Tunes that leap into your head

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 10:55 am

Usually, it takes me a while to really learn a tune, with both the basic melody and rhythm down by heart. This is especially true when I'm learning it from sheet music rather than by ear - though I like having the sheet music as a reference, it seems to click a lot faster when I can hear it (poor aural imagination, I guess).

So yesterday, I was really surprised when I decided to pick up the Ballydesmond Polka (Ballydesmond Polka #1 from Walton's 110) - yes, it's a really simple piece, but I expected it to take more than two play-throughs from the sheet music before I could close the book.

Weird. Nice tune, sounds more complex than it really is, and sounded familiar - but I couldn't find it listed on any of the CDs I'd been listening to over the weekend (about 10, all Irish except for a couple of Steeleye Span discs).

So - anyone else encountered a tune that just forces itself into your head?

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 11:33 am

Blackthorn Stick did that for me.

slowair · Post by **slowair** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 12:02 pm

Over the Waterfall seemed to have come out all by itself. It took no time at all before this tune was just flying out of my Sindt.

I can't wait to try these other two.

Mike

McHaffie · Post by **McHaffie** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 12:06 pm

I Buried My Wife and Danced On Her Grave

and

Rolling In the Rye Grass

Both of these will NOT get out of my head!!!!!!!!

I am constantly playing them trying to get better at them. I've got both of them down pretty darn good, but I always play them at every jam session I go to.

Enjoy!
John

Post by **Nanohedron** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 12:06 pm

You'll probably find this happening more and more with time. The latest one for me was Bantry Lasses, but that's a fairly simple -though satisfying- reel.

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 12:38 pm

DCrom wrote:all Irish except for a couple of Steeleye Span discs

I assume you are talking about country of origin. Span plays more Irish folk music than even a lot of bands from Ireland!

Of course, Gay Woods is Irish (and a bodhran player, but we won't hold that against her).

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 12:58 pm

BrassBlower wrote:
DCrom wrote:all Irish except for a couple of Steeleye Span discs
I assume you are talking about country of origin. Span plays more Irish folk music than even a lot of bands from Ireland!

Of course, Gay Woods is Irish (and a bodhran player, but we won't hold that against her).

Yes, they do - even a few instrumental-only pieces. But I guess I have them filed as "English Folk-Rock" in my head. Rather like Martin Carthy playing solo - he does a lot of Irish pieces, but I don't think of him as an Irish trad musician.

Of course, with Martin Carthy the real problem is to get him to play something cheerful - on his own, he seems to gravitate to murder & incest ballads

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 1:04 pm

The slip jig "The Butterfly" was that way for me. Granted, I'd heard it in the past, so perhaps it was already stuck somewhere deep in my head, but it was played through once in slow session (at tempo) by another flute player last Thursday, I looked it up online at The Session on Friday (to clarify one passage), and it's been stuck in my head and I've been playing it since.

I'm not sure what it is about The Butterfly, but the tune sounds "ancient" to me...I wonder if there is any basis to that?

Eric

trisha · Post by **trisha** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 4:17 pm

And some do the opposite - I have a total block on Man in the Brown Hat...haven't a clue why.

Trisha

carrie · Post by **carrie** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 4:24 pm

Connie Walsh's slide for me. It's the only tune I could play after hearing just once, as if it were hard-wired inside me, though it is very simple.

Carol

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 8:41 pm

I also found the Butterfly an easy learn. The tune that I learned the quickest was Kesh Jig - after a couple of times through.

madguy · Post by **madguy** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 10:08 pm

No to be redundant, but I'll third The Butterfly. I absolutely love that one.

~Larry

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 11:01 am

blackhawk wrote:Blackthorn Stick did that for me.

Thanks, Blackhawk!

Wasn't quite as fast to pick up as the Ballydesmond Polka (after all, it's twice as many measures) but you're right - it is a really easy one to get into your head. The only easier "real" jig I've learned (I don't count "The Quaker's Wife" from the Clarke tutorial - too short) was "The Sheigh O' Rye" from _A Dossan of Heather_, and that has a much simpler melody.

Nice tune. Sounds particularly nice played a bit slowly - the effect is "lazy" rather than "I can't play this any faster" - but sounds pretty nice at speed, too.

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 11:38 am

My pleasure, Dcrom. Hey, do you ever go to The King's Head in Campbell on Thursday nights for the Irish music? They have some excellent whistlers there.

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 11:47 am

blackhawk wrote:My pleasure, Dcrom. Hey, do you ever go to The King's Head in Campbell on Thursday nights for the Irish music? They have some excellent whistlers there.

No, but it sounds like I should. Not that I'm good enough to *play* in a session, yet, but I'd love to listen in.

What time do people start to turn up? And is it every Thursday, or every other, or ??? I couldn't find a listing in the Mercury-News, and Yahoo doesn't show a web site to check.

BTW - do you know if there are ever sessions at the Britannia Arms of Almaden?

Thanks,
Dana

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