Key signature: Amajor
Submitted on November 14th 2007 by ceolachan.
This tune has been added to 10 tunebooks.
Also known as Maggie O' Ham.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Maggie O'Ham
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
R: slide
K: Amaj
|: E | ABc e2 f e2 c B3 | ABc e2 c B3 E3 |
ABc e2 f e2 c BAB | c3 A3 A3- A2 :|
|: E | A2 A A2 A G2 G G2 G | FGA E2 C B,2 A, B,2 C |
A,B,C E2 F E2 C B,A,B, | C3 A,3 A,3-A,2 :|
Gan Ainm and Gan Ainm and Gan Ainn and Gaaan AAAAAAinmmmm
Yes, I have been struggling with a slew of them midges, those gan ainms are everywhere, and in the soup too. So while I was being irritated because I wanted to submit a load of them to your perusal, I just couldn't. They were GAN AINMS!!! AAAAAA!!! And so, to get the bloody things out out of me, after playing them, I started dancing to slide versions of the unnamed. I almost said 'undead' there. Anyway, this lovely old favourite came in and possessed me. YES! ~ A SHETLAND SHLIDE!!!
I know, I know, you're going to give me hell, a few of you, well
~ p*s o*f! ~ This lovely simple melody goes really well with certain couple dances that are slidified ~ "The Peeler and the Goat" and "The Marine"... But, in it's own setting, it is another one used for the dance "The Foula Reel", so you could do that with it too... However, if you dance those other two, which were danced in lovely Eire, then maybe this will get under Kenny and Slainte's radars without them getting too upset that it isn't exactly 'Irish'...
My thanks to certain others who appreciate Shetland music and have niggled my memory in recent chats... You are appreciated! ~ as are the reawakened memories...
# Posted on November 14th 2007 by ceolachan
"Da Foula Reel" ~ a few other jigs for this dance
"Da Fields o' Foula"
Submitted on July 21st 2003 by fifer.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/1834
"Da Brig Jig"
Submitted on August 29th 2003 by dafydd.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/2203
"Da Shaalds O' Foula"
Submitted on June 17th 2005 by domnull.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/4606
# Posted on November 14th 2007 by ceolachan
I haven't danced a "Foula Reel" in yonks... How sad is that?
# Posted on November 14th 2007 by ceolachan
AEae ~ an alternate tuning for those of you who would...
Sometimes yuh just have to... This demon comes along and forces you to... It's true idn't it?
Now I can't stop singing AEae, AEae, AEae, AEae ~
# Posted on November 14th 2007 by ceolachan
For the nigglers ~ 'slide' = 'shlide' = 'single jig'...
# Posted on November 14th 2007 by ceolachan
Basically speakin'...
# Posted on November 14th 2007 by ceolachan
Slide = single jig??
Contrary to the opinions of many, it's not that simple. But that's another story, not for now. Am I a niggler then?
# Posted on November 15th 2007 by hetty
They come in six packs...
# Posted on November 15th 2007 by ceolachan
"opinions of many"? Are you professing to belong to some exclusive minority elite with inner knowledge that is our of reach of the minions? Enlighten us!?
# Posted on November 15th 2007 by ceolachan
"Maggie O'Ham" ~ a printed source (w/ recording)
"haand me doon da fiddle"
Tom Anderson & Pam Swing
The University of Stirling Department of Continuing Education, 1979
ISBN: 0-901636-25-8
#44: "Maggie O' Ham"
“Dere's no an awful lok we ken aboot dis een. He comes fae Foula bit wha Maggie o' Ham wis ah'm never fun oot. It wid seem ta wis dat he might hae been ösed fir da Shaalds o' Foula dance at ee time as he is dat kind o' a tün. ~”
~ Tom Anderson
# Posted on November 15th 2007 by ceolachan
I didn't know they had slides in Shetland music.
Sorry
# Posted on November 15th 2007 by Dow
# Posted on November 15th 2007 by ceolachan
I forgot to mention, and maybe by design, that this reminds me of a song from my childhood, but I haven't yet been able to drag it out... Maybe it's too shy?
# Posted on November 15th 2007 by ceolachan
But look at those endings. Isn't it more of a sling or a horndance?
# Posted on November 17th 2007 by granama
Sorry, shling.
# Posted on November 17th 2007 by granama
Yeah, those endings, crazy ain't it. I love it...
# Posted on November 17th 2007 by ceolachan
Tom Anderson - source for the transcription
Sorry, I forgot to give the source for this transcription. This was gleaned from a recording of Tom Anderson with attendant others...
# Posted on November 17th 2007 by ceolachan
'opinions of many'
Hi 'c'
I just see many comments about "slides = single Jig"
I've played Double jigs & single jigs AND slides and feel strongly that here is a difference. I also feel that there are those slides that border very closely on the "single jig". Many English & Scottish jigs are recognised as being 'single' but I do know a good slide when I see & hear one.
Perhaps I DO belong to an exclusive minority! Do I? Ah! it's the age thing! Does 12/8 automatically mean it's a slide? It is a start though and a good one but one must look beyond. I believe it is in the feel of the tune.
# Posted on November 18th 2007 by hetty
Yes, but ~ I never said 'single jig' = 'slide'...
# Posted on November 18th 2007 by ceolachan
I'm with you, hetty. So we're a minority of two, at least.
# Posted on November 18th 2007 by Will CPT
Maggie O'Ham
Reminds me (the A part anyway) of this one (hunt the squirrel)
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/3333
# Posted on November 18th 2007 by spindizzy
Alright you two, stop with the cattiness and elucidate...
# Posted on November 18th 2007 by ceolachan
Yes, so, a 'loose comment', however, they share more in common than in difference, and the category 'slides' used to fall under, and still does as far as I understand, was, surprise, surprise, 'single jig'... But, I love hearing these forms discussed and am always ready to adjust my understanding, or expand it... So, I'm all ears... Maybe it should move over to 'discussions' and you can involve others in the craic...
# Posted on November 18th 2007 by ceolachan
Shall we start a club Will?!
'c' can join if he wishes!
I really need the experience of playing slides for dancing. It's one thing to play for oneself but another to accompany a dance. Very little chance of that in Gloucestershire though I feel. The same goes for Polka sets. I need to play for those really.
We already play for the 'Foula Reel' but that's something else.
# Posted on November 18th 2007 by hetty
Off she Goes
It would do well for Off She Goes if you played two As and a B
Off She Goes
24 bar jig. (Off She Goes to the North is a Single Jig)
A1. Top cu gallop down the set, come back and cast to middle position
A2. Middle cu turn partner (Right arm), man turns bottom woman (left arm) while woman turns top man [1st corners].
Middle cu turn partner (Right arm), man turns top woman (left arm) while woman turns bottom man [second corners]
B1. Swing partner to bottom of set (progression) all swing.
# Posted on November 19th 2007 by Alancorsini
AAB & ABB ~ & tsunami shredding ~
Yes, it has that 'country dance' feel about it, this tune. It works fine also as ABB for the above dance...
These tune forms, single & slide, I've mostly known for dance, on both sides of that equation, playing for dancers and dancing to them... I prefer the older less hurried way. I am definitely not fond of the manic approaches to the forms ~ in part the cause of session playing, in greater part the cause of commercial recordings, including the likes of those produced for dance classes ~ like the 6 cassettes of NPU/Brookes Academy, and the fad of it that rose up in the 80's, partly fueled by competition, also by the adrenalin rush of dance classes, workshops and personalities... So, I know theses dance forms from before the rush, before the growth in an unbalanced focus on the mechanics of it all, meaning dance and flash, fast and loud, instead of people and the social context, those qualities in 'tradition' that tsunami of mob-fad has tended to shred with neglect and ignorance... I also preferred what Willie Clancy Week was before folks decided to trample it with thier fervour for the sets... We had dance, but there was a kinder balance to it, with music more at the core and heart of it all, instead of dance... I love a 'balance', but I wouldn't say having the nuovo-dancer rule things is in any way balanced... It ain't...
# Posted on November 19th 2007 by ceolachan