Day 11 - Trip To The Market

ABOUT THE PIECE

Reel
By Adam Sutherland  (current)
Elsewhere says traditional Irish

COMMENTS

I've played this piece quite a lot of times but find it quite fiddly, and don't always remember the structure (A-BB-A)

I picked it out because it seemed like good match for the merry blacksmith.

Day 10 - The Merry Blacksmith

ABOUT THE PIECE
Reel 
Irish
Traditional

COMMENTS
I didn't know this piece at all so I had to familiarise myself with it first. I could remember most of it on the first day but then forgot how it started and needed to keep coming back and refreshing my memory. I like how it goes down the octave in an arpeggio at the end of the lines.

Revising tunes

To organise my practising as I get more tunes I have made some revision cards. On the front they have the title and composer and on the back they have a bar or 2 of the tune either to remind you or so you can test yourself.
I have a little box with dividers to store them in. You can move them back a section as you remember them better. Then you practise those ones less frequently than the ones at the front, but if when you come to them you can't remember them after all, you can move them forwards again. Or if you still remember them, you can move them back another section etc etc

Day 9 - Anlon McKinny

ABOUT THE PIECE

Jig
By Liz Carroll
Irish
Liz Carroll is an Irish-American fiddler and composer, born 1956

COMMENTS

I should look Carroll up on Spotify - there are some amazing reviews of her fiddling on the internet.
I have played Anlon McKinny often in the band, following on from Jamie Rae, so I tried not to play them in that order.
This worked ok:

Swallowtail
Anlon McKinny
Tripping up the Stairs
Jamie Rae

Reel order

I decided they worked best in this order:
1. Spootiskerry
2. Brumley Brae
3. Barrowburn Reel
4. The De'il Among The Tailors

Jig order

I decided they worked best in this order:
1. Swallowtail
2. Jamie Rae
3. Tripping up the Stairs
4. Lady Elizabeth Cole

Day 8 - Jamie Rae

ABOUT THE PIECE
Jig
Traditional - Internet unsure if Irish or Scottish

COMMENTS
Quite familiar from playing with the band. I was looking through some bits of music and it jumped out because of the minor key and the octave jumps. Not sure these 4 jigs all go together but they weren't intended to particularly and you do seem to be able to get from more or less any one of them into any other one... the lady Elizabeth cole one seems to fit less well because of the less busy start

Day 7 - The Swallowtail

ABOUT THE PIECE

Jig
Irish 19C
Has other names eg The Dancing Master

COMMENTS

This tune was also in the set Gillian shared but was already familiar and not difficult so was quick to remember. However once I'd memorised it and tried to play it with Tripping Up The Stairs, I started adding octave jumps to that like the one in the Swallowtail. Maybe there is another similar piece like a missing link.
Apparently it was written during the Irish immigration to the United States in the nineteenth century.

Day 6 - Tripping Up The Stairs

ABOUT THE PIECE

Jig
Traditional
Irish I think

COMMENTS

This is from a set that Gillian Stephenson shared with us but I've seen it elsewhere too. I picked it because I don't really know it and although I like it, I don't find it particularly catchy. It did take longer to learn than the others and I keep doing it fine and then the next time forgetting where to go next or how it changes from a previous similar bit eg at bar 7, 10, 14, 15 and the change from A to B sections.

Day 5 - Lady Elizabeth Cole's Reel (jig)

ABOUT THE PIECE

Jig (although it's called reel in the title)
by Robert Mackintosh c.1745-1807

COMMENTS

I heard this for the first time in St Andrews when Susan MacFadyen shared one of her sets with us.
I really like this tune, the second half is really cheery and funky and sounds a bit like something that could be used as a theme tune on TV. It seems odd that it appears to have been written at the end of the 18th Century, it sounds more modern than that, but I can't find any other Robert Mackintoshes.
I'm not really that familiar with the tune but it's quite catchy, and generally sequential which makes it easier to learn.

Learning tunes

We've been away for a couple of weeks but going over the tunes in my head has stopped me forgetting them. The challenging part seems to be remembering the first few notes of each tune.
I've decided to learn tunes in clumps of 4 of the same style (reel, jig etc) so that they can be mixed and matched to practise recalling the first part. A few jigs next.

Day 4 - The De'il Among The Tailors

ABOUT THE PIECE
Reel
Traditional
Scottish

COMMENTS
Online there is a lot of discussion about whether it should be a hornpipe.
This is a piece which we play at the end of every dance as a polka, but shamefully I always have a backup version to hand because it goes so fast, if I go wrong I can't get back in the right place and have a mic on so you can hear any scratching around. So this had to be an early on one to include. I do already know it, it's just a speed thing.

Day 3 - Brumley Brae

ABOUT THE PIECE

Reel 

by William McPherson of Elgin. (1919-1974). 

According to the internet Brumley Brae is an area for gathering blackberries, or for courting couples (!). It is also known in Donegal as 'Charlie Fleming's'

COMMENTS
I haven't played this much until the last week but have heard it a lot on a CD of the band that I have in the car so I didn't have much trouble learning the tune. I found it trickier to remember to do the bowing over the barlines without taking myself by surprise, but I like that about the tune. It's also unusual in that the first 8 bars don't repeat, it just goes straight on through to the end. 
Again, swapping between this and the other two reels was tricky, and I haven't got this one consistently up to the same speed as the others.