The TOTW for 8/2/2024 is....... The Cat Rambles to the Child's Saucepan. The tune is a traditional Irish Slide (12/8 time).
I was surfing "The Session" about 10 years ago, looking for cool new tunes to learn, and I stumbled on the title. I immediately thought this has to be the greatest tune title in the history of tune titles! The title suggested such a powerful vision of domestic charm. Don't worry about all the germs and the mess!
At the time, there wasn't a version to study on YouTube, so I learned it from sheet music without ever hearing it. Not sure if I'm playing it "right." At any rate, The Cat Rambles to the Child's Saucepan is a great tune with a greater title and, for a slide, not that difficult to play CH style.
Here's a version from Cherish the Ladies (and the Boston Pops!):
youtube.com/watch?v=c8x2KvSYkpY
Here's a mandolin version:
youtube.com/watch?v=tYnHIYglCRo
Here's my CH version from ten years ago:
banjohangout.org/myhangout/med...archived=
John D
The Boston Pops didn't do anything for me (just another Celtic tune poorly arranged and poorly played for popular consumption) but your clawhammer version is great.
Don't think I've heard that one before, John. Nice tune, I can envision the cat rambling along ;)
This is a learning leap tune. You played it with nice tempo, John, but I had to amble much more slowly. It does seem like it would be fun at a fast tempo for dance, as intended.
Today I discovered a traditional slide is something like a jig, but it's not, and I perhaps know only one other such tune, so here is a demonstration that helped me understand the differences: Comparison of jig and slide. And this explanation on Wikipedia also helped. The Session notation and audio helped, especially for the open G tuning. It's neat that it comes out so evenly, though at a first listen it sounds crooked.
After trying arrangements in double C and modal tuning, it ended up in open G tuning, played in the key of C. There's a couple of measures where I used something like a Galax lick for the fingering.
Newest Posts
'One String Canjo' 7 min
'Can I play your banjo?' 2 hrs
'Invoice Scam' 3 hrs
'Gibson RB-250' 5 hrs
