Trim The Velvet reel

I almost fell over when I didn’t find this tune on The Session!
One of my all-time favorites.

I just started learning Trim the Velvet off that Paul Smyth CD. He’s not playing a D flute so with a computer program, I was able to change the pitch to match my D flute. It’s a lovely setting and the tune is going well for me, except for that high C in the third part. It’s the only tune that I play which has that high C so I’m not used to it. (I’m not classically trained on the silver flute so everything is a challenge for me)

Anyone have any tips for getting the high C to sound decent? Does anyone just play the third part in the lower octave? Here’s my fingering for this note:

oxo xxo

Maybe there’s a way around the high C. Maybe there’s a setting out there that avoids the high C totally?? I’m open to any suggestions.

Any help will be greatly appreciated 🙂

Joyce

Hi Joyce, if all else fails you could vary it and just play a high A instead of a C.

I know I have to learn this great flute tune someday, but I haven’t got sick of a similar but easier tune: The Steampacket: https://thesession.org/tunes/690

As for Joyce’s question, read this discussion thread: https://thesession.org/discussions/3921

🙂

This doesn’t help our fluting friends, but may interest any fiddlers out there. I have been immensely enjoying one of my favorite new fiddle/flute CD’s, John Blake, Lamond Gillespie &
Mick Leahy’s “Humours of Highgate”. On it is a lovely set of reels, “The Flax In Bloom” & “Trim The Velvet” . John Blake plays the set on a “C” pitched flute, and upon closer listening,
Lamond has his fiddle tuned down 2 semitones. With the instruments pitched lower, the tunes sound in “C” and “F” respectively (instead of the usual “D” and “G”). I didn’t feel like tuning my instrument down, though, so I decided to "have a go
at it“ (Trim The Velvet) in actual ”F" fingering. The result is very
pleasing to the ear, and while the fingering takes some getting
used to, it’s totally worth it. The big bonus here for fiddlers is that the need to either shift position, or “stretch” the 4th finger & separate the bow is eliminated, because your highest note is now a B flat! I had to do a little “tweak” in one spot, however;
the transposition makes the connection between the 2nd and 3rd parts of the tune a little awkward. In the “G” version, the last note of the 2nd part is an “A”, jumping up to a “g” to start the third part (no big deal, the strings are right next to each other). In the “F” version however, this becomes a rather clumsy jump from a “G” on the D string up to an “f” natural on the E string. The solution I came up with was to “split the difference” so to speak, by substituting a “c” instead of the “G”.
Sounds just fine to me, but I’m not a fiddle player, so I would welcome any comments or suggestions on this. Thanks, and enjoy!

T:Trim The Velvet
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:reel
K:F
F3 A GFEC | FAcA BGEG | ~F3 A GFEG | cdec BGEG |
FEFA G^FGB | ABcA BGEG | ~F3 A GFEG | cdec BGEG ||
cfdf cf ~f2 | cdcA BGEG | cfdf cf ~f2 | cdec BGEG | c3 =B cAFA |
cdcA BGEG | cfdf cf ~f2 | cdec BGEc ||: ~f3 g afge | f2 ga bgaf |
af ~f2 efge |1 cdec BGEc :|2 cdec BGEG || AFcF AFFG |
AFcA BGGB | AFcF AFFA | cdec BGEG | AFcF AFFG |
AFcA BGGB | A3 F ~B3 G | cdec BGEC ||

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyhIg5YsR3A&feature=channel&list=UL

play video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyhIg5YsR3A

play video

Whistle player Robert MacGowran M & guitarist is Ruairi Kelly
CD: “Basically: Traditional Irish Music Whistle and Guitar”

More listens available now here: http://cdbaby.com/cd/robbiemacgowran

There doesn’t seem to be any discussion above about the Donegal version of this tune, which was recorded by “Danu” a few years back. Apologies for the poor quality of the recording in the link below, but I think it worth posting here because it’s a very unusual take on a great reel. RonP and myself were in a group with Peter Cunningham, a very fine Donegal fiddler, and he was the first person I heard playing this setting.

http://youtu.be/pt9V6L-nedg

play video

I first heard the Donegal version on An Seidean Si (The Whirlwind) recorded by Paddy Glackin and Robbie Hannan (1995)
Its not the same as what is posted above.
Below is a version I play based on a couple of sources, not exactly the same as on Seidean Si but quite close.

X:1
T:Trim the Velvet (Donegal version)
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:reel
K:D
N:based on the Donegal version
FDAG FD3 | FDAF GE3 | FDAG FADB | =cB=cA GEAG|
FDAG FD3 | FDAF GE3 | FDAG FADB | =cB=cA GEAG|
D3G EFGE | AB=cA GE=cG | D3G EFGE | AB=cA GE=cG|
D3G EFGE | AB=cA GE=cG | D3G EFGE | AB=cA GE=cG|
Add=c A3G | AA=cA GE=cG | Add=c A3G | AA=cA GE=cG |
A3G AD3 | AA=cA GE=cG | Add=c A3G | AA=cA GE=cG |
Adde fded | Adef ge3 | 3(Bcd) ed cedc | dBAF GE3 |
Adde fded | Adef fgfe | dged cedc | dBAF GEGA|

Bb whistle
https://soundcloud.com/enda-seery/slow-reel-version-trim-the-velvet

Paddy Maloney’s version.

Second tune by Conor Byrne… https://youtu.be/Cy21E2tp3Ek

play video

Taken pretty much from Rubenzer’s Red book, it is the way my band played Slipjig it in Madison, WI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1MdPPZXFCg

play video

The version I have always played - on my own and with players like Charlie Lennon of Leitrim - is a more ornamented version of the first example above. It is probably based on the recording made around 1930 by Michael Coleman. However, it is different in that it starts with the final section in all the examples above. So far as I know this is the usual Sligo version. Notation and bowing can be found in David Lyth’s transcription of tunes played by Coleman, Morrison and Killoran in 1930s recordings made in USA. I was aware of no other version until I discovered The Session website a few years ago. I strongly recommend David Lyth’s 3 volumes of tunes as played by great Irish fiddlers of the past. Some wonderful bowings, superb for improving Irish fiddle technique. They can be downloaded free from David Lyth’s website: davidhlyth.co.uk/irish-fiddle-music/