Key signature: Gmajor
Submitted on January 15th 2003 by Dow.
This tune has been added to 58 tunebooks.
Also known as Twelve Pins, The Twelve Pins, Twelves Pins, The Twelves Pins.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Twelve Pins, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
|:B|dB~B2 dBGB|dA~A2 dAFE|DEFG ABcA|defg abge|
dB~B2 dBGB|dA~A2 dAFE|DEFG ABcA|d2cd BGG:|
z|~f3e defg|af (3gfe fdAB|~c2cB cBAB|cedc BAA2|
~f3e defg|af (3gfe fdAB|~c2cB cBAB|cedc BGG2|
~f3e defg|af (3gfe fdAB|~c2cB cdef|gbag fdde|
~f3g ~a3g|~f3e dcAB|~c2cB cBAB|cedc BGG||
A Charlie Lennon tune. The "Twelve Pins" refers to a mountain range in Connemara. I like this tune because it doesn't seem to be able to decide whether it wants to be in Gmaj or Dmix, and just sort of "hangs there" until the next tune kicks in. It can be a difficult one to back if you haven't come across it before. This gets played practically every week at my local session. This version is transcribed direct from a minidisc recording thereof. There are a few variations in certain bars each time through, e.g.
bar 1: |d3B dBGB|
bar 4: |defg afge|
bar 6: |dA~A2 fAFE|
bars 11,15 etc in 2nd part |cA~A2 DFAB|
Some of these variations and more can be found in a transcription on JC's (#181), and there's a different version again on Norbeck's index.
# Posted on January 15th 2003 by Dow
For a harmonization that's a bit different you can substitute some of the G major chords for E min to avoid repetition, e.g.
1st part (G or Em)
|:Em7 | Am7 | D | D7 | Em7 | Am7 | D | D7 G :|
2nd part (Dmix)
|:D | D | C | Am7 | D | Bm7 | Am7 | D7 G :|
# Posted on January 15th 2003 by Dow
Whoops I forgot to say this is dedicated to Brad
"Come back wherever you are!"
# Posted on January 15th 2003 by Dow
One last thing: my transcription is fiddle-orientated, but if you're playing flute or something like a zouk in open D where you can trill or cran easily on a high "d", then you could vary the last line to e.g.
|effg ga{b}ag|fd (3ded {e}dcAB|c...
# Posted on January 15th 2003 by Dow
Good Post!
What a good tune! Thanks Dow!
-Troy
# Posted on January 15th 2003 by RTP
I have more often heard the B part played:
f3e defg|a2fd cAAB|c2cB cBAB|cedB cAA2|
f3e defg|a2fd cAAB|c2cB cBAB|cedc BGG2|
f3e defg|a2fd cAAB|c2cB cdeg|a2ga fdde|
f3g a3g|f3e dcAB|c2cB cBAB|cedc BGG2||
I think this is the way Charlie Lennon plays it on his 'Musical Memories Vol I'.
# Posted on January 16th 2003 by granama
Oh well, sorry Charlie
# Posted on January 16th 2003 by Dow
Dow, I'm sure Mr. Lennon is delighted that his tune has been embraced and personalised by traditional players.
# Posted on January 28th 2003 by granama
The Twelve Pins (reel)
The Lord of the Dance were in Bristol last week, and their fiddlers Orla and Daniel very kindly came to the Hibernia Irish music workshop on their Saturday morning off to teach us some tunes. After the LotD's Saturday evening performance Orla and Daniel, together with a number of the dancers in the company, came along to our session at the Plume of Feathers for a stupendous late evening of music.
This is the version of The Twelve Pins that Orla (who I believe comes from Co. Clare) taught us on the Saturday morning, a version that differs in many respects from what has already been posted:
B||:dBB2 dBGB|dAA2 dAFA|DEFG ABcA|defg afge|
dBB2 dBGB|dAA2 dAFA|DEFG ABcA|1 dBcA G3B:||2 dBcA G3e|
||:f2fe defg|addc dcAB|c2cB cdeg|aged caae|
f2fe defg|addc dcAB|c2cB cBAB|1 cAFA G3e:||2 cAFA G3|
In the first half the B2's were played as rolls, and the A2's were played as very fast open-string rolls, the fingers barely touching the strings.
# Posted on December 2nd 2005 by lazyhound
12 pins
I'm not so sure about the 4th measure of the B part Trevor. It sounds strange to me. The version posted here at The Session is the setting I've heard played most often. It is a bit different, or shall I say more session friendly, than what Charlie Lennon has written in his book of tunes. Some of the variations in his book are very difficult. Many of Charlie's tunes that are played in sessions have changed slightly. Such is the process of this tradition.
# Posted on December 3rd 2005 by ~CK
~CK, the fragment "aged caa" in the 4th measure of the B part will sound quite familiar to many players. This is because it is a motif that occurs in a lot of tunes, two well-known ones being The Galtee and Return to Camden Town.
The Twelve Pins was initially not known to us before Orla taught it. I believe she mentioned that it was common in Clare, and she probably chose it because it is a technically fairly simple tune that would suit teaching to a dozen or so players of varying abilities in a limited amount of time - barely an hour in this instance because she and Daniel had to get back to Bristol for sound tests at the Hippodrome before the afternoon performance of the Lord of the Dance.
What I posted is of course the bare bones of the tune Orla played, and I haven't attempted to put in the ornamentation that she used. My personal preference is to play the B2s and A2s in the A part as triples rather than rolls, and there is plenty of opportunity in this tune for cuts and other ornaments for the adventurous player.
# Posted on December 3rd 2005 by lazyhound