Thomas MacDonnell’s strathspey

This is a composition by Donald Angus Beaton, renowned Cape Breton fiddler Kinnon Beaton’s father. I got it from Kinnon’s fiddle playing.

I’ve just fell in love with this tune, having been asked to transcribed it by email personally around a week ago, so I don’t have much information on it. But considering Natalie MacMaster recorded it, it might be a relatively well-known tune among Cape Breton fiddlers.

It reminds me of Donald Blue, but this is a strathspey.

The sound file doesn’t sound interesting at all. Listen to Natalie MacMaster playing this tune (second track): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004SAWL/002-1742757-2756015?v=glance

This isn’t really a good representation of the tune. I would call this the beginner’s interpretation. A lot of the triplets have been replaced with dotted quarters - which if played like that (sans triplets) really makes the tune sound EXTREMELY dull. This is a good general reference point though. Get a recording of a Cape Breton fiddler playing it and go from there.

rant79
The idea of this database, to me, *is* as a reference point. If a basic version of a tune is submitted like this one, without ornaments, it’s more likely for someone using the search engine to find it. Ornamented settings can be posted in the comments section. Why don’t you share your setting by posting it here in the comments?

Cheers, Laitch for the clarification. Yes, I posted an EXTREMELY basic version of the tune, and posted the link to listen to N. MacMaster’s playing of it as a reference. You could add triplets when you transcribe it, but that wouldn’t make the tune more interesting. I believe Cape Breton music heavily depends on the rhythm rather than notes.

But, rant79, if you don’t like the beginner’s transcription of mine, why not add yours here? That would really help others.

hey, I didn’t mean to insult (you seem a little defensive?), I’m just making some suggestions for others who pull this up.
mainly because I know that *some* people, not all, will sometimes go out and grab sheet music for stuff and declare that’s the way it’s played, period.

The rhythmic values and subtle differences in many tunes, and I have noticed this is *especially* true in Scottish and Cape-Breton music, varies greatly from player to player.
hence, my suggestion was just that - a suggestion of guidance for other players to listen listen listen!!!
And I will never cease to be amused by the various meanings of terms depending on locale.
by triplet I mean the scottish variant, not the irish(also called rolls).

I think this thread is a great example of why I heavily encourage learning by ear (yes sheet music can be a good supplement). One person says grace note, one says cut, one says trill……. it never ends ;)

and for reference if anyone is curious, I learned this tune by ear from a recording of the Beaton Family of Cape Breton.

Slainte and Laitch know it’s only a tool. The discussions on listening and learning by ear have been well learned by them long ago. Know who you’re speaking to, kiddo.

“Abrazos y besos” to Zina.

wow. well, nice to know that the users on this forum encourage open discussion and learning.

my comments were simply observations made by me and posted for others to consider a different opnion.

let me reiterate - opinion. that’s all.

and I don’t recall ever saying or implying that I “didn’t like” this transcription. in fact, oh wait - look at that - there are all of my comments right there! and it does not in fact say I disliked or did not “approve” of this transcription.

and as Slainte said, this sound file does not sound interesting at all. that’s because the midi programme used to read the files uses a classical approach to anything written as a roll.

and I don’t really see how arrogant jabs like “Know who you’re speaking to, kiddo” are conducive to a learning environment at all. did it ever occur to anyone that OTHER people read the comments on these tunes? that maybe comments may have been posted to address the general public.

Elitist attitudes are destructive and do nothing to foster the continuation of awesome traditions.
settle down.

I can certainly understand why you’re feeling defensive of your comments, however, it was the elitist attitude of your comments that got the reaction from three different people in the first place. You might take your own advice of your last paragraph.

If you’d bothered to find out something about the people who have posted, you’d know that all of us are very well aware that other people read the comments on these tunes, as well as everything else we’ve ever posted about in the past. “Know who you’re speaking to, kiddo” was not an arrogant jab, it was advice. For instance, you might try clicking on Slainte’s profile and finding out how many tunes he’s posted and how experienced he is before you decide he doesn’t realize that “other people read the comments on these tunes”.

And it might help if you learned that saying things like “I didn’t mean to insult” and then following up with “You seem a little defensive” isn’t going to get the results you probably had hoped to get.

“This isn’t really a good representation of the tune. I would call this the beginner’s interpretation. A lot of the triplets have been replaced with dotted quarters - which if played like that (sans triplets) really makes the tune sound EXTREMELY dull. This is a good general reference point though. Get a recording of a Cape Breton fiddler playing it and go from there.”

Good comment on the whole, and with some constructive direction, but you know print, it can easily come off harsher than intended, especially the digital SHOUT!? It would have come off well without the little addition of “ - which if played like that (sans triplets) really makes the tune sound EXTREMELY dull.” As most of us realize and aspire to, the basic contributions made here and valued by most are just that ~ ‘bare bones’… Then, some of us add variations and additions, usually in the ‘comments’, though sometimes we’ll give the tune twice through, first without any frills and then with a bit of what ‘might’ be done, or as we’ve transcribed it from a particular musician or recording.

This is what I’d hoped you might do, follow one with something constructive along those lines. I came back a few times to see if that might develop, but instead I see we’ve got you on the defence. I can promise you that neither Hiro (slainte) or Zina are of the basic nature to cause you insult in any way. Laitch has his moods, as do we all, but his suggestion was EXTREMELY CONSTRUCTIVE:

“Ornamented settings can be posted in the comments section. Why don’t you share your setting by posting it here in the comments?” ~ Laitch

That’s what I was hoping to see. A scrape once in awhile, well, that’s O.K., but shuff off the mood and attitude. We’re not elitists by any stretch. If we were we would only post ornate transcriptions of high detail that would only be of any use to folks similarly minded. Cape Breton or Eire, many of those fiddlers I was particularly fond of were spare with their ornaments and ‘extrusions’, valueing the melody more than the show they might make of it. But hey, we all love taking things to extremes now and then, but it is nice to come back to the basics in the end…

I hope you’ll consider adding a transcript here. I can promise you, that would be HIGHLY PRIZED…

Best of health to you and yours ~ and don’t read anything into these squiggles or print that wasn’t intended. This morning I’m not in a crabby mood or irritated by anything. I’m actually reading and thinking about The Battle of the Somme…

So, a somber mood… Oh yeah, when I started out here I did a lot of unintended SHOUTING ~ until folks came back at me, and not always with kindness… A ‘community’ is made of many types ~ saints, fools, kingpins, assholes, tramps, visionaries, fruit cakes ~ etc… 😉

of which you are definitely the latter 🙂

lol -- I was just thinking that I rather like fruitcake…

There you go, ‘c’, at least *someone* likes you 🙂

Is this the “not always with kindness” part, Dowsie? *smirk* The only thing I don’t like about fruitcake is the yucky green preserved fruit stuff….eeeeuuuurrghhhh

There’s no yuckie green stuff in any of the several recipes I have, including the porter cake versions (meaning with Guiness or any other darkish brew)… on the subject of ‘fruit cakes’, Dow qualifies, along with the nuts and candied fruit…

Yummy! Fruitcake party at c’s house come the holidays! 🙂

And none of that candied stuff for Zina, just choice dried fruits reconstituted by soaking them in lovely rum… Or maybe we should just drink that rather than soak the ruit and fruitcake in it? 🙂

‘ruit’? What’s a ‘ruit’?

That’s the side effect of soaking fruit in rum, it takes the ‘f’ out of it and it becomes ‘ruit’ and too much of it and your rooted too…

Hmmmm. C, how about sending me your very favorite fruitcake recipe? I’ve never found one that I like…

I wanna chocolate cake.

Now chocolate cake I can do, and that reminds me I owe my wife one ~ ‘diet’ put a hold on her birthday cake ~ but why not a chocolate fruitcake?

Cape Breton Island fiddle recordings ~

“Cape Breton Fiddle and Piano Music: The Beaton Family of Mabou”
Folkways / Smithsonian Recordings

Track 1: Andrea Beaton
Kinnon’s daughter / Donald Angus’s granddaughter

“The Heart of Cape Breton: Fiddle Music recorded Live along the Ceilidh Trail”
Folkways / Smithsonian Recordings

Track 9: Kinnon Beaton

“My Roots Are Showing”

track 2, second tune: Natalie MacMaster

well, I certainly hope you’re off experimenting in the kitchen, c… that sounds yummy to me. 🙂

Great lesson(s) to be learned here. NO CAPS, use correct musical terminology (which is always a positive when communicating on the internet) and eat fruitcake 🙂. Great tune by the way.

Celtic Music Interpretive Centre - Judique, Nova Scotia
http://www.celticmusiccentre.com/

Introduction to the Donald Angus Beaton Project
http://www.celticmusiccentre.com/collections/dab/index.htm

Welcome to Mabou: The Life and Music of Donald Angus Beaton
Biography: http://www.celticmusiccentre.com/collections/dab/bio.htm

Compositions by Donald Angus Beaton
http://www.celticmusiccentre.com/collections/dab/compositions.htm

“Thomas MacDonnell’s Strathspey” ~ includes sheet music (PDF) and two recordings (MP3s) by ~ Andrea Beaton, & The Beatons of Mabou…

This one was overdue for an update! When the first setting was posted (16 years ago), I was 10 years old!