The Contradiction reel

Has anyone else noticed how many crazy, pyrotechnical tunes there are in the key of A major?
The Mason’s Apron, The Clumsy Lover, The Contradiction reel.

They all feature mad bits of hopping around on the E string while playing the open A string. Banjo players live for this kind of thing 🙂

Isn’t it fun! I’ve always avoided learning this tune thinking that I wouldn’t be able to do the high bits, but I’ve since taken up the concertina and discovered that the high bits are of course no big hassle on that type of instrument. So this is my fave tune of the moment…

just after listening to McNamara’s "hidden treasure" CD and im nearly sure that they have a version of this called "Miss Gannon’s Rant" which is played beautifully by Enda McNamara on the fiddle. worth checking out

As borne out by the following photo:

http://www.belfastfolk.co.uk/gallery2/menu.asp?p=50

In Give Us Another, Joe Derrane, lacking the keys for the so-callled pyrotechnics on his Baldoni, takes them down one octave, and it doesn’t detract from the overall quality of the tune at all. In a session setting it actually gives the tune a different flavor when some intruments play the lower octave.

Conan - the photo to which you link shows a jig, not a reel, called the contradiction. Hmmm ??

By the way everyone, the greatest version of this is surely Matt Molloy’s, especially the one-and - half octave jumps in the show-off bit.

I had heard this tune played by a young lad who said it was written by William Marshall, but on tunefinder it says it Irish. Does anyone know. It sure seems like a tune that Marshall would write.

I have this from a tape of Tony DeMarco from a few years back. I was reminded of it because it’s more or less the version recorded by Coleman/Tom Gannon and recently put online by Kevin Reitman.

<a href=http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=52152&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0>78’s Online</a>

The 78 has the parts doubled.

X: 1
T:Contradiction, The
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:reel
K:A
c3A B~E3|CEAc dfed|cBAG ABce|fagb afed|
c2cA B~E3|CEAc dfed|cBAG ABce|(3fga gb a3||
e|agab aece (3dcB BA|GABc|A2 ag aece|(3dcB BA EAA2|
agab aecA|dcBA GABc|Acec Adfa|gbeg a3||
e|cefe cefe|(3fga ec BAGB|cefe cefe|(3fga gb afed|
cefe cefe|(3fga ec B3c|ecea fdfa gbeg a3||

Sean Maguires contradiction was indeed a jig.He didn`t compose the reel.

and what can I do with my flute……….

Garry Shannon is seen playing it on flute here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Uh—OYB5mNo

play video

Seems like my kind of flute playing, I love hitting the d’ sometimes. I can never get e’ though.

This is a good unuiqe tune

And definitley sounds best on the banjo:D

Was just trying to figure out who wrote this one, and came across this website:
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/contra.htm

worth a look if you’re interested in the history of the tune. It seems to be Scottish (NOT Irish) but doesn’t seem to written by Marshall. thought people might find it intriguing 🙂

from a recording I borrowed from a friend - Paddy Fahey plays all the G#s consistently flat - between G# and G natural.

X: 1
T: [Contradiction Reel]
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Amaj
cefe ceae|d2 cA BE~E2|cefe ceae|f2 ge abed|
cefe ceae|f/g/a ec BEGB|eAce fdfa|gbeb aged||
c2 cA BE~ED|CEAc dBed|c2BA GABc|defg aefd|
c2 cA BE~ED|CEAc dBed|cABA GABc|defg aAce||
aA ~A2 cABA|GBEB GBEB|aA ~A2 cABA|GBEB cA ~A2|
ae ~e2 cAcA|GBEB GBE2|agfe fedc|BEGB A2 ce||
|:a2 c’e a2 c’e|bed’e bed’e|c’ee’e c’ee’e|dcBA EAce|
a2 c’e a2 c’e|bed’e bed’e|c’ee’e c’ee’e|dcBA EAce:|

last bar is better ::
dcBA EA ~A2||

He wasn’t playing the G# flat (or the G-nat sharp), or playing either out of tune; he was playing a note in between that is not part of the classical Western scales (as exemplified by the piano keyboard) but is normal in its own right in some parts of Ireland.
There are also notes in some tunes that are between C-nat and C#, and F-nat and F#.

Apparently it was written by William Marshall and published in Edinburgh in 1800, with three parts (A, B, D - no high bits!). The name given to it by Marshall was Miss Gunning’s Reel.
(See note on it in Brenda Stubbert’s Collection of Fiddle Tunes).

Mairead Nesbitt @1:20 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNuyYUTNKFg

play video

😛

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1MfmsSkIGQ

play video

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

play video

NOT composed by Marshall - first published in 1751, when he would have been 3 years old.
And first printing is not in Scotland, but in London. So originally an English tune?
https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Miss_Gunning%27s_Reel

Fourth tune in this set by Orlaith and Brogan McAuliffe. OMG talented pairing

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

play video

Sean Keane’s version from his album "Sean Keane," to my knowledge only ever released on vinyl, is well worth hearing. He undeniably plays notes deliberately out of tune as he blazes away. I can’t find any versions of the track anywhere. Perhaps someone more resourceful or tech savvy than I could post it here. I have yet to hear a more mind-blowing version. Ya just gotta hear it!

Miss Gunning’s rant;
https://thesession.org/tunes/8860

This four part setting in D ionian is the clever brain child of Gordon Duncan, circa 1997. (RIP Gordon, 1964-2005)

It is a compact re-exposition of the Contradiction Reel themes so that they all fit within the Hihhland pipe’s range. (All 8 notes are included here).

For the transcription I used the liner notes to the album The Circular Breath which, unusually, include 7 fully-scored tunes. I only made a correction or two to align this score on his actual playing.
And I did away with all the piping ornamentation. (If you want a pipe score it is bound to be posted already on a piping website somewhere)

I was surprised not to find Gordon’s setting on this page already but this may be due to the fact that there are other sources out here on the www.

Fiddle version.

https://youtu.be/4SdT-dvQKzQ

play video