Horse Fly reel

reel composed by banjo player Max Bruecher

is there anywhere online to hear this?

Nice Reel.

For fiddle I think it works better in D major. I generally agree with a lot of fiddlers that A major kind of sucks. D major keeps this tune in first position throughout, which is very desirable for players like me.

An easy way to do transpositions is to:

1. strip out the ornamentation etc., then
2. right click your mouse in Concertina.net [http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html] on the “MIDI music file” button to save it in midi format,
3. import that into Noteworthy Composer (if you have it - if you don’t you should), and then just
4. use the transposition tool to change the key.

Because it is working with the midi file, Noteworthy gives you a literal rendering of the midi version of a roll, so you need to edit them out of the ABC. It also writes out the tune in full (i.e., as it sounds, without compacting with repeats along the way).

If you don’t take out the leading note at the start, and lengthen the last note in the first ending of the initial part to a half note, (i.e., change “1ecBc ~A3 :|” to “1ecBc A4 :|” you get garbled measures throughout. Noteworthy assumes that the first note is the beginning of a measure.

Hi Jim,
if you think you have to transpose the tune from A to D, the way you describe is probably one of the most complicated. You can really easily get the transposition in Henrik Norbeck’s software ‘abcmus’ within a few seconds without having to change the ornamentation or anything else. Apart from that, I don’t think it’s okay to change a tune’s key just to make it easier. A tune in A sounds completely different from the same tune for instance in G. One of the best examples is the Foxhunter’s Reel, maybe you have heard (or played) both versions. So, if you want to play Horse Fly in first position, in my opinion there’s a better way: Just play the first two parts as given in A, and transpose the third one down by an octave. By the way that’s what Faranfore’s fiddle player does on the CD ‘beau soleil’.

Thanks for the suggestions. And on the issue of transposition I really can’t quarrell with your point. (Maybe it’s the impact of my earliest musical training on piano, where equal temperament tuning obliterates the personalities of the various keys). I think that still leaves transposition as a way of exploring a tune, but probably that should be a deliberate choice and not just a matter of finding an easier way to play it.

One thing I really appreciate about this site is the forthright but respectful way people communicate - so different from all the flaming on most on-line discussion forums I’ve seen. I learn a lot here from more experienced musicians.

Thanks again

- Jim

This version is nearly identical to X:1, only the third part has been transposed an octave lower. This way it’s easier to play and nicer to listen to on most instruments except banjo 🙂

Funny, my latest tune posted, oxeye daisy, Horse Fly - nature in all her glory!

Got bitten by a horsefly or hornet long ago in Sussex, a nasty experience. A pleasing tune.

Does anyone know the (classical) keyboard tune “The Midge” ? It’s French 16th or 17th century.

In Scotland, vicious midges cause untold distress to holidaymakers. Insects, insects.