[NSP] Re: Ending tunes traditionally
Richard I'm not going to answer your question directly, but draw your attention to the difference in aesthetic between Harmonic Direction and Harmonic Proportion. And rather than elaborate here now, add that I have pondered this long and hard and given the results of my ponderings with musical examples in a 14-page Appendix in the new Master Piper edition. Matt -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[NSP] Re: Ending tunes traditionally
Hello Richard I have to bow to Matt's much greater academic knowledge on this one but I still offer a lesser mortal's thoughts: The old guys I played with were dance driven and would invariably resolve tunes in the manner you describe. As far as my own preference is concerned I find certain tunes cry out for resolution (Lads of Alnwick for example) whilst I like others 'left in the air' (such as The Keelman Ower Land, Sir John Fenwick's the Flower Amang Them All). On singing tunes through in my head to check this I think there might be a pattern emerging. Perhaps tunes ending in fast passages need resolution but slower ones sound quite grittily scrumptious with a long E, for example, against GD drones. Again this is a personal feeling. After all that has been said about a living/evolving tradition I would not be comfortable giving a definitive answer but hope this helps a bit. As my nana would often say, just please your Bessie! Anthony -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[NSP] Re: Ending tunes traditionally
And, bowing to Anthony's greater experience of kirn suppers, this lesser mortal's thoughts are pretty much the same as his about ending such tunes - dancers expect an ending, listeners can happily sit in the air. Felton Lonnen for ex. would IMO be awful with a 'resolution' on the tonic. On Sat, Jun 18, 2011 at 11:28 AM, Anthony Robb [1]anth...@robbpipes.com wrote: Hello Richard I have to bow to Matt's much greater academic knowledge on this one but I still offer a lesser mortal's thoughts: The old guys I played with were dance driven and would invariably resolve tunes in the manner you describe. As far as my own preference is concerned I find certain tunes cry out for resolution (Lads of Alnwick for example) whilst I like others 'left in the air' (such as The Keelman Ower Land, Sir John Fenwick's the Flower Amang Them All). On singing tunes through in my head to check this I think there might be a pattern emerging. Perhaps tunes ending in fast passages need resolution but slower ones sound quite grittily scrumptious with a long E, for example, against GD drones. Again this is a personal feeling. After all that has been said about a living/evolving tradition I would not be comfortable giving a definitive answer but hope this helps a bit. As my nana would often say, just please your Bessie! Anthony -- To get on or off this list see list information at [2]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. mailto:anth...@robbpipes.com 2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[NSP] Re: Ending tunes traditionally
Having done a lot of dancing and playing for dancing, allow me to suggest that the decision might depend on whether or not there are a bunch of sweaty people out there in front of you saying, That didn't sound like the end of the tune. Should I bow/curtsie? Or keep dancing? If there are dancers, end on a tonic whenever possible. Alec MacLean In a message dated 6/18/2011 1:43:28 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, rich...@lizards.force9.co.uk writes: There are many tunes, especially slip jigs, and quite a few Peacocks, which as written, end on a note that implies we're about to go back to the beginning and start again, but isn't really in itself an endi- ... Many players stop there on the last time through, and don't play the note which seems to want to come and end it, pointing out that it ain't in the script so you don't play it. It's a matter of taste whether you like a hanging in the air, imperfect/interrupted/whatever cadence, type of ending, or whether you like to add the extra back-home note on the last time. Since I've only got dots and some recordings, mostly of modern players, to go on, I have no hard evidence as to how it was really done back in the day. Some tunes I like that way, with others my instinct is to add the implied final note, especially if playing for dancers. (It doesn't have to be a Jimmy Shand type Taraaa, of course!) So I wonder if it's done that way because it really was traditional, or because people who, like me, only have what was written down, are slavishly not playing un-written dots, despite the fact that we happily accept that dots are necessarily an imperfect shorthand, (Cf hornpipe rhythms, non-notated grace notes in many traditions, and so forth); so we stop because the person notating it didn't bother making an extra last time bar. Or did the traditional musicians who'd learned it from their great-uncle who had it from - and so on, actually play it that way? Please could those of you, like Anthony and others, who have played with the survival of the living tradition (whichever one!) offer any help? Thanks and best wishes, Richard. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --