Elliot Finn MacDonald march

Catchy march composed by piper Finlay MacDonald and named for his son. Transcription based on the tune as played by Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham on their recording, *Five and Twenty*.

Just giving this transcription also as some others like to read such marches, as 2/4, and no other changes made to the original submission… This one fits the mold well, while other notier and more pronounced 4 count marches tend to fit 4/4 better, in my opinion. I’ll have to chase up a listen and see how ‘the boys’ handle this one, not having their “Five and Twenty” recording… It’s a nice little march, offering lots of possibilities…

For those of you who want to play along with the fun recordings from Hò-rò.

T:Elliot Finn MacDonald
R:march
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:Ebmaj
Bc|:“Eb”e4 e2 Bc | e2 B2 g4 |“Fm”ag fe c2 Bc |“Eb”e3g fe cB |
“Eb”e4 e2 Bc | e2 B2 g4 |“Fm”ag fe c2 Bc |1“Eb”e4 e4 :|2“Eb”e4 e2 fg ||
|:“Ab”a4 a2 ba |“Eb”g2 fe e2 ge |“Bb”f2 d2 d2 bf |“Eb”g2 fe e2 fg |
“Ab”a4 a2 ba |“Eb”g2 fe e2 ge |“Bb”f2 B2 B2 cB |1“Eb”e4 e2 fg :|2 “Eb”e4 ||

“For those of you who want to play along with the fun recordings from Hò-rò.”

Can you explain what that means, please, violinjenn?

I’ve been playing this a bit and in the version I have there are “ties” in Bars 1,2, 4,5,6,8.
Also in bars 9, 13, and 16.
The recordings I’ve checked out seem to indicate that this is probably correct although there will be obviously some slight variations depending on the player(s)

e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_WmCOfUI88

play video

More like the second setting, Johnny?

Here’s my take (with (my) chords) which is identical except time values are doubled:
https://www.riddellfiddles.scot/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ElliotFinnMacDonald.pdf

Yes, something like the second setting(It’s in 2/4, of course) and your own one.

The one I’ve been playing is in 4/4 and has “ties” but the musical result is much the same.

I’m not sure why you can get so many possibilities to notate a tune or piece of music and how even seemingly simple tunes can differ in their transcriptions and yet, still, sound the same musically!
Is it just one’s musical backround or perhaps it’s specific to certain instruments and/or musical arrangements? Or does is the musical software a contributing factor(both in terms of suggestions and creative ideas)?

That could make a good discussion thread sometime… 🙂

“and yet, still, sound the same musically!”

…especially the transcriptions by ceolachan and JACKB - they are identical except for the time signature.

Ah, but Jack’s 4/4 time sig makes the audio play twice as fast - each to his own.
Personally, I wouldn’t ever play the tune faster than the second setting.

Midis are unpredictable, I’ve found. I’m sure there’s a very good technical explanation as to why some seem to play at ridiculously fast speeds though.

For what it’s worth, I like the layout of your(Donald) setting best. It’s clear, easy to follow, and just seems more natural. I’m sure there are good reasons, however, why the notations of some tunes seem to differ and I might just start the new discussion now….

Yeah, of course the playback doesn’t make any sense since the tool assumes something else for 4/4. (And while I’m at it, JACKB’s “transcription” doesn’t even have four quarter notes per measure…)

This is the version with “ties” which I’ve been learning.

There should also a small degree symbol beneath the tie in Bars 1 and 5 (Or 2 and 6 if you count the intro as a bar).

I’m not sure what this symbol stands for or how to notate it. Could it be some kind of double fermato or similar? Anyway, I think its purpose is likely to instruct the player to hold on to the tied notes just slightly longer. I’m not sure.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. I’ve searched for this symbol online and in the ABC tutorial but to no avail. Of course, I may have just missed it.