Key signature: Dmajor
Submitted on April 22nd 2002 by Will CPT.
This tune has been added to 59 tunebooks.
Also known as The Fermanagh Fling, Fermanagh Highland, Fermanagh Highland Fling, The Fermanagh Highland Fling, The Fermanagh Highland.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Fermanagh
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
dB|:A2 FA AddB|A2 FD EFGB|
|(3ABA FA (3AAA FA|1 BGEG FDdB:|2 BGEG FDD2||
|dAFA (3fff fe|dAFA Beec|dAFA (3fff fe|
|GFEF GABc|dAFA (3fff fe|dAFA Beec|
|d2 cd (3Bcd A2|(3Bcd ec d2 dB||
Fermanagh Highland
This setting is based on Altan's from Island Angel (though I have it on their "First Ten Years" CD).
The liner notes say:
"We heard this first highland in County Fermanagh played by Mick Hoy, Gabriel McArdle, and Seamus Quinn. It seems to be a variant of the better known Moneymusk."
As a highland, it should be played more deliberately and much slower than a typical reel, with a heavy emphasis on the first and second downbeats: "Ooomph da da da Ooomph da da da"
Altan does this in a set with a second highland, which they list as a Donegal Highland but is more commonly known as Charlie O'Neill's, and then two reels, John Doherty's and King George IV.
As for playing the tune, the A Part is pretty straightforward. You can drone those A2's with D2's at the start of the first and second measures (also listen to the recording to hear Altan's twin fiddle harmony drones the second time through the tune).
The B Part is a little trickier, particularly jumping from 3rd to 2nd to 1st string and landing on that triplet in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th measures. And hopping back down to the G on the 3rd string from the 1st string in measure 4. A good exercise for string crossings and bow control....
# Posted on April 22nd 2002 by Will CPT
Highlands versus Reels
I am curious why Will lists this as a reel, but notes in his comments that it is a highland. A highland played as a reel ends up going too fast and sounding mushy because of the repeated notes where the tune changes direction. Rhythmically, the highlands don't have the off-beat syncopation of a reel but more stompy 1st beat similar to a polka. Newer players need to recognize the differences if the types are to be discernible from each other.
# Posted on April 28th 2002 by AOG
AOG, we had this discussion on another thread. Jeremy uses the tune types (reel, jig, polka, etc.) to designate a time signature for the sake of posting a tune in abc. It's a mechanical issue with posting in abc notation as it's set up here. Rather than have six different tune categories all in 4/4, he asked that we post highlands etc. under "reel" and then explain the difference in the comment section, which is exactly what I did above.
I agree that it's not an ideal solution, but it works for me as long as what we're trying to do here is share tunes through the dots because we live too far apart to share them face to face on our instruments. The dots are a poor excuse compared to learning a tune by ear, live. I suppose you could argue that the confusion created by Jeremy's choice of tune categories only makes it harder to learn accurately from the dots, but that's what the comment section is for. And you've added nicely to explaining how this Fermanagh Highland should be played.
# Posted on April 28th 2002 by Will CPT
P.S. The real reason I posted it as a reel is because "highland" isn't an option on the menu when submitting a tune.
# Posted on April 28th 2002 by Will CPT
I think it would have been better to include this with Strathspeys instead of Reels. Highland are played different than Strathspeys but they seem to have more rhythmic similarities to Strathspeys than with Reels.
# Posted on April 28th 2002 by Mad Baloney
ABCmus
I don't know if anyone else uses it, but I've ABCmus to be a great tool for working with ABC. It has an extremely good midi playback that can be changed to include chord backing and different voicings. It also has rhtym options for every imaginable type of tune not just Irish. Its a Hienrik Norbeck creation which alows for file searchs by tune name, type, or first measures of ABC.It does not print sheet music, but for $10.00 its an invaluable addition to ABC2win. Perhaps Jeremy could check with Mr. Norbeck to see if any of the ABCmus features would be adaptable to this application.
# Posted on April 28th 2002 by AOG
Here's a link to Moneymusk, which Will says is mentioned in the liner notes http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/1387.
# Posted on June 7th 2006 by Dow
Fermanagh Highland?
Altan call this a 'Fermanagh Highland', but it has been played in north-west Donegal for a long time. My great uncle said he was playing this tune (a slightly different version) in the late 1930s. We don't have a name for it though.
# Posted on July 6th 2007 by neddiescotus