Re: [scots-l] Ferintosh in Linlithgow
I saw them in Woodstock NY in July totally outstanding!!! Jeff - Original Message - From: Matt Seattle [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2003 8:27 AM Subject: Re: [scots-l] Ferintosh in Linlithgow Ferintosh will also be in Penicuik, Biggar, and Stirling on this trip. Dates? Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Tempi
Steve Nigel, I can only speak from my very limited knowledge and experience of having taken a lesson from Susie Petrov and having played a sort of rhythm guitar for a number of Scottish Country Dances, here in the non-highlands of the Connecticut River Valley. The dance Strathspey speed does seem to be in the low 60 BPM, and that is the metronome setting for 1/4 notes. It does seem slow, but the dance seems to work at that speed. We usually play with one of Susie's band mates in Local Hero, Norb Spencer on accordion. He is mentioned in her book on page 31. The dancers really enjoy dancing to a live band, rather than recordings, and provide us with a real bounty of homemade breads and cookies. Just my own limited experience. Jeff - Original Message - From: Nigel Gatherer [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, February 04, 2002 4:04 AM Subject: Re: [scots-l] Tempi Steve Wyrick wrote: ...I remember a discussion on the STRATHSPEY mailing list in the last couple years to the effect that even within recent memory the tempo of the Strathspey has slowed downSome people said they recalled that in the mid-1900s the strathspey tempo was more like what we now do Glasgow Highlanders at, ie around 60-66 BPM. (regarding Hardie's tempo for the Strathspey it seems to be double what I'm used to. Do you think he's counting differently?) Mmm. This is where I get all mixed up. Let's see. (Whips out a metronome)... (For x/4 tunes, one click of the metronome equals a crotchet, or one quarter note. Perhaps you're counting it as a minim or half-note?) At 66, a Strathspey sounds to me like a slow Strathspey (or solo Strathspey as Skinner would call it. At 126 it sounds faster but not blistering. Looking at 'Traditional Celtic Violin Music of Cape Breton', there are many speeds given there for Strathspeys from 118 up to 202 and beyond. I hope this is useful. Yes, Steve, very useful, but my head is spinning and I'm lost! I think the message is that it depends and there's no real answer. I was hoping that someone with definite opinions would come and say This is it and no other thing is right. I suppose I could do worse and set the metronome on some Jimmy Shand recordings, since he was very particular about tempi. Thanks Steve, and Kate Dunlay for assisting me. -- Nigel Gatherer, Crieff, Scotland [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/gatherer/ Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Birlin'
Wendy, I heard you CB fiddle a bit last night. Playing last night pretty much sucked. It was as bad as Greg's session. There was a bunch of people there who frequent the City Steam session, and screw up the timing there also. It is not the hard. 1,2,3,4. As a rhythm player, I should have brought the guitar banjo, so I could be louder than them at least. I got into a discussion with Fred and Linda (or Laura-from Marlborough you sold the fiddle to) about timing and triplets and Greg, and they said that Greg's timing had improved immensely. I said basically crap, he was out of time with his own tapping foot, last time. Boy, I tell you, as soon as Mickey starts to play loud, she goes out of time too. Well, I'm off to the gym, and to my least favorite store these days. Lowe's. When I'm there it means that I have a home project going on. The insurance company says we must install a handrail on the front steps. We really do need to paint the upstairs hallway, stairway and downstairs hall. Probably the kitchen too. I hate painting. Regards to Bill. Jeff - Original Message - From: "Wendy Galovich" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, January 14, 2001 1:27 AM Subject: Re: [scots-l] Birlin' At 07:25 PM 1/13/2001 -0500, Jeri Corlew wrote: I was mostly joking about the "every now and then" bit, but I'm a long way from having mastered the technique. I figure if it feels right, I simply need more practice. This may sound weird, but I found it helped me to turn my hand so the movement was more up and down than sideways. (I noticed Harvey Tolman plays like that, and decided to try it.) It's not weird - he uses the old traditional Cape Breton way of holding the fiddle with the top nearly vertical and the instrument much more out in front of him than the standard classical hold, and that en- ables him to bow up and down rather than horizontally across the strings. It also neatly facilitates the way he uses his wrist. Many Cape Breton fiddlers play that way - John Campbell, Alex Francis MacKay, David Green- berg, to mention just a few. David and Harvey have got the most fluid wrists I've ever seen, and in spite of his huge hands, John Campbell is almost delicate in the way he handles the bow. I haven't seen Alex Francis play (maybe Toby can tell us about that), but judging from the broad variations in sound that he is able to draw from the instrument, I'd have to guess that it's similar to the others. I don't play with my hand that way most of the time, but it did help to learn the movement needed. Ah, we differ a bit there - for me adopting that bow hold was an end in itself. I made a point of learning it after getting some good advice, and seeing it used so effectively by many CB fiddlers. What I've found is that it really does make it easier to do the type of bowing called for in CB fiddling, with good deal less wear and tear on a number of joints that remind me in no uncertain terms when I batter them too much. BTW Jeri, are you in the New England area? (I'm in CT.) Wendy Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Radio Station
Toby, - The station is for my own personal use. I just choose to share knowledge of it's existance with a couple hundred of my closest friends. :-) And I for one offer my thanks for your efforts! Jeffrey Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
[scots-l] FOOT IN MOUTH DISEASE
Greetings, I felt it important to point out that ego ridden fiddler had nothing to do with anyone involved with this NewsGroup. As a matter of fact I suspect that the woman would not know a Scottish Tune if it was actually played for her. Sorry for any misunderstandings this may have caused, and I truly regret any hard feelings this may have brought up. Jeff (attempting to remove foot from mouth) F. Another point of clarification: Oh yes.the "Civil War" is actually referred to as "The War of Northern Aggression" down here as we were not only attacked! But weren't allowed to "legally" succeed from the Union!. The war formally started with the Confederate shelling of Fort Sumter (SP) in 1861. It was followed by the siezure of mant Federal facilities along the southern coast. The word is "secede." I will restrain myself from further commentary on the rest of this. Not in the South. HAve you ever heard of Southbonics? It was the precurser of Ebonics. Basically there is no correct way to spell any word, and writing was only started in the general masses in the past 15 years or so. If it sounds right. Just kidding! Jeff (suffering the recent slings of an egomaniacle pompous bossy fiddler) Friedman Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] music store frustration
No, a sycamore is a different tree. We have sycamore trees in this part of Canada. They are the ones that look like they don't have any bark. I don't know if it is related to the European sycamore. Sycamore is European maple. What US instrument builders call figured maple is called fiddleback sycamore here; not identical, but essentially the same tree (not the sugar maple, which can also be used for instruments). I've had long exchanges with luthiers about this, and also about myrtlewood - helping to settle one particular misunderstanding where Californians thought that the Oregon myrtlewood was a different tree. Apparently both are the same, it's just that in CA it's a weed and cut down when it is a bush, while further north mature specimens turn into real trees and can be used for instruments. I hope my post here doesn't bring down the wrath of the Newsgroup gods. Here in New England, there are Sycamore trees, and there are Maple trees. They are indeed separate species. They have somewhat similar shaped leaves, but that is about it. The Sycamores that grow to stately heights on Main ST in my town are easily noted for their ball like seed clusters, which clearly differ from the Maple's 2 lobed seeds, resembling a mustache. There is also a huge difference in the bark, as the Sycamore has patchy sections, while the Maple's is more striated and rutted. The Maple is known for its close grain, and has been used as flooring, furniture, bowling alley floors, butcher blocks, fiddle backs, as well as electric guitars. Sycamore wood is not highly praised by furniture builders except as veneer. The largest tree here in the State of Connecticut is a wonderful Sycamore rising up from the banks of the Farmington River in Simsbury, near Rt10. We also milk the Maples for their sap, and boil it into syrup. There are also ornamental Maples that have been imported from the Far East. They are held in high regard for the different colors of their leaves. I suspect that there may be different local vernacular names for trees. Of course we have just adapted our language from the "Old World", so it is of course always possible that we named this stuff wrong. Any body on this NG know the Latin names for the trees? The two species are supposedly related, but here they are not the same tree. I suspect to settle the discussion would be find someone who knows the Latin names. Jeff Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
