Key signature: Dmajor
Submitted on June 15th 2003 by cj.
This tune has been added to 62 tunebooks.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Mathematician, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: hornpipe
K: Dmaj
G| F>G ^G>A f>d A>F | G>A _B>=B g>e B>d | c>b a>g f>e d>c | (3dfe (3dcB (3ABA (3GFE |
F>G ^G>A (3fed (3cBA | G>A _B>=B (3gfe (3dcB | (3cba (3gfe (3dcB (3ABc | (3dAf (3dAF D3 a |
d'>a f>d A>F D>=C | B,>^D E>G B>e g>b | e'>b g>e B>G E>D | C>E A>c e>a c'>e' |
f'>d' a>f d>A F>D | G>B d>g b>d' g'>b | (3ad'c' (3bag (3fgf (3gfe | (3dfa (3d'af d4 |
The Mathematician`
A J. Scott Skinner tune. There was a marvelous midi of a pianist and the sheet music on the RSCDS Stirling Branch web site a while back, so I transcribed the abc from there. I can play all the notes sequentially on my piano, but I can't actually play the tune, if you know what I mean. But what a tune to stop your heart!
This tune was on the request list. I was recently back at the Stirling web site, and while they still have midis, I couldn't find a way to select a particular tune or get sheet music any more. If you'd like to look around they're at http://www.rscds-stirling.com.
cj
# Posted on June 15th 2003 by cj
Good work - I think it needs to be listed as a hornpipe though, not a reel.
# Posted on June 15th 2003 by Dow
The Mathematician
I changed it to a hornpipe as suggested. I guess I thought reel automatically because a friend of mine composed a Scottish country dance to the tune, and I just think of all dances as jigs or reels. Of course, the dances don't actually change, it's the tunes that do, so hornpipe should have occurred to me. Thanks for the correction.
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by cj
The mathematician
a lovely tune - certainly a hornpipe although I like to play it [on the guitar] in a sort-of ragtime fashion. I havent heard it played on the fiddle but it is getting to be a popular guitar piece - Ian Melrose has a nice arrangement.
It is in the James Hunter book [#332]
# Posted on June 23rd 2003 by allan21
The mathematician
Simon Mayer in his book Mastering the Mandolin has a good clear arrangement - he plays it at a slowish pace on the CD but the tune is still a cracker! Unfortunately I'm still trying to learn it - will get there one day....
# Posted on October 29th 2004 by albowlly
The Mathematician
The sheetmusic doesn't correspond exactly to the ABC. In particular, the high g' appears in the sheetmusic as f''.
# Posted on June 4th 2006 by lazyhound
The Mathematician
Sorry, I meant f' and not f'' !
# Posted on June 4th 2006 by lazyhound
The Mathematician
A copy of the final draft of this tune as sent to the publisher in 1900 is on Aberdeen University's Scott Skinner website http://www.abdn.ac.uk/scottskinner/index.shtml at http://www.abdn.ac.uk/scottskinner/display.php?ID=JSS0618&Creator=1&Creator_Manuscript=2
This website seems to be a fairly comprehensive collection of Scott Skinner's manuscripts but unfortunately there doesn't appear to be an alphabetical index or way of accessing a particular tune (The Mathematician in this instance) other than trawling through a large amount of irrelevant material.
There are a few differences between the original tune and the version as posted (as one would expect after the passage of a century), a major one being the organisation of the repeats.
# Posted on June 5th 2006 by lazyhound
The Mathematician
I'll also draw attention to the bowing slurs shown in the final draft manuscript (a clear indication of how this hornpipe would have been played by Skinner), and the accompaniment which sets out the very basic chord structure.
# Posted on June 5th 2006 by lazyhound
Brilliant tune
this one's a b*tch on the pipes that's for sure :S
wonderful tune altogether though
# Posted on June 1st 2007 by Scrappy the Godo
I wish the second part was actually playable on winds...
# Posted on May 10th 2008 by Whiddler