Rob MacKillop suggested starting a tune of the month thread, in which one person starts with a tune, played simply and slowly, and others either a.) learn it if they don't know it, or b.) share audio of how they would play the tune. Feel free to give tips you've learned about how to play this tune or tunes like it, and keep comments constructive (you know the deal).
Starting off with one of the most popular tunes on thesession.org, the slip jig The Butterfly.
Nicely done, can you tell us the key and the first note?
The first note can be grabbed by listening and picking your banjo.
There are no keys in Irish music.
I'm only half joking.
Wayne
Exactly how I intend to learn every note after B. I only asked because we found it helps people get started who are new to learning by ear, so if someone wants to try this by ear there you go, start with a B. I look forward to learning and posting this tune!
Excellent. Your bar 4 is different to the versions on the session, which is always interesting - I like variety. Looking forward to learning it.
Perhaps in the future it would be good to create the subject heading always the same way, for example: TOTM February 2016 The Butterfly. That would make it easier to search through the back catalogue.
Excellent. Your bar 4 is different to the versions on the session, which is always interesting - I like variety. Looking forward to learning it.
Perhaps in the future it would be good to create the subject heading always the same way, for example: TOTM February 2016 The Butterfly. That would make it easier to search through the back catalogue.
Sure thing.
Sorry for any differences. I've been playing it at sessions for several years, so was playing from memory, not dots. I'll post a more ornamented version later, once some others have posted their versions.
Some different approaches to the tune can be heard on the recordings here: irishtune.info/tune/254/ No banjo recordings, oddly enough, but those can be found on youtube.
A version on box and banjo is here, played as an uptempo hop jig: youtu.be/zL9GeBVrMG8 At some of our sessions, we play it this way, often in combination with the Boys of Ballisodare.
I cannot get my video recorder to save the sound as an MP3 file so please enjoy the fascinating view of the top of my banjo as I play the Butterfly one time through!
This was illuminating to me. When the tune was first proposed, I thought, "Oh yeah, no problem. I know it." Well, this is a great project for me because I discovered some things I 'know', I need to know better. So whether or not I already know the tune, I'm going to try to record each one submitted here in order to sharpen my playing skills. Thanks for this opportunity all.
Ha. Great video production there, Wayne Thankfully the playing was much better. A few trebles in there. My plectrum technique is not up to that yet. I'll record a straight version, hopefully Sunday, when I get some free time. Good to hear you play it.
Nice job, Wayne! We could call this video production style "flannelvision." I hear it's all the rage at the art schools.
I have trouble incorporating trebles and triplets into slip jig picking patterns and getting them to sound musical. Double stops and slides just seem to fit better under my fingers. Nice to hear your tasteful method of incorporating triplets here.
Good stuff fellers. Cool tune, sounds like it wouldnt be to difficult for a beginner to pick out. A monthly tune is better to, gives more time to absorb it.
Yeah, big kudos to Rob MacKillop for suggesting this Tune of the The Month (TOTM) campaign and to Ben Hockenberry for taking on the work of implementing it. This will be really cool to see mature with videos/mp3s being volleyed in by a number of players each month showing the different styles/versions ...
Thanks Ben, this is my first E minor tune, and first slip jig. I just finished picking out this tune, had a tough time for one part of B, the rest came fairly easily. I will practice for a few days and see if I can get this out on a recording. I really didn't like this tune at first, but now that i have it "memorized" I'm getting a feeling that I will be playing this as a nice change to my other tunes.
SPOILER ALERT - If you do not want to know the notes of this tune do not read below
I would like some playing advice:
I have to figure out how best to finger part A. I always have problems with fretting two strings then having to release quick for an open. So I currently use my pointer finger to fret the B and E, holding while playing the other notes as the tune comes back them. However at the end of the 2nd bar it goes FED which I have trouble releasing quick enough for a clean note. I believe the reason is the pressure needed to fret both strings. Currently I have my pointer laying flat across the B and E, maybe this is my problem. So, my thoughts are:
1. Rock the pointer down to play the B
2. Release the pointer from E on the G in the second bar and re-position it cleanly on the E in anticipation of the FED.
I would like to know how you handle this scenario, thanks for the advice!
I think option #2 sounds like what I do, Dan. Locking on with the 2nd fret barred index finger isn't really necessary on this tune, since there's only one B note in the phrase. Unless you want to play G and B-minor double stops in the second bar, that is... ;)
Nice versions, gentlemen! From discussions over at the Mandolincafe, I learned that a fixed set of chords isn't part of IT, but I for my part like the idea of playing a melody against a certain chord combination. So I searched the net for a version with chord symbols, chose the most plausible one and strummed them on my ukulele. To add some variety, I also played the tune on my bowlback mando.
I will try to speed up this nice tune in the future, but I'm not sure I will find the time this month, so here's my first draft of the Butterfly:
Nice versions, gentlemen! From discussions over at the Mandolincafe, I learned that a fixed set of chords isn't part of IT, but I for my part like the idea of playing a melody against a certain chord combination. So I searched the net for a version with chord symbols, chose the most plausible one and strummed them on my ukulele. To add some variety, I also played the tune on my bowlback mando.
I will try to speed up this nice tune in the future, but I'm not sure I will find the time this month, so here's my first draft of the Butterfly:
I see you're capitalizing Flannelvision and so I'm tempted to seek a copyright on it.
The history of Flannelvision is that I was sitting in my pajamas in the morning. I played Butterfly into my recorder, which is a video and sound recorder. While trying to upload it to the Hangout, I realized I could not convert it into an MP3 so I was stuck with the video version.
I cropped the screen severely so that it would not be called Gutvision.
I've recorded a slow and a medium version, no trebles or chords, just the tune as notated at The Session. Hopefully some will find it useful to play along with or just listen to.
The banjo is from the 1920s, but not a top quality one. Open back, 17-fret.
Nice work, CrissCross! I haven't tried recording overdubs with other instruments. You make it sound quite slick, and I want to try it. What do you use to get your timing so consistent between instrumental takes-- a metronome, headphones, both?
I've recorded a slow and a medium version, no trebles or chords, just the tune as notated at The Session. Hopefully some will find it useful to play along with or just listen to.
The banjo is from the 1920s, but not a top quality one. Open back, 17-fret.
I like this Rob.....locked right in!
Am I imagining it, or do I hear a mix of nylon strings and steel?
All steel. The banjo is a bit muffled. Just waiting for my Deering Eagle II to arrive - currently in a sorting office in London. Getting ever closer!!
The range of tones of banjos is actually amazing once we get deep into this thing, huh? I like a lot of banjo tones: the dark, the brighter, the resonant. sustain and the thuddy slap sounds. Just so many worlds within the banjo world!
Right now, my banjo is fairly bright and resonant. I believe my style has something to do with it, but I think the lions share of the tone comes from the banjo itself. Mine is a Deering Calico, which is a flat top. Last I was aware, the amazing banjo player in Ireland, Kieran Hanrahan, was playing one.
Great versions from everyone. Amazing triplets that you get Wayne with your technique. Lovely clear tone from crisscross.
I preferred your simple un-ornamented version Ben and this is the way I've approached it.
My main banjo has some set up issues that are being addressed so this is my backup - a hybrid of a Deering goodtime 17 fret neck mated to a no name pot with a rolled brass tone ring. Backup is on a Tom Buchanan bouzouki using a non strict chordal approach that criss mentioned. As such it is semi-improvised with mistakes to prove it! Images are from a trip to China
Ye are grand, so much love here. Tenor banjo and fiddle help one another. This can be played as an air, tempo and timing forgiven. One can start this even slower, then go up to tempo, and one can play it slower, as a lot of trads do. Slow down.
Ye are grand, so much love here. Tenor banjo and fiddle help one another. This can be played as an air, tempo and timing forgiven. One can start this even slower, then go up to tempo, and one can play it slower, as a lot of trads do. Slow down.
I agree Ben. A lot of players here in New England approach it in the faster style that I recorded it but I like it slow as well. I don't think there is a right or wrong way to play it.
Ye are grand, so much love here. Tenor banjo and fiddle help one another. This can be played as an air, tempo and timing forgiven. One can start this even slower, then go up to tempo, and one can play it slower, as a lot of trads do. Slow down.
It's one of those tunes that works well as a flowing slow tune or as a firecracker. Love that Burke recording -- such a lonesome sound.
I hear you Ben, one can (a) tend towards the firecracker Tommy Potts or slightly swingier Frankie Gavin versions, playing the tune briskly, taking no prisoners, or (b) one can “float” the tune like a butterfly, taking the slower Kevin Burke (also low whistle) approach, adding rubato as well as extending certain notes, i.e., pausing (a fermata would be indicated in standard notation). And that's just for starters. The possibilities are endless, especially if played in a solo style.
I have a plain (unornamented) version of this tune tending towards Kevin Burke, and also a heavily ornamented version, where I’ve re-harmonized it. I might even post it here, still messing with it, especially with fretting-hand ornamentation, adding rubato, extending certain notes, and fooling around with melismatic and rhythmic ornaments. (It becomes an incredibly boring tune if one plays it the same way every time – without variation.)
It's my experience that pagan fiddlers (females who have come out of the ‘broom closet’ and possibly sport a butterfly tatoo), Irish low whistle and flute players LOVE to play this tune.
I once had the unusual experience of teaching it to a small group ofskycladwitches (Gardnerians)in their High Priestess's kitchen, while sipping herbal tea. (The coveners all seemed to enjoy it; I know I did, and I think we played it for half an hour.)
I don't know if I have posted it before, but it is a favorite tune of mine. I taught it at the St. Louis Tionol a few years ago just to show that you can play airs and slow tunes on the banjo. In that class I played closer to the nut at times to change the timbre and did a few more things with it to show the versatility of the banjo. Most of the students were unaware of the possibilities.
Here is my version. I love this slip jig and we play this as a harp and banjo duo (the banjo is a "harp on a stick") the first time around.
Mike Keyes
That's lovely Mike! I don't remember playing this tune with you last time you were over, but next time you're back in Dingle, we'll make sure to get it into the mix.
Okay, I'm noticing that most everybody is playing D-notes in the second part. I prefer C-naturals (instead of D) in the B-part, using this phrase, "B2c e2f g3"; in fact, I play the B2c instead of B2d wherever there is a choice, so that's in measures one, two, three, five, six and seven.
I realize that my earliest template for this tune came from The Bothy Band version, especially their note choices. I'll try to do a recording tomorrow on the Handy H4 (that you showed me how to use).
'The Butterfly' goes nicely with 'The Foxhunter's' (four parts), which hops down and ends on a D, setting up the first note (B) and first measure (phrasing) of 'The Butterfly'. They make a really good pair.
May I make a suggestion? The way the mandolincafe tune of the week does it is to have an official tune and then others offer tunes on the side. It gets a little chaotic at times and the other offerings become the Tune of the Week but it works. Maybe we could go to a twice a month offering for the official tune and be able to dissect it and add to that while others can just show favorite tunes. The banjo is suited for a lot of tunes and surprises us on others. It would be good to get as many tunes out there are possible.
Maybe we could go to a twice a month offering for the official tune and be able to dissect it and add to that while others can just show favorite tunes. The banjo is suited for a lot of tunes and surprises us on others. It would be good to get as many tunes out there are possible.
I agree. I imagined, in a not too distant future, inertia would lead to a tune of the week. With one a month, it would take nearly two years to get through the top 20 tunes on thesession.org -- which many of us know already! Want to start a second tune next week? People can continue to post their versions of The Butterfly to this thread whenever they like.
I've continued to receive votes through the poll I started last week. Here are the votes that have been entered for a next tune, so far:
Banish Misfortune (3 votes)
Maid Behind the Bar (2 votes)
The Banshee (1 vote)
Cooley's (1 vote)
Drowsy Maggie (1 vote)
Morrison's (1 vote)
Silver Spear (1 vote)
We could start one of them (or another tune, like Mason's Apron, which was suggested under separate header) next week, if others are okay with Mike's suggestion.
Thankfully the playing was much better. A few trebles in there. My plectrum technique is not up to that yet. I'll record a straight version, hopefully Sunday, when I get some free time. Good to hear you play it. 
