>>> Yes, and Calliope House doesn't sound as good in D, as it does in E. >> Quite right, and it lies well on the fiddle in E as well. I've never >> understood why one would bother to put it into D. > The Irish flute guys put it into D so they could play it.
I hear it played in D by fiddlers more often than by fluteplayers; seems a lot of fiddlers are put off by the *idea* of four sharps but don't actually check how hard the tune is to play. With a good flute it shouldn't be at all hard in E. My 8-key flute has a rubbish second-register G sharp unless I use the G# key, but a recently made Irish keyless or one-key flute should play the whole thing as easily as in D, if the player can simply get over that key signature anxiety. It's hexatonic, there isn't even a D# to worry about. As with the fiddle, the high Bs and Es in the tune will come out with a brighter tone than if you make them As and Ds. Irish fluteplayers are remarkably unambitious about the key, range and size/complexity of the music they play (cue plug for my Scots flute music CD-ROM, which takes the flute to places beyond Captain O'Neill's imaginings). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760 <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack> * food intolerance data & recipes, Mac logic fonts, Scots traditional music files and CD-ROMs of Scottish music. ----> off-list mail to "j-c" rather than "scots-l" at this site, please <---- Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
