captbanjo - Posted - 11/03/2017:  14:41:36

I had hoped to come up with some new material for this post but life being what it is, not going to happen. Here are two tunes for this TOTM, one I've already posted and a new O'Carolan tune.

This will be my final posting for TOTM. I have contacted Rob and told him a year is enough of me for anyone. Thanks for letting me share some tunes with you. I'm sure I've learned as much (or more) than anyone here has. Time to ring in some changes and I look forward to seeing what is coming here!

Wayne

VIDEO: Carolan's Concerto and Chief O'Neill's
(click to view)

 

BobGooday - Posted - 11/03/2017:  15:55:11

I'll get on with learning at least one of these tunes, but for the time being I would like to thank Wayne for his input, ideas, enthusiasm, and encouragement over the last year. The TOTM series is great fun and has definitely helped with both my banjo playing and tune learning. Cheers Wayne.

Bribak - Posted - 11/03/2017:  18:42:08

quote:

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Originally posted by BobGooday

I'll get on with learning at least one of these tunes, but for the time being I would like to thank Wayne for his input, ideas, enthusiasm, and encouragement over the last year. The TOTM series is great fun and has definitely helped with both my banjo playing and tune learning. Cheers Wayne.

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I'll second that.  Much appreciated.

robobanjo - Posted - 11/03/2017:  20:00:35

Wayne has been our very own ITM TOTM 'champion' and we're really gonna miss his tune posts. I'd like to thank him ever so much on behalf of the group here. He has been most inspiring with his tune selections, his recorded versions, his shared links and commentary, and we're gonna miss that ... but we take comfort knowing that he'll continue to be active in our forum going forward. :-D

Thanks again Wayne - you're the best!

Rob

robobanjo - Posted - 11/27/2017:  20:18:37

Here's my version, click [HERE]. A couple bumps, wanted to get it out before the end of the month ... hope you enjoy.

Tom Hanway - Posted - 11/28/2017:  04:33:38

quote:

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Originally posted by robobanjo

Here's my version, click [HERE]. A couple bumps, wanted to get it out before the end of the month ... hope you enjoy.

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This is a very chopsy tune, and it's hard to get note-perfect. Rob, you've made great headway on this, imo, and I think you're very close.  I've listened to your version quite a few times now, and bumps aside, I think you need to go back and review the whole tune (both parts) to see where you're either dropping or adding notes.  For example, the two measures in the first part, you seem to have dropped a beat (maybe intentionally) in the eighth and sixteen measures.  

Now, if you intend to shorten measures -- and Carolan himself was known to compose sections for some tunes with only seven measures -- call it artistic license -- that's cool; otherwise, you might have made the tune crooked (changing parts of it). I played along with your recording, and as much as I like its quirkiness, I couldn't match up the parts for the life of me.  Your note choices for the B-part are even weirder to me.  Honestly, I think you need to go back and study the phrases, if you want your version to be more session-friendly, which is not the same as making it "generic"!

In the A-part, for the 8th measure  (0:27) and 16th measure (0:55), I'm hearing you play less than four full beats, shortening the measure to just three beats.  For a solo performance, who's to tell you that you cannot do this?  On the other hand, at many a session, you'd probably get a full beat ahead of everybody else, unless the shortened version was already agreed upon, but then it wouldn't be an open session, and it would be more like an insider's (or band) arrangement.

Using ABC notation with chords written between double quotation marks, you seem to be playing this in the A-part (last measure and on the repeat): 

| "D" d3/2 ABc  :|  

Now, this same measure (played with four beats) can go something like this, including the pick-up notes (ABc) that you (and many players) tend to use (but not always):

| "D" d2 "G" dd "D" d1/2 ABc  :|

(I'm not the most proficient in ABC notation, and I prefer to use standard notation, so I may have made a transcription error -- I apologize in advance.  The d1/2 is half the duration of d, or 1/4 the duration of d2, and 1/3 the duration of d3/2.)

I'm also hearing the same thing in the B-part. Also, in the B-part, measures 7 and 8 (1:08), and 13 and 14 (1:20) are interesting, and notes seem to be altered while others are dropped in measures 14 and 16 -- so now both parts are crooked (by shortening measures in various places). 

I think you've made an excellent first attempt here, and I am not knocking your playing, ability or style.  You play great, and you're getting a lovely tone out of your banjo. 

Far be it from me to tell anybody that they cannot arrange a tune to suit their own tastes.  I play airs with lots of rubato and sometimes make them crooked, deliberately, but I don't expect others to play them that way.  So, I prefer to go with the flow at sessions, maybe adding ornamental flourishes here and there, but generally playing in happy unison and not shortening or lengthening parts.

Here's my first attempt, warts and all, taken at a pretty good clip (probably too fast). I notice all the glitches in this, e.g. unwanted partials (overtones), a "rest" where I missed a string entirely, oops, and other things (string cheese). (This was a "live take" on a very tight budget -- I had 68 tunes to record in a week's time -- so we didn't bother with overdubs and fixes.)

I constantly have to practice my own variations for this, e.g. triplets in both parts, just to have them under my fingers, so, I would call this a "high-maintenance tune" -- a really chopsy tune.

CAROLAN'S CONCERTO (used by permission)

Source: Complete Book of Irish & Celtic 5-String Banjo (1998).

All the best ~ Tom

 

Edited by - Tom Hanway on 11/28/2017 04:55:38

captbanjo - Posted - 11/28/2017:  05:42:23

Great punch and presence, as usual Rob!

Wayne

robobanjo - Posted - 11/28/2017:  13:23:40

Thanks all - I rushed to put it up and share it before the end of the TOTM month, but definitely not my best. Some flubbed notes and such. Great tune though, one I frequently gravitate back to for warming up the fingers before regular practice.