Is there a "set search engine" anywhere? If you only know a few tunes well, your chances of knowing all 3 tunes of a standard set might be pretty slim, but you may be able to put together a 3 tune set in which the middle tune is commonly played with each of the other tunes. If there isn't a search engine, what are some good lists of common session sets?
You could probably find a way to convince a piece of perl script to browse your tune book and pick out tunes that might work together. It would probably be more useful as a programming excercise than as a way to get sets, but you might get a nice transition you hadn't thought of yourself.
To my mind, though, finding a good transition is too much fun, I don't want a mechanical way to do it. For example, when I realized how well Scotch Mary follows out of Last Night's Fun, I think I actually cackled with glee. Now I can't play the one without the other. Totally nonintuitive, but it works so well.
And after 5+ years of thinking there was some magic tradition to what went together I have come to realize that most of the sets played in my area are from currently favorite CD's of the alfa players picked and arranged by their favorite artists at the time.
I've had a look at the CCE website that Baglady mentioned, but it is a year or so out of date. In addition to Foinn Seisun Book 1 there is now Book 2. The two books together contain about 200 tunes arranged in sets. One or two of these sets might not be to everybody's liking but it's not a bad place to start.
Also, I'd recommend going to as many sessions as you are can and making a note of the sets played.
The problem with some of the sets you find by solo performers and bands on CD is that, although the sets are usually very good, they may include some very unfamiliar tunes.
Another good source are the CDs (and videos) by bands specifically for set dancing. The tunes tend to be main-stream and fit together well (which is what you need for dancing). Such CDs and videos are also a good source for tune learning because the tunes generally aren't over-ornamented, and they are played at the speed they were intended for, i.e. for dancing. The only problem with one or two artists in this field is that they don't always name the tunes.
If you can, get along to a set dancing workshop or ceili and talk to whoever is in charge of the music - there may be a live band there, even better!
set search engine
set search engine
Is there a "set search engine" anywhere? If you only know a few tunes well, your chances of knowing all 3 tunes of a standard set might be pretty slim, but you may be able to put together a 3 tune set in which the middle tune is commonly played with each of the other tunes. If there isn't a search engine, what are some good lists of common session sets?
# Posted on November 6th 2004 by russellrapport
Re: set search engine
Try the following:
You might find it useful.
# Posted on November 6th 2004 by bristlehound
Re: set search engine
OOps!! Sorry. Don't know what happened there!
http://members.cox.net/eskin/tunebook.html
I've not posted before. Hope it works this time.
# Posted on November 6th 2004 by bristlehound
Re: set search engine
You could probably find a way to convince a piece of perl script to browse your tune book and pick out tunes that might work together. It would probably be more useful as a programming excercise than as a way to get sets, but you might get a nice transition you hadn't thought of yourself.
To my mind, though, finding a good transition is too much fun, I don't want a mechanical way to do it. For example, when I realized how well Scotch Mary follows out of Last Night's Fun, I think I actually cackled with glee. Now I can't play the one without the other. Totally nonintuitive, but it works so well.
# Posted on November 6th 2004 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: set search engine
The CCE web sight has commonly played sets all ready to print out and stuff.
http://www.comhaltas.com/seisiun/learn.htm
# Posted on November 6th 2004 by baglady
Re: set search engine
And after 5+ years of thinking there was some magic tradition to what went together I have come to realize that most of the sets played in my area are from currently favorite CD's of the alfa players picked and arranged by their favorite artists at the time.
# Posted on November 6th 2004 by baglady
Re: set search engine
I've had a look at the CCE website that Baglady mentioned, but it is a year or so out of date. In addition to Foinn Seisun Book 1 there is now Book 2. The two books together contain about 200 tunes arranged in sets. One or two of these sets might not be to everybody's liking but it's not a bad place to start.
Also, I'd recommend going to as many sessions as you are can and making a note of the sets played.
The problem with some of the sets you find by solo performers and bands on CD is that, although the sets are usually very good, they may include some very unfamiliar tunes.
Another good source are the CDs (and videos) by bands specifically for set dancing. The tunes tend to be main-stream and fit together well (which is what you need for dancing). Such CDs and videos are also a good source for tune learning because the tunes generally aren't over-ornamented, and they are played at the speed they were intended for, i.e. for dancing. The only problem with one or two artists in this field is that they don't always name the tunes.
If you can, get along to a set dancing workshop or ceili and talk to whoever is in charge of the music - there may be a live band there, even better!
Trevor
# Posted on November 6th 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: set search engine
With reference to Perl, can it be run in a Windows XP Pro environment, or would I have to set up a partition with an alternative OS?
Trevor
# Posted on November 6th 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: set search engine
Trev, yes it can.
Try Google on "perl for windows xp" (include the quotes) to find sources for the software.
Jim
# Posted on November 7th 2004 by Worldfiddler
Re: set search engine
Thanks, Jim!
Trevor
# Posted on November 7th 2004 by Trevor Jennings