richard snell’s nineteen comments

Anybody know exactly where Ward’s Brae is? more…

Having noted just how old the tune is in Northumberland, I must reconsider my last statement. more…

Don’t be too sure of this tune’s Northumbrian origin. It may be a distinctively localised version of the Irish jig ‘The Humours of Trim’. more…

This was one of the first tunes I ever learned; I had to because the Morris side I was learning to play for needed it; but I never really liked it. It sounded very stiff to me played as a ‘Sailor’s’ hornpipe or rant. more…

Bogman: I take your point, which does not in essence contradict mine, which is that the title has poetic as well as literal resonance; more…

So what actually constitutes a Slow Air? How can Si Bheg and Si Mhor mentioned above be a slow air if, say, my personal favourite The Bonny Bunch Of Roses is also a slow air? more…

Oh, yes, and by the way, it’s also important not to stretch theories too far; the concept of Occam’s razor is a useful one here. more…

There’s a need not to confuse the translation of titles with their interpretation, Linguistically, the translation ‘Little Hill and Big Hill’ is likely to be literally correct. more…

We know that in this context Si Bheg Si Mhor means Big Hill and Little Hill, because it is the local legend attached to the two hills of that name near Lough Scur Co Leitrim which Carolan retells (very broadly) in the text he wrote for this tune. more…

John Playford has become the most famous of the dancing masters to work in Great Britain and Ireland from the reign of Elizabeth through to the eighteenth century; more…