, right? But who am I to know? I haven’t tried it…maybe I should before shooting off my mouth.
Hmm…Jenny’s Welcome To Charlie–the fiddle version.
At the risk of sounding disturbingly blasphemous, I’ve never been too fond of the standard piping version…
I can do it on the flute and as soon as I get a chanter with g sharp and f natural keys on it (which should hopefully be any day now…) I intend to play the bejeezus outta this one.
Incidentally, I first heard this version of the tune played on the pipes by Isaac Alderson, who I seem to recall played it on a keyless chanter. I was stunned. If I could half-hole notes that well then…well, I guess I’d be pretty good at half-holing notes…
It’s kinda funny that this subject came up because I think what we judge to be “hard” can sometimes be due far more to psychological rather than technical complications. For example, the other night I was playing my flute and I decided to play “The Salamanca”, a tune that I hadn’t played in quite a few months. Years ago when I first learned this tune on whistle, I didn’t have a very hard time with it and later on when I learned it on pipes, that wasn’t a problem either. But somewhere in between, I was playing it on flute and my fingers got all tangled up and I couldn’t find a good spot to breathe and ever since, whenever I play the tune on flute, I always have this pang of anxiety --“uh oh, this is a bit of a hard one.” I know it’s not hard and I can play it just fine now, but I still can’t seem to kick that slight anxious feeling right before I play. Weird.
Maggie Brown’s B part does bounce around. For me to play it accurately is a real test of fingering dexterity ( to get back to the original topic of this thread ), reed response, and bag control. Now I’ve gone and made myself feel guilty for not having nicely nailed down to my satisfaction. Guess I’ll have to lay off the reels for a while.
I see Leo Rowsome plays Maggie Brown’s Favorite on his King of Pipers album. Sometimes called Planxty Maggie Brown. I tried it on the pipes, it wasn’t too bad for the most part except for the hard part in the B section I was telling you about. The lower Cnat to upper A and back to C, wow, then in parallel 6ths all the way down jumping octaves (that part is more natural than I would have thought, luckily).
I wonder if Leo put that on his record because it was the first release on Garech Brown’s Claddagh label…it’s not that hard a tune at all if you ask me. Patsy Touhey had some fingerbusting tunes, Gusty’s Frolics, Colonel Fraser, the Beauty Spot. Heaps of blips. The RTE CeolNet take of Leo playing Colonel Fraser has him bungling it at the end. Bitch of a tune even if you throw out all the fancy stuff. The New Desmne/College Groves gives me lots of trouble, too. Notice that it’s Colonel Fraser in D for the most part. Or is Colonel Fraser the New Desmne in G?..
There are some hornpipes that are showpieces, lots of triplets. The Independent would be the ultimate in that, the second part is nothing but triplets. That and the Sweep’s back to back will send you to the doctor.
What’s so tough about the Chicago? I think if you “pipify” like what Peter’s saying above - replace some of those C’s and E’s with A - it will be a snap. A harmonizes just fine with those notes, too. Anybody ask’s tell them you’re supplying the root of a minor triad…
Hate to be bitching but does it really need that C sharp or is that just the way it’s written in O’ Neill’s. Ennis doesn’t play a c sharp and Rowsome gives a natural to start too in the book. I have always flattened it because I thought the C sharp sounded off.
I have always played the musical priest a tone down, works atreat and you get nice long c nats to start the turning of it. Rowsome gives a similar version.
I think the secrets of these things is simply to know your instrument and when it is appropriate to adapt. When Seamus Ennis plays the turning of Miss Johnson he doesn’t play dBgB aB but wisely takes dg g2 ag g2, take a tune suit the instrument and your playing.
[quote]Hate to be bitching but does it really need that C sharp or is that jsut the way it’s written. Ennis doesn’t play a c sharp and Rowsome gives a natural to start too in the book. I have always flattened it because I thought the C sharp sounded off.
I have always played the musical priest a tone down, works atreat and you get nice long c nats to start the turning of it. Rowsome gives a similar version.
I think the secrets of these things is simply to know your instruments and what is appropriate to adapt. When Seamus Ennis plays the turning of Miss Johnson he doesn’t play dBgB aB but wisely takes dg g2 ag g2, take a tune suit the instrument and your playing.[/quote
This has to be the best advice I have read in a long time. I always try to find the music within a tune and use what technique I have to bring out the music. Frahers jig is a tune I never tire of listening to or playing and perhaps you should try this one (looking for the music within the tune).
Bitching? Nah, I don’t think so. My experience with Dark Haired Lass was related to session playing and trying to fit the pipes to the setting that was common to that particular group. Same thing applies to The Musical Priest. It’s much easier to play a tone down, but the confines of a session I’m stuck with playing in B minor or heading for the bar.
I fully agree that one should know the instrument and when to adapt. I’m still working on what’s appropriate. Thanks, Peter!
The gravel walks! I know exactly what (and where) you’re talking about, but I haven’t tried it on the pipes yet. Oh boy, I bet it’s harder than The Musical Priest in Bm. Hey Bill, have you tried the Contradiction Reel? Now there’s a challenge! I defer to the fiddle for that one. I find that tunes are played differently on different instruments, what ever fits the instrument best. Then you’ve got to put up with the fiddlers claiming it was their way first, the pipers are the ones who altered it. Right.