The Session: Tunes - Theme Vannitaise (reel)

Theme Vannitaise

I thought of this one when someone was looking for one octave tunes, then I thought of it when someone asked for common session tunes from other roots .... then I finally got around to adding it.
This one got very popular in English Sessions in our area (NW UK) a couple of years ago, and still pops up frequently. I gather that it's being used as a dance tune by one of the Border Morris teams. So not a reel, played briskly, but not at reel speed ... somewhere around 100 - 110 feels OK on Navigator.
If you're not careful with the first few bars of the B part, the speed cranks up until you get whiplashed out the end after a few repeats!
It looks French, it sounds French, so presumably it is French, but I don't know anything much more about it, except for hearing a rumour that it might come from a French TV Soap (!)
Now I'm off to add links here to the 2 discussions, and see if I can make a Circassian circle of links :-)
Chris

# Posted on September 22nd 2007 by spindizzy

Theme Vannitaise

Common tunes worth learning from other traditions http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/15206
What One Octave Tunes in D exist? http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/15202

# Posted on September 22nd 2007 by spindizzy

Love this tune. It's so simple and works as well played slow as fast. Around here it is often played in a set with Bear Dance. http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/4195

# Posted on September 22nd 2007 by robharper

Nice addition spin... I may have a name for it, or words, I'll have a look and return here later with anything I might be able to dig out... Wild, played as a Border Morris tune, I love it. I wouldn't doubt that the circle dancers will have also picked this one up. I can see them circling and spinning around with ding-ding finger cymbals and thump-thump drums in bare footed clump-clump bliss... ;-)

# Posted on September 22nd 2007 by ceolachan

Note, this recent addition is also Vannetais and range limited ~ many of their tunes are beautifully simple ~

En Dro
Key signature: Adorian
Submitted on September 22nd 2007 by ceolachan.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/7744

# Posted on September 22nd 2007 by ceolachan

In keeping with that tradtion, but realizing the general tendency on these shores to make things 32 measure, this dance tune would probably be played this way ~

X: 1
T: Theme Vannitaise
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: dans Vannetais
K: Emin
|: E2 B2 B2 AB | G2 E2 E4 | A2 AG F2 FE |[1 DEFA G2 F2 :|[2 DEFA E4 ||
|: EFGF EFGF | EFGA B2 G2 | DEFE D3 E |[1 F2 A2 G2 F2 :|[2 G2 F2 E4 ||

# Posted on September 22nd 2007 by ceolachan

Danse Breton/ An Dro

This is already here
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/6932
look for my contribution and you will find this as the second of two tunes that I collected from a pair of musicians in Brittany many years ago. There are slight differences in a few notes.

# Posted on September 23rd 2007 by hetty

An Dro after An Dro after An Dro after An Dro ~

Sorry ol' soul, I don't quite agree. While it is familiar and similar, so are several other related melodies, but it is good to have the link to compare them. There are some folks who actually believe there are at most only half a dozen An Dro and anything else is just a variation... Here is what you might call a butcher's job on your second transcript from the 'Comments' of the above tune, so people can compare:

X: ~
T: An Dro
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: e minor
R: An Dro
|: E2 B2 B2 _BA | G2 E2 E4 | A2 G2 F2 E2 |[1 D2 EF G2 FG :|[2 DEFD E4 ||
|: EFGF EFGF | EFGA B2 B2 |[1 DEFE D2 _DE | F2 A2 G2 FG :|[2 DEFG F2 _FA | G2 F2 E4 ||

Note: Hetty wrote his transcriptions as 2/4 ~ "convinced that is the better time siganature for the tune and for the tradition anyway. There are 2 beats to the bar. 4/4 gives it 4 beats to the bar." Actually, 4/4 is more often than not also played as 2 defining primary beats to the bar, such as for reels... Another disagreement, I think the 4/4 suites it better, and it seems of the actual Breton transcriptions I've got immediately on hand, so do the Bretons... They also usually have it as given above, 16 measure, rather than the 32 measure you've given, but you are not alone, I have seen it elsewhere, as spin has also given it, as 32 measures... Taking the transcript I've given, that would be AAAABBBB, as 4 bars to the part...

# Posted on September 23rd 2007 by ceolachan

"The Wren" ~ not forgetting the other member of this mix on site

Key signature: b minor (& e minor in the 'comments')
Submitted on April 16th 2004 by I_Fel.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/2828

# Posted on September 23rd 2007 by ceolachan

Hetty's transcript ~ Yes! ~ # Posted on March 13th 2007 by hetty

Sorry, I may not be fully clear yet this week, or if ever.

I agree that Hetty's transcription is the same tune as here, but not that DonaldK's is, #6932, the link given by hetty previously. Nor do I believe that Hetty's is the same as DonaldK's. Feeling that way, that Hetty's should be here, here it is without my 'adjustments', where I think it and his comments better have a better fit...

Cut from ~
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/6932/comments

I heard this tune played on Mouth organ & guitar some 31 years ago at a folk-camp in Brittany during an evening when members of the local Breton community were invited to our evening dances.
My take is slightly different in bars 3 & 4 of both parts. It was also played with a second tune in such a way that I always associate them together as if they were really the same tune anyway.

I write them in 2/4 as I am convinced that is the better time siganature for the tune and for the tradition anyway. There are 2 beats to the bar. 4/4 gives it 4 beats to the bar.

I play first tune twice before changing to 2nd tune. repeat ad lib and as you please.

# Posted on March 13th 2007 by hetty

# Posted on September 23rd 2007 by ceolachan

"better have a better fit" ~ sheesh!, I guess I still haven't made up for lost sleep and lost everything else... :-/

# Posted on September 23rd 2007 by ceolachan

An En Dro is an An Dro is an En Dro is an An Dro ~

I must have come across at least half a dozen 'similar' tunes to this basic melodic structure, but consider them different enough to exist on their own, also, they were often sung to and not with the same lyrics...or so it seemed...

# Posted on September 23rd 2007 by ceolachan

Hetty's tune & spin's ~ Yes, but ~

You want 'daft', proof of my current state, I had '3' windows open to this one page, the 'comments' for this tune, while I was out messing around with trying to dig up other information. Not only that, I had at least two unfinished comments going with what eventually went here, and several 'Notepad' pages going simultaneously as well... Maybe I can get some sleep tonight?

I like both tunes, and they make an interesting set, DonaldK's with the hetty/spin tune... No?

# Posted on September 23rd 2007 by ceolachan

Breton Tunes

But they're all gorgeous anyway!
I love these minor keys :-)

# Posted on September 23rd 2007 by spindizzy

Yes, I agree, and these two do make an interesting pairing, more so if you can switch keys. I love the music and dance of Breizh / Brittanny. I love the food and drink too... For me, already spaced out at times, the music and dance has a hypnotic quality about it, the buzz and the repetition. This, of course, is tempered by the larger and madder events and having to weave around the 'evacuated' ~ collapsed bodies and mysterious puddles ~ and the few posessed, locals and tourists... 8-)

# Posted on September 23rd 2007 by ceolachan

A couple of years ago, I spent a fortune (over 60 euros!) on Polig Monjarret's 'Toniou Breizh Izel', which is considered to be the standard reference (aka the O'Neill's) of Breton traditional music, a vast collection of dances and song melodies.

In this book, An Dros (Tour, Rond, Kas A-Barh) are written in 4/4 time, rather than 2/4, but it seems that a lot of people prefer to transcribe them in 2/4 (I do).

The same is tue for the Gavottes des Montagnes: some people write them down in 4/4, while others (including myself) prefer to put them in 12/8 time...

Obvioulsy, there are no hard-'n-fast rules.

# Posted on September 23rd 2007 by Mario