The Session: Tunes - Gan Ainm (polka)

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Brilliant little polka(?) I learned a while back - does anyone know the name?! It should be played dotted, but the music looks tider without the dots I think.

# Posted on October 19th 2008 by snowyowl

Gan Ainm

Snowyowl, it is very difficult to play a polka from written music without showing the dotted notes, because of their simplicity. How 'tidy' they look on paper is irrelevant. Could you possibly put the full version of the ABC's in the comments?

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by Bogman

OC? ~ a minor or A Dorian?

Who did you learn it from, where ~ what's the story morning glory? It feels like one of those American (New England) contra dance polkas...or...another one of those that regularly pop out at that Durham gathering ~ 'Folkworks'... Here it is in E Dorian, with some other possibilities ~

I keep hearing a tuba, so it might be English, a la 'Folkworks'... 8-)

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by ceolachan

T: 'name' & C: 'composer'

Maybe both will be revealed somewhere down the line, eh?

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by ceolachan

B-part ~ more fun

|: G/F/ |\
E2 G>A | Bc d2 | eG- GB/G/ | A2 ^A2 |
B>^A B=c | B/=c/B/A/ G/F/E | A/B/A/G/ F/E/D | E2- E :|

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by ceolachan

Your transcription, unchanged except by key ~ in e minor

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by ceolachan

I'd love to put the dotted version - but alas my ABC skills don't extend that far, and I've always been taught to write dotted tunes out straight and just add that they're dotted. Sorry. Blame my A level composition :-(

I did learn it at Folkworks - all my friends who went there don't know its name either, so you all now know as much as I do!

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by snowyowl

Don't blame A level music ~ dotted notes are a 'standard'. Either you misunderstood or the person teaching it was doing a bad job of it... 'Straight', no dotted notes, that's just plain silly. Maybe they were only referring to swung tunes, like hornpipes? ~ to try and give them the benefit of the doubt... I don't think Mozart, Gershwin or Padraig O'Keeffe would put up with anyone laying down such an idiotic rule... I refuse to believe that British music education has become so lame... Well, maybe... 8-)

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by ceolachan

Snowyowl, here's a link that should be of help.
http://www.walshaw.plus.com/abc/
When I learned abc I found it useful to find the abc for a similar tune here on the database that you know has a similar movement. For example almost all polkas will have doted notes. This > points to the note you want to shorten, so > means the first note is longer and < means the first note is shorter

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by Bogman

So, basically, they don't believe in semi-quavers/sixteenth notes either? :-/ Only semi-breves, minims, crotchets and quavers are allowed? ~ and absolutely no dotted notes? PISHAW!!!

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by ceolachan

bogman, she knows more than she's letting on... Unless for some unknown reason she's regressed since last she contributed to this site...

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by ceolachan

http://www.lesession.co.uk/abc/abc_notation.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abc_notation

More to jog your memory dear snowy... Or, and I hope this isn't the case, are you blaming your A-level music course and instructor to distract us from the truth ~ the laziness behind sloppy notation? Notate it as YOU play it, and to hell with any fantasy with regards to what you think you shouldn't do. If you really to play it that straight and plodding ~ BLEWCH!!! :-p

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by ceolachan

Prove to us it is 'brilliant' ~ give us your take on it here in the comments...

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by ceolachan

The occassional dotted note or fully swung?

Just a thought ~ yes, another one ~ were you saying this is 'dotted' and meaning 'fully swung'? ~ like for a fling or hornpipe?

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by ceolachan

Why thanks - and no I'm not blaming anyone, the only thing I blame is my ignorance. I'll attempt to write it as I play it - but having already tried to do that in traditional dots and found it difficult, the ABC could be rather interesting. IMO, it's very difficult to emphasise the subtlety of individual style in dots or ABC, and that isn't just an excuse :-) . For now though, the best way to describe how I play it would be; dig on the main beats of each bar - make the first quaver of each pair slightly longer and in the 3rd bar of the B part, turn the last 2 C's into a triplet. I also really emphasise the D D# run in the bar after that, then go back to playing it dotted. The easiest way to demonstrate would be record it for you all though...

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by snowyowl

I wasn't blaming my music course for me not knowing about dotted notes - I know about them, I just don't know how to write them in ABC in case anyone misunderstood...

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by snowyowl

Howdy Snowy, good to see you are still active... It sounds like it is fully swung, almost like a highland fling rather than a polka. If I had an MP3 of you playing it once through I'd transcribe it for you, in a 'basic' form, but with dots if played that way. I could also convert dots to ABCs. Drop me a line... ;-)

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by ceolachan

Dotty ABC

with thanks to ceolachan :-)

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by snowyowl

Weird, now this is really starting to sound like a fling

But whadda they know about music at Folkworks eh? ;-)

# Posted on October 20th 2008 by ceolachan

"A" Levels Dumbed Down?

Snowy - either you weren't listening to your music teacher, or it's true what they say - "A" levels have been "dumbed down". And to think that I've had an inferiority complex all these years because I haven't got an "O" level in music, never mind an "A" level! In fact, no formal music education at all. But even I know about dots.

As Ceolachan says, the only time that you might omit dots would be when writing hornpipe scores. In hornpipes, the first note in a quaver (quarter note) pair is only actually played about 120%-125% longer, rather than 150% longer that would be indicated by a dot. So whether you include the dots, or omit them, the music score won't accurately reflect what you actually play. So may folks write hornpipe scores without them, and that's accepted. In all other cases, you need those dots!

# Posted on October 21st 2008 by Mix O'Lydian

accepted - so there is a dotty version

# Posted on October 21st 2008 by snowyowl

Hmmmmm? There are definitely a slew of dotty folks on this site...myself exempted, of course... :-P

# Posted on October 22nd 2008 by ceolachan

of course :-P

# Posted on October 22nd 2008 by snowyowl