Leaving Lerwick Harbour

reel

Key signature: Gminor

Submitted on August 9th 2003 by fifer.

This tune has been added to 50 tunebooks.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

Da Farder Ben Da Welcomer by Fiddlers' Bid
Heat Of The Moment by Pierre Schryer And Ian Clark
Leaving Lerwick Harbour by Willie Hunter And Violet Tulloch
Sean Potts by Sean Potts And Paddy Moloney
Shetland Dialect - Language Of The Fiddle by Various Artists
Shetland Fiddle Music by School Of Scottish Studies, University Of Edinburgh
The Fiddle Music Of Donegal - Volume Three by Various Artists
The Floating Bowhand by Jim McKillop
The Wishing Tree by Seamus McGuire
Tru The Years by Jim McKillop

X: 1
T: Leaving Lerwick Harbour
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmin
F|B3 d/2c/2 B3F|G2 B2 F3D|E3G F2 D2|C4-C2 F2|!
B3 d/2c/2 B3F|G2 B2 F3D|E2 C2 F2 D2|B,4-B,3:|!
d/2e/2|f3d B3F|G2 B2 e2 g2|f3B F2 D2|C4 C3 d/2e/2|!
f3d B3F|G2 B2 [G,2E2] [B2g2]|[A2f2] F2 [F2d2] [E2c2]|[D4B4] [D3B3] d/2e/2|!
f3d B3F|G2 B2 e2 g2|f3B F2 D2|C4-C2 F2|!
B3 d/2c/2 B3F|G2 B2 F3D|E2 C2 F2 D2|B,4-B,3||

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Leaving Lerwick Harbour

Isn't life a b**** - a series of trade-offs?

This is a haunting SLOW AIR in Bb major. Only way my brain could think to post it this morning, given the alcohol/caffeine mix. Should print and play OK, hopefully, after adjusting the tempo. Written by the late Willie Hunter and not ashamed to say it's one of my favourites. Inspired by watching the departure of the ferry carrying his aunt back home to New Zealand following a brief visit back to her birthplace. Think you've got a good fiddle/fiddle set-up? (Technique taken for granted of course!) You've got to try this. I'll guarantee that if you make it sing and there's a Shetlander (and many non-Shetlanders) in the house there'll be a moistness in their eyes - I don't care how macho they are.

(No more for the present Jeremy - I promise!)

# Posted on August 9th 2003 by fifer

I love this tune! One of his most popular and best compositions out of all of them. Willie, himself, didn't actually play this slow air until his last recording that he made just a few weeks before he, sadly, passed away. If he was asked to play it, he would say, "I'm not ready to play it yet." It's a very sad story.
I have been told that I can make my fiddle sing when I'm playing this slow air, and I have been known to bring a tear or two to my mum's eye's before whilst playing it.

# Posted on February 1st 2006 by Shoz

Also at the end of the tune to finish it of, instead of playing a C and then a B, you can play an A to a B an octave higher.

# Posted on October 23rd 2006 by Shoz

I didn't make a very good job of it, but if your interested, I just posted this tune on YouTube.
I'm playing it on my recently acquired Wheatstone Aeola Baritone Concertina, so it sounds suitably mellow.
However, I still have to learn to play S L O W L Y on it! :-(

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pyFu2L09Nfc

Cheers
Dick

# Posted on February 2nd 2009 by Ptarmigan