Anyone have thoughts on those tunes which only have the first part once and the second twice - and the other way around. There's a lot of tunes always played like that (eg 'The Sailor's Bonnet), but listening to old recordings, a lot of the tunes now played standard AABB were played AAB or ABB.
thanks
I just noticed this myself, after learning "Tom Ward's Downfall" -- we learned it AABB, all the "modern" recordings I have are AABB, but both of the older recordings I have (I think Coleman and Killoran) play it AAB, and it really seems to make more sense that way, the second part is dead boring if you repeat it.
I've learned a couple of tunes which are still played ABB, like "Sailor's Bonnet", but it seems like all the AAB tunes I've run into were on old recordings and are played AABB these days. I've been wondering if this was part of a general "regularizing" of Irish music, but I've got nothing but that vague notion so far.
It's a lot easier to count for dancing if you've got a regular number of bars, divisible by 32 or 48. So two sets of repeats with eight bars each are sort of helpful and almost universally useful.
It did cross my mind that if these were very old recordings, that the players might have shortened the tune - cut the suit to suit the cloth, as it were.
Actually, it's not so much the 32 or 48, it's by 8 measures.
A modern stepdancer doesn't really care if the step actually goes to two As or two Bs, for all they care, you could be playing single reels or polkas or what-all. All they care about is that there's 8 measures per part in either 2/4 or 4/4.
Now, there are some ceili dances where if you're playing certain tunes for them (Sweets of May for instance) where certain bits of the tune naturally fall on certain parts of the dance (or vice versa, depending on whether you're a dancer or a muso), so you really do need to play AAA the first time through the tune to get it to work properly with the body and figures.
Set dancers, on the other hand, tend to tell you exactly how many measures they want for each figure. If they don't, you just play until they stop.
As for the AAB or ABB thing, I think that may have something to do with the structure of the tune itself.
A 'true' single reel (for a given definition of "true", but we're talking generalizations here), for instance, technically is a repeat of four measures for a part of 8 measures total in each part. If a tune has a part that is naturally a single reel sort of thingy, I can see where you'd want to only play that part 8 measures through.
For me, the classic example of this is Castle Kelly, which is often played ABB -- although in plenty of places it's played AB or AABB.
Really, the more important thing is to know that you should listen carefullty to how a tune is played in any given place and then play it that way.
Tunes played AAB and ABB
Tunes played AAB and ABB
Anyone have thoughts on those tunes which only have the first part once and the second twice - and the other way around. There's a lot of tunes always played like that (eg 'The Sailor's Bonnet), but listening to old recordings, a lot of the tunes now played standard AABB were played AAB or ABB.
thanks
# Posted on September 27th 2005 by Sharon the Flute
Re: Tunes played AAB and ABB
I just noticed this myself, after learning "Tom Ward's Downfall" -- we learned it AABB, all the "modern" recordings I have are AABB, but both of the older recordings I have (I think Coleman and Killoran) play it AAB, and it really seems to make more sense that way, the second part is dead boring if you repeat it.
I've learned a couple of tunes which are still played ABB, like "Sailor's Bonnet", but it seems like all the AAB tunes I've run into were on old recordings and are played AABB these days. I've been wondering if this was part of a general "regularizing" of Irish music, but I've got nothing but that vague notion so far.
# Posted on September 28th 2005 by Sol Foster
Re: Tunes played AAB and ABB
Dancers would know why.
# Posted on September 28th 2005 by slainte
Re: Tunes played AAB and ABB
What about people who play "Gallopede" AABC?
# Posted on September 28th 2005 by geoffwright
Re: Tunes played AAB and ABB
It's a lot easier to count for dancing if you've got a regular number of bars, divisible by 32 or 48. So two sets of repeats with eight bars each are sort of helpful and almost universally useful.
It did cross my mind that if these were very old recordings, that the players might have shortened the tune - cut the suit to suit the cloth, as it were.
# Posted on September 28th 2005 by Innocent Bystander
Re: Tunes played AAB and ABB
Actually, it's not so much the 32 or 48, it's by 8 measures.
A modern stepdancer doesn't really care if the step actually goes to two As or two Bs, for all they care, you could be playing single reels or polkas or what-all. All they care about is that there's 8 measures per part in either 2/4 or 4/4.
Now, there are some ceili dances where if you're playing certain tunes for them (Sweets of May for instance) where certain bits of the tune naturally fall on certain parts of the dance (or vice versa, depending on whether you're a dancer or a muso), so you really do need to play AAA the first time through the tune to get it to work properly with the body and figures.
Set dancers, on the other hand, tend to tell you exactly how many measures they want for each figure. If they don't, you just play until they stop.
As for the AAB or ABB thing, I think that may have something to do with the structure of the tune itself.
A 'true' single reel (for a given definition of "true", but we're talking generalizations here), for instance, technically is a repeat of four measures for a part of 8 measures total in each part. If a tune has a part that is naturally a single reel sort of thingy, I can see where you'd want to only play that part 8 measures through.
For me, the classic example of this is Castle Kelly, which is often played ABB -- although in plenty of places it's played AB or AABB.
Really, the more important thing is to know that you should listen carefullty to how a tune is played in any given place and then play it that way.
# Posted on September 28th 2005 by Zina Lee
Re: Tunes played AAB and ABB
I've been known to play tunes in AAB and ABB...
... but usually not on purpose.
Schy
# Posted on September 28th 2005 by Schy