Key signature: Fmajor
Submitted on August 6th 2004 by ceolachan.
This tune has been added to 9 tunebooks.
Also known as Highland Fling, Paddy Joe Gormley's Highland, Paddy Joe's Fling.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Paddy Joe's Highland
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: barndance
K: Fmaj
|: F2 F>F A>FC>F | B2 B>B (3def c>B |1 A>FA>F B>AG>E | F>DD>E F>CA,>C :|
2 A>FA>A B>AG>F | E>CD>E F2 F2 ||
|: (3def c>f (3def c>f | f>g (3agf d3 e | f>ga>g f>ed>c |1 B>cd>e f2 f2 :|
2 B>cd>e f>dc>A ||
Part 1 - 3rd & 7th bar = "Snap!" = |A<FA>F - - - - |
I've tried using the 'less than' sign in other than the subject heading, and it is read as an HTML tag and eliminates all that follows it. This is how Paddy Joe Gormley played the tune in these two bars of the A part, with the 'snap'.
This is also the key he played it in, but I have heard it also in the key of G:
|:G2 G>G B>GD>G|c2 c>c (3efg d>c|1 B*GB>G C>BA>F:| - etc...
Paddy Joe would sometimes also call this a 'German'.
# Posted on August 6th 2004 by ceolachan
I know, I know - there's another name - - -
Sorry, but my memory doesn't exactly work on demand. I've been trying for three days to pull out the other names for this tune, and checking my notes. Sadly I am short of 'collections' but know I've come across it before, possibly in one of the editions of 'Kerr's Merry Melodies'. I've also done a search for it on this site using ABC, in several keys, without success. If anyone knows the other names, please provide, and if my brain kicks into gear, "I'll be back!"
# Posted on August 6th 2004 by ceolachan
First note: Here it is in G, complete and without the lost bar and missed skips:
|:G2 G>G B>GD>G|c2 c>c (efg d>c|1 B*GB>G c>BA>F|G>EE>F G>DB,>D:|
|2 B*GB>B c>BA>G|F>DE>F G2 G2||
|:(3efg d>g (3efg d>g|g>a (3bag e3 f|g>ab>a g>fe>d|1 c>de>f g2 g2:|
2 c>de>f g>ed>B||
* = 'snap'
# Posted on August 6th 2004 by ceolachan
'Highland Fling' - Music to the Dance/Dance to the Music
A classic 'Highland Fling', as accompanied the dances that were current in Eire, for 2, 3 or 4 dancers, would have a first part, 4 bars, that repeats with little change except the last bar. This would be followed by a second part, 4 bars, followed by a second ending which could be of equivalent length, a distinct 4 bars. This form is one of the reason the second part often becomes 'double' or 8 bars, repeat 8 bars. The repeat could begin the same with a second ending of two bars in length, or as here, just 1 bar...
The dances followed a similar structure. For the A part and its repeat the dancers would dance one of the classic 'Highland Fling' steps, moving from side to side, a number of variations in step and movement existing. For the first B part it was usually the travelling step (1-2-3-hop as shared with the Schottische/German/Barndance) and moving through a figure. On the repeat, the 'second ending', the dance often went into a different figure, often with 'punch', adrenalin. This change could be 4 bars in length, or two. A classic ending, the last two bars, is (stepping for the count/numbers) - 1-hop, 2-hop, 3-hop, 4-hop...and your back to the beginning of the tune and the dance again. While the older dancers remembered the 'doubling', as it is called in set dancing circles, a 'pivot-step' or 'dreher' in German, younger dancers tended to abandon this last turning motion for a more sedate 'waltz around' (a note on this can be found in the comments for 'The Killarney Wonder Schottise' elswhere on this site.)
Out of consideration for all, musicians and dancers, there was an introduction, usually 8 bars of music, or once through the A part and its repeat, before that melding of music and dance... I believe, like the old codgers I had the grace to share time with, that the sum is greater than the parts.
It is sometimes telling to take a single reel, 16 bars, and throw the 'swing' into it and see if it flies. Some melodies manage both ways with life and lift.
# Posted on August 8th 2004 by ceolachan