There seems to be a scarcity of good waltz tunes and they're often the ones requested by dancers who want a more sedate set for a change. Some, like "Planxty Irwin" and "Give Me Your Hand" will almost put everyone to sleep, so I'm after some ideas for definite 3/4 tunes to make up a set or two. Something of the ilk "The Arran Boat" followed by "Midnight on the Water" - nice and lively (for a waltz that is ...) Suggestions please?
Tommy Bhetty's is spritely and interesting, recorded by Altan on one of their CDs. Altan also did a somewhat bizarre version of the Northwestern waltz "Ook Pik" where they changed the chord structure to make it sound vaguely Irish, failing dismally to my ear, but the original version is one of my favorites and goes well with Tommy Bhetty's. Three others with great melodies that fit together are Jay Ungar's "Ashokan Farewell" & "Lover's Waltz" and "Estonian Waltz/La Vie est pas Donne'" recorded by Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham on their CD "The Ruby"
I agree there is a paucity of waltzes played.
I also agree Tom Bhetty's is a nice waltz.
There is also that "French Canadian Waltz" (?) which the Boys of the Lough did on that old album "Good Friends - Good Music". Then there is the useful device of turning an old song or tune into a waltz - egs, The Galtee Mountain Boy with Give Me Your Hand. These all sound nice on the box.
Lots of great waltzes but they don't necessarily get played at Irish sessions. How about Stronsay waltz or Marino Waltz for a start?. I'm not sure if they're here or not but certainly can be found in J C's tunefinder.
Tyardy, if you do a search here under "waltzes" you're going to come up with a lot of tunes that aren't dance waltzes by any stretch of the imagination, but are called waltzes because they happen to be in 3/4. Apart from the real waltzes already mentioned on this thread it may be a good idea to search in the Tunes under "mazurkas" - which are always real dance tunes and also in 3/4.
In a recent thread, http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display.php/3331, I mentioned on 16 April that in Fionn Seisi
Margaret's
Donna
Palomino
Marino
The South Wind
Un Canadien Errant
O'Farrell's (The Waterford)
Stronsay
The Snowy Path (technically a slip jig but sounds very waltzy up to tempo)
There's a pair of waltzes from a Liz Carroll album "TRIAN" which are absolutely lovely together:
Uncle Stewart's/Valse A Jessie
I've transcribed these two but haven't gotten them into ABC format and posted them. I'll try to get to that soon. These are definitely more involved than Planxty Irwin but well worth the trouble.
Speaking of OCarolan, "Lady Athenry" is an underplayed and very pretty waltz.
The Bucks do a nice send-up of sentimental waltzes on their CD (which appears not to be listed under recordings. I don't own it but somebody who does should post it.)
Anyway, each tune is only played once and the titles are:
Homes of Donegal
Galway Bay
Banks of My Own Lovely Lee
Biddy Mulligan
If We Only Had Old Ireland Over Here.
I think they 're all songs.
Make sure you've got somebody with a snare-drum to play along..
Another good one (seriously) is Mist on the Mountain.
The Belltable by Stockton's Wing is definitely one of my favourites - also there are no words to it as I find that waltzes that are songs usually sound a bit dirgy! "A Mother's Love's a Blessing", "Homes of Donegal", etc; I rest my case!!
I don't know if these would go well together, but "Crested Hens" and "If Ever You Were Mine" are both nice waltzes (for the dancers), and not boring at all (for the players.)
I love waltzes, both to play and to dance to, but find that, as a dancer, players always want to play them much too slowly to dance in any kind of manner that doesn't induce either sleep or a performance of that dance hit of our youths, The Huggy, in which the young couple shuffles carefully around each other, feet barely leaving the floor, arms wrapped round each other, hanging upon each other's shoulders. If you get complaints that your waltzes are putting the dancers to sleep, your reception may improve if you speed it up a bit so that they can dance the waltz properly to it. (For a demonstration, ask a dancer to show you how fast they like to dance waltzes.) Of course, this may not bear upon your situation at all, I'm aware.
Umm another lovely waltz is that one with the slightly unfortunate title of Fanny Power. Jane Cassidy sings a song version of this with the slightly more palatable name of Sweet Portaferry.
Fanny Power was a woman, I believe-probably short for Frances. O'Carolan also wrote tunes "David Power" and "Mrs Power" which is better known as Carolan's concerto. "Fanny power" is sometimes known as "Sweet Fanny power" or "Planxty Fanny Power" and was a popular tune amongst musicians before Jane Cassidy's version.
At a folk festival singaround, a good few years ago, a woman sang a version of Sweet Portaferry and a male musician (either quite innocently or mischievously) shouted out. "That was great. Fanny Power". Unfortunately, not all the singers were as acquaint with the tune's history and there was a lot of "tut, tutting" going on.
I've told this story before but then the BBC get away with repeats so why shouldn't I?
Yeah - I like Margaret's Waltz (even tho it is a bit played to death), then Louis' Waltz, followed by Kate Martin's Waltz by Blair Douglas. They link together pretty well. Gordon Gunn has also written some brilliant waltzes so give his CDs a listen and pick em up from there...
Josefin's Waltz is a really lovely tune, Dervish recorded that on "At the end of the day". There's also a Scottish air called "The Mist Covered Mountains of Home" which I've heard played as a waltz and has lovely lilt to it.
I love waltz but not sure about a set.
Aly's waltz
Her mantle so green
(both great played by Seamus McGuire)
The lover's waltz
Waltzing with you (instrumental)
both by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason
Any Aly Bain Waltz
Darling's Waltz - by Johnny Cunningham
Maybe you could couple some of them
in fact "Waltzing with you " goes into "Ashokan's Farewell" very neatly.
c
For years I have used: Rope Waltz, Margaret's Waltz and Greenwood Tree in that order as a set for dancing to. Recently I have put together Tommy Bhetty's followed by Louis waltz as set mainly for listening. Another set for dancing is Cairn on the Moor, farewell to Glasgow and the Convelescent.
Now that I've got fanny power under my belt, I'll go for my cape breton home.
great suggestions too Hetty
Tyardy, it's nice to know there are people about who love waltzes, they don't seem to come up much at the sessions I go to.
Cath
Fidicen, thanks for your suggestion to search for Mazurkas. Some great tunes there, and a lot more lively than a straight waltz.
And yes, Cath - it's great to play a slower tune sometimes. Sadly some sessions seem to get lost by some players who want to play so fast they end up tripping over themselves. A nice waltz (or mazurka) is like sipping a fine wine.
Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Any ideas for a good waltz set?
There seems to be a scarcity of good waltz tunes and they're often the ones requested by dancers who want a more sedate set for a change. Some, like "Planxty Irwin" and "Give Me Your Hand" will almost put everyone to sleep, so I'm after some ideas for definite 3/4 tunes to make up a set or two. Something of the ilk "The Arran Boat" followed by "Midnight on the Water" - nice and lively (for a waltz that is ...) Suggestions please?
# Posted on April 18th 2004 by tyardy
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Tommy Bhetty's is spritely and interesting, recorded by Altan on one of their CDs. Altan also did a somewhat bizarre version of the Northwestern waltz "Ook Pik" where they changed the chord structure to make it sound vaguely Irish, failing dismally to my ear, but the original version is one of my favorites and goes well with Tommy Bhetty's. Three others with great melodies that fit together are Jay Ungar's "Ashokan Farewell" & "Lover's Waltz" and "Estonian Waltz/La Vie est pas Donne'" recorded by Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham on their CD "The Ruby"
# Posted on April 18th 2004 by ScottC
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
I agree there is a paucity of waltzes played.
I also agree Tom Bhetty's is a nice waltz.
There is also that "French Canadian Waltz" (?) which the Boys of the Lough did on that old album "Good Friends - Good Music". Then there is the useful device of turning an old song or tune into a waltz - egs, The Galtee Mountain Boy with Give Me Your Hand. These all sound nice on the box.
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Rudall the time
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Lots of great waltzes but they don't necessarily get played at Irish sessions. How about Stronsay waltz or Marino Waltz for a start?. I'm not sure if they're here or not but certainly can be found in J C's tunefinder.
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Johnny Jay
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Tommy Bhetty's followed by Sonny's Mazurka and then Shoe the Donkey works quite well.
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by breandan
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Also just remembered that Sean Ryan has a couple of brilliant waltzes on one of his albums.
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by breandan
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Tyardy, if you do a search here under "waltzes" you're going to come up with a lot of tunes that aren't dance waltzes by any stretch of the imagination, but are called waltzes because they happen to be in 3/4. Apart from the real waltzes already mentioned on this thread it may be a good idea to search in the Tunes under "mazurkas" - which are always real dance tunes and also in 3/4.
In a recent thread, http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display.php/3331, I mentioned on 16 April that in Fionn Seisi
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
I do a couple of Scottish waltzes with the band which always go down well:-
My Own Home followed by the Highland Boat Song.
Both great tunes.
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Geoff Pollitt
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Gee, Geoff, we all know musicians can get a bit randy on the road, but most of us are a bit more reticent about our band's, um, 'talents'....
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Will Harmon
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Margaret's
Donna
Palomino
Marino
The South Wind
Un Canadien Errant
O'Farrell's (The Waterford)
Stronsay
The Snowy Path (technically a slip jig but sounds very waltzy up to tempo)
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Tusong200
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
There's a pair of waltzes from a Liz Carroll album "TRIAN" which are absolutely lovely together:
Uncle Stewart's/Valse A Jessie
I've transcribed these two but haven't gotten them into ABC format and posted them. I'll try to get to that soon. These are definitely more involved than Planxty Irwin but well worth the trouble.
Speaking of OCarolan, "Lady Athenry" is an underplayed and very pretty waltz.
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Test
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
The Bucks do a nice send-up of sentimental waltzes on their CD (which appears not to be listed under recordings. I don't own it but somebody who does should post it.)
Anyway, each tune is only played once and the titles are:
Homes of Donegal
Galway Bay
Banks of My Own Lovely Lee
Biddy Mulligan
If We Only Had Old Ireland Over Here.
I think they 're all songs.
Make sure you've got somebody with a snare-drum to play along..
Another good one (seriously) is Mist on the Mountain.
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by kuec
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
The Belltable by Stockton's Wing is definitely one of my favourites - also there are no words to it as I find that waltzes that are songs usually sound a bit dirgy! "A Mother's Love's a Blessing", "Homes of Donegal", etc; I rest my case!!
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Bannerman
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
I don't know if these would go well together, but "Crested Hens" and "If Ever You Were Mine" are both nice waltzes (for the dancers), and not boring at all (for the players.)
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by knockwool
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
only our rivers run free perfect
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by andrewtaylor27
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
I love waltzes, both to play and to dance to, but find that, as a dancer, players always want to play them much too slowly to dance in any kind of manner that doesn't induce either sleep or a performance of that dance hit of our youths, The Huggy, in which the young couple shuffles carefully around each other, feet barely leaving the floor, arms wrapped round each other, hanging upon each other's shoulders. If you get complaints that your waltzes are putting the dancers to sleep, your reception may improve if you speed it up a bit so that they can dance the waltz properly to it.
(For a demonstration, ask a dancer to show you how fast they like to dance waltzes.) Of course, this may not bear upon your situation at all, I'm aware.
Good luck!
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Har! Har! Harmon! Very amusing. Check your participles!
Anyway I'm saving myself.
Crested hens is a great Breton tune, knockwool, which I had forgotten I knew. Thanks for reminding me.
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Geoff Pollitt
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Umm another lovely waltz is that one with the slightly unfortunate title of Fanny Power. Jane Cassidy sings a song version of this with the slightly more palatable name of Sweet Portaferry.
Con
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Conán McDonnell
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Fanny Power was a woman, I believe-probably short for Frances. O'Carolan also wrote tunes "David Power" and "Mrs Power" which is better known as Carolan's concerto. "Fanny power" is sometimes known as "Sweet Fanny power" or "Planxty Fanny Power" and was a popular tune amongst musicians before Jane Cassidy's version.
At a folk festival singaround, a good few years ago, a woman sang a version of Sweet Portaferry and a male musician (either quite innocently or mischievously) shouted out. "That was great. Fanny Power". Unfortunately, not all the singers were as acquaint with the tune's history and there was a lot of "tut, tutting" going on.
I've told this story before but then the BBC get away with repeats so why shouldn't I?
John
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Johnny Jay
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Fanny Power? - I've heard it referred to as a feminists' anthem. :~}
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Rudall the time
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
The Flowers of Normandy is a lovely waltz, one of my favourites. I think it was written by the fiddle player in the Dubliners.
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Daver
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Yes, John Sheahan has written some nice tunes including the Marino Waltz which I mentioned earlier.
You can find Flowers of Normandy here
http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/gettune?F=GIF&U=http://members.rogers.com/alf0/abc/accw02.abc&X=173&T=FLOWERSOFNORMANDY&N=FlowersOfNormandy.gif
John
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Johnny Jay
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Yeah - I like Margaret's Waltz (even tho it is a bit played to death), then Louis' Waltz, followed by Kate Martin's Waltz by Blair Douglas. They link together pretty well. Gordon Gunn has also written some brilliant waltzes so give his CDs a listen and pick em up from there...
# Posted on April 20th 2004 by Fionafiddler
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
One suggestion is the Weasel Waltz. Sounds almost French when played on my concertina. Odd part B as well but then I like the odd tunes
# Posted on April 20th 2004 by lildogturpy
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Josefin's Waltz is a really lovely tune, Dervish recorded that on "At the end of the day". There's also a Scottish air called "The Mist Covered Mountains of Home" which I've heard played as a waltz and has lovely lilt to it.
# Posted on April 20th 2004 by oraghalm
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
I love waltz but not sure about a set.
Aly's waltz
Her mantle so green
(both great played by Seamus McGuire)
The lover's waltz
Waltzing with you (instrumental)
both by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason
Any Aly Bain Waltz
Darling's Waltz - by Johnny Cunningham
Maybe you could couple some of them
in fact "Waltzing with you " goes into "Ashokan's Farewell" very neatly.
c
# Posted on April 21st 2004 by Cath
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
For years I have used: Rope Waltz, Margaret's Waltz and Greenwood Tree in that order as a set for dancing to. Recently I have put together Tommy Bhetty's followed by Louis waltz as set mainly for listening. Another set for dancing is Cairn on the Moor, farewell to Glasgow and the Convelescent.
# Posted on April 24th 2004 by hetty
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
How about 'Out on the Ocean'? waltz to jig to reel
# Posted on April 24th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Jack, is there any "Out on the Ocean" reel? If so, I need to learn it to complete the set.
# Posted on April 24th 2004 by slainte
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Here it is slainte: http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/2875
# Posted on April 24th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Now I see.
Back to the topic, I just thougt My Cape Breton Home might go nicely with Planxty Fanny Powers.
# Posted on April 24th 2004 by slainte
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Now that I've got fanny power under my belt, I'll go for my cape breton home.
great suggestions too Hetty
Tyardy, it's nice to know there are people about who love waltzes, they don't seem to come up much at the sessions I go to.
Cath
# Posted on April 25th 2004 by Cath
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Fidicen, thanks for your suggestion to search for Mazurkas. Some great tunes there, and a lot more lively than a straight waltz.
And yes, Cath - it's great to play a slower tune sometimes. Sadly some sessions seem to get lost by some players who want to play so fast they end up tripping over themselves. A nice waltz (or mazurka) is like sipping a fine wine.
# Posted on April 28th 2004 by tyardy
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
Cape Breton Home is a lovely tune. A really nice mazurka is Michael's Mazurka written by Michael Ferrie. I might post it soon, now that I know how.
# Posted on April 28th 2004 by Johnny Jay
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
If you want good waltz sets, check out John Nolan ( A Rake of Reels CD) and some of John Whalen's CD's for Waltzes.
I'm partial to Phil Cunningham's Waltzes (Palomino/Donna's)
# Posted on May 30th 2010 by fsqueezebox
Re: Any ideas for a good waltz set?
A fine waltz that's no-one's yet mentioned is Elizabeth Clare:
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/7748
Not strictly trad, (although it sounds it) as it's of known authorship (Chris Wood)
Written originallly in FMaj I believe, though you could transpose it to GMaj for ease of playing if you wanted to ....
An O'Carolan tune that no-one's yet mentioned is Lord Inchiquin
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/991
# Posted on May 30th 2010 by Mix O'Lydian