Hi everyone! I wrote an original jig and would like some feedback. I’m a wind player and it seems to work OK for those instruments. I’m curious how it plays on other instruments as well. Are there any parts that seem tricky or awkward? Do you feel this would play well in a set at a session? Anything else you like about it?
https://thesession.org/tunes/19981
Thanks!
John
It seems like a pleasant enough tune John. My first reaction is that I like it. It would be better if we heard you play it.
Very nice! It falls beautifully under the fingers (on whistle).
I like it. It sits nicely on whistle, fiddle and mandolin. I’ve also tried it on guitar (standard tuning) – it falls more easily under the fingers when transposed down a tone (but guitarists have alchemic ways of instantly shifting the pitch of their instruments… 😉 ). I feel a strong temptation, however, to make a small change in the last bar of the B-part, from | ^cA^F B… | to | ^cBA B… | – the stepwise motion contrasts nicely with the arpeggio that precedes it. I don’t feel similarly inclined to make this change in the A-part – probably because the arpeggio ^cA^F is preceded by a stepwise passage. But peraps I am just quashing the distinctiveness of the tune…
Thank you Gobby And Richard for your input and appreciate the time you took to look into it! Thanks!
Thank you CreadurMawnOrganig for your review and suggestion. One of the nice things about these types of tunes is that we get to tweak them to fit our fingers and taste. Your recommendation seems like a very good one of those. cBA works very well. Variation of the melody is also nice to spice things up throughout all the repeats. Thank you!
I do have a liking for Bm tunes - haven’t tried it on the mando yet but sounds as if it should go nicely.
I quite like it. The first bar is reminiscent of ‘Both Meat and Drink’, but in the minor key. I’m sure every player would have different ideas to adapt it to their own taste. Personally, I’d tweak the rhythmic structure slightly, so that the two parts have a rhythmic similarity, for instance in the A part:-
FBd ~f3 | ecA A2=c | ~B3 Bcd | cAF cAG |
I slipped in a more flowing link note at the end of the fourth bar. It would be fun to end the fourth bar A^GG as a variation.
I’m also with CMO on the last bar, but if I played it out, the fourth/fifth note of the last bar would be B2; I like simplicity, and there’s just a touch too many notes in it as written. That’s just me though; I ask forgiveness in advance…
@JerryO’Donnell very good suggestions. I was hoping to make the written melody simple enough to quickly memorize, but lots of space for variation and improvisation. One of those places is in measures 3-4 of the B section. It’s just bouncing between the two notes, but lots of opportunity for going crazy if you want to. And like you suggested, in places of repetition we can mix it up and substitute similar lines that will really alleviate the monotony.
The more I play it the more I like it.
I’m one of those persons that always makes little changes here and there on most tunes I learn especially if they’re coming from fiddle/box/banjo rather than flute/pipes/whistle.
What’s interesting is that in a couple places you have the note beginning a phrase proceeded by the same note, and I automatically changed the proceeding note to the note below, giving a slight boost to the note beginning the next phrase. I didn’t know until now that that was a habit of mine.
First part: Bar 4: |cAF cAE|
Second part: Bars 2 and 6: |fec d2e|
The other change I did more or less automatically was
Second part: Bar 4: |ece cde|
which again, I suppose, serves to emphasise the start of a phrase.
I like the tune, and I agree with Richard’s suggestions. Sometimes I want to play bars 4 and 5 of the A part this way:
cAF cdc |Bde ~f3 |
Not as the first option, but possibly the second time through the A part before going to the B part.
B part, bars 1 and 5:
|fbb bga| (and if so, definitely Richard’s |fec d2e|)
Another of my solutions to bar 4 of the B part:
|e^de c=de| OR |ece e^de| (at least on fiddle)
A mighty tune. Thanks for sharing.
Isn’t it interesting how various players can be given a tune, and they sometimes tend to make the same little changes?
The thing of approaching a stressed Middle D from C# below, rather than repeating Middle D, just seemed natural somehow. I suppose it’s a pattern we’ve played over and over in a hundred tunes.
And not just Middle D but other notes as well.
Feel free to add another setting of abc to the tune page if you want. I really appreciate the feedback and am glad that you all like it.
Anyone have some good suggestions for tunes to play with it in a set?
The more I play it/think about it, the more it resonates with the atmosphere of Coleraine ( https://thesession.org/tunes/17 ), or Inver Bank ( https://thesession.org/tunes/9293 ).
If I have Coleraine in mind, it’s difficult not to copy the rest of the De Dannan set. If I’m just playing away, the end phrase |cAF BAG| may lead into something else that starts on a low F#, say The Rolling Waves ( https://thesession.org/tunes/88 ).