Category Archives: Classes

Spoots and Salmon

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This week we consolidated the two tunes that Amble Skuse taught the class while I was away. She focused on examples that are built on the pentatonic scale, illustrating with the Shetland reel Spootiskerry and the march/ rant/ polka Salmon Tails Up the Water.

Spootiskerry is so well known that it is easy to forget that it is a modern tune, written by Ian Burns from Shetland and named after his farm. A skerry is a shoal of jaggy rocks usually found offshore protruding out of the water (from the Old Norse language and also found in Gaelic), while a spoot is a razor shell, which can be found and harvested on beaches.

The reel fits the flute and whistle very readiily and has some syncopated phrases that are quite distinctive. My version is a little different from Amble’s, and it may be one that I have developed in order to emphasise that rhythmic play. However, the version that I have recorded is Amble’s.

There is some good discussion on it at The Session, including an intriguing comment from Kenny Hadden who suggests that it fits the whistle in A as well. I haven’t tried that but it is very tempting. Kenny will be teaching again at this year’s Flute Day on 9th May.

Amble’s other tune, Salmon Tails Up The Water, I am less familiar with to play, but I have been aware of it for many years and should have known it. It is one of at least two tunes going by this title and this version is also known as The Banks of Inverness. I have seen it in Scottish collections, (but possibly the other tune with this title) and it feels to me like a march, but I see online it is claimed by Northumberian pipers as a rant, written in the 18thC by piper Jimmy Allen, who sounds like a colourful character.

There is once more some decent discussion on The Session, where it has also been associated with Irish singer and mandolinist Andy Irvine, once of the influential Planxty. It seems that the tune may be part of The Siege of Ennis set of Irish ceili tunes, probably as a polka. Good tunes tend to stick around and gain acceptance in other traditions.

We consolidated the tune and explored a couple of settings of it, one as taught by Amble, the other published by Nigel Gatherer in one of his many fine tune books. I have recorded and provided music for both of these, as well as music for Spootiskerry, on the Resources page for this year. Thanks are due to Amble for teaching these fine tunes and to Sarah and Adelheid for joining me on the recording.

 Photo: Salmon Jumping by Karen Miller, some rights reserved.

The Legacy: a rolling Irish jig

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The first two classes of the term have separately focused on technique for flute and whistle ( breathing, tone, phrasing and ornamentation in particular). Both of these lead into the first tune of the year, an Irish jig called The Legacy.

The tune is based on chord structures in G and has a contrasting Em B part before resolving itself back to G. It’s strong and distinctive and offers some opportunity to vary the melody with rolls in a variety of places (G, B, E, D and A). I have attempted to show some of this in the resources that accompany the tune.

I was surprised to discover that not a great deal is known about the tune. It is associated with Irish-American fiddler Larry Redican (more on him here) and bore his name on some recordings, notably by Bobby Casey (1959) and the Coen brothers’ The Branch Line. No, not the movie makers, but Jack and Charlie from east Galway, playing flute and concertina.

It was first published as The Legacy in Bulmer and Sharpleys’ mid-1970s collections of Irish tunes, but did appear in O’Neill’s Music of Ireland (1903) and also Kerr’s Merrie Melodies (1880s) under other titles (Skiver the Quilt, The Tailor’s Wedding). More detail can be found over at The Fiddler’s Companion website.

I have seen an assertion online that it may be a Scottish tune originally, but no evidence to date, other than the earlier publication date for Kerr’s, which includes Irish and other tunes anyway. Having said that, the strong chordal construction of the jig wouldn’t be out of place in the Scottish repertoire.

By the way, for some ABC settings of the old collections, check out this website.

Winter-Spring term 2015

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The new dates for the term can now be found on the Diary page and the Booking form has been updated too.

The term will begin with a couple of instrument technique classes that will allow people to spend some time just focusing on the techniques for their instrument. Low whistle players will find the whistle class more relevant than the flute class.

Another change this term is that Amble Skuse will take the class for a week when I have to be away and she will also be able to take the class over the February break when I will also be away.

So for the first time ever the classes won’t skip a week, which I hope makes for easier planning for everyone. It also means that there is an opportunity for a combined class at the end of the term, for which I have plans.

Photo: Snowdrops by Cams, some rights reserved.

Chief O’Neill’s Hornpipe: a fluter’s favourite

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The final tune of the term is Chief O’Neill’s Favourite, named after the influential collector and publisher of Irish traditional music who was also the Chief of the Chicago police force.

He played flute, pipes and fiddle and not only wrote about his collecting activities but has been the subject of books and even a play. More on him on Wikipedia. This particular tune came from fiddler Edward Cronin of County Tipperary who had no name for it so dedicated it to O’Neill.

Shifting modes and keys

I was confused about the version that I know, which contains some F naturals in the B part and swings between C# and C natural throughout. O’Neill’s original version has two sharps throughout but Geraldine Cotter’s has some C naturals and sharps, but with the F always sharp. The version we looked at is a mixture between Geraldine Cotter’s and one published in Music for the Sets — the yellow book*. Be aware that people may play this one way or the other, critically in the opening of the B part, so it’s good to confirm beforehand.

(*The Session.org has some discussion on this series of excellently played music for set dancing and the cassettes and books that came from them. It may be possible to download copies of the tapes from this site.)

Resources

So how to play that F natural?

On a keyed flute it is fairly straightforward, although maybe not with a short F key. The lead-in notes are D and E. To play the F natural short key, you’ll need to move the E finger out of position to access the key and in so doing you’ll play F#. This is why the long F natural key was developed.

To get around the problem, you’ll have to tongue or stop the E a little short to allow you to swiftly move the finger without playing a note. Alternatively, skip the E altogether and take a breath there while moving your finger into position.

For whistles and keyless flutes it is much more of a problem and requires advanced teachnique. The standard ways of flattening a note are to “half hole” or veil the hole. Experiment finding the best way of doing this with a tuner. In the class we found the large hole needed to be maybe 80-90% covered by the E finger. You can rock the finger sideways or slightly draw it back. Either way it is not a strong note and nor is it accurate.

You could try flattening the F# a few more percentage points by leaving the D finger down in position, but it is still not satisfactory. You will have to experiment with both of these approaches and find the best compromise. On the fly, either option is hard to execute and takes practice.

Image: Francis O’Neill, via Wikipedia, some rights reserved.

A Shetland midwinter tune

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Da Day Dawn marks a fitting end to the term and the year. A Shetland tune traditionally played by the nightwatchman in the streets of Lerwick before dawn on New Year’s Day, Mairi Campbell describes it as a generous tune that can take all interpretations.

Although I had come across it in tune books in the past, I didn’t really look at it properly until I came across it in the Scots Music Group’s Songbook in which there was an arrangement of a song that was written to this tune. The song was arranged by Mairi Campbell for the Sangstream choir with instructions for a free and loose arrangement, which immediately caught my imagination. The modern lyrics are by Jane Hazelden and catch something of the spirit of people sharing hospitality in midwinter while moving out of darkness and towards Spring.

So I adapted the idea, transcribed the tune into a flute-friendly key and added some very simple harmonies in the spirit and take an approach inspired by Mairi Campbell’s arrangement.

I learned this on a melodica at first, then flute, piano, whistle. I find that each time I play it, it is different, which is always attractive about a tune. Here’s a version I recorded on a Bb flute with Sean Paul Newman on keyboards:

There are a number of versions of the FluteFling group playing this together on my Soundcloud page. Resources are up for this, with Adelheid Cooney playing the melody on the recording after learning it at the class last week.

This week we’ll be at the Dalriada Bar in Joppa from 9pm to have a few tunes at the end of the class. Hope to see you there if you can make it.

Photo: New Year’s Day 2012 – Sunset over Standing Stones of Stenness (c) slynkycat Some rights reserved.