Hello Derek'
In a way you've answered your own question.
G & D drones would presumably have been used originally for these tunes
as they probably precede the development of tuning beads but they don't
sound right to many people.
Here is what Forster Charlton, Colin Ross and Roland Wright put in the
introduction to the second edition to the NPS 1st Tune Book:
"Small Coals and Little Money and Cuckold Come Out The Amrey are in an
unusual mode for which the drones should be tuned to the notes A and E.
Any drone which will not tune to either of these two notes is best shut
off!"
Personally, I agree - others don't.
As for speed it is probably an age thing but slower (allowing pulse to
permeate through the tune butters my parsnip) these days (wasn't always
so). I've put a clip here
[1]http://http://www.robbpipes.com/Hesleyside-Spoots for people
unfamiliar with this lovely pulse (again not all agree but it is the
quintessential Northumbrian way of doing it). Two of the players are
from 'The Shepherds' and were the best exponents of the real old
country style of playing which cut across all instruments (including
pipes) in their part of the county.
Hope this helps
Best wishes
Anthony
From: DEREK LOFTHOUSE
To: nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu
Sent: Tuesday, 14 August 2012, 14:36
Subject: [NSP] small coals, and the peacock following the hen
I decided to play through the contents of the first 30 tunes book,
just to see how many of them i actually knew, or could play.
Fortunately i've played most of them. There are only 2 that i had never
looked at, as the title suggests, Small coals and little money, and the
Peacock followed the hen.
Both of these appear to be what (I think) Matt calls bi-modal.
switching between G and A minor, they sort of resolve to G, although
the g drones (to me anyway) dont always seem to work. What drones do
people use on these tunes? Also how fast should they be played. I've
heard the Tickel version of small coals, but should it really be that
fast?
thanks in advance
Derek
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References
1. http://http//www.robbpipes.com/Hesleyside-Spoots
2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html