mason's apron, what key for flutes?

[Tootler]

Going back to "The Mason's Apron", the Fiddlers Companion suggests that the usual key is A major but G major in some Irish versions.

[Denny]

well, they're fiddlers ain't they

an it explains

A variant name for The Mason's Apron in G is "The Fluteplayer's Revenge".

[LorenzoFlute]

ok well, i guess i can learn the tune on both keys... the cross fingering doesnt work well on my flute, but anyway i can get a decent g# by half holing, or i can just skip it sometimes... thanks for the advices

[galfrex]

When I posted, I was kinda hoping someone would post the (pyrotechnic) version in G that Molloy and Flatley play...save me the trouble of sitting down and working it out


B

You could copy this into an ABC file reader:
X: 1
T: Mason's Apron, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K:Gmaj %Transposed from AMAJ
|:d2|gGG2 GAGE|DEGB cBAG|cAA2 ABAG|ABcd edef|
gGG2 GAGE|DEGB cBAG|cBcd edeg|G2 BA G2:|
|:dc|BGdG eGdG|BGdG edcB|cAeA gAeA|cdef gedc|
BGdG eGdG|DEGB cBAG|c2cB cdeg|G2 BA G2:|
|:dc|Bddd eddd|Bddd edcB|ceee geee|ceee gfed|
Bddd eddd|DEGB cBAG|cBcd edeg|G2 BA G2:|
|:d2|gddd gddd|gdfd eddd|addd addd|adgd fdef|
gddd gddd|gdfd eddd|cBcd edeg|G2 BA G2:|
|dc|B2GB dGBd|GBdG BdBG|c2 Gc eGce|GceG cedc|
B2GB dGBd|GBdG BdBG|c2cB cdeg|G2 BA G2:|

Sorry I can't figure out an easy way to post an image file.

Geoffrey

[Denny]

[pancelticpiper]

I had an Olwell bamboo flute in E which automatically transposed these fiddle tunes from G up to A.
Now I use a low E whistle.
This tune seems to have a nearly endless number of parts- I remember Cathal McConnell playing a ten or twelve part version on the whistle.

[Cathy Wilde]

Hey, thanks so much, galfrex! I've always been too lazy/overwhelmed to even try to figure that last part out. Nice!

At Augusta this past summer, Kevin Crawford demonstrated Micho Russell's neat trick for playing -- was it the Foxhunter's or Mason's Apron? -- in A by moving all his fingers up one hole on the whistle, leaving the bottom hole open. There were adjustments, of course, but it was really cool watching him move from G up to to A.

[AaronMalcomb]

When I posted, I was kinda hoping someone would post the (pyrotechnic) version in G that Molloy and Flatley play...save me the trouble of sitting down and working it out


B

I transcribed about half of it in a fit of anorak-ery. How's that for a neologism... is neologism a neologism?

It was hard work and I'm jealously guarding it

What I can share is that what Graflex has is close on a few spots but way off on some others. It looks like it got jumbled up with Moving Cloud or something, especially the 3rd and 4th parts. The other 3 are close but the ending phrase is off... here let me give you a basic transcription. It's just the first 5 parts, most of the tune is variations of those parts (plus five parts is all the Tune-O-Tron Converter would convert). The rests are where he breathed without deviation. Thank me by sending me flutes

X:1
T:Mason's Apron, The
C:Trad./Arr. Matt Molloy
P:Reel
N:from Sean McGuire
Z:Aaron Malcomb
L:1/8
M:C|
K:G
|:~g3d BAGE|DEGA BGAB|cAAG ~A3G|ABcd ~e3f|
~g3d BAGE|DEGA BGAB|cBcd efge|dBBA ~G3a:|
|:BGdB eBdG|BGdB eBdB|cAec fceA|cAec fcec|
BGdB eBdG|BGdB eBdB|cBcd ~e3f|dBBA ~G3a:|
|:B2dB eBdB|~B2dB eBdB|c2ec fcec|c2ec fcdc|
B2dB eBdB|~B2dB eBdB|cBcd ~e3f|dBBA ~G3a:|
|:B2gB aBgB|~B2gB aBgB|c2ac bcac|c2ac bcac|
B2gB aBgB|~B2gb aged|cBcd efge|dBBA ~G3a:|
|:gded gded|gz fg edeg|ae~e2 aefg|az fg edef|
gded gded|gz fg edef|~g3e dBGB|1 ~a3b ~g3z|2 ~A3B ~G3A|]
|:BDGB DGBD|GBDG BDGB|cEGc EGcE|GcEG cEGz|
BDGB DGBD|GBDG BDGB|cBcd ~e3f|dBBA ~G3a:|

[Cathy Wilde]

Sat down with it last night and spotted a few differences myself (yup, even the nice breezy G roll at the beginning), but my memory doesn't serve me too well after a while listning -- I go into Note-Torrent Overload mode.

Anyway, thanks Aaron! Your McChud is on its way. And thanks to you both for the bravery in assailing the Wall of Molloy. It's fun to see how it works.

[Cubitt]

The version MM plays with the Chieftains starts in A and changes to G when Matt does his thing. Haven't heard him play it with Flatley, but heard MF play it live and it was embarassingly bad - like falling down stairs.

[AaronMalcomb]

Does the McChudd have holes? And just because Cat's sending me a McChudd doesn't mean the rest of you are off the hook. I'll settle for a vintage Boosey or somesuch

Flatley must have been having a bad night. Somewhere in the YouTube thread there is a clip of Flatley giving an impressive performance (or maybe he was lip/finger-synching?). I can't remember if he was playing the boxwood flute or the reflective tape flute.

[irish69]

you could always just play it in G, but on a tin whistle in the key of E. Kinda cheating, but it'll do in a pinch

[Cathy Wilde]

Does the McChudd have holes?

Ask and ye shall receive. How many holes do you want?

P.S. Thanks so much for the transcription. It's a hoot! His version has always reminded me of a classical technical exercise or some of those wacky romantic "Tema con Variazioni" pieces from school, but that doesn't make it any less fun to hack away at. I keep trying to guess the missing parts; thinking I remember a gdcd gdcd g2fg ~3e g ae^de ae^de afge fdef ... etc. ??? FUN on the keyless!

... plus of course that wacky triplet run he throws in at the end before Paddy and Crew so gloriously and thumpily ratchet things back up to A.

Anyway, thanks again!

[Ceili_whistle_man]

In session it is usually played in A if there are fiddle players there, I can get by in A but prefer to play it in G (only if I start the set off with the Mason's apron in it) just to p--s the fiddle players off .
Then I go in to a Bm version after the A version which really p---es them off!!! .
I must say I really like the Bm version.