Is there a name for those phrases in reels/hornpipes where you jump every other note to a different high note but keep coming back to a low note?
E.g.
B part of Morning Dew: B2eB fBeB
From McFarley’s: dDcD BDAD
Does this type of phrase have a name? Or is it gan ainm?
Well, it’s not Gan Ainm, as that refers to a tune title whose name is (currently) unknown.
The first one is classic string crossing territory on the fiddle. People would talk about pedal bowing or figure 8 bowing or 7 8 bowing in that context. But it’s a description of technique rather than the notes themselves .
I think I have heard people talking about the pedal note. (The one that kind of acts like a drone, with the others contrasting against it - B in your first example and D in your second.)
pedal
Yes!
For half a century I have always thought it was called MUSIC!
🙂
Seriously, until now I never heard it called a pedal note, although I suppose being a flute player I don’t use pedals.
I just take any tune and try and play it, and make it sound right.
All the best
Brian x
I like the way Tijn Berends explains it in “The Danish Session Tune”. When talking about Drowsy Maggie, he says, “it has a ‘cuckoo note’ structure…” So I thought they are called “cuckoo notes.”
I’m with Brian on this.
Don’t have a name, but the best and most dazzling example follows:
https://youtu.be/5IhW3ZmKk_Q
pedal
(I guess latin - footy thing!)
It doesn’t seem to conform strictly with the definition, but I think it’s a legitimate extension of the term “pedal note”.
I was just searching for a term for this two days ago during our weekly Skype session, so thank you for today’s instalment of lifelong learning!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedal_point?wprov=sfla1
//Does this type of phrase have a name?//
Yes, pedal bowing, as mentioned above, also “waving bow”, “needle-threading” etc.
More info on the topic from other fiddlers, teachers/educators here :
https://thesession.org/discussions/43411
https://thesession.org/discussions/29836
https://thesession.org/discussions/41221
https://thesession.org/discussions/27320
I concur: ‘Pedal’ is the word, in classical music terminology, at least.
I think the term derives from organ playing, where a bass note may be held with a pedal (i.e. foot-operated lever) continuously whilst both hands are engaged in playing a complex polyphonic passage. A passage such as the one described by Linguist3 mimics this effect.
I’ve been calling that “pedaling” or “pedal notes” for years. No idea where I first heard the phrase.
I think the classical equivalent name for this bowing would just be “slurred legato”.
Richard Cook mentioned once that he called it “rocking”.
That makes sense to me.
I have heard it called “pedal tones”, but when I am teaching, I usually just call it “bouncing”, because you’re most often going to notes higher, and then when every other note is the same lower note, it’s like the tune is bouncing off of that note like a rubber ball…
Wow!! Very nice to finally know the name of this!
It is very typical of Irish music. In the diatonic harmonica it’s a real pain to play, imagine, trying to jump from side to side with your mouth.. I have even changed the key of the tune to make it easier to play, but this is only for the chromatic harmonica. Brendan Power got a very nice approach to make make the pedal notes more playable with his slide diatonic harmonica.
I’d call it a pedal tone. Maybe it doesn’t conform to a strict definition, but neither does the way we use the word “triplet,” yet we all know what we mean.
My take is that it is a way to state some harmony through the melody. In this respect, the examples of the OP are doing different things:
> From McFarley’s: dDcD BDAD
Here the effect is that of a descending line d2c2B2A2 over a drone note D.
> B part of Morning Dew: B2eB fBeB
Here the melody is spelling an E minor chord with some variation (alternation of e-f-e). Something similar often happens for chords with a dominant function through a pattern like this: 3151 6151 , where 1 is the chord root. Curiously, the three examples I can think of right now feature this in the B part, that is known to have a less defined character, melodically, with respect to the A part. Examples:
Julia Delaney’s, B part: ecgc acgc (underlying chord: C major)
Maghera Mountain, B part: fdad bdad (underlying chord: D major)
Musical Priest, B part: cAeA fAec (underlying chord: A major)
