Hangman’s reel

This tune has kept me amused over the years. I still find it tricky to play, especially the plucked string bit. Never quite figured out how to do that. Perhaps, some one will show me some day.
Occasionally, I come close to making it sound right with the fiddle tuned to A E A C#.
I first heard it played by the french canadian fiddler, Jean Carignan on a vinyl recording and became hooked on his wild style of playing.
http://www.udenap.org/groupe_de_pages_06/reel_du_pendu.htm
Aly Bain plays a very good version which can be heard on the Kennedy Centre Website
http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/artist_detail.cfm?artist_id=ALYBAIN
Also, heard it called ‘Le reel de pendu’, which to my ears sounds the same as the ‘Hangmans Reel’.
A fiddle player from Canada called Chris Ricker had a really good version free to download from his website, although I no longer think it’s available.
John Kirk plays a nice old timey version in straight tuning on his website.
http://www.johnandtrish.com/sounds.html
Don’t shoot the messenger.

Yep, You need to be “scordaturated” to play this one. Here is a version posted earlier:

https://thesession.org/tunes/2528

Carignan’s rendition is crazy indeed, I have seen him play it on the documentary recorded by Office Nationale du Film du Canada in 1975

This tune is played as a pols in Norway, in the A-E-A-C# tuning, complete with the pizzicato, under the name of “Fandens polsdans” or “The Devil’s Pols Dance”. It seems to have originated in Nord-Østerdalen and is played on both hardingfele and flat fiddle. Aly Bain acknowledges this too.

Hi, i wonder if you could help meout. Im playing the hangmans reel in A for my A level performance, but I need a tune that I could play before it as it doesnt show off enough skills on its own. I would normally play my own tune which is a slow jig also in A but we cant play our own compositions for the exam, so i need another tune. Could anyone recomend me a slow jig in A that I could play? Thanks it would be a real help!!

It doesn’t allow you to show sufficient skills? Assuming you’re not winding us up, the mind boggles.

Have you heard Jean Carignan playing the tune? If not, you definitely should. Some clips on YouTube I think. If you can’t find any contact me by email and I’ll send you an audio clip.

Carignan uses scordatura tuning of course, AEAc#.

It’s hard to thing of a slow jig that would allow you to show off more, especially if you used the same tuning.

BTW correctly (if we’re talking about the same tune) you should call it “The hanged man’s reel” - the French title is “Le reel du pendu”, not “Le reel du bourreau”.

Good luck with the exam!

I’m not sure what “skills” you are referring to. If a musician has a sufficiently high level of skill I would have thought that would get through to the examiner no matter what music they were playing. Or are the examiners looking for specific technical gymnastics like high position playing, fast cross-string bowings, high-speed coordination between fingers and bow, clean chord playing, and the like?

err, we just have to show a contrast in peice, so the hangmans reel shows really fast showy-offy sttuf, with plucking and double stopping, i need to show them that I can also play with expression, slow music with vibrato and stuff, I just need that contrast,. Plus it sounds really good, changing from the slow piece into the fast.
Thanks

Are you playing Hangman’s in standard tuning, or are you after something that will work in the altered tuning?

This is a nice slowish jig in A major

https://thesession.org/tunes/8639

I suppose we’ll have to forgive you the vibrato bit if it’s required for an A level performance exam 🙂

Personally, I love this version of the tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtm0aXML5_M

play video

“BTW correctly (if we’re talking about the same tune) you should call it ”The hanged man’s reel“ - the French title is ”Le reel du pendu“, not ”Le reel du bourreau“.”

Ah Ha …………. that’s interesting. Thanks Jeeves. 🙂

Cheers
Dick

Drunken Hiccups
same tuning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vRQqYjpMxA

play video

o’sullivan’s march

the Ali Bain version in the link above is right at the end of the video.

that said, you should watch it all, splendid

The setting I’ve posted here is popular with old-time fiddlers in the Nashville area. It’s quite a bit simpler than “Reel Du Pendu” and in fact bears little resemblance to that tune begging the question: Are they in fact meant to be separate tunes? Is “Hangman’s Reel” supposed to be the same as “Reel of the Hanged Man”? It would make a big difference after all to members of the hanging party!

Here is the 6-part setting from Pierre Laporte, on the album Les Épousailles (1981) of La Bottine Souriante (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3rtsv), which is kind of a mix between the versions from André Alain and Jean Carignan.
Dotted notes on Part E are left-hand pizzicati. You can do the full descent in a Jean Carignan’s way if you dare 🙂

Jean Carignan playing (also called Reel du Pendu)
AMAZING!
Don’t think it’s possible to play it better.

https://youtu.be/gT3DctGzUhI

play video