Hommage A Andre Alain reel

I have transcribed this tune from the Genticorum album (from the first time through the tune when played by the fiddle). I have deliberately refrained from putting in any bar lines, as I am not sure where they should go. It is as close to free time as I’ve ever heard a folk tune, it just soars away on it’s own. If anyone has any strong opinions on where the bar lines should go then feel free to post them here 🙂

You can’t leave the bar lines out. It will just get deleted. I don’t know enough about 3/2s to put them in and it is way beyond bed time. I would encourage you to figure it out though as it is a lovely tune and, other than the bar lines, appears to have been transcribed well.

Just listening to it on concertina.net, this tune is very clearly in 2/4 time. The melodic line does not fit the 3/2 meter at all. 2/4 fits like a glove.

It does fit 2/4 nicely.
Or, since it’s a Quebecois tune, it might be in 4/4 with the fourth and tenth measures of the A part in 6/4 . This is quite common in French Canadian tunes.
In any case it’s not a standard 32 bar tune. And definitely not in 3/2.
Listen to it by Genticorum on My Space at
http://www.myspace.com/genticorum/music/songs/Hommage-a-Andre-Alain-23922823

Here it is in 4/4 with the fourth and tenth measures in 6/4


X:1
T: Hommage à André Alain
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: three-two
K:Amaj
EGAB e2 Bd|c2 Ac BG E2-|EGAc dcBA |[M:6/4]GABG E2 EE E3 G|
[M:4/4]EFAc dcBA|GBBG A4|EGAB e2 Bd |
c2 Ac BG E2-|EGAc dcBA|[M:6/4]GABG E2 EE E3 G||
[M:4/4]EFAc dcBA|GBBG A4|d2cd e3c| dcBA cBAG|
EGAc dcBA|EdEd B2 AG| ABcd e2-ec|dcBA cBAE |
GBBG A4 |d2cd e2-ec| dcBA cBAG |EGAc dcBA|
EdEd B2 AG| ABcd e2-ec |dcBA cBAE| GBBG A4 ||

No, it definitely isn’t in 3/2, that would be absurd. I believe that it is in 4/2, with occasional forays into 3/2 and 2/2. However, out of the time signatures given by the session, 3/2 seemed the most appropriate in style, if not in actual time.

Any player writing a tribute to a previous titan of the folk music world can write an Hommage to that person. The tune titled Hommage à André Alain on the album OJNAB has been written by Jean-Paul Loyer and is a G major reel-time tune, also a corker.

This tune by Pascal Gemme has more of a dreamy tone, definitely not as fast as many of the Quebecois reels. It also benefits by tuning your fiddle to AEAE and making maximum use of the available drones. Enjoy!

I have transcribed the chords used by Genticorum for this tune (ish) and have also made a stab at bar lines, from a phrasing point of view.


[M:1/2]B,DEF |[M:4/2] “E”B2 FA G2 EG FD B,2-B,DEG | “A”AGFE “B”DEFD “E”B,2 B,B, B,3 D |
B,CEG “A”AGFE “B”DFFD “C#m”E4 |[M:1/2] B,DEF |[M:4/2] “G#m”B2 FA G2 EG FD B,2-B,DEG |
“A”AGFE “B”DEFD “E”B,2 B,B, B,3 D | B,CEG “A”AGFE “B”DFFD “E”E4 |
[M:2/2]“A”A2GA “G#m”B3-G |[M:4/2] “A”AGFE GFED “B”B,DEG AGFE | “E”B,AB,A “B/D#”F2 ED “C#m”EFGA B2-BG |
“A”AGFE GFEB, “B”DFFD “E”E4 |[M:2/2] “B”A2GA “G#m”B2-BG |[M:4/2] “A”AGFE GFED “B”B,DEG AGFE |
“F#m”B,AB,A “G#m”F2 ED “A”EFGA B2-BG | AGFE “C#m”GFEB, “B”DFFD “E”E4 ||

Ignore that last one, it was in E. Should be in A, below:


X:1
T:Hommage a Andre Alain
K:Amaj
M:4/2
[M:1/2]EGAB |[M:4/2] “A”e2 Bd c2 Ac BG E2-EGAc | “D”dcBA “E”GABG “A”E2 EE E3 G |
EFAc “D”dcBA “E”GBBG “F#m”A4 |[M:1/2] EGAB |[M:4/2] “C#m”e2 Bd c2 Ac BG E2-EGAc |
“D”dcBA “E”GABG “A”E2 EE E3 G | EFAc “D”dcBA “E”GBBG “A”A4 |
[M:2/2]“D”d2cd “C#m”e3-c |[M:4/2] “D”dcBA cBAG “E”EGAc dcBA | “A”EdEd “E/G#”B2 AG “F#m”ABcd e2-ec |
“D”dcBA cBAE “E”GBBG “A”A4 |[M:2/2] “E”d2cd “C#m”e2-ec |[M:4/2] “D”dcBA cBAG “E”EGAc dcBA |
“Bm”EdEd “C#m”B2 AG “D”ABcd e2-ec | dcBA “F#m”cBAE “E”GBBG “A”A4 ||

Wonderful tune--so happy to have the music for it. Thanks all.