hi i am learning slowly the tin whistle and a borrowed low whistle i also sing can i ask is the star of the county down a slow air i love the lyrics and the tune but think i am playing it too slow any advice gratefully recieved thasnks
Have you tried searching it on youtube? Watch some videos/listen to some recordings of other players playing it to get an idea of the speed and feel of the tune. It's not really a slow air actually (at least I've always heard it with a nice hop to it). Here's a link to a group called the Orthodox Celts doing their version of it, in the speed that I'm used to playing it and hearing it played
But one of the great things about this style of music is its openness to interpretation, so I think you could make the song really nice as a slower air. Good luck with your whistle-playing!
"I'm a poor unhappy married man and I have an awful wife,
I'll do everything she says yet still she plagues my life...
She wakes me in the morning in such a cruel way,
She kicks me out onto the floor not a cross word dare I say...
Oh she's taken in a lodger now and he's single by and by,
She says we must make room for him so I on the sofa lie,
They eat the meat leave me the bones, that don't seem right somehow,
And if I dare to say one word there's sure to be a row.
(Chorus)
There's sure to be a row, oh there's sure to be a row.
Do all in your life for to please your wife, but there's sure to be a row..."
zippy, if your missus tries to take in any single lodgers and let them sleep in your bed, you'd be wise to divorce her as I did with mine when she tried to pull such nonsense.
No. I think she knows I may not be much, and have quirks like my attachment to button accordions, but at least the box is not a bouncy young blonde fiddle player, or a red sports car...and she certainly knows where I am at even when I am not in her direct sight!
Star of the County Down can be played in two distinct ways. Firstly as the air to the song - 'In Banbridge town, in the County Down, one morning last July' etc. In this case, you play it as if you were singing the song.
It can also be played as a march, with a more pronounced beat and steady rhythm.
Tunes like this or Fainne Geal an Lae/ Raglan Road are confusing for beginners, partic. if you know the song well. I remember starting out playing Fainne Geal an Lae like Raglan Road and a teacher saying 'no,no' - it has to be played like this and it was played as a march.
Hello there Wounded Hussar I´m writing this after too many Sobreanos in Spain but I know exactly what you mean. The way we haer a tune and all that associates with it does nor always match up with others.
star of the county down
star of the county down
hi i am learning slowly the tin whistle and a borrowed low whistle i also sing can i ask is the star of the county down a slow air i love the lyrics and the tune but think i am playing it too slow any advice gratefully recieved thasnks
monkey flute
# Posted on April 9th 2008 by monkey flute
Re: star of the county down
Have a listen to this monkey flute. It,s a grand tune played slow.
# Posted on April 9th 2008 by domino
Re: star of the county down
sorry forgot the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ8UmDi_vFc
# Posted on April 9th 2008 by domino
Re: star of the county down
Have you tried searching it on youtube? Watch some videos/listen to some recordings of other players playing it to get an idea of the speed and feel of the tune. It's not really a slow air actually (at least I've always heard it with a nice hop to it). Here's a link to a group called the Orthodox Celts doing their version of it, in the speed that I'm used to playing it and hearing it played
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEt2XdN_TbQ
But one of the great things about this style of music is its openness to interpretation, so I think you could make the song really nice as a slower air. Good luck with your whistle-playing!
# Posted on April 9th 2008 by Tasia
Re: star of the county down
This is a fun one where everyone steals the tune and non-players recognize it immediately. Usually played fast........
You need to do the fingering on autopilot. So start slow and get it down and get the rhythm correct. It has a pulse.
Then if someone asks you to play, you play something they tap their foot too.
# Posted on April 9th 2008 by zippydw
Re: star of the county down
Try playing it as a slow waltz. VERY pretty when played that way.
# Posted on April 9th 2008 by Ailin
Re: star of the county down
I enjoy singing "There's Sure to be a Row" to this tune:
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display.php/1093
"I'm a poor unhappy married man and I have an awful wife,
I'll do everything she says yet still she plagues my life...
She wakes me in the morning in such a cruel way,
She kicks me out onto the floor not a cross word dare I say...
Oh she's taken in a lodger now and he's single by and by,
She says we must make room for him so I on the sofa lie,
They eat the meat leave me the bones, that don't seem right somehow,
And if I dare to say one word there's sure to be a row.
(Chorus)
There's sure to be a row, oh there's sure to be a row.
Do all in your life for to please your wife, but there's sure to be a row..."
# Posted on April 9th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: star of the county down
SWFL
Not in front of your wife...I hope.
Herself would murder me if I did that one in her earshot!
# Posted on April 9th 2008 by zippydw
Re: star of the county down
Car of the Downy Stout is another nice variation...
# Posted on April 9th 2008 by Sean MacOda Criobhan
Re: star of the county down
zippy, if your missus tries to take in any single lodgers and let them sleep in your bed, you'd be wise to divorce her as I did with mine when she tried to pull such nonsense.
# Posted on April 9th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: star of the county down
No. I think she knows I may not be much, and have quirks like my attachment to button accordions, but at least the box is not a bouncy young blonde fiddle player, or a red sports car...and she certainly knows where I am at even when I am not in her direct sight!
I suppose she could have it worse!
# Posted on April 9th 2008 by zippydw
Re: star of the county down
Star of the County Down can be played in two distinct ways. Firstly as the air to the song - 'In Banbridge town, in the County Down, one morning last July' etc. In this case, you play it as if you were singing the song.
It can also be played as a march, with a more pronounced beat and steady rhythm.
Tunes like this or Fainne Geal an Lae/ Raglan Road are confusing for beginners, partic. if you know the song well. I remember starting out playing Fainne Geal an Lae like Raglan Road and a teacher saying 'no,no' - it has to be played like this and it was played as a march.
# Posted on April 10th 2008 by the wounded hussar
Re: star of the county down
thanks i will listen on you tube and correct my terrible timimgs thanks for all the replys love the lyrics thanks x
# Posted on April 10th 2008 by monkey flute
Re: star of the county down
Hello there Wounded Hussar I´m writing this after too many Sobreanos in Spain but I know exactly what you mean. The way we haer a tune and all that associates with it does nor always match up with others.
# Posted on April 12th 2008 by wodeninjun