not jigs or reels, but airs

elbogo · Post by **elbogo** » Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:55 am

I've a very strong feeling for airs, more so than jigs and reels. Heaven forbid! Does anyone know of a good songbook (if there is such a thing) that has nothing but airs in it, traditional, perhaps even older than that, and some new things as well.

I'm a great fan of Anuna, and the more ancient(?) sounding stuff.

[ This Message was edited by: elbogo on 2002-09-17 12:56 ]

boyd · Post by **boyd** » Tue Sep 17, 2002 11:05 am

Tomas O'Canain's book of Irish traditional slow airs is a good starting point. I think there's an accompanying recording, although many different instruments feature on it.

Better still, get a CD slow downer software package from http://www.ronimusic.com [address from memory so may not be right]
and learn airs from your favourite recordings BY EAR ....a much more traditional way to do it than from a book!!

Boyd
http://www.strathspeyinmay.com

[ This Message was edited by: boyd on 2002-09-17 13:06 ]

Kevin Popejoy · Post by **Kevin Popejoy** » Tue Sep 17, 2002 11:06 am

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Tue Sep 17, 2002 11:23 am

Elbogo, did you ever manage to get your hands on a practice set? If so, what did ya end up with?

john · Post by **john** » Tue Sep 17, 2002 1:44 pm

it would be nice if some of the big names in piping contributed to forums like this
i'd like to hear pipers like ronan browne and liam o'flynn give tips about techniques they use, especially in the area of slow air playing, because as a listener i find it harder to distinguish how certain effects are achieved when listening to slow playing than when listening to jigs and reels

[ This Message was edited by: john on 2002-09-17 15:45 ]

Patrick D'Arcy · Post by **Patrick D'Arcy** » Tue Sep 17, 2002 2:26 pm

Hi John,

You might be surprised about who contributes to these message boards/mailing lists!

Sounds to me like you need to learn all the thrippeluths and the like. If there's no one near you that can teach you (or even if there is) the NPU videos are the way to go. Visit http://www.pipers.ie to find out more about NPU and their tutorial videos.

Patrick.

praetorius · Post by **praetorius** » Tue Sep 17, 2002 9:54 pm

Speaking as someone who learned most of his piping from a man who was also a fine sean-nos singer, I think it's really tough (if not impossible) to get airs right by learning them from a book. You pretty much have to go from recordings, either of another instrumentalist or (ideally) a sean-nos singer.

It helps to get at least a little familiar with the Irish language, too...sean-nos follows the pattern of the spoken word--the rhythm of the music is made to fit the natural emphases of the text, rather than the other way 'round. So...if you speak a bit (or more) of Irish, looking at the text while listening to a recording can give you a good idea of phrasing. Ideally the pipes should imitate the singing, although the ornaments used on pipes are often more ornate than those used by singers, and there are a few very fancy piping airs out there which are not attached to any lyrics whatsoever (i.e. Lament For Staker Wallace).

elbogo · Post by **elbogo** » Wed Sep 18, 2002 3:37 am

History lessons: So how old are some of these airs, or songs? There must be (obviously) a lot that has never been recorded (or notated even?). I think maybe I should read up on the history of the Uilleann pipes.

Another question: what came first, the jigs and reels, or the airs? And (perhaps a goofy question), were the pipes ever used to play sacred music...

Am I making any sense here? Maybe, as I learn more, I can refine my questions.

emer · Post by **emer** » Wed Sep 18, 2002 4:37 am

go to www.webcom/~liam/gaelsong/song.html for a description of sean nós singing, and a list of songs with words and some ABC notations, a number of these are used as airs, - generally speaking - and at the risk of being corrected - songs that fit into the sean nós category are probably older than most, although this is not always the case. BTW, reels are a more recent introduction than jigs.

[ This Message was edited by: emer on 2002-09-18 06:38 ]

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed Sep 18, 2002 4:43 am

http://www.webcom.com/~liam/gaelsong/song.html

small corection in the URL

Keith · Post by **Keith** » Wed Sep 18, 2002 6:03 am

In the posts above, and in similar forums, people are quite disparaging about trying to learn tunes (mostly airs) from sheet music, citing that you need to hear it and should pick it up by ear.

I find it very difficult to pick up a tune purely by ear, but can quickly pick it up from written notation, and refine it where necessary by listening a recording. I do use Roni software mentioned above to slow down recordings, but mainly this helps me transcribe the tune. I'm not worried about the timings and formal scoring, just the sequence of notes is usually enough.

I'd be interested if this reflects my relative inexperience, or if I am inherently incapable of learning tunes by ear! Does anyone have any hints or tips for picking up tunes by ear, or practising the art?

Cheers, Keith

Kevin Popejoy · Post by **Kevin Popejoy** » Wed Sep 18, 2002 8:09 am

praetorius · Post by **praetorius** » Wed Sep 18, 2002 8:14 am

Keith--

I think the only real way to get better at learning tunes by ear is to practice...Some people seem to have more natural talent at this than others, but I think anyone can learn to do it. The computer programs, etc. can really help, but mostly it's just a matter of repetition. I had a hard time learning by ear at first (I was clasically trained before I picked up the pipes, and used to reading everything off the page), but the more I worked at it, the easier it became. I think after a while you start to notice common patterns that occur in many tunes, and your fingers will start going there of their own accord when you hear a particular pattern...

On a historical note (for elbogo), jigs are probably the oldest extant dance tunes in Ireland--reels were (mostly) imported from Scotland, and hornpipes from England. The oldest written record of a sean-nos song that I know of (and feel free to correct me, anyone!!) is in Shakespeare's Henry V, where it's called "Callino Custure Me." This is most likely a reference to "Cailin O Cois tSuire Me" (I Am a Girl From the Banks of the Suir). Many sean-nos songs may well be older than this, though...

There is some evidence that pipes were used for sacred music in the 1800s, especially in Connacht where many parishes were too poor to buy/maintain an organ, and for "hedge masses." I've read accounts of pipes being used to play hymns for the congregation, with the regs used to fill in the traditional harmonies...Some of the four and five-regulator sets from the mid-19th century would have been ideal for this sort of thing, but it's mostly speculation as far as I know...

Cheers!

Patrick D'Arcy · Post by **Patrick D'Arcy** » Wed Sep 18, 2002 11:35 am

Just listen! As has been said a million times before listening to the music and particularly solo playing is one of *the* most important things you can do. The old 7-7-7 thing raises it's head again.

Patrick.

Bok Choi · Post by **Bok Choi** » Wed Sep 18, 2002 4:21 pm

Tune to your favourite radio station and see if, throughout the course of a day, there are any songs you can sing or hum along with. The obvious answer is that we can all sing along to scores if not hundreds of pop/country/oldie/classical songs. We've learned these almost without exception completely by ear, regardless of the fact that they include irregular parts, variations from verse to verse, and so on. Furthermore, the English in some of them is arguably no less intelligible than Gaelic!

It's really worth it to try giving ear-learning a shot when it comes to trad tunes. Just spin them like crazy, changing discs often enough to avoid burning out on any particular tune. It's good that we have notation as an occasional tool, or to give the gist of a tune, and I personally have to fight against using it. We're all schooled from day one to believe that serious learning happens only off of paper. But in the end, it seems to me paper and ink aren't much more applicable to learning music than they are to learning to drive a car.

BC