Is the Bucks of Oranmore really that hard?

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FlaminGalah
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Is the Bucks of Oranmore really that hard?

Post by FlaminGalah »

Most forum readers will probably have heard the Seamus Ennis recording where he begins by claiming that the Bucks is "One of the toughest of the reels".

Do you agree? I admit I cannot play it as well as I might like, but it doesn't seem radically different from other quick, multi part reels.

Do members have other pieces that they find especially tricky?
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Re: Is the Bucks of Oranmore really that hard?

Post by Mr.Gumby »

The notes aren't too hard to put in the right order. Perhaps he meant 'to play well'? Which in Ennis' thinking would be something entirely different. He also, ofcourse, liked to create those little mythologies..
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FlaminGalah
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Re: Is the Bucks of Oranmore really that hard?

Post by FlaminGalah »

Yes it sounded a bit like one of his yarns...
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Re: Is the Bucks of Oranmore really that hard?

Post by myles »

I find reels a bit tougher than jigs generally in the sense it seems harder (for me) to get any rhythmic 'lift' into the playing.
Do members have other pieces that they find especially tricky?
I don't know about the Bucks, but I find my attempts to play the Liam Walsh setting of the New Demesne sound really hideous, particularly the B part.
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myles
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Re: Is the Bucks of Oranmore really that hard?

Post by myles »

Also most airs are hard to play well, despite the slower pace; I feel like I hear airs ruined more often than other types of tune (including by myself). A couple of them seem notably difficult...the Willie Clancy "Dark Lochnagar" springs to mind as it's easy to degenerate into noodling about on the chanter, though JOBM plays it beautifully.
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Re: Is the Bucks of Oranmore really that hard?

Post by uillmann »

It's great fun in D, and was always one of my favorites. A little tougher in A, but not too hard if you're well practiced.
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Re: Is the Bucks of Oranmore really that hard?

Post by FlaminGalah »

uillmann wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 5:44 pm It's great fun in D, and was always one of my favorites. A little tougher in A, but not too hard if you're well practiced.
Is that on pipes or fiddle? I only know it one way on pipes and can’t imagine comfortably playing it any higher!
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Re: Is the Bucks of Oranmore really that hard?

Post by MichaelLoos »

In A would mean you'd need the third octave E for the second part - not many chanters will do that reliably, and even if so it doesn't really sound nice... :wink:
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Re: Is the Bucks of Oranmore really that hard?

Post by uillmann »

I, myself, was never that well practiced!
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Re: Is the Bucks of Oranmore really that hard?

Post by pancelticpiper »

I was told years ago, by an old highly respected Highland piper

"There are no hard tunes...only hard settings."

It was his philosophy that pipers and Pipe Bands of every level could play the same tunes, just different arrangements.

I think this is also true of the uilleann pipes; you can have a setting with staccato triplets and backstitching and cranns all over the place, or a straightforward setting more akin to how the tune would be played at session, and everything in between.
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