Hi,
I HATE hornpipes!
Musicians and dancers who stay well away from the Ceili/Set dancing scene tend to blame it on the giant accordonion which seems to have found its niche there. But what could this death-dealing machine achieve without its favourite ammunition: a heavy load of baneful hornpipes? Unfortunately, the hornpipe has leaked and spread from the dance hall uncontrollably and many a promising, appetising trad. session is now irremediably drownded in 'HP' sauce, while many otherwise brilliant CD track is ruined by the insertion of a corny cornphíopa!
There are, to be true, very tuneful and beautiful hornpipes: the more noticeable for their exceptional quality! (Most A-mixolydian hornpipes are in that category but unfortunately they are few and far between).
Surely, there is no shortage of unappealing jigs or reels either, but the oh so square, predictable hornpipe is essentially evil! (Is this how it got its 'horn'?) The majority of hornpipes are boring to a cringe, the rest sound, often cringingly, silly: Is this last 'quality' a redeeming feature? Certain sessions could do with a pinch of silliness, but is playing hornpipes a helpful recourse? Launch into a hornpipe set on your next 1st of April gig and see how many people fail to get the joke!
Well, if you insist I must share a H'pipe with you,
please select from the following list (not that short but probably exhaustive!);
-The Blackbird(No1996), Cahir's Kitchen, The Fat Cat (as played by Tommy Peoples!), The Humours Of Ballyconnell, Garrett Barry's, Johnny Cope, Duncan Johnstone, The Humours Of Tullycrine, Landslide Village, The Liverpool (saved by Cathal Hayden & Seamus ODowd's beautiful interpretation), The Londonderry HP, The Man From Barnagrove, The Meeting Place, Moon Over Friday Harbor, Poll Ha' Penny, The Re-haired Boy, The Rights of Man, The Shan Van Vocht, (Sully's No. 37 ), Walsh's
+ some borderline cases like Cronin's,
or the odd set-dance type like The Blackbird,
or the marching type like Behind The Ditch In Páirc Anna, Frost And Snow, George Rowley's, the Pride of Petravore, The Wren's(6570).
And while we're on the subject, here's a list of good reels, flings, etc that can be played as hornpipes (but why anyone would want to ruin a perfectly good reel in this way is beyond all understanding ;-) )
The Birds In The Tree, George White's Favorite, The Green Gates, the Killarney Wonder,
Here's a list of hornpipes that can be passed off as reels:
Above And Beyond, Coleman's Farewell To Nicotine, Dirt On The Floor, Drive The Golden Spike, We Saw You Coming(1st part),
Also: Hornpipes with some redeeming features in them:
The Conundrum, The Devil's Dream, Johnstone's Fancy, Shannandoah Falls, The Little Heathy Hill, Neal Slessor Thompson, President Garfield's(!), Tom's Delight,
And, to finish (literally!), a hornpipe with aggravating features:
Spellan's Inspiration http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/8260 (The cheek in that name!)
This one will pay for them all: Death to all Hornpipes!!
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On a more serious note;
I am interested in mouth-music / lilting / canntaireachd / lyrics <=> dance tunes / mnemonic drum patterns / nonsense rhymes, as well as mnemonic tune names (the type that mimic the rhythm of the first few beats);
If anyone has any reference, specific or general, about the subject, drop us a line!
I also have a fully referenced list of such lilts and ditties for anyone interested (a Work In Progress)
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And here's my ABC's basics reminder:
http://abcnotation.com/
& http://www.lesession.co.uk/abc/abc_notation.htm & http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/ABC-FAQ.html
Order; X: 1/ T: /M: (4/4) /L: 1/8 /R: (reel) / K: (Gmaj)/
mid-tune changes: [K ] see...
'paragraph(??): !, mid-bar repeats: [ :|, to keep two lines together: \
chord: [nN], chords (guitar): "before the note", see: http://abcplus.sourceforge.net.
flat: _n, natural: =n, sharp: ^n
dotted {(2 in compound time}: n3/n3/ (cf4344) , 'pointy-semi': n>n (rather than n3/2n), 'semi': n/, snap: n<n, slur: n-n {after the note regardless of what follows} , triplets: (3 or (3SnnnS (not needed?), Other Divisions: cf1113.
'bowing': (nN), grace n: {n}, twirlie: ~n, 'hold': Hn, vA uA: paradoxically to the tip and from the tip.
triplets? (cfNo10): *B3
rest: z
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/21694
ABCMus2.0 uses the symbol J (uppercase) to indicate a slide up to a note (doesnot sound but appears notated)
Score test: http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html
Sound test:
Transpose: http://www.8ung.at/abctransposer/
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See you around :-)
Tunes in birlibirdie's tunebook: 1
| Les Doigts De Carmen | reel | November 10th 2009 |
| Sixteen Come Next Sunday | slide | August 1st 2009 |
| The Frieze Breeches | slide | August 1st 2009 |
| The Wrong Medicine | reel | July 31st 2009 |
| Gan Ainm | polka | April 18th 2005 |
| Morag Ramsey | May 12th 2009 |
| Snow-covered Mountains | November 26th 2004 |
| On Kielder Side | Kathryn Tickell | August 4th 2009 |
| Café Du Bon Coin | Tri Yann | June 23rd 2009 |
| Loosely Connected | Niamh Parsons | March 30th 2009 |
| Wae's Me For Prince Charlie | Battlefield Band | February 23rd 2009 |
| Musiques Traditionnelles D'Irlande | The Crickard Brothers | June 5th 2007 |
| Reel ID Help!! | June 5th 2008 |
| Tunes | November 10th 2009 | |
| Tunes | Les Doigts de Carmen | November 10th 2009 |
| Tunes | October 27th 2009 | |
| Recordings | On Kielder Side | August 4th 2009 |
| Tunes | August 4th 2009 |