[Musicians] Musicians Digest, Vol 6, Issue 4

Mon Aug 3 18:42:13 PDT 2015

Thanks so much for all the feedback on jig!  It's fascinating to me as I'm
still not hearing it and I'm usually good with tune phrasing but I love
that some people feel it easily and others aren't.

Jim - I tried to play the "Jim Rumboldt’S/Father’S Jig/ Esau Payne’S Tune"
video but for some reason it won't play here.

Anyway, I've had problems carving out time to respond but I've been really
enjoying reading all the comments.  I'll have to track down the notation
and we'll give it a try with four clear potatoes... see what happens.

I do loooove the second tune. I don't know if I wrote this in my first
email but Gillis' Favourite is an old traditional standard in Cape Breton.
I hadn't heard it anywhere else until the clip of the Dardinelles.  Their
swing makes it quite a bit more funky!

:) Emily

On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 3:13 PM, via Musicians <
musicians at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> Send Musicians mailing list submissions to
>         musicians at lists.sharedweight.net
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
>
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/musicians-sharedweight.net
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>         musicians-request at lists.sharedweight.net
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
>         musicians-owner at lists.sharedweight.net
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Musicians digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Re: worthiness of a tune for contra?
>       (Patricia Campbell via Musicians)
>    2. Re: worthiness of a tune for contra? (James Saxe via Musicians)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2015 17:17:31 -0400
> From: Patricia Campbell via Musicians
>         <musicians at lists.sharedweight.net>
> To: Dave Casserly <david.j.casserly at gmail.com>
> Cc: musicians at lists.sharedweight.net
> Subject: Re: [Musicians] worthiness of a tune for contra?
> Message-ID:
>         <CAP475G8a2kkQ6P7=
> Yi-wPF6qWJwNtBoAPtS_MmnqZiDPng4NNA at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> ?I had no trouble hearing the A & B parts of the jig - I've had a lot more
> trouble with other tunes, but this one sounded pretty straight forward to
> me. Where someone might have any issue is between the two B parts, but even
> that was pretty clear to me.
>
> Just my 2 cents - ?
>
> Patricia
>
>
> Patricia Campbell
>
> 203-364-4554
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 30, 2015 at 1:45 PM, Dave Casserly via Musicians <
> musicians at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> > I guess I disagree with the majority here.  I think there is absolutely
> > nothing wrong with that jig, and it's perfectly well-phrased and suitable
> > to contra dancing.
> >
> > I think there are a lot of well-phrased jigs out there that we can make
> > sound like they're not by putting an amorphous beat behind them and
> perhaps
> > tying some notes over that would normally be repeated.  This is one such
> > jig.  I played through it myself this morning on whistle, and I don't
> even
> > think it's a particular smooth jig when you just play it normally
> > (repeating the first note in the first bar rather than tying it over,
> > playing the pickup triplet to the B part so that it sounds more like a
> > pickup, and playing it at 120bpm).
> >
> > I have no recommendations for how a band should use this jig other than
> > how I think a band should play every jig-- start with four clear
> potatoes,
> > use a strong beat (at least the first few times through), play so that
> it's
> > phrased clearly and notes don't cross over the phrase.
> >
> > To the musicians who think this jig is not well-phrased, I encourage you
> > to play it for yourselves at 120bpm.  As long as you are clear on the
> > phrasing, the dancers will be, too.  I've heard plenty of bands play jigs
> > with a lot less clear phrasing in the melody (such as the Roaring Barmaid
> > or Myra's) for contra dances with no problems.
> >
> > -Dave
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 30, 2015 at 12:37 PM, Thomas Verdot via Musicians <
> > musicians at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> >
> >> As was mentioned by Susan, my first thought was that it was a slip jig.
> >> It is a fine tune for listening but one that I would not use for a
> dance.
> >> If you really like it well enough to play it for a dance you probably
> want
> >> to have a stronger rhythm than the band in the video. I don't mean
> louder,
> >> just less amorphous.  That also doesn't mean dead on regular - it could
> >> just be punctuated to maintain a sense of form.
> >>
> >> I think it is good to always keep in mind that we are there to serve the
> >> dancers & at times some of our favorite tunes just don't quite meet the
> >> purpose.  I have sadly rejected several favorites.
> >>
> >> Regards, Tom
> >>
> >>
> >> On 7/29/2015 9:48 PM, Emily Addison via Musicians wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hello fellow musicians!
> >>>
> >>> I've had the following two tunes suggested for our contra band.  The
> >>> reel at the end seems straight forward (with some doubling up) but the
> >>> jig seems to have really weird phrasing (especially in the A) that
> would
> >>> make it hard for dancers to follow.
> >>>
> >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DkJQ9xNGuU
> >>>
> >>> I'm curious what you guys think!
> >>>
> >>> Emily in Ottawa
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Musicians mailing list
> >>> Musicians at lists.sharedweight.net
> >>> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/musicians-sharedweight.net
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >> Musicians mailing list
> >> Musicians at lists.sharedweight.net
> >> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/musicians-sharedweight.net
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > David Casserly
> > (cell) 781 258-2761
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Musicians mailing list
> > Musicians at lists.sharedweight.net
> > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/musicians-sharedweight.net
> >
> >
> -------------- next part --------------
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> URL: <
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/pipermail/musicians-sharedweight.net/attachments/20150730/27c00283/attachment.html
> >
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2015 18:52:25 -0700
> From: James Saxe via Musicians <musicians at lists.sharedweight.net>
> To: musicians at lists.sharedweight.net
> Subject: Re: [Musicians] worthiness of a tune for contra?
> Message-ID: <D36DAB2A-4F34-43BC-9D6D-08D3DB3B2E7D at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> After Emily Addison asked about the tunes in this video
>
>      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DkJQ9xNGuU
>
> several people commented that they found the phrasing of
> the jig (Jim Rumboldt's Tune) deceptive.  I'm curious to
> know what any of you--or other list members--think after
> listening to it at 1.25x speed, as described in my previous
> message (quoted below).
>
> I did a little searching for other videos of the tune.
> This one
>
>      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx_E3qeZAfQ
>
> is played at about 165 bpm.  If it were played at a
> normal contra tempo and with a clear four-beat intro, but
> otherwise in the same style as in the video, I think it
> would be fine for dancing.  Yes, there are a couple places
> where, if I started the video at a random point in the
> tune, I could momentarily wonder whether a particular note
> was a pick-up note or the true beat 1 of a new phrase.
> But, to my ear, there are enough other places where the
> phrasing is quite clear so that it's not a problem.  I'd
> be interested in reading other people's reactions.
>
> I found another rendition starting about 3:15 in this
> video
>
>      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCnFlmrN1mk
>
> with tempo in the high 140s.  I can't make sense of
> the phrasing in this one at all.  It seems to me it's a
> different, and genuinely crooked, variant of the tune.
> Does anyone disagree.
>
> After watching that last video, I tried searching for abc
> notation or pdfs of sheet music or tablature to see whether
> I'd find notation for different versions--straight vs.
> crooked--of the tune.  So far, however, I haven't turned
> up any notation at all.
>
> --Jim
>
> > On Jul 30, 2015, at 1:58 AM, James Saxe <jim.saxe at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I'm a mere caller and pretty much a musical muggle, but
> > here are some observations about the jig for what they're
> > worth.
> >
> > First off, in the video the jig is played at about 93 or 94
> > beats per minute (based on my stopwatch timing, which also
> > appears to agree closely with the YouTube time counter).
> > You might get a better idea of how it would sound as a dance
> > tuen by playing it at 1.25x speed.  (Click on the gear-shaped
> > "Settings" button near the lower right of the YouTube video
> > frame; then click on the Speed box (typically defaulting
> > to "Normal"); then click "1.25" in the menu that pops up.
> > YouTube should then play at 1.25x normal speed but with the
> > audio pitch-shifted back down to normal pitch.)
> <remainder snipped>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Digest Footer
>
> _______________________________________________
> Musicians mailing list
> Musicians at lists.sharedweight.net
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/musicians-sharedweight.net
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of Musicians Digest, Vol 6, Issue 4
> ***************************************
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sharedweight.net/pipermail/musicians-sharedweight.net/attachments/20150803/1c14d061/attachment.htm>