From time to time I hear strathspeys that I’d really like to learn, but I don’t have the names for them. I know there is a strathspey category in the Tunes section on this site, but I have to hear and like a tune before I learn it, either by ear or by ear complemented by reading. Does anyone know of any albums that have a good selection of strathspeys? There is one tune that I like to play and I think it’s a strathspey. I learned it years ago from a Chieftains LP, but I don’t know which one and I no longer have the LP. The Waterboys work it very nicely into one of the songs “Further up, Further in” on their 1990’s album “The Waterboys”. They don’t give the tune a name on the sleevenotes. Does anybody have a name for it?
Aly Bain's various recordings with Boys of the Lough, Phil Cunningham and others always contain a sprinkling of strathspeys. There's a "best of" Aly & Phil out now which would be worth delving into., it seems good value for the number of tracks on it.
I've noticed since Strathspeys have had a new lease of popularity among Irish musicians that there are different (often very different) Strathspeys popular at irish sessions than Scottish ones, and often different versions.
"Laird of Drumblair" seems pretty well-known to both crowds though. Find a recording of that.
The Strathspey - mainly a zoo animal now, Trapped in a rigid rhythm that was not meant to be. Find those players who have never heard the Strathspey and Reel societies forcing these living forms into their cages. Listen to Chris Normand.
If you have the Shipley's Album [Rosie Shipley, Trevor, Peter] there are a bunch of strathspeys that you can learn. The only strathspey that I know and learned was from that CD, it's called "To Daunton Me". I've heard it played as a hornpipe by Chulrua [Paddy O'Brien, Patrick Ourceau, and Pat Egan].
Errr, unfortunately I can't get the name of the album since it's at the bottom of a bag where I'm storing my CDs until I get a CD rack. It's something like "Coming Home" or "'something' home". You can find out by going to their site.
www.shipleywhistle.com I THINK. Man... Where's my brain tonight!
Zoo animal? Listen to the Cape Breton fiddlers playing strathspeys. Dozens of great players & recordings, including:
Buddy MacMaster
Natalie MacMaster
Ashley MacIsaac
Wendy MacIsaac
Jerry Holland
Brenda Stubbert
Kinnon Beaton
Andrea Beaton
Bill Lamey
Alex Francis MacKay
Mairi Rankin
Beolach
Ian MacDougall
Howie MacDonald
Winston Scotty Fitzgerald
Karl MacKenzie
Kimberley Fraser
Jackie Dunn
Rodney MacDonald
Glenn Graham
Joe MacLean
and Antigonish (not quite Cape Breton, but close)
fiddlers:
Kendra MacGillivray
Troy MacGillivray
It's hard to imagine a Cape Breton fiddle CD without at least a half dozen strathspeys. And they're not rigid. It's the exciting part of a set where it moves from an air or a march toward a set of reels, gradually picking up speed.
Donegal Highlands are Strathspeys. To my ear the Donegal way of playing a Highland is more like a Cape Breton Strathspey than a Scottish Strathspey. But then there are different kinds of Scottish strathspeys too. The competition style Strathspey is very arch, or "caged" if you like. I heard Ashley MacIsaac play a fifteen minute set of strathspeys back before he got famous. It was incredible. The tension would build and build, then he let off a bit, then built it up some more. It hurt so good.
Scott Skinner composed many good strathspeys but you *don't* want to play like him...
Alasdair Fraser's recordings are worth checking out but there are many great players. How about checking the strathspey section here again? They should also give details of many of the recordings on which they can be heard.
As for the recording, I strongly recommend "The Heart of Cape Breton": http://www.cranfordpub.com/recordings/HeartCB.htm This is an excellent collection of the live recordings with which we can sample the mighty playings of renowned C.B. fiddlers such as Buddy MacMaster, Wendy MacIsaac, Brenda Stubbert, Jerry Holland, and Kinnon Beaton. I think it's the only recording which features the playings of all the fiddlers mentioned above. Lots of strathspeys too.
Thanks again, everybody, for all that information. It looks like I'm going to have to specialise in strathspeys for a while to do any kind of justice to it.
Not sure you're doing *yourself* justice there, Phonsie. Strathspeys do take work, but they're by no means the toughest tune form out there. They are a lot of fun, though, and well worth putting time into.
Mrph. Honestly, I'd have to say the slow air, because there's not much of a pattern to 'em. The flow is much less --- I don't want to say predictable; regular, maybe? Also, of course, I'm a fiddler, so there are Tone Issues involved. ;)
Dunno, maybe my perception of strathspeys is unusual (I am an Aspie, after all, so I can't always assume my perceptions are the same as other people's). Once I've heard a strathspey a couple of times, or played through it likewise if it's one I'm learning off the dots, I can feel in advance where the snaps are going to come in. They just follow naturally from the flow of the tune. It's rather like knowing a road really well, and saying, ok, here's that bit that goes down and under the railroad trestle so the big oak tree is just around the next curve. So for me they're not challenging to learn except in terms of remembering the next note, which is a challenge with any new tune.
Feeling the natural flow of the music is a big part of learning the tunes for me, and I can do it pretty well with jigs and reels and strathspeys and hornpipes. Slow airs I can sometimes feel it, but not always ---- and definitely not always reproduce it. As near as I've been able to judge, it'sa physically-based issue. I also experience it with other type of music I play, and onn other instruments.
Slow airs -- for the patterns, at least if the air is from a song, take a look at the lyrics, in Irish if you can find it. It often solves many mysteries as to why *that* phrase is the way it is...
Excellent advice --- but incomplete. :p For me, there's a world of difference between seeing it and feeling it. The whys are enlightening and help no end with interpretation, but don't get the feel of an air into my bones. If it's from a song I have to learn to sing it myself, or listen to a good recording of it until I have the tune memorized from the recording. Then I've got it. Which is why, for example, I can play Amhran na Leabhar from memory on the harp; I learned it from listening to Niamh Parsons singing Done With Bonaparte, which is set to that air.
Strathspeys
Strathspeys
From time to time I hear strathspeys that I’d really like to learn, but I don’t have the names for them. I know there is a strathspey category in the Tunes section on this site, but I have to hear and like a tune before I learn it, either by ear or by ear complemented by reading. Does anyone know of any albums that have a good selection of strathspeys? There is one tune that I like to play and I think it’s a strathspey. I learned it years ago from a Chieftains LP, but I don’t know which one and I no longer have the LP. The Waterboys work it very nicely into one of the songs “Further up, Further in” on their 1990’s album “The Waterboys”. They don’t give the tune a name on the sleevenotes. Does anybody have a name for it?
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by An Goban Saor
Re: Strathspeys
Hi Phonsie,
Try this http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/203
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by Lurcherjohn
Re: Strathspeys
Aly Bain's various recordings with Boys of the Lough, Phil Cunningham and others always contain a sprinkling of strathspeys. There's a "best of" Aly & Phil out now which would be worth delving into., it seems good value for the number of tracks on it.
I've noticed since Strathspeys have had a new lease of popularity among Irish musicians that there are different (often very different) Strathspeys popular at irish sessions than Scottish ones, and often different versions.
"Laird of Drumblair" seems pretty well-known to both crowds though. Find a recording of that.
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by Bren
Re: Strathspeys
The Strathspey - mainly a zoo animal now, Trapped in a rigid rhythm that was not meant to be. Find those players who have never heard the Strathspey and Reel societies forcing these living forms into their cages. Listen to Chris Normand.
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by bigfish
Re: Strathspeys
There's a recording of "Laird of Drumblaire" on my tune-learing site at http://www.worldfiddlemusic.co.uk/
There are two speeds : normal & slow speed.
http://www.worldfiddlemusic.co.uk/mp3/lairdofdrumblair1.mp3
http://www.worldfiddlemusic.co.uk/mp3/lairdofdrumblair2.mp3
Jim
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by Worldfiddler
Re: Strathspeys
The tune you're after is called Frank Roche's Favourite which stems from a Scottish tune called Lady Ann Hope composed, I believe, by John Pringle
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by Patkiwi
Re: Strathspeys
You can find it on Matt Molloy's "The Stony Steps" and Tommmy McCarthy's "The Sporting Nell".
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by Patkiwi
Re: Strathspeys
Thanks for all the information so far, folks. I've got to check out now, as it's well past bedtime in this part of the planet.
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by An Goban Saor
Re: Strathspeys
If you have the Shipley's Album [Rosie Shipley, Trevor, Peter] there are a bunch of strathspeys that you can learn. The only strathspey that I know and learned was from that CD, it's called "To Daunton Me". I've heard it played as a hornpipe by Chulrua [Paddy O'Brien, Patrick Ourceau, and Pat Egan].
Errr, unfortunately I can't get the name of the album since it's at the bottom of a bag where I'm storing my CDs until I get a CD rack. It's something like "Coming Home" or "'something' home". You can find out by going to their site.
www.shipleywhistle.com I THINK. Man... Where's my brain tonight!
Cheers and organizing tunes,
Armand
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by fiddlinviolinin
Re: Strathspeys
Zoo animal? Listen to the Cape Breton fiddlers playing strathspeys. Dozens of great players & recordings, including:
Buddy MacMaster
Natalie MacMaster
Ashley MacIsaac
Wendy MacIsaac
Jerry Holland
Brenda Stubbert
Kinnon Beaton
Andrea Beaton
Bill Lamey
Alex Francis MacKay
Mairi Rankin
Beolach
Ian MacDougall
Howie MacDonald
Winston Scotty Fitzgerald
Karl MacKenzie
Kimberley Fraser
Jackie Dunn
Rodney MacDonald
Glenn Graham
Joe MacLean
and Antigonish (not quite Cape Breton, but close)
fiddlers:
Kendra MacGillivray
Troy MacGillivray
It's hard to imagine a Cape Breton fiddle CD without at least a half dozen strathspeys. And they're not rigid. It's the exciting part of a set where it moves from an air or a march toward a set of reels, gradually picking up speed.
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by GaryAMartin
Re: Strathspeys
Donegal Highlands are Strathspeys. To my ear the Donegal way of playing a Highland is more like a Cape Breton Strathspey than a Scottish Strathspey. But then there are different kinds of Scottish strathspeys too. The competition style Strathspey is very arch, or "caged" if you like. I heard Ashley MacIsaac play a fifteen minute set of strathspeys back before he got famous. It was incredible. The tension would build and build, then he let off a bit, then built it up some more. It hurt so good.
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by bellows boy
Re: Strathspeys
Silly Wizard also did several good strathspeys on their recordings. A A Cameron's, on "So Many Partings", is particularly tasty.Ω
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by sara g
Re: Strathspeys
Oh, and Bonnie Rideout. She has a nice way with a strathspey and has recorded a number of them.?
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by sara g
Re: Strathspeys
Scott Skinner composed many good strathspeys but you *don't* want to play like him...
Alasdair Fraser's recordings are worth checking out but there are many great players. How about checking the strathspey section here again? They should also give details of many of the recordings on which they can be heard.
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by Johannes J
Re: Strathspeys
King George IV, The Devil in the Kitchen, Bog an Lochan, Braes of Tullymet, and Calum Crubach (Miss Sarah Drummond Of Perth) are classic strathspeys, which I really need to learn. My favourite is Captain Campbell: http://thesession.org/tunes/display.php/1557 North Brig o' Edinburgh (http://thesession.org/tunes/display.php/1435) and Lord Seaforth (http://thesession.org/tunes/display.php/1650) are also nice.
As for the recording, I strongly recommend "The Heart of Cape Breton": http://www.cranfordpub.com/recordings/HeartCB.htm This is an excellent collection of the live recordings with which we can sample the mighty playings of renowned C.B. fiddlers such as Buddy MacMaster, Wendy MacIsaac, Brenda Stubbert, Jerry Holland, and Kinnon Beaton. I think it's the only recording which features the playings of all the fiddlers mentioned above. Lots of strathspeys too.
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by slainte
Re: Strathspeys
P.S. It seems Lucy Campbell's and Rakish Paddy are played as strathspeys in Cape Breton.
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by slainte
Re: Strathspeys
Thanks again, everybody, for all that information. It looks like I'm going to have to specialise in strathspeys for a while to do any kind of justice to it.
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by An Goban Saor
Re: Strathspeys
Not sure you're doing *yourself* justice there, Phonsie. Strathspeys do take work, but they're by no means the toughest tune form out there. They are a lot of fun, though, and well worth putting time into.
# Posted on December 29th 2004 by sara g
Re: Strathspeys
Sara, just out of interest, from your point of view - what do you reckon is the toughest tune form in Irish traditional?
Jim
# Posted on December 30th 2004 by Worldfiddler
Re: Strathspeys
Mrph. Honestly, I'd have to say the slow air, because there's not much of a pattern to 'em. The flow is much less --- I don't want to say predictable; regular, maybe? Also, of course, I'm a fiddler, so there are Tone Issues involved. ;)
Dunno, maybe my perception of strathspeys is unusual (I am an Aspie, after all, so I can't always assume my perceptions are the same as other people's). Once I've heard a strathspey a couple of times, or played through it likewise if it's one I'm learning off the dots, I can feel in advance where the snaps are going to come in. They just follow naturally from the flow of the tune. It's rather like knowing a road really well, and saying, ok, here's that bit that goes down and under the railroad trestle so the big oak tree is just around the next curve. So for me they're not challenging to learn except in terms of remembering the next note, which is a challenge with any new tune.
Feeling the natural flow of the music is a big part of learning the tunes for me, and I can do it pretty well with jigs and reels and strathspeys and hornpipes. Slow airs I can sometimes feel it, but not always ---- and definitely not always reproduce it. As near as I've been able to judge, it'sa physically-based issue. I also experience it with other type of music I play, and onn other instruments.
So have I just made a total idiot out of myself?
# Posted on December 30th 2004 by sara g
Re: Strathspeys
Slow airs -- for the patterns, at least if the air is from a song, take a look at the lyrics, in Irish if you can find it. It often solves many mysteries as to why *that* phrase is the way it is...
# Posted on December 30th 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: Strathspeys
Excellent advice --- but incomplete. :p For me, there's a world of difference between seeing it and feeling it. The whys are enlightening and help no end with interpretation, but don't get the feel of an air into my bones. If it's from a song I have to learn to sing it myself, or listen to a good recording of it until I have the tune memorized from the recording. Then I've got it. Which is why, for example, I can play Amhran na Leabhar from memory on the harp; I learned it from listening to Niamh Parsons singing Done With Bonaparte, which is set to that air.
# Posted on December 30th 2004 by sara g
Re: Strathspeys
Always good to learn to sing the song.
One can, of course, make the case that that is true for *all* music learned by ear, not just songs.
# Posted on December 30th 2004 by Zina Lee