How to Kill a Butterfly

crookedtune · Post by **crookedtune** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:12 am

OK, another newbie question. I'm just getting around to learning 'The Butterfly'. I know....groans all around.....but I'm still in the phase where I think it's a beautiful piece of music.

So anyway I'm doing this trance-like, mantra thing of playing through its three sections for like, about forty-five minutes, and then I'm thinking to myself, "Hey, I kinda gotta go to the bathroom. Like probably pretty soon". The problem is, I can't get out! I keep thinking I know where the end is, but guess what? It really doesn't work to stop there either! So I'm thinking, "This thing is starting to get pretty serious. I don't wanna ruin a good tune, but what am I going to do?"

Somebody help me out! How do you stomp the little bugger?

mutepointe · Post by **mutepointe** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:40 am

practice while sitting on the toilet?

chas · Post by **chas** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 9:25 am

Just add a long note at the end of the C part. I think it would be an E or an A.

Go to greenlinnet.com and find Kevin Burke's In Concert album. Click on listen to the whole album. The first cut is The Butterfly, played straight and at moderate tempo, so you can hear how he plays (and ends) it.

crookedtune · Post by **crookedtune** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 9:40 am

Thanks. I've tried a few things, and usually just end it on a sustained B note. I'll have to pull out a few recordings, and see what other folks do.

Maybe you can "medley" it into other things that have more pronounced endings?

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 9:54 am

I like to slur up to that B and add some finger vibrato

BD · Post by BD » Sun Oct 22, 2006 11:04 am

I like to medley from The Butterfly into Deever the Dancer.

Butch

Chiffed · Post by **Chiffed** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 11:05 am

Head into Kid On The Mountain. It's got a nice form, beginning middle and end. Alternately, the hornpipe Rights of Man, complete with triplets, is nice.

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 11:48 am

I like to play the first measure of the A part and end on the F#.

PhilO · Post by **PhilO** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 12:12 pm

No groans here...no need to ever apologize for what you think is "still a beautiful piece of music." I still think Danny Boy or Londenderry Air is still a beautiful piece of music, whether or not I ever play it. I haven't played the Butterfly in a very long while either, but as I recall it's not such an easy tune to play well, or perhaps it's an easy tune to butcher easily? Have fun and btw, 45 minutes on one tune, of course you had to hit the head!

Philo

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 2:08 pm

Chiffed wrote:Head into Kid On The Mountain. It's got a nice form, beginning middle and end. Alternately, the hornpipe Rights of Man, complete with triplets, is nice.

Kid on the Mountain! That's plain cruel! Segue into another slip jig there! Hunting the Hare! Sir Roger de Coverley!

TheSpoonMan · Post by **TheSpoonMan** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:28 pm

I jsut end on the B honestly... but on a chordy instrument, on an E chord. I like the almost-unfinished feel that gives.

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:41 pm

wow, i just that nonending, ending was just the copy that I had. But I usually end by sliding up to the B, but I like playing the first measure or so, idea. I shall try that next time I play it.

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 9:31 pm

You got out of it long enough to post to the Internet! Nyuk.

srt19170 · Post by **srt19170** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 6:49 am

The best ending I've heard goes back to A part and plays only the first bar, ending on the sustained F#.

-- Scott

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 7:04 am

srt19170 wrote:The best ending I've heard goes back to A part and plays only the first bar, ending on the sustained F#.

I do the same, but eventually drop down to the E, because I need it to resolve.
Acutally, I think that's how we usually end it in sessions around here...