Yes I know I'm keyboard happy tonight, but just another question.... When trying to arrange a few tunes to play in succession, how do you know what to play with what? Is it by key or maybe all same format i.e all reels?
Play them together if they sound good together. One of the tricks a lot of bands use is to group tunes together in the same key but differing modes of that key, so for example Bmin, Dmaj, Edor, Amix, all having 2 sharps. Also a smooth transition from one key to another may be helped by arranging modes in an appropriate sequence. So if you wanted to play your first (reel or whatever) in D major, and your third and last in G major, you are effectively losing one sharp from the key signature. To make a smooth transition, lose the sharp when you begin the 2nd tune but keep the tune based around D, so you're playing in Dmix:
Dmaj (2#) - Dmix (1#) - Gmaj
Sometimes it sounds nice to have a drastic change of key where you add or subtract lots of sharps or flats. This would mean that instead of moving from Gmaj to Ador, you might add 2#s and move from Gmaj up to Amaj.
One other thing to keep in mind when arranging sets of tunes is how each tune ends or begins. You can either let the last bar of one flow into the next, or you can stop dead and then restart in a different key. In general, adding sharps tends to lift a set, and subtracting tends to do the opposite, which can be nice for moving from the 1st tune into the 2nd if you want to lift again for the final tune in your set.
Load of old Tunes.
Load of old Tunes.
Yes I know I'm keyboard happy tonight, but just another question.... When trying to arrange a few tunes to play in succession, how do you know what to play with what? Is it by key or maybe all same format i.e all reels?
Becky
# Posted on January 13th 2003 by Becky
Re: Load of old Tunes.
Play them together if they sound good together. One of the tricks a lot of bands use is to group tunes together in the same key but differing modes of that key, so for example Bmin, Dmaj, Edor, Amix, all having 2 sharps. Also a smooth transition from one key to another may be helped by arranging modes in an appropriate sequence. So if you wanted to play your first (reel or whatever) in D major, and your third and last in G major, you are effectively losing one sharp from the key signature. To make a smooth transition, lose the sharp when you begin the 2nd tune but keep the tune based around D, so you're playing in Dmix:
Dmaj (2#) - Dmix (1#) - Gmaj
Sometimes it sounds nice to have a drastic change of key where you add or subtract lots of sharps or flats. This would mean that instead of moving from Gmaj to Ador, you might add 2#s and move from Gmaj up to Amaj.
One other thing to keep in mind when arranging sets of tunes is how each tune ends or begins. You can either let the last bar of one flow into the next, or you can stop dead and then restart in a different key. In general, adding sharps tends to lift a set, and subtracting tends to do the opposite, which can be nice for moving from the 1st tune into the 2nd if you want to lift again for the final tune in your set.
# Posted on January 13th 2003 by Dow
Re: Load of old Tunes.
The typical session sets are either 3 reels or 3 jigs. Best to stick with these at the start as it's what most people will expect.
# Posted on January 13th 2003 by Concertina Player