Reidh Cnoc na mna Duibhe?

[keithsandra]

Reidh Cnoe na man Duibhe? Can anyone tell me what the name of this Air means? Is there a story to it?

It appears in Conal O Grada's new flute technique book, and is played in a special version for the accompanying CD by Aoife Granville.

While you're at it - can you tell me how to pronounce Aoife?

Thank you.

K.

[MTGuru]

Reidh Cnoe na man Duibhe?

I'm guessing that's really: Réidh Cnoc (na) Mná Duibhe ... something like "the smooth hill of the dark women".

Aoife = EEE-fa, roughly.

[Nanohedron]

Reidh Cnoe na man Duibhe?

I'm guessing that's really: Réidh Cnoc (na) Mná Duibhe ... something like "the smooth hill of the dark women".

I'm finding a very prevalent and interesting spelling out there: Réidhchnoc Mná Duibhe, which right away gets you MTGuru's very apt translation. Considering that adjectives in Irish usually follow what they modify ("réidh" being no exception), the order would be odd but I recall sometimes seeing compound words arranged such reverse fashion, as if it's a type of convention in Irish. But why a compound word, here? Might be a question for Redwolf.

[MTGuru]

Might be a question for Redwolf.

Oh yes. I claim exactly zero expertise in the Irish language.

[kkrell]

From the Fiddler's Companion (not always right, but seems to have a source):

RÉIDH CHNOC MNÁ DUIBHE (The Smooth Hill Where the Dark Woman Lives). Irish, Air (3/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning. One part. Source for notated version: the James Goodman manuscript, vol. 1, 1861 [Sheilds]. Sheilds (Tunes of the Munster Pipers), 1998; No. 2, pg. 5.

[keithsandra]

Thanks everyone! Excellent results, as usual ...

But does any one know the story to this title or tune?

And just to be extra cheeky - does anyone have the dots? I've looked everywhere, including Comhaltas, The Session, and various indexes, tune books, and Internet ITM lists and archives but can't find any source of written music for this tune without buying a whole book. Could it have other names?

Of course I could write and ask Conal if he has the dots perchance, but I fear the traditional outrage at my avoiding learning this by ear - a learning curve I have been avoiding for lo these many years ...

Thanks again, and all the best,

K.

[Cathy Wilde]

Ahhh, noo ... If Conal was averse to notation he wouldn't have it in his book And I've seen him write down ABC's. But you might be better served asking Aoife directly. She's also a music teacher, and who knows, maybe she's even taught the tune somewhere. Anyway, if anyone could write her version out for you ... why not go to the source? Good luck!

Edited to add: Oh, der, it's a Canon Goodman tune! <smacks head> That means it's in his collection, at least. Last I heard they were working on publishing an updated version. Whether or not it's done, though ... I'll poke around a little and see what I can find. There are some great tunes in there. BTW, did you try Tomas O'Cainainn's "Traditional Airs of Ireland" book? I'll try to remember to look when I get home.

But Aoife is still ideal if you want her take on it.

[Mr.Gumby]

And just to be extra cheeky - does anyone have the dots?

Kevin's post above gives you a reference. It's in the book. tune number 2, page number 5.

[Cathy Wilde]

Ta-Daaa! I'm pretty sure it's in here.

http://store.pipers.ie/store/product/84 ... pers-%28S/

[Cathy Wilde]

And just to be extra cheeky - does anyone have the dots?

Kevin's post above gives you a reference. It's in the book. tune number 2, page number 5.

Pipped at the post ... again. Though I could do worse as far as piobairi pippers go.

[keithsandra]

Mr G: Thanks for the reminder, but I am avoiding having to buy the whole book Kevin suggested just to get one tune, especially as I'm currently riding out a domestic storm because of the flood of invoices coming in for several books I've bought over the Internet in the last two weeks ... Pity the web site didn't show the contents of the book though.

S.Dill: Thank you for your references, too. I have "Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland" on a stand in front of me as I write - sadly without this tune.

As for getting in touch with Aoife, I can't find a contact reference on the various pages Google puts up. Do you have one?

In the meantime, I'll take you at your word that it's safe to email Conal.

Thanks again everyone.

All the best,

K.

[Julia Delaney]

...can you tell me how to pronounce Aoife?

Aoife is pronounced Ee' Fuh

[keithsandra]

I got cheerful emails from Conal O'Grada and Aoife Granville but they don't have notations for this air either.

Aoife referred me to the above noted Munster Piper's book. I got the impression the setting of that book's tunes are unusual though.

Conal says I should keep listening to the piece until I can hum it then play it; just the advice I wanted to avoid though I don't doubt him. There are tunes I remembered from my youth that I played first time from memory but I don't find it's an easily transfereable talent with new tunes, especially ones as un-hummable as "Reidh Cnoc na mna Duibhe" ...

So the search ends for now.

Thanks to all, and to all, Best Wishes.

K.

[NicoMoreno]

I got the impression the setting of that book's tunes are unusual though.

And yet, that's the place she got it from... it's unlikely to be very different. So maybe you should just bite the bullet and get it. There are many recordings in recent years with tunes from this book. Dublin Made Me, Reed Only, one of Oisin McDiarmada's solo albums, Deadly Buzz, even one of Conal's cds (trio, not solo), besides just lots of musicians getting tunes out of it.

Conal says I should keep listening to the piece until I can hum it then play it; just the advice I wanted to avoid

He's absolutely right. It may be difficult, but like all things, it's a matter of practice. Do it. Do it some more. And then some more. It gets easier, as you get better.

[Cathy Wilde]

Like Nico says, "Canon Goodman" tunes (tunes from the Canon Goodman canon?) are appearing more and more these days. I've learned a few Goodman tunes from the playing of various pipers I've been privileged to meet/hear in the past, and they're great. Some of the tunes are very, very old, so it's a great resource of tunes you don't hear every day. It's the next book I'll be after, for sure. I mean, how can you not love tunes called "The Cauliflower" or "Kissing and Drinking" ?

Here are a couple of links to a Canon Goodman tribute concert in 2010:

http://youtu.be/_BNCDUxbXvE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfJ3Ll1ZO60

I was looking for the piece on Mick O'Brien playing Canon Goodman tunes at Trinity College but haven't found it yet. Here's a link to the writeup about it; it's got some history about James Goodman and about Tom Kennedy, the old piper Goodman collected the tunes from:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_i ... 8293149015

So if it helps keep your wife from killing you , this isn't some random one-off book; it's a historical document. You'll probably find some familiar things in there, and no doubt you'll find some great old tunes that beg you to dust them off and see where the real stuff lives!