Playing for Scottish Country Dancers Tune key question

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an seanduine
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Re: Playing for Scottish Country Dancers Tune key question

Post by an seanduine »

wrms wrote:I'm sure that we'll be well received by the dancers, my concern is more about being well received by the other two musicians. :wink:
In my defense for the poor choices that I made in the past, I was young, I'm so much wiser now. :thumbsup:
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Re: Playing for Scottish Country Dancers Tune key question

Post by Katharine »

wrms wrote:I'm sure that we'll be well received by the dancers, my concern is more about being well received by the other two musicians. :wink:
In my defense for the poor choices that I made in the past, I was young, I'm so much wiser now. :thumbsup:
Mark
Oh. I was under the impression you had been invited to play with them... now that I re-read your OP, I'm not sure where I got that from.
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Re: Playing for Scottish Country Dancers Tune key question

Post by wrms »

We had our first read through last night and it all went well. They're good, fun and flexable musicians.
We were able to incorporate the whistle in most all of the tunes. We added some harmony parts, working around the whistles limitations. I think that my small pipes will be involved as well
It was fun.

Mark
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Re: Playing for Scottish Country Dancers Tune key question

Post by MayaTambien »

I, too, used to be an avid RSCDS dancer (even taught for a while, within my branch, even though I'd failed my certificate test (on one detail of my own dancing, not the teaching portion)).

In Portland, OR, we were stuck with recorded music most of the time--but when we did have live music, it was almost always based on piano & fiddle, with accordion as the third-most common. Though I do remember one band we had that was fiddle, piano and bassoon (!)....

Oh, right, whistles.... I think one band brought one out for ONE dance, once....
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Re: Playing for Scottish Country Dancers Tune key question

Post by KlausG »

wrms wrote: I'm hoping for some cheats, for example; in any key with thee sharps, leave the G sharps out or substitute a chord tone (B naturals frequently).
I didn't read the whole thread, so I don't know if this was covered already by somebody else.
Playing the g# shouldn't be a problem. There are even fingering charts for whistles out there with chromatic notes. The tones in between are then simply pictured with half covered holes. But it isn't played like this. It is more like a slide. Like you slide from the g to the a and stop somewhere in the middle. With a bit training you meet the right note. It may also be a great place to do a slide (from g to g#).

There are other notes which show up frequently in traditional music. Like the f. You need it for example in Brian Boru's march or in Planxty Maggie Brown. I also remember some Hornpipes which use an a#. So it's worth to learn to play this notes, even if seldom used.

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Re: Playing for Scottish Country Dancers Tune key question

Post by Mr.Gumby »

But it isn't played like this. It is more like a slide. Like you slide from the g to the a and stop somewhere in the middle.
I would suggest this is not (always ) the case. Sometimes you just need a a clean G# without sliding into it.
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Re: Playing for Scottish Country Dancers Tune key question

Post by KlausG »

Mr.Gumby wrote:
But it isn't played like this. It is more like a slide. Like you slide from the g to the a and stop somewhere in the middle.
I would suggest this is not (always ) the case. Sometimes you just need a a clean G# without sliding into it.
It wasn't meant from my side that it is always a slide. I just tried to explain how to hold the finger.
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