Key signature: Dmajor
Submitted on April 20th 2004 by NZ Jez.
This tune has been added to 22 tunebooks.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Curlew, The
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
R: slide
K: Dmaj
|: d3 A2 d B2 A dBA | d3 A2 d B2 A aef | d3 A2 d B2 A dBA | g2f efd cAA aef:|
|: d3 fee aef cBA | d3 fee aAa fef | d3 fee aea cBA | g2 f efd cAA aef :|
|: d3 GBA dBd ecA | d3 GAB dBG aef | d3 GBA dBG ecA | g2 f efd cAA aef :|
|: d3 a2 f dfd ecA | d3 afd fdA aef | d3 a2 f dfd ecA | gfe f2 d cAA aef :|
| gfg ege GBd edc | gfe gdc BAA a3 ||
The making of....
I caught this tune while listening to 'Return to Kintail' and i really liked it, so after much pencilwork and rewinding, I give you this: a direct translation of 'The Curlew' from 'Return to Kintail'
# Posted on April 20th 2004 by NZ Jez
Slide???
This is no slide - it's a Highland bagpipe jig composed by Donald McPherson. I'm sorry, Jez, but the notation for this is very inaccurate.
# Posted on April 20th 2004 by Kenny
Apology
NZ Jez - I've just seen that this is your first contribution to the session, and I would hate to think that the tone of my previous comment would dissuade you from contributing to this website in the future. No offence was intended, and if any was taken I humbly apologise. Zina Lee is usually the first to welcome newcomers, but I seem to have got here first, so - welcome !!! Your choice of tune for a first posting is excellent, the "Curlew" is a very popular pipe jig all over Scotland, but probably not all that well-known in Ireland. I am familiar with the Fraser/McManus recording of it, but if your transcription of it is accurate, they do seem to have changed the tune somewhat - ie from the composer's version. Scottish music, and bagpipe music in particular, is much less prone to melodic variation than Irish music, and it would be quite unusual for Scottish musicians to change a tune so much. The best thing I can do is to post the ABCs as written by Donald McPherson so you can see the differences for yourself. But, I can't think of such a thing as a Scottish slide! All the best!
# Posted on April 20th 2004 by Kenny
Not on the tune side, I'm not! But welcome, Jez and a nice job of the posting! I'll have to go find my copy of Return now and re-listen.
Kenny, seems to me I saw The Curlew of someone's list of session favs, but can't remember if it was a Scottish player or not -- I think perhaps it's hitting sessions with more regularity now...so the poor tune will probably get tinkered with more regularity from here on out!
# Posted on April 20th 2004 by Zina Lee
Great tune but I agree that's not how it's normally played. The version I know and the predominant one(I think) is actually slightly simpler. It's not too difficult a tune but you have to watch the last part. I imagine that it will get altered a bit if it gets absorbed into the Irish tradition but I think the purpose of the tunes section here is just to transcribe tunes "as played in your local session" rather than have definitive versions. It's not always possible to identify them except sometimes, as here, when the composer is known.
John
# Posted on April 20th 2004 by Johannes J
John, I'm not so sure that a composer's setting is any more "definitive" than any other setting. I don't play many of my own tunes the way I originally wrote them--they evolve with the playing, and from exposure to other people playing them. And I can think of any number of Ed Reavy or Paddy Fahey tunes that started out good but really blossomed into beautiful tunes only after being passed around among lots of players over pints for a decade or so.
# Posted on April 20th 2004 by Will CPT
Composer's versions -- definitive or not?
I asked Charlie Lennon about this when I met him. I asked him how he felt about his tune, "Road to Cashel" being recorded differently than his original version on the Daly/Burke LP, and then being learned by the multitudes that way. He said he didn't mind, and that he was glad they credited him as the composer, but he was more upset that they gave it the wrong title (Cabin Hunter). Charlie said that once you release a tune into the tradition, it becomes part of that tradition and is no longer just yours -- it belongs to the music. He added that it was the reason he was compelled to publish his book of tunes -- he wanted to put his original settings out for anyone that might be interested.
# Posted on April 20th 2004 by Phantom Button
Subject to variation
comment i've noticed from people seem to suggest that this version of the Curlew is not one that they recognise, but then there are many different versions of the same ture out there, subject to the variation different people put on the tune when they played it or handed it down to siblings or other such people (drowsy maggie being one example). I admit that when going through the ABC of the tune again i did notice some of my own mistakes that i must have made while either writing it in ABC or copying it down from the audio (im not trying to make any excuses here but i had to learn how to write ABC to put this tune up, and is as such the first time i have ever used the format to write music). I shall try to alter the ABC soon so that the translation is more accurate.
# Posted on April 20th 2004 by NZ Jez
also, i'm not very lerned on the subject of what a particular tune is cotergorized as (im not very hardcore in that respect). I didn't even know what to call it before i was told by Jeremy that it was, in fact, a slide because the time signature was 12/8. Perhaps someone could fill me in on the different types of tune and how i can tell one from another?
# Posted on April 20th 2004 by NZ Jez
Unfortunately, there's not a category here for every type of tune e.g slow airs, Scottish pipe marches and jigs etc because of technical considerations. You have to pick the correct time signature and explain in the comments that the tune is a slow air, pipe march or whatever. Hope this helps.
John
# Posted on April 20th 2004 by Johannes J
By my observations, Scottish music and Irish music are not the same; they have different cultural norms within the genres. Kenny and John are right, taking a Scottish tune and changing it up like Irish players do isn't usually considered "on", from what I can see, especially when the composer is known/living and the composed version is still very extant. Of course, Will and Jack are also right; now that The Curlew has hit the Irish sessions, it'll probably never be quite the same again, at least under our fingers.
# Posted on April 20th 2004 by Zina Lee
The Curlew - abc
As promised, but please, this is a 6/8 jig - not a slide.
d3 A2 d | BAA dBA | d3 A2 d | BAA aef |
d3 A2 d | BAA dBA | g2 f efd | cAA aef :|
d3 f2 d | aef dBA | d3 f2 d | a2 a fef |
d3 f2 d | aef dBA | g2 f efd | cAA aef :|
d3 GBA | dBd ecA | d3 GBB | Ace aef |
d3 GBA | dBd ecA | g2 f efd | cAA aef :|
d3 a2 f | dfd ecA | d3 a2 f | dfd aef |
1 d3 a2 f | dfd ecA | g2 f efd | cAA aef :|
2 gfg efd | GBd ecA | g2 f efd | cAA aef ||
# Posted on April 21st 2004 by Kenny