Key signature: Edorian
Submitted on October 29th 2002 by SPeak.
This tune has been added to 123 tunebooks.
Also known as Lexi McKaskill, Lexie MacAskill, Lexy MacAskill, Lexy Macaskill's, Lexy Macskills, Lexy McAskill, Lexy McAskill's.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Lexie McAskill's
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Edor
e2~e2 deed|e2dB GABd|e2~e2 deed|egfd e2Bd|
e2~e2 deed|e2dB GABd|e2~e2 deed|egfd e2ef||
g2fg e2dB|~A3B GABd|g2fg e2dB|egfd e2ef|
g2fg e2dB|A2dB GABd|g2fg e2dB|egfd e2ed||
e2~e2 ~e2dB|~A3B GABd|e2~e2 ~e2dB|egfd e2Bd|
e2~e2 ~e2dB|~A3B GABd|e2~e2 ~e2dB|egfd e2eg||
aeea e2dB|~A3B GABd|aeea e2dB|egfd e2g2|
aeea e2dB|A2dB GABd|aeea e2dB|egfd e2e2||
Dr. John McAskill composed this tune.
# Posted on October 29th 2002 by SPeak
Lexy McAskill
......for his wife Alexandra, hence, "Lexy" (so I heard).
# Posted on October 30th 2002 by Kenny
Lexy McAskill
p.s - one of very few Highland bagpipe tunes in the key of E minor.
# Posted on November 1st 2002 by Kenny
E dorian...we knew what you meant.
# Posted on November 16th 2002 by SPeak
Mode/Key
It has a lot of Es but it's in A - a gapped scale, neither major nor minor as it has no Cs or Csharps - even if it were E minor you couldn't call it Dorian without a Csharp.
There are indeed very few Highland pipe tunes in E minor. and this is not one of them.
Great tune anyway!
# Posted on January 2nd 2005 by Matt Seattle
Actually, it 'resolves' on 'E', or 'e' if we're being specific. So there's no way in hell it is in the key of 'A' as transcribed here, though if you wanted to wangle it that way upwards, well, it would be screaming. Also, just to rub in more salt, there aren't any G#s in this, and if there were it would sound like shight. As to the C's, well, if you slipped them in as you could, running up or down between B and d, the better sound, the natural choice, would be C natural. So, let's see now, F#, C and everything else natural, and every part resolving on 'e' ~ hmmmmmm?
;-P
# Posted on March 5th 2006 by ceolachan
Find it here where someone has put in a lot of E minor chords in select places...
http://www.users.monornet.hu/nemethmik/CeilidhBudapest/tunes/CeilidhBudapest.pdf
# Posted on March 5th 2006 by ceolachan
My view on this is rather less black and white. It's very difficult to ascertain the underlying mode for this tune because it doesn't resolve in a very decisive cadence at the end of each part. Even though the GHB scale limits the theoretical choice of mode to Amix and Edor, the absence of a C# means that you could set it to chords with C nats and it would sound ok. I think in cases like these where the tune doesn't give you much to go on, your choice of mode is set either by what chords or drones you use or how the tune is varied. For example if you play this on GHB against an A drone, the ear is more likely to interpret this as a mode of A like Ador or Amix. What if you varied the tune so that it went
eA~A2 deed|e2dB GABd|eA~A2 deed|egfd e2Bd|
eA~A2 deed|e2dB GABd|eA~A2 deed|egfd e2ef|| etc?
I've only changed a couple of notes, but most people would have no problem accepting that that would be some mode of A, even though the end phrases hang there on an unresolved E.
I think if you're looking at the tune from a structural point of view, Edor is a poor choice of mode upon which to base a chordal accompaniment or variations. It means that there's not much potential harmonic movement, and you're limited to harmonising and creating variations within the bounds of Em and G chords, not D and Bm. On the other hand, viewed as Amix or Ador, you're able to move around Am, G, D and Em chords.
# Posted on March 27th 2006 by Dow
Just checked that link above and I rest my case. Those Em chords are going nowhere. They try to go to the D, but it just won't work nicely, and then where do you go? You're stuck on a perpetual Em chord forever. Aaaaargh. Give me a nice A drone!
# Posted on March 27th 2006 by Dow
Lexy McAskill
I am 45 now and first played this tune in pipe band competitions when I was 14. This year I started picking up the traditional flute. Its brilliant on the pipes, its brilliant on the whistle and its astonishing on the flute. Its a tune that needs feeling more than it needs thinking about. I would advise everybody to forget the science and just try playing it with the feeling it deserves.
# Posted on November 14th 2008 by Davy B