Trim The Velvet (reel) on The Session

Thirteen comments

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

The High C in Trim the Velvet - HELP!!!

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.

Easy Substitute?

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

Trim The Velvet- “bringing it down a notch”

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 ||

Trim the velvet:Reel

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

play video

Track 11. ) reels: The Virginia / Trim the Velvet

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

Donegal version, played by “Danu”

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