The first-ever tune I learned by ear
- Redwolf
- Posts: 6051
- Joined: Tue May 28, 2002 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
- Location: Somewhere in the Western Hemisphere
The first-ever tune I learned by ear
Back in 1976, I was home from school one day with the flu, and spending my time watching re-runs and such on TV. I had just gotten my first whistle (a Generation Eb) and had only started to learn my way around it.
One of the shows I watched that day was a re-run of "The Day of the Dolphin," and I found the theme music so haunting and beautiful that I decided to see if I could play it by ear. It's amazing how driven you can be when you find a tune you really want to learn to play! It's been a favorite air of mine ever since...in fact, I'm thinking of arranging it for my harp.
Anyway, I ran across this recording of the movie soundtrack on YouTube, and it sure brought back memories! Isn't it a lovely tune?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqcoEEQgwGw
Redwolf
One of the shows I watched that day was a re-run of "The Day of the Dolphin," and I found the theme music so haunting and beautiful that I decided to see if I could play it by ear. It's amazing how driven you can be when you find a tune you really want to learn to play! It's been a favorite air of mine ever since...in fact, I'm thinking of arranging it for my harp.
Anyway, I ran across this recording of the movie soundtrack on YouTube, and it sure brought back memories! Isn't it a lovely tune?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqcoEEQgwGw
Redwolf
...agus déanfaidh mé do mholadh ar an gcruit a Dhia, a Dhia liom!
- emmline
- Posts: 11859
- Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2003 10:33 am
- antispam: No
- Location: Annapolis, MD
- Contact:
I remember that movie. I went with my friend Jayne, and we bought Cracker Jacks which contained, as the prize, little view-splitting lenses. So at certain junctures thoughout the film we'd look at Bea and Pha (and George and Trish) in quintuplicate. We were yucked out by the part where they suddenly turned the lights on in the dolphin tank observation room and...ok, I'm not giving it away.
I must say though, Red, that you picked a more intricate tune for a first-memorized than I. When I first got my viola, after working through Hot Cross Buns, etc., the first things I taught myself were Beethoven's Ode to Joy, and--in a different vein--Windy (The Association.)
Now that I think about it though, it was my earlier meager efforts at picking out L'Amour est Bleu on the piano which prompted my mother to sign me up for lessons with Mr. Snider, who was kind of a grouch. At least from a 7 year old's perspective. But he had a nice gray cat named Cinderella.
I must say though, Red, that you picked a more intricate tune for a first-memorized than I. When I first got my viola, after working through Hot Cross Buns, etc., the first things I taught myself were Beethoven's Ode to Joy, and--in a different vein--Windy (The Association.)
Now that I think about it though, it was my earlier meager efforts at picking out L'Amour est Bleu on the piano which prompted my mother to sign me up for lessons with Mr. Snider, who was kind of a grouch. At least from a 7 year old's perspective. But he had a nice gray cat named Cinderella.
- Innocent Bystander
- Posts: 6816
- Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2005 12:51 pm
- antispam: No
- Location: Directly above the centre of the Earth (UK)
Nice tune, Red. I'd like to try that on the guitar.
My first tune by ear was "Planxty Hewlett".
But recently I've been trying my hand at tunes that aren't Irish, and aren't normally played on pennywhistle.
Here's one that came to mind. It used to be on the TV when I came home from school. As you can see it's a German film, dubbed (badly) into English. It was terrible! But the music was just cheesey enough to stick in the mind. Sounds okay on the whistle, too.
Snowy White Horses
My first tune by ear was "Planxty Hewlett".
But recently I've been trying my hand at tunes that aren't Irish, and aren't normally played on pennywhistle.
Here's one that came to mind. It used to be on the TV when I came home from school. As you can see it's a German film, dubbed (badly) into English. It was terrible! But the music was just cheesey enough to stick in the mind. Sounds okay on the whistle, too.
Snowy White Horses
Wizard needs whiskey, badly!
- Redwolf
- Posts: 6051
- Joined: Tue May 28, 2002 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
- Location: Somewhere in the Western Hemisphere
It's not that intricate, really. It's got a half-holing, which I remember struggling with at the time, but it's one of those tunes that just kind of flows out of you.emmline wrote:I remember that movie. I went with my friend Jayne, and we bought Cracker Jacks which contained, as the prize, little view-splitting lenses. So at certain junctures thoughout the film we'd look at Bea and Pha (and George and Trish) in quintuplicate. We were yucked out by the part where they suddenly turned the lights on in the dolphin tank observation room and...ok, I'm not giving it away.
I must say though, Red, that you picked a more intricate tune for a first-memorized than I. When I first got my viola, after working through Hot Cross Buns, etc., the first things I taught myself were Beethoven's Ode to Joy, and--in a different vein--Windy (The Association.)
This is also the first tune I remember hearing that made me cry from the sheer beauty of the music. That kind of tune, you just have to learn.
It sounds, to my ear, very Breton. The composer is French...I wonder if he was influenced at all by Breton music?
Redwolf
...agus déanfaidh mé do mholadh ar an gcruit a Dhia, a Dhia liom!
- mutepointe
- Posts: 8151
- Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2006 10:16 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: kanawha county, west virginia
- Contact:
- fel bautista
- Posts: 2162
- Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2003 1:43 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 12
- Location: Raleigh 753 circa 1979 in Diamond Bar, Ca
- FJohnSharp
- Posts: 3050
- Joined: Thu May 30, 2002 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: I used to be a regular then I took up the bassoon. Bassoons don't have a lot of chiff. Not really, I have always been a drummer, and my C&F years were when I was a little tired of the drums. Now I'm back playing drums. I mist the C&F years, though.
- Location: Kent, Ohio
Aside from a few Christmas tunes, the first Irish-ish tune I learned by ear was learned from Clips and Snips. It was 'May Morning Dew'--the air, which I have never seen anywhere nor heard anyone else play, which leads me to suspect that it's not an official Irish trad tune. But it's pretty.
Edit in--I just looked and the tune is still there, recorded by Dave Parkhurst on a Parkhurst whistle.
Edit in--I just looked and the tune is still there, recorded by Dave Parkhurst on a Parkhurst whistle.
- buddhu
- Posts: 4092
- Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 3:14 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: In a ditch, just down the road from the pub
- Contact:
Not sure which was first, but my first by-ear tune on whistle... It was either the Pogues verion of "Jesse James" or a whistle rendition of "Chief O'Neill's", inspired by Barney McKenna and John Sheahan's mandolin duet version.
That version of Chief O'Neill's was also the first tune I leaned by ear on mandolin.
That version of Chief O'Neill's was also the first tune I leaned by ear on mandolin.
And whether the blood be highland, lowland or no.
And whether the skin be black or white as the snow.
Of kith and of kin we are one, be it right, be it wrong.
As long as our hearts beat true to the lilt of a song.
And whether the skin be black or white as the snow.
Of kith and of kin we are one, be it right, be it wrong.
As long as our hearts beat true to the lilt of a song.
- TonyHiggins
- Posts: 2996
- Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2001 6:00 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: SF East Bay, CA
- Contact:
I visited Dave Parkhurst at his house before he recorded May Morning Dew. He pulled out a piping cd by Mick O'Brien of the same name so I could hear that tune, which he raved about (how it was played by O'Brien). I've also heard it sung on a Chieftains cd, Water from the Well, by Kevin Conneff (in English).
http://tinwhistletunes.com/clipssnip/newspage.htm Officially, the government uses the term “flap,” describing it as “a condition, a situation or a state of being, of a group of persons, characterized by an advanced degree of confusion that has not quite reached panic proportions.”
- FJohnSharp
- Posts: 3050
- Joined: Thu May 30, 2002 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: I used to be a regular then I took up the bassoon. Bassoons don't have a lot of chiff. Not really, I have always been a drummer, and my C&F years were when I was a little tired of the drums. Now I'm back playing drums. I mist the C&F years, though.
- Location: Kent, Ohio
Thank you.TonyHiggins wrote:I visited Dave Parkhurst at his house before he recorded May Morning Dew. He pulled out a piping cd by Mick O'Brien of the same name so I could hear that tune, which he raved about (how it was played by O'Brien). I've also heard it sung on a Chieftains cd, Water from the Well, by Kevin Conneff (in English).
- cowtime
- Posts: 5280
- Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2001 6:00 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Appalachian Mts.
I don't really remember the first tune I learned by ear on piano. That was too long ago. The first tune I learned on mandolin was Sourwood Mountain. I think the first whistle tune I learned by ear (from a home video my aunt made while traveling in Scotland) was Peggy Gordon. She filmed a bit of a session in some pub and a guy with a wonderful voice sang the song. It stuck in my head long enough for me to find it on the whistle.
"Let low-country intruder approach a cove
And eyes as gray as icicle fangs measure stranger
For size, honesty, and intent."
John Foster West
And eyes as gray as icicle fangs measure stranger
For size, honesty, and intent."
John Foster West