Tunes with challenging fingerings...

eskin · Post by **eskin** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 10:37 am

I'm curious what other people would consider their candidates for most challenging fingerings in tunes.

These days, I'm learning the version of "The Maid in the Cherry Tree" #265 in the John Walsh book, and the B section is a great exercise to try play cleanly. In ABC format the challanging passage goes:

c2ec gcec | c2eg dBGB | c2ec gcec | dBGB | cA~A2

Anyone else have candidates for similar passages? I'm finding that working on this passage for a couple of weeks has done wonders for my ability to cleanly move between various cross-fingerings.

Cheers,

Michael

Pat Cannady · Post by **Pat Cannady** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 11:23 am

yeah, that's a toughie all right. Good for you Mike.

Check out some of the more challenging hornpipes, there's some wacky stuff in them.

cquick · Post by **cquick** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 11:37 am

Try the Corsican Nuthatch - neat tune, but the jumps are a real challenge

Chuck

eskin · Post by **eskin** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 11:44 am

Corsican Nuthatch? I've never heard of that tune... do you have a source where I can find it?

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 12:04 pm

eskin wrote:In ABC format the challanging passage goes:

c2ec gcec | c2eg dBGB | c2ec gcec | dBGB | cA~A2

Michael

Ofcourse if you'd actually had listend to any piper playing it, take Tommy Reck you'd have heard c2 eA gAeA etc which is really the sensible and piping thing to do.

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 6:19 pm

Langstrom's Pony, a 4 part Jig in Amaj. I've known this tune ever since I heard James kelly play it years ago, and then Davy Spillane with Moving Hearts. I never felt comfortable with the fingering on the pipes, 10 years ago. In the second part, the C# was hard to keep from hitting Cnat first, I mean hard to keep from sliding in. So, I had kind of given up, but the other day I heard a recording of Seamus Ennis playing this tune with the D (C#) drones going and I decided to try it again, just for fun, and it didn't seem too bad...I should be able to think about something else while I'm playing, in about a week...isn't that how to determine if you've got a tune down?

Oh, the difference? I think it's having an excellent reed, which is working quite nicely this winter. so, I've been playing quite a few Amaj tunes lately, I guess because the chanter/reed will now hit a true C#, finally.

fancypiper · Post by **fancypiper** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 6:31 pm

Patsy Touhy's version of Irish Washerwoman is terribly challenging IMHO

Bill Reeder · Post by **Bill Reeder** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 6:53 pm

c2ec gcec | c2eg dBGB | c2ec gcec | dBGB | cA~A2

This reminds me of a similar passage in the Gravel Walk which gives me fits on the pipes. Is there a recorded piping version of this anywhere?

The B part of Maggie Brown's Favorite is challenging to me also. I can do it easily enough on fiddle or whistle, but not so well on the pipes.

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 7:27 pm

The gravel walks! I know exactly what (and where) you're talking about, but I haven't tried it on the pipes yet. Oh boy, I bet it's harder than The Musical Priest in Bm. Hey Bill, have you tried the Contradiction Reel? Now there's a challenge! I defer to the fiddle for that one. I find that tunes are played differently on different instruments, what ever fits the instrument best. Then you've got to put up with the fiddlers claiming it was their way first, the pipers are the ones who altered it. Right.

PS: you shouldn't even be playing Maggie Brown's Favorite on the pipes.

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 7:34 pm

The last part of the B part of the Chicago Reel defeats me; like a very rapid back-stitch pattern. I know some pipers just sluff this off and play something simpler, but I would like to get it right. Another ten years ought to do it.

djm

Bill Reeder · Post by **Bill Reeder** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 8:57 pm

I don't play the Contradiction at all. It's not played locally and I haven't gotten around to it yet. All those leading c# notes would send me back to the fiddle in a hurry. Problem is that I had a hard time keeping up fiddle and pipes at the same time and had to opt for the pipes. My bowing arm is toast now.

Dark Haired Lass is another tune that requires a strong c# on the chanter ( and no drones ). Langtrom's Pony used to cause me some grief last year and I had a fiddling buddy who insisted on playing it often. A slight tweaking of the reed and some diligent woodshedding has made it a fun tune.

I grew weary of playing the Musical Priest some time ago and never bothered with it on pipes. When I became more active in session playing, I was more or less compelled to try to work it out. It's wild trying to get my reed to play the tune the same way I would play it on fiddle. I have to sit out on the tune if it gets started too fast.

So what's wrong with Maggie Brown?

I thought that the A part of the Chicago Reel was tough on pipes and never messed with it much. This summer, I managed to record Jerry O'Sullivan's version of it in North Hero. I've adopted his setting of the tune and it works pretty good for me.

Anybody have a good piping transcription of Loftus Jones?

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 9:34 pm

Maggie Brown? I use to play that tune a lot for contras (another instrument I'm embarrassed to admit). I ran the "B" part through my head, when I saw your mention of it, and if the latter part of the B section is anything like the version I know, I can't imagine it being done accurately on pipes...it bounces all over the place, right? But who am I to know? I haven't tried it...maybe I should before shooting off my mouth.

The Sporting Pitchfork · Wed Dec 03, 2003 10:27 pm

Hmm...Jenny's Welcome To Charlie--the fiddle version.
At the risk of sounding disturbingly blasphemous, I've never been too fond of the standard piping version...

I can do it on the flute and as soon as I get a chanter with g sharp and f natural keys on it (which should hopefully be any day now...) I intend to play the bejeezus outta this one.

Incidentally, I first heard this version of the tune played on the pipes by Isaac Alderson, who I seem to recall played it on a keyless chanter. I was stunned. If I could half-hole notes that well then...well, I guess I'd be pretty good at half-holing notes...

It's kinda funny that this subject came up because I think what we judge to be "hard" can sometimes be due far more to psychological rather than technical complications. For example, the other night I was playing my flute and I decided to play "The Salamanca", a tune that I hadn't played in quite a few months. Years ago when I first learned this tune on whistle, I didn't have a very hard time with it and later on when I learned it on pipes, that wasn't a problem either. But somewhere in between, I was playing it on flute and my fingers got all tangled up and I couldn't find a good spot to breathe and ever since, whenever I play the tune on flute, I always have this pang of anxiety --"uh oh, this is a bit of a hard one." I know it's not hard and I can play it just fine now, but I still can't seem to kick that slight anxious feeling right before I play. Weird.

Bill Reeder · Post by **Bill Reeder** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 10:45 pm

Maggie Brown's B part does bounce around. For me to play it accurately is a real test of fingering dexterity ( to get back to the original topic of this thread ), reed response, and bag control. Now I've gone and made myself feel guilty for not having nicely nailed down to my satisfaction. Guess I'll have to lay off the reels for a while.

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 11:43 pm

I see Leo Rowsome plays Maggie Brown's Favorite on his King of Pipers album. Sometimes called Planxty Maggie Brown. I tried it on the pipes, it wasn't too bad for the most part except for the hard part in the B section I was telling you about. The lower Cnat to upper A and back to C, wow, then in parallel 6ths all the way down jumping octaves (that part is more natural than I would have thought, luckily).

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