The Kid On The Mountain slip jig

I’m usually too busy trying to remember which part comes next in this tune to think about ornamentation.

This tune can be quite tricky to play at speed, so it might be a good idea to play less notes instead of trying to fit in more. Triplets, such as BGB or GFG, can be played as one long note (B and G in this case).

Figuring out a good accompaniment for this tune might be difficult. Slip Jigs are hard enough to play along with at the best of times, and the constant change of key from E minor to G major makes it doubly tricky.

On the low whistle, I’ve found this song works quite well with ornamentation at speed. My version is slightly different, but the harder parts (near the end) are basically the same.

AS for the accompaniment, I have some pretty decent chords for it. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to just type them out here.but the first repeat is all Em and D, changing up

The second repeat is all G and D

and the third is Em D and G

Great tune and as Jeremy sez: you can play less.
I once sat near a young girl that played E3F3G2z|z3z3z3:| on the A music and B3A3G2z|z3z3z3:| on the B. I didn’t notice what happened after that ‘coz I got kinda busy ;->

This the basic "call and reponse" pattern which gives a lot of riffy energy and if you learn measures 2 & 4, you have roughly half the tune.

Now, here’s some things you can do when it gets stale:

The 1st measure gets played by sliding up to the E3 then FEF etc. ALso EDE FEF or (where " ~ " = long roll) ~E ~F G2 D|

In the B Music I like to play BGGAFFG2D on the first measure and BGGAFFG2d| on the third, which gives it a pipey feel.

C: Long Rolls on the high g’s at the first beats. If you’re into "Program" music, think of it as the bleating cabrito.
Or slide down to the (very sharp f and back up)

D: In the mid eighties, I used to hear a bowed triplet on the first beats e3)BBB. I tried for about 2 years and asked some of the Big Shots at various workshops how to do it. They all said "Don’t" . I noticed myself doing it last Saturday. Some others did as well, and when asked I said "Don’t".

E: I’m not aware of any thing specific that gets done with this last section, except to vary the phrasing on those lovely cascading triplets. IMO this might be one place to vary measures 2&4, but nothing specific springs to mind.

I was playing it Saturday because it was requested, I generally don’t start it at sessions anymore, because I lately it seems like nobody plays it. I could understand it if it was the poseurs smirk like the tune has passed on. It’s that look of horrified fascination like I was balanced on a candlestick juggling various sharp objects that gets me.

So please, please ,PLEASE learn it. If Iwanted to play alone, I could do that at home.

OOPs, in the B part: BDD ADD GDD for the "pipey" feel.

Anyone know the 6th part? Or does anyone actually play it?

The only time I’ve encountered the 6th part is in "O’Neill’s 1001", and in over 30 years of hearing this tune in sessions and on recordings, I’ve never actually heard anyone play it. I quite like it. You could post the "abcs" here in the comments section, for academic interest, I suppose.

I’ve just been listening to the Irish Dance site mentioned recently in the Discussions section, and Andy McGann plays the 6th part there (on a wonderful recording of this tune). First time I’ve ever heard it played.

|: B,EE eBG E2 E | B,EE EFG AFD | | B,EE EBG E2 G/A/ | BAG FAG FED :|

Where’d that extra bit come from in the middle ~ | |
Here is the same part with a bit more bounce and minus the extra divider:

|: B,EE E2 G E2 E | B,2 E E2 G AF/E/D | B,EE EGG E2 G | B2 G A2 G FED :|

Just a few more options and choices if you choose to, including the sixth part with another turn of the spit from me ~

K: e minor
|: E3 FEF G2 F | E2 E BcA BGE | E^DE F^EF G2 A | BAG F/G/AG FED :|
|: B2 B AF/G/A G2 D | G2 B dge dBA | BG/A/B AFA G2 A | BAG FAG F2 D :|
|: g*fg eBe e2 f | g2 g ee/f/g afd | gag eB/^c/d e2 g/a/ | bag f/g/ag f2 d :|
|: eBB e2f g>fg | e2 B efg a>fd | eBB e2f g2 a | b>ag fag fed :|
|: edB d2 A G3 | G2 B dge dB/c/d | e2 B dBA G2 A | BB/A/G F>AG FED :|
|: B,EE EcA B2 ^A | B,EE E2 F/G/ AFD | | B,2 E EE/F/G A2 G | B2 G A2 G F>GA :|

*f ~ that little bit extra sharpness, like a good mature farmhouse cheddar…

Here’s the 6th part as played by Andy McGann (taken from the track on http://www.juneberry78s.com/sounds/ListenToIrishDance.htm
as discussed here a few days ago (https://thesession.org/discussions/10140):

B,EE EDE G2 E | B,EE EDE DB,A, |B,EB, EDE G2 A | BAG FAG FED :||

Corrections welcome.


Pippa

Nice one Pippa, thanks…

‘Juneberry78s’ is a favourite site of mine…

http://www.juneberry78s.com/

Irish Dance Music from the 1920s - 1970s (Pippa’s link):
Kid on the Mountain ~ Andy McGann
http://www.juneberry78s.com/sounds/ami15.mp3

It just seems to make much more sense with 6 notes in the bar not 9, try tapping your foot every nine semiquavers, it feels weird! the only trouble with 6/8 is that each part is then only 6 bars long, its hard to know what this tune is!

It’s a slip jig, and no, tapping your foot to it and forcing it into a straight jacket as 6/8 DOES NOT WORK!!! Stop sniffing glue, it’s bad for your health and your music making… :-/

just tap once for every three eight notes i.e 3 times per measure not nine other wise your foot may fall off.

2nd tune in this set:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLeCLRK8Ws8

play video

Anyone ever transcribed the cool variations / ornamentations in the Planxty version? I love how Liam plays it…

Hi everybody,

Don’t know if this can be called a closely related subject, but :

Kid on the Mountain was printed by Breandan Breathnach’s Vol. 2
-(Ceol Rince na’ Eireann) - version by Seamus Ennis,

——In the notes he wrote a source for song lyrics to this Slip-jig
(a bit like when words were added to "Rocky Road To Dublin",
but not well-known at all) :
—-
The song title was " The Bottle of Wine " the singer was one
P. O Lochlainn (or in de Grae’s translation: P. O’ Loughlin (Largy),
(from Miltown Malbay, County Clare) ,
my guess is:
it was collected in the same year as Seamus Ennis’ version - year 1959.

Here is the conclusion: " Irish Traditional Music Archive " (ITMA)
has the whole Breathnach collection of notation "and"
field recordings that he transcribed (almost a guess),
but it seems only direct visits to the archive will yield anything.

Anyone who knows something about it ?

http://www.itma.ie/contact/contact-the-archive (it is well beyond my reach, and telephone isn’t their option.)

Reg,

—(even if it looks like much text above, surprisingly little info is there
- it’s just the keyboard…)

—————-
RE: @natepedersen - (a little late answer…)
You mean this version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVgBMxmvzzs ?

play video

(The Well below the Valley, 1973)

from what I can think of at the moment:

find specific transcriptions that hasn’t found their ways to the session, I mostly use this:

http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/tunefind

or

Bill Black abc (search query)
or

Kid on the Mountain Planxty filetype:abc

,or a very time-consuming Google search (some of the abc sites aren’t easy to find -
using terms such as:
Planxty abc Kid on the mountain notation (not necessarily all the words at once)

and of course , searching through Henrik Norbeck’s abc slip jig - tunebooks.
gives many ornamention and variation ideas (at least last time I looked).
it helps with some Midi playback.

Remember that none of the above "search"- examples are easy at all, it is like learning an
instrument, one gets good at practising often enough, no more and no less.

Any one recommend a good tune to go with this

This one + https://thesession.org/tunes/879 is a common pairing.

Never heard An Phis Fhliuch paired with the Kid. Well, not in a session. I must have heard recorded versions. I don’t much like the pairing, and would far rather just leave the tune to stand by itself. It’s a good enough tune not to need another to go with it.

And it definitely doesn’t need The Butterfly*. :-(


*Good tune in itself, but I’d rather it wasn’t paired with this.

https://thesession.org/recordings/649

Yeah, I know about that one, Kenny. And, as far as I’m concerned, he can do what he likes, it’ll be fine by me. :-) Doesn’t mean to say I’ll look for it in a session though.

I don’t know what to play after KOTM, and never ask myself the question (!), but playing "Dever the dancer aka Humours of whiskey" ( https://thesession.org/tunes/148 ) before it does the thing. But from where did I learn that ?…

For interest - a bit of research lead to results:
-The recording exists and the performer is Patrick (Pat) O’ Loughlin (known as Largie). He was a member of the Milford House Ceili Band from 1937 into the 1940s (when the band broke up ?)
The song version is titled ’ The Bottle of Wine ‘. (I just hope the lyrics can match the quality of the tune… if a singer like Luke Kelly picks it up it maybe will not matter, but a nice set of verses would be welcome).

@ to add to the latest replies in this thread, ’ the Pretty Girls of Mayo - reel ’ https://thesession.org/tunes/1954

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDkqH-SOgTc

play video

This setting is probably the longest version of The Kid on the Mountain; it appears in P.W. Joyce’s Old Irish Music and Songs (1909), vol. 3, p. 265, No. 479, as Bogadh Faoi Shúsa, Bugga Fee Hoosa.
Joyce gives the following comment about this “Hop Jig” : “A favourite Munster dance-tune. […] The version given here (in eight parts) from Mr. Deasy (through Forde) is the one universally known in Munster.”
This setting is actually in 10 parts as Joyce inserted “The next part is the first part played an octave higher” and “The next part is the second part played an octave highter” after the 3rd part. I have inserted these 2 parts.
The 1st bar of the 2nd part was BcB ABA G2; I corrected it like this BcB ABA G2A (same thing for the 5th part, an octave higher) because there no G3 elsewhere.
None of the 10 parts is identical to the parts published in O’Neill.
Enjoy !

If anyone’s interested I made an arrangement for this tune with piano, low whistle, and bodhran. https://youtu.be/aj21uAgMl9s

play video

The way I like to play it :) (based on a random version I found online)

Although we played it a bit too fast, here is Barde’s version of KOTM from the 1978 album "Images", complete with the tricky (for bowing) 6th part, which, just to be cute, we used at the beginning.