Swedish Scales

reel

Key signature: Dmajor

Submitted on June 19th 2008 by Arthur Nordstrom.

This tune has been added to 8 tunebooks.

Also known as The Wind 'Mid The Sheets.

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

From the "Composer"

I have my fingers crossed that I got the ABC version correct. It's my first attempt. The piece was inspired by Jame's Galway's YouTube masterclass presentation originally at a Texas university. He suggested the importance of playing scales and seeking to get a good tone from one's flute in the process. (I just completed construction of an Irish flute, and have been working to reach the bottom and top of the usual ITM scale, while modifying the embouchure hole slightly to permit that.) Mr. Galway indicated that one approach to playing scales was to approach it like ironing a shirt, working on one region of the scales at a time. (That made it sound incredibly boring.) Swedish scales is an effort to capture this idea with a hint of the sound of Irish traditional music to make it more interesting. I almost named it "The Gentleman's Ironing", but thought the nautical name might be more intriguing, suggesting the rising and lowering of the wind howling amid the sales of a fishing vessel in the Grand Banks. (If the sheet music proves to be flawed based on this, my first ABC submission, I hope I will be permitted to correct it.) It's classified as a reel here due to limited options, but probably is more properly termed an "exercise".

# Posted on June 19th 2008 by Arthur Nordstrom

It is a useful exercise, granted. But please, post some tunes you didn't compose yourself. Our unwritten rule on thesession.org is that if you post a tune you wrote yourself, post 5 tunes you didn't write to make up for it.

Hope I don't sound harsh, happy posting

# Posted on June 20th 2008 by 52Paddy

Understood

No, you don't sound harsh. I was simply seeking to provide an "exercise" that might be more fun than the usual bottom to top scales. Thought I'd share it to help any beginners who pick up a flute. I'm not much in terms of music, so this exercise focused on scales may be my limit. I'll try to remember to avoid posting such things. Apologies.

# Posted on June 20th 2008 by Arthur Nordstrom

"fun"?

playing this is "fun" ??

# Posted on June 20th 2008 by domnull

Fun

Yes, domnull, relative to simply playing from the bottom to the top of a scale again and again, I count this as fun. I also enjoy this as a simple tune that is within the limits of my beginner capabilities with a low D flute, and one that I hope will help me to learn how to adjust embouchure and "roll in" as necessary to reach higher notes while maintaining good tone.

# Posted on June 20th 2008 by Arthur Nordstrom

Penance

I wrote this as one of my five penance pieces, as an arrangement of Turlough O'Carolan's work, "Si Bheag, Si Mhor". It commemorates a battle between two groups of nights, who spent a great deal of time on the day of a battle that was intended to settle a long running feud between them hiding behind hills to try to ascertain if they had greater numbers than the other guys before launching an attack. It was a pointless battle, and the work takes on the tone of a lament. Turlough O'Carolan was a GREAT IRISH composer who lived around the start of the baroque period. He was blind and a harpist, although he is more appreciated for his compositional skills, as he learned the harp fairly late by the measure of his contemporaries. His works may not always appeal to those who don't care for the baroque sound, so I wrote this to try to give the piece a more modern arrangement. You can play it back if you get a copy of "ABC2WIN", learn how to use it, paste just part that describes the notes it into the ABC editor. Click the sheet music symbol and the "play music" icon on the sheet music page. Here's the ABC arrangment, and even if I can't post it, due to too many versions of the work on this site, it still counts as one of the five!

T:Si Bheag, Si Mhor (modern)
M:4/4
L:1/8
C:Turlough O'Carolan
S:Arthur Nordstrom
K:G
|:B E2 G4 B|E2 G4 B E-|E G4 c3|B4 G4|\
E4 G A3|e2 G2 B4|1 F8:|2 c4 G A3|\
G4 B E2 G-|G3 A G2 A2-|A d2 c2 B3|\
A4 G3 E-|E3 D3 E F-|\
F2 E2 F2 G2-|G2 A6|B E2 G4 A|\
G2 A4 d2|c2 B4 A2-|A2 G3 E3-|\
E D3 E F3| E2 F2 G4|A4 G A3|G8|]

# Posted on June 21st 2008 by Arthur Nordstrom

Missed the point!!??

I think you've missed the point and yes! I think you have caused upset, not in writing a new tune but in using the name of an already existing trad Irish tune of calibre for another, knowingly.
I cannot see this as an arrangement of the original "Si Bheag Si Mhor".
I really cannot see this as being a valid penance either.

# Posted on June 21st 2008 by hetty

Penance?

Anyone who thinks posting 5 traditional tunes or 5 recent compositions within the traditional Irish idiom on this website is a "penance", is very probably here for the wrong reasons.

# Posted on June 21st 2008 by Kenny

Done.

No more.

# Posted on June 22nd 2008 by Arthur Nordstrom

Yuh pays yur dews...

# Posted on June 24th 2008 by ceolachan

'It commemorates a battle between two groups of nights, who spent a great deal of time on the day of a battle that was intended to settle a long running feud between them hiding behind hills to try to ascertain if they had greater numbers than the other guys before launching an attack.'

Frankly, this is the biggest load of bollix I've ever read on this site (and that includes anything I've ever posted).

# Posted on July 3rd 2008 by Floss the Tethers