Waterman’s jig

This tune was written by Mike McGoldrick and is influenced by Eastern European music. It is in fact in 7/8 time but I can’t seem to add that time signature to the ABC on this site. Its from his CD Fused

I’m sure this tune is one of the mainstays of the Folkworks youth sessions at Hexham Gathering. Cool tune!

I play this tune with Grey Larsen’s 7/8 tune Thunderhead. Only trouble is that Waterman’s is “backwards” 7/8. It goes 2-2-3, and Thunderhead is 3-2-2. But They still work well together.

Both great flute tunes. watch out for another 7/8 tune, called The Unhappy Visitor, which I will post soon on this site.

Uiscedwr play this in 6/8 first, then go into 7/8 with nice effect.

M: 6/8
K: Emin

“Em”E2B BAG|AGA B2E|“D”GAA AGA|Bc G AGF|
“C”E2B BAG|AGA B2E|“D”GAA ABG|AB G AGF:|
“Em”g2e efg|f2 B BcA|“D”BcA ABG|AB cd af|
“Em”g2e efg|f2 B BcA|“D”BcA ABG|AB F “Em”EGB|
“Em”g2e efg|agf efd|“D/F#”abg fga|gfe fdB|
“C”g2e efg|f2 B BcA|“D”BcA ABG|ABG AGF ||

Might have known the Folkworks crowd would like this one.

Some years ago I heard young Paraig Rynne playing this tune very quietly at a session in Galway while all the other musos were away for pints. As a listener I asked him if he loved McGoldrick tunes, and he said something like “Yeah, but this shouldn’t be played at sessions.” Seems he now plays this on the stage, but he would answer the same way when asked the same question. So, don’t play tunes at sessions just because you like them.

Sorry for misspelling Pádraig.

Must remember to leave all the tunes I like at home. I must have been misguided into thinking sessions could be fun.
:(

Hopefully your sessions are amongst friends, and they surely won’t mind you coming in with your favourites or something new or different. I’ve yet todiscover two sessions that were alike. With all that variety there is surely a place for you and your inclinations, whatever they be… 😉

i play mostly classical music and i’ve only begun playing celtic music recently and i must say i’m really not used to the 7/8 time signature which i seldom come across in classical music at all.
unlike 6/8 and 9/8 which can be counted in groups of three, this just feels odd for me, when i play it i find that if counting in 4/4 time in my head, which somehow makes the rhythm feel oddly syncopated…

chansherly, if you can’t get your head round 7/8 or 13/4 or anything daft like that, you’re not in a minority 🙂

I’m not gunna bother learning this tune from the dots coz it’s just too strange, i really need to go to Macedonia or summat where tunes in 7/8 etc are in abundance!!

In Western classical music (and even here, on this website) we are bedeviled by the tyranny of the bar-line. With aural tradition, which is basically either songs or dance tunes, bar-lines aren’t needed - at best, they are props for teaching purposes, and promptly fall over when things depart from 2/4, 3/4. 4/4, 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8. When faced with 5/4, 7/8, 11/8, 15/16 etc the best thing to do is to listen to the music and get the rhythm ingrained that way. Then, you won’t need th bar-lines. Best of all, listen to the music and watch people dancing to it (admittedly, it may be not be easy to get to see a Balkan dance troupe, but YouTube may be able to help).

Eliza Carthy also plays this off the back of a morris tune on her Rough Music album - It has a very different feel. Great stuff!

This is my own conversion into 6/8. It differs a little from the 6/8 setting above particularly in the B part regarding the high section.

X:311
T:Waterman’s 6/8
L:1/8
M:6/8
R:Jig
K:Emin
E2B BAG|AGA B2E|GAA AGA|BcG AGF|
E2B BAG|AGA B2E|GAA ABG|ABG E3:|
g2e efg|f2 B BdB|c2A ABG|ABc daf|
g2e efg|f2 B BdB|c2A ABG|AGF EGB|
g2e efg|agf efd|bag fga|gfe fdB|
g2e efg|f2 B BdB|c2A ABG|ABG E3 |]

Playing with At First Light in 2004, this is the version he played:

X: 1
T: Waterman’s
Z: Twiz
S: https://thesession.org/tunes/3367#setting3367
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Emin
M:7/8
E2Bz BAG|A2GA B2E|GAA2 AGA|Bc BG AGF|
E2Bz BAG|A2GA B2E|GAA2 ABG|AB GF E3:|
g-!roll!g3 efg|f2 Bz BAB|c2A2 ABG|AB cd eaf|
g2e2 efg|f2 Bz BAB|c2A2 ABG|AB GF EGB|
g-!roll!g3 efg|a2 gf efd|b2 ag fga|g2 fe fdB|
g2e2 efg|f2 Bz BAB|c2A2 ABG|AB GF E3||

For those who prefer a more ornamented version (I wish there was a way to show cuts over the staff not as grace notes)

E2Bz {c/}BAG|A2GA B2E|GA{c/}A2 {c/}AGA|Bc BG AGF|
E2Bz {c/}BAG|A2GA B2E|GA{c/}A2 {c/}ABG|AB GF E3:|
g-!roll!g3 efg|f2 Bz {c/}BAB|!slide!c2A2 {c/}ABG|AB cd eaf|
g2e2 {a/}efg|f2 Bz {c/}BAB|!slide!c2A2 {c/}ABG|AB GF EGB|
g-!roll!g3 efg|a2 gf efd|!slide!b2 ag fga|g2 fe fdB|
g2e2 {a/}efg|f2 Bz {c/}BAB|!slide!c2A2 {c/}ABG|AB GF E3||

7/8 Version with chords