Tag Archives: reel

The Tarbolton: A Scottish reel in Ireland

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Tarbolton in Ayrshire has strong associations with Robert Burns, so it is sometimes a surprise to discover a very popular Irish reel that bears its name. The Tarbolton — sometimes called The Tarbolton Reel — was popularised by County Sligo fiddle master Michael Coleman in a set that is often played today.

The tune is originally Scottish, entitled Tarbolton Lodge in some collections but doesn’t seem to be as well known in Scotland, or not in my experience. It is in the Athole Collection and Skye Collection (both 19th Century), for example. Some background information on publications can be found on the Fiddler’s Companion.

Some information on recordings of this tune can be found on the Folk Music Index and at irishtuneinfo. From a flute player’s perspective it is definitely worth checking out Matt Molloy’s version on his first solo album, although this is on an Eb flute.

I have recorded the version that we learned in the class and the notation that was handed out in the lesson will go online there very soon.

Michael Coleman’s 1934 version is below. We will also be learning the other tunes in this set. Comhaltas have other versions of the set as well.

Photo of The Bachelor’s Club, Tarbolton, by Rosser1954, Wikipedia Commons.

 

Jack Broke Down da Prison Door and other news

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We finished up the term a few weeks ago with a third Shetland reel to complete our set, Jack Broke Down the Prison Door.

The tune is in G and fits flutes and whistles very well. It’s in a few collections, some from Hand Me Doon Da Fiddle, which did much to popularise many Shetland tunes. There’s a recording of us all playing it in the class and the music can now be found on the Flute Fling classes Resources page.

A discussion of the tune on The Session quoted from the original source:

From the book: “Hand me Doon da Fiddle” (Tom Anderson, Pam Swing).

Dis een wis made up be an auld fiddler named Jack Goudie frae da Ness. Some said dat he’d hed a dunt on his head whin he wis young dat gave him queer turns. He wis a very good fiddler an made up loks o’ tuns. Wan night in Lerook wi a dram in him he got a queer turn an the poliss lockit him up ida auld prison. He waited til dey wir sleepin an dan he brook doon da prison door an made fir hame as fast as he could. Da poliss wir awaur it he wis gaen, bit tocht it better to let be fir let be, so dey didna geng efter him. Whin Jack got hame he took his fiddle an made up dis tun an caaed him, “Jack Broke da Prison Door”. If da listens to da first twartre notes du can hear hit sayin dat.

Further background can be found at the Tune Archive website, including a list of printed sources.

One of the books listed is Irish Traditional Fiddle Music by Randy Miller and Jack Perron (1977), who transcribed the tune form the playing of Aly Bain and Mike Whellans. Containing primarily transcriptions of tunes from commercial recordings, I have found it to be an invaluable book that appears to be little-known on these shores. I happened to come across it many years ago and even had my original copy stolen. You can get an updated edition of the book directly via their web site, although some shops may carry it. I found that link via Alan Ng’s useful Irish music site, which has a page on publications.

We ended the term with a few of us going to The Dalriada pub in Joppa and played a few tunes together as part of the regular session that goes on there. Gica Loening from Fun Fiddle was also there and we all shared some positive ideas for the new year that it will be good to follow up.

Oot be est da Vong: a Shetland reel

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The Improvers and Beyond group are putting together a set of Shetland reels and Oot be Est da Vong is the second, which we decided that this one goes nicely after Sleep Soond I’da Mornin’. Next time we’ll add a third.

I learned this tune many years ago, probably from English and Scottish Tunes by Anthony “Sully” Sullivan, a banjo player from the NW of England I believe, with several publications and compositions to his name. Before the internet, his tune books were essential and even now the versions of traditional tunes are far better than many that pop up on web sites. His own tunes have become popularised by people like Michael McGoldrick in recent years.

However, I imagine that the original source for the tune is probably Ringing Strings by Tom Anderson, the Shetland fiddler who taught, amongst many others, Aly Bain. It reminds me as well of a piece of Gaelic port that I have identified as A’ Cur nan Gobhar às a’ Chreig and there’s a clip of Capercaillie performing a version of it on BBC Alba. It’s also the first tune in this clip of a session from the Summer Isles Festival:

The tune title refers to a the location of a fishing ground, da Vong being a rock I believe and sits quite nicely on flute and whistle. We had a look at some places to play cuts, rolls and casadhs (as defined by Geraline Cotter) within the tune. FluteFling class resources for the tune can be found on the usual page. There’s some discussion on The Session about the tune and this link to Aly Bain playing it:

In the class I mentioned Millie Godger, a Shetland tune with no set time signature that may have been a “mill tune” and imitated the rhythms of the mill. I couldn’t get to grips with it from the written music, but here’s a lovely version by Morag Brown in a set of Shetland tunes:

Photo: More Shetland Magic Light by Pete and Lynne, some rights reserved.

Loch Leven Castle: a reel and hornpipe

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This week the Slow and Steady group took on the challenge of Loch Leven Castle, a Scottish reel that is known in Ireland as a hornpipe.

It is possible to play this tune in a number of ways, for example by including triplet runs in the and a passing G# in phrases in the B part, and these both feature in the two versions. The setting in Kerr’s Merry Melodies for the violin of c.1875 can be found at the Tune Archive. The Irish hornpipe is The Humours of Tuamgraney, or Tuamgraney Castle and can be found in various Irish collections such as O’Neill’s Music of Ireland. Both of these collections are important for building up traditional tune reference material and repertoire.

The versions of the tune are not too dissimilar to each other, but I like the more emphatic key change for the respective endings of the Irish version (B to G and C natural to A; as opposed to C natural to G and C natural to A). The version that we learned is essentially a simple amalgamation of the two and the music for it can be found on the class resources page.

An attraction of this tune is that it draws a direct connection between the structure of hornpipes and a type of Scottish reel that is referred to as a Lowland reel or Scotch Measure in this discussion on The Session, which also references this informative entry on the Fiddler’s Companion web site.

Loch Leven Castle is in Perth and Kinross and has a rich history, including being a prison to Mary Queen of Scots. Tuamgraney is in County Clare, but there is little left of the castle to see.

Photo of Loch Leven Castle by GuruAnt, some rights reserved.

 

Sleep Soond

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It's aye a fine day in VoeThe latest tune we looked at is a popular Shetland reel called Sleep Soond I’da Mornin’ (Sleep Soundly in the Morning). 

The tune uses a G# in the A part and is good for getting to grips with the challenges of doing this on the flute or whistle. Half-holing (uncovering half of the G hole is a common way of doing it. This takes getting used to in terms of accuracy, but you may find that playing A and placing the F# finger down will produce a good effect. This will of course depend on your instrument and also the octave so it is worth taking the time to experiment.

Resources for this tune have been uploaded.

Fiddle playing is enormously popular in Shetland and it has a very strong and distinctive repertoire and style. Some of this popularity will have been down to the success of The Boys of the Lough, which has featured Shetland fiddler Aly Bain and County Fermanagh flute player, whistler and singer Cathal McConnell.

I mentioned Catriona MacDonald (Shetland), Gavin Pennycook (Celtic nyckelharpa project) and Sarah-Jane Summers (Norwegian hardanger fiddle influence) as people worth listening to and I could have added many more of course. Fiddler’s Bid, both collectively and as solo members are also worth listening to.

In searching around, I found this early edition of Haand Me Down Da Fiddle as an online PDF. This is a definitive collection of Shetland tunes and method for the fiddle and the issue of copyright does occur to me here, so I hope it is OK to share the link that I found via a Google search.

 Photo: It’s aye a fine day in Voe by Duncan Cumming, some rights reserved.