Here is the second tune in our new set, Major Mackie, or Major Mackie’s Jig. This is tune from the late 1800’s, it turns up in English, Scottish, Canadian and American traditions. It was first published in the ever popular series Kerr’s Merry Melodies.
Here are the dots, followed by videos of the tune and rhythm parts.
Here is our first official tune of the term, Captain Lanoe’s, aka Captain Lanoe’s Quickstep, Marionets (sic) or Marionets Cotillion. This is an English country dance tune from the late 1700s.
Here are the dots:
Here is a video of the tune, followed by one for the guitars/ukes/percussion:
Here is the post for Monday 19th’s tune The Miller of Dee, an English tune/song from the Chester area in the 1700s. We tried various harmonisation options and chord voicings (see chord PDF), and added connecting notes and turns to the melody.
Here is the video and dots for Ladies Pleasure, a tune from the Fieldtown Morris tradition and one that changes meter from 6/8 to 2/4. The ‘2’ over the patterns in bar three (and elsewhere) indicate a duplet, so instead of each main beat dividing into three quavers as it would normally in 6/8, it divides into two quavers.
Here is the video:
Here are the dots – the structure would normally be ABCBCB.
We are now finishing up the idea of creating a new tune based on an old one – we took Balance the Straw (Fieldtown) and first turned it from major to minor. We then identified some small melodic shapes and tried substituting one for another. This is a method you can use to create melodic variation, as well as using it to transform a tune. Everyone in the class volunteered a element of variation and I stitched them together to create a new tune. I referenced the dotted rhythm that was put into the B section in the A section to unify the two sections. The dots below show the original transposition, examples of the substitutions and the tweaked tune that is the final result (subject to class approval!).
Here’s what the new version sounds like:
The new version has been dubbed Drop the Grass (Acton), in reference to its original inspiration. Here are the suggested chords:
Here’s Monday 21st’s tune, a jig from Shetland called The Foula Reel, aka Da Shaalds o Foula, or Boanie Tammie Scollay. It’s a pentatonic (five note) tune that’s deceptively simple and repetitive!
Here’s a video with a slower and faster version:
Here are the dots, with the harmony/bass line.
Here’s the PDF:
Here is the tune from November 15th, another Irish tune to go in a set with Lilting Banshee. Look for the fidget shapes to add rolls (highlighted example in blue), and for the crotchet-quaver rhythm moving by step (highlighted in red) for adding turns. Some of the turns work better on the fiddle and others work better on wind instruments – try the notated version in the PDF and see which ones work for you.
Here are the dots:
Here is a PDF with some more ornaments written in:
Here is the tune from November 8th, The Lilting Banshee. This is an Irish tune, with a few places to put our specific ornaments in: look for the ‘fidget’ shapes (example highlighted in blue) to add a roll, and for repeated notes in between main beats (example highlighted in red) for single cuts. These are fully notated in the PDF version.
Here’s the video demonstrating the tune:
Here is the video from Beth’s class on Monday 18th October, with a link to Bandcamp where you can buy the tune book in which it features: https://mattbrookes.bandcamp.com/merch/the-tyranny-of-jigs?fbclid=IwAR3sru4bAlnCeGdK_lSCNziCCh1Q3G2KwETdsc66kCTZBnjFGRXnxmnUxpo
Here are the dots:
Try adding a walking bass line to the A music, as explored in our arrangements of Sir John Fenwick and Star Above the Garter!
The ideas used here are the same or similar to those used in Rattle in Cash. This is mostly because the tunes were chosen for their similar melodic shapes, so that they would be good companions – note the removed notes in bar 13 to mirror the same rhythmic feature in Rattle the Cash.
A ‘fidget’ is a note added in between repeated notes, either a step above/below the repeated notes, or a third above/below (a ‘skip’). The scale is a connecting note added in between notes that are a skip (or a third) apart. I’ve written an example below to demonstrate how these might be applied to this tune, averaging one variation per two bar phrase, but try out these ideas in other places to find what works for you.
New Ealing Sessions 