Reel Béatrice reel

This gypsy-sounding tune crept into the IRTRAD repertoire, probably through Canadian fiddlers, and is now a mainstay wherever you find talented fiddlers with long fingers. That reach up to c’ and the dance between d sharp and f natural is sure to test the stretch in your left hand, all the while keeping the bow from spearing the player next to you during the frequent lively string crossings.

I’ve also heard this played in G minor, apparently to avoid that high c’ on fiddle. I have no idea what key might fit best on other trad instruments (accordion).

I wish you better luck than I’ve had trying to make this one click.

I guess this got popular through the Liz Carol album, I play it in Gm cause it’s easier on the fiddle. Although one time I played it in that key and was accused of playing it in "the easy key" (since when was Gmin the easy key compared to Amin??) I do know that this tune was a Quebecois fav & the name of the guy who probably wrote(or was known to play it) escapes me (I’m thinking Jean Carignon - but I know I’m wrong). This is a great showpiece tune.

This tune turns up on compilation CD’s for step dancing played on the accordion but I’m not sure if they stick to the Aminor. I Dont think this reel sounds right on anything but a fiddle. Not sure how it can be true trad but there is the gypsy flavour to it and does anyone know if travelling Romany Gypsies moved around enough to carry tunes from East Europe to Ireland???

It was my understanding, from a class on Indo-European languages, that Romany Gypsies originally (a long long time ago) came from India. This apparently because of stong similarities between Romany and Sanskrit - cognates, syntax, that sort of thing. Unfortunately I can’t give you any citations to check my data - the class was a long time ago and I didn’t read any books about it.

However, it the theory is true, a small jaunt between Eastern Europe and Ireland doen’t seem unreasonable.

The gypsies were/are in Ireland (moreso in England) but this is a Quebecois tune despite it’s eastern flavor. This tune entered the Irish Rep when Liz Carroll did it on her first album.

According to my dear departed Dad, we come from tinker stock, what his grandfather called "Irish gypsies," and pointing to the darker complexion, jet black hair, and dark eyes. It always sounded like the ethnocentrist rantings of an old man to me, but who knows. No one in my family even knows great-grandpa’s true given name….

I didn’t mean to start a debate about the Roms in Ireland, only to suggest the flavor of the tune, which falls into that category of French-Canadian, Central European sounding tunes, along with Crested Hens. If I had to guess, I too would think it was Quebecois in origin. Liz Carroll may have helped it into the IRTRAD mainstream, but I’d bet she learned it from someone with at least IRTRAD tendencies. What do her liner notes say? Anyone have that first album?

Check this out from the Fiddler’s Companion Resource:
REEL B

I have it as composed by Andre Alain. Another Quebecois tune called Beatrice is also in the minor key but with a distinctly different flavor as played by Omar Marcoux.

I have to admit that we Celtic Fiddlers don’t really want to see too much that will put us up into positions. I avoided everything that wasn’t in first position, over two flats in the Key Signature or over 3 sharps. That leaves Celtic Fiddlers only about a zillion tunes to play.

Reel Beatrice is a wonderful tune that should help you recover those skills if you ever had them.
Here is why:

Shifting into third position has a very clean entry point in the A part. The fourth measure is the ideal place to take it. Open E-str to the A then back and forth a couple of times. You not only got a chance to take your time jumping to it but you also got 2 chances to adjust your tuning if you were slightly sharp or flat.

Instead of hitting the high C in the C part. Just hit an open E - The tune makes more sense to me that way.

Mark

Actually, this tune is originally from Italy where it is called "Oggie Nevica". It is often played as an accordion tune in that country.

Great tune, but I’m a lazy cow so I learnt it in G minor to avoid the the inevitable botch up with the position change. First heard it when La Bottine came over to the Rock to play, but actually, it doesn’t sound very italian to me!

I’ve recently been looking at this great fun tune and would like to suggest a couple of ways of dealing with the high C in the 5th measure of the first part and the 4th measure of the third part.

First, you can train your hand to reach for that high C while remaining in the first position. In fact, this is standard training for the classical violinist. To enable this reach by the fourth finger (aka "little finger" or "pinky", depending where you live on this globe) the trick is to have the left hand position such that the thumb is opposite the gap between the first and second fingers, and if anything should be more opposite the second finger. The second finger is, for most people, the longest and strongest of the fingers, and when opposed by the thumb gives the whole hand better stability and balance. If the thumb opposes the first finger, you’ll probably find that reaching out with the fourth finger is that little bit more difficult. The hand and fingers should be relaxed. Gripping the fiddle neck tightly will stiffen the hand, so practise holding the fiddle as lightly as possible. The aim should be to slide the hand up and down the neck without effort. When you can do this the reach with the fourth finger to the C from the first position shouldn’t pose a problem.

You may notice I’ve used the word "reach" rather than "stretch". This is deliberate. "Stretch" has negative connotations; it implies that you can’t quite reach something so you have to stretch for it, with the further implication that straining and off-balance may be involved. On the other hand, if you "reach" for something you know it is within your grasp and you don’t have to stretch and strain for it. "Reach" therefore has positive and agreeable connotations. I used this choice of words to good effect some years ago when I was a cello coach to a junior orchestra.

The alternative to reaching for the high C is to slide up into the second position, which is easy if the hand is relaxed, and to an observer from the Trad Fiddle Police Force will be scarcely noticeable 🙂

I suggest the position change and fingering for playing the high C in the first part as follows: in the fourth measure slide the hand into the second position so that the 2nd finger is on the A. It’s your personal preference where in this measure you do this, as long as the 2nd finger ends up on the last A in the measure. Then play the B with the 3rd finger. Coming into the 5th measure the C should lie under the 4th finger. As you come down the scale on the E-string use the fingering 4-3-2-2-1-0 and then 3-2 on the A -string as normal. Note that on the E-string you slide from the A to the G (and so back into the first position) using the 2nd finger on both notes, because it is a strong and stable finger.

Similarly, in the 3rd part of the tune, slide the 1st finger on the final B in the 3rd measure up onto the C on the A-string in the 4th measure. Your hand is now in the second position and you use exactly the same fingering to come down the scale from the high C as you do in the 1st part of the tune. Again, you’re sliding from the A to the G using the 2nd finger.

An alternative way of playing that descending scale is to play the C down to the G with the fingering 4-3-2-1 (that is, you don’t slide the 2nd finger from the A to the G) and then play F-C on the A-string using the fingering 4-3-2-2. Here you’ll be sliding from the D to the C using the 2nd finger and you’ll be back in the first position. It’s a personal choice if you use this alternative fingering; the only thing is that you won’t be using the open E in the descending scale so there may be a slight loss of brilliance, AND it looks a bit more classical in style (many classical players have a phobia about playing the open E too much because orchestral conductors shout at them for doing so!)

As with learning any new technique, moving in and out of the 2nd position is no different - practise it slowly and it will soon come.

Trevor

I play it in G minor, because personally I think it’s easier. what do u lot think?

This wonderful tune introduced me to The Session - heard Sharon Shannon play it, wondered where I could find it, searched the Internet and happened onto The Session. Truly impressed. Joined up, downloaded the music, read the fascinating comments. All this happened yesterday. Today I more or less learnt the tune, I trust Sharon doesn’t mind me playing along.

Only thing is, I’ve learnt it on the whistle (I also play squeezebox, but I reckon Sharon rules the territory on that one). Very interesting that the posted comments are mostly from fiddle players, and Odono goes so far as to say it doesn’t sound right on anything but the fiddle. I can see that - classy tune, technically demanding, strings and fingers everywhere. Sharon makes it sound amazing on squeezebox, but she’s on a different planet.

It actually falls surprisingly nicely onto the whistle. Most of the accidentals are in good places, and we don’t have to do the awesome high C stretch you fiddlers have to cope with - we just blow harder. The span of over two octaves means it doesn’t actually fit on the whistle (which helps to explain Odono’s comment), so we have to switch octaves - but whistle players are used to that anyway, and it’s only at the start of the tune, so most of it can be played as written.

Sharon actually plays it in Bm, which is a top D for fiddlers - hmm. The Gm / Am / Bm debate is academic for whistlers, who just pick up a different whistle (I’m very impressed by musicians whose instruments require both playing AND tuning). One thing whistlers and fiddlers do share in Reel Beatrice is the test of that octave jump to the top note, a true leap of faith which has to be performed with total conviction or not at all. It can be reached sweetly on the Feodog, rather more brassily on the Susato (it’s a mood thing). As Mark points out, there’s about a zillion Celtic tunes that manage to be amazing without putting that kind of demand on their performers!! Maybe that’s why Reel Beatrice presents such an interesting challenge.

I’d certainly be very interested in reading any postings from musicians who’ve managed to do anything with Beatrice on squeezebox or whistle.

slainteJD

I began to learn this tune from Liz Caroll’s first album. She plays it in G minor. I think the open G string for the bottom accents are much more powerful than a fingered low A would be, so I will happily transpose the sheetmusic I found here today. (Yippie)
I’m playing to play this as the exit piece for my brother and his bride in their wedding. It’s been tough to learn without sheetmusic, I’ll admit. Dang Liz is fast!!

I first heard this from Kris Drever at a session, then got hold of Anna Massie’s recording, so to me it is a guitar tune!

I’ve just been trying out some fingerings on mandolin. These may not necessarily work as well on the fiddle.

For the A-part, I start the same way as Trevor, moving the 2nd finger to the high A, thus playing the A-B-C-B-A-G on the E-string with 2-3-4-3-2-1, playing the F on the A-string with the 4th finger, but then playing the open E string, thus freeing up the left hand to return to 1st position for the remainder of the A-part.

For the B-part, I start with the first finger on the high A, and play the F on the A-string with the 3rd finger, the B on the E-string with the 2nd finger, moving the 1st finger over to the A-string for the D#. (Playing in this position avoids an awkward downward jump of an augmented 4th from B to F on the E-string). Then there are two options:
1. Play the F-E-D#-E with 3-2-1-2 on the A-string. Play the high A again with 1 on the E-string and then the E on the open string, moving back to first position for the next phrase, and back to the high position on the high A;
2. As option 1, but instead of playing the E on the A-string , play the open E-string, toggling back and forth between the A- and E-strings for F-E-D#-E.

For the C-part, play the first three bars in 1st position, but slide the 1st finger up to play the C on the A-string, then begin the descending run from high C with the 4th finger, 4-3-2-1, playing the F on the A-string with the 4th finger, the open E-string, then the D with the 3rd finger on the A-string, thus returning to 1st position.

Alternatively, you can move to the higher position at the beginning of bar 3 of the C-part, 1st finger on the D and the G, B and middle C played with 1, 3, and 5 respectively on the D-string. The descending run from high C is then begun with the 3rd finger, moving the 4th finger over to the A-string for the G. The E, again, can be played on the open string, allowing you to return to 1st position.

Of course, all this works in theory, but it’ll take me years of practice to be able to actually do it. There’s those that can and those that teach… except I can’t teach either.

With a discussion of youtube videos of this tune going on here:
https://thesession.org/discussions/17112#comment356275

I thought I’d hunt up a version of the Italian polka, Oggi Nevica, from whence Reel Beatrice derives. There’s an arrangement here:
http://www.gruppoemiliano.it/violini/esercizi/OggiNevica/OggiNevicaAccompagnamento.pdf
for four violins and cello, from which I’ve taken the 1st violin part as the melody. The structure is AABBACCA, which I’ve written out in more detail than in the source. I’m afraid the ABCs won’t be very readable, so you’ll probably need an ABC program or converter to view it.

X:1
T:Oggi Nevica
M:2/4
L:1/8
R:Polka
K:AMin
A,/B,/|:CA, EC|AE z A/B/|cA ec|ae z a/b/|
c’/b/a/g/ f/e/d/c/|Be z e/f/|ed cB|[1 cA z A,/B,/:|[2 A2 z a/a/||
|:a/^g/g/b/ bf/f/|f/e/e/a/ ac/d/|e/f/e/d/ c/d/c/B/|
[1cA z a/a/:|[2 A2 z A,/B,/||CA, EC|AE z A/B/|cA ec|ae z a/b/|
c’/b/a/g/ f/e/d/c/|Be z e/f/|ed cB|A2 e/d/c/B/||
|:cG E/G/c/e/|cG E/G/c/e/|dB G/B/d/B/|[1 cg/f/ e/d/c/B/:|
[2 c2 z A,/B,/||CA, EC|AE z A/B/|cA ec|ae z a/b/|
c’/b/a/g/ f/e/d/c/|Be z e/f/|ed cB A2|]

That wasn’t hard to read. Who needs the dots, eh? 😉 Now for you in knee britches and a bouffant hairstyle? 😏

Is that the latest fashion from Milano?

Just learned it last week. I love it although I cannot put all the accents I want on it yet.

You can find free sample from Natalie MacMaster recording following this link:

http://nataliemacmaster.calabashmusic.com/

and see the dots of her version (quiet different to my hear) here:

http://www.nataliemacmaster.com/recordings/sheetmusic.htm

hi everyone
has any one got some really nice chords for this reeL in AMINOR cheers guys

eddie

http://www.cpmusic.com/tradgif/reelbeat.gif

I’ve got some in Em. You could just transpose them for Amin if you want them. Now, whether they’re nice or not’s up to yourself but yeah…

Great tune, by the way!!! One of my favourites.

I recorded Reel Beatrice a few years ago with banjo, mandolin & guitar. If I remember rightly the high C took about 3,000 takes! I followed it with Tamlin, Woodchopper’s Reel and Man of the House. If you’re interested it’s listed as ‘Reels’ at www.myspace.com/joelmcdermottmusic

This tune is fairly easily played in the key of Aminor on a B/C Irish button or a C/G Anglo concertina. Gminor works on the Anglo concertina as well. The only chords I would use in accompanying this tune are Am, Dm, E, C, and G.

This is the uillean pipes version Marc Pollier plays in CD "Reeds ans Hammers" with Dominique Manchon on piano :

X: 38
T: Reel Béatrice
R: reel
O: Jos Bouchard
D:version de Marc Pollier
D: tr O.Bouchard
M: C|
L: 1/8
K:Bm
~D2BD F2DF|BFFE F2 Bc|d2Bd ~f2df|bffe f2bc’| d’c’ba gfed|ceed e3e|f~f2g fedc|1 dBBA ~B3c:|2 dBBA Bcdf||
b2gb c’g~g2|gf^ef b3g|f2^ef gff=e|dedc Bcdf|b2gb c’g~g2|gf^ef b3g|f~f2g fedc|1dB~B2 Bcdf:|2 B4 A2Bc||
dA~A2 FAdf|dA~A2 FAdf|ec{d}c{B}c Acec|defb agfe|dA~A2 FAdf|dA~A2 FAdf|ec{d}c{B}c Acec|1 dcde dABc:|2 dcde d2Bc||

I’ve heard this piece recorded by Liz Carroll, and I was completely delighted of it. I’m from Slovakia and I love slovak trad. music as well as irish, and this tune sounds in my (and not only my) opinion absolutely slovak in harmony.

Shane Cook plays it in Am, very fast.

Sharon Shannon plays this in Bm

I think you’ll find she’s playing it in Am on a C#/D box, which is why it sounds like it’s in Bm.

"I think you’ll find she’s playing it in Am on a C#/D box, which is why it sounds like it’s in Bm."

I think you’ll find that (if you read it again) what you have written there is complete nonsense.

If it sounds like it’s in Bm, it is in Bm, and if it is in Bm, she’s playing it in Bm!

B/C is not the only game in town any longer, ya know! 😀

Trevor suggested:
"the position change and fingering for playing the high C in the first part as follows: in the fourth measure slide the hand into the second position so that the 2nd finger is on the A…. Then play the B with the 3rd finger. Coming into the 5th measure the C should lie under the 4th finger. As you come down the scale on the E-string use the fingering 4-3-2-2-1-0 and then 3-2 on the A -string as normal."

Wow, I always avoided 2nd position, but this makes the tune SO much easier. I always meant to learn it but the high notes scared me off before.

i don’t play well at all myself but i am looking for my daughter who has 10 years of lessons under her belt. a few friends have FINALLY gotten her playing with people and love the irish /gypsy almost mediterranian sound of this tune as played on the soundtrack. just trying to find a mandolin/ fiddle/ guitar arrangement for them to give a try.. any ideas?
thought maybe i could find the sheet music for the soundtrack in a book but alas no luck there. unless anyone knows of such a book? thank you

I know we keep talking about this being in Am, but to my mind it is actually in three keys. The A is in Am then the B switches to Bm and finally the C part is in C. At least that is the chord structure my band uses. I play this on a six key Irish flute and these keys it is a challenge, but fun.

Looking for that Italian polka as mentioned, here’s a fellow playing it on PA. Makes sense it would have come from this to me… Still doesn’t answer who wrote it, though?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpKQQqeyY78

play video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srJl87TOhwk

play video

From http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/REE_RH.htm:

“Reel Béatrice” was popularized among Québec musicians by fiddler Joseph Bouchard (to whom the tune is often attributed). He recorded it in 1938.

According to Paul M. MacDonald, the original reel began as a polka from the Ballo Liscio dance repertoire called “Oggi Nevica” (which means ‘today it snows’), played by Riccardo Tesi, an Italian accordion player.

The structure of the tune is that of a reel, although the melody approaches one considered suitable for a Galop. However, it is in the style of the 19th century bal musette, and many of these polkas, waltzes and mazurkas were characteristically in three parts, two in minor keys, with a contrasting trio section in the major.

Bruno Kowalczyk (Harmonica):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHlOyu0uCmg

play video

Patti Kusturok (fiddle):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq_5s8aZd68

play video

Katy Adelson (fiddle):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdDXde6wUl8

play video

Brigitte Ouellet (fiddle), Will Lynch (accordion), Robbie Bankes (guitar) … picks up @ 1 min 25s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD0DlIhS3fQ

play video

From https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Reel_B%C3%A9atrice:

Lisa Ornstein notes that it is still popular in the Emilia Romagna region of northeastern Italy where the “liscio” (ballroom dancing) repertory includes polkas and mazurkas. Bouchard appears to have picked it up from Jean-Paul Beaulieu (clarinettist of the Laurentian Montagnards) who ‘discovered’ the tune ans shared it with his band the Laurentian Montagnards.

The tune called “Beatrice” in the Omer Marcoux collection is not “Reel Béatrice” but apparently a tune entitled “Carnival,” although the tunes share somewhat similar structures and chord patterns.

… Have come across this one being called "Carnival", so that’s probably where the mis-naming came from.

A whistle-friendlier setting.

Put sharps where possible, to avoid some awkward half holing on the D-whistle. Dropped some passing notes. And avoided the c-to-high-c in the 4th bar of the C Part by replacing the 2nd-octave-c with an e-note.

Have octave jumped all except the last two notes of the first two bars of the A Part. This makes it flow better than just octave jumping the low A’s, B’s, and C’s. Works on top of the counterpart-lower notes, leads to a nice chording effect for the first two bars if someone else plays the low notes.

Another whistle-friendlier setting. Minor changes from the previous one.

Chord-ed those beginning low-notes (whistles & flutes play the high ones), put in a few alternative notes here and there.

After three decades playing tenor banjo in GDAE tuning, I decided to learn the Gerry O’Connor style of
CGDA tuned tenor banjo. It is a lot of fun, and this reel is perfect for the CGDA banjo
(the high c that scares the fiddlers is no problem — it is only at the third fret of the A string!).
But we have to eliminate notes below C, so I have slightly modified the X:1 setting to get rid of the
low A and B by "folding" some of the A’s and changing some of the transitions.

Am flute version (eb & fnat key required). Inspired by the playing of Liz Caroll.
I find it nicer to stay in the low octave the first 2 bars than repeating twice the same phrase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMht9DaRMmA

play video

Like many others, I’ve always played this tune in Gm, but I thought I’d try it in Am. It seems to work quite well.

This is the same as setting #1 in Am, except that I’ve added fiddle fingering on bar #4 and bar #5 to simplify playing the high C on the E string. It just goes from 1st to 2nd position, and there’s only a single semitone shift in bar #4, so in that respect it’s not demanding at all.

I was initially just going to show the two bars in question, but then you’d need to scroll up to the top to see the whole tune, so I’ve just put the abc for the full tune, which is setting #1.

Further links to the tune Oggi nevica
(‘before’ it became known as ‘Reel Béatrice’) which has been played as a polka in the Savena valley (in the Emilia region of Italy, centered around Bologna).

Most of the youtube links below are to records of field recordings or of artists from that region where the fiddle the accordion and the clarinet all loom large.

I’ve enjoyed them all. We’re a long way from Liz Carroll’s 1988 version… It sounds all very exotic in comparison.
But a common fiery passion and ‘invitation to dance’ pervade all these highly musical renditions. Nice! Que bello! Super!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_166q2FJNhQ

play video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Maa97Hht2A&pbjreload=101

play video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMvmkUXkS1g

play video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfBP4aVZ71M

play video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ql0DE_xRVg

play video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K16_k2HGCtc

play video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U54l5vuxdMY

play video