Ger the Rigger

A cheerful tune to start our term, Irish polka Ger the Rigger. This tune appears in the 1976 book Ceol Rince na hÉireann vol. 2. Here are the basic dots, with an additional ornamented/varied version:

ger-the-rigger-2Download

Here is the tune and harmony:

ger-the-rigger-harmony-onlyDownload

Here’s a slow and a faster version, with the riff at the end:

Here is the riff we tried (this will be developed next week!):

Finally here’s a fantastic version of the tune, it has more of a swing to it and a really lovely groove. 

Set for ECDC

Here is the set list for our forthcoming appearance at the Ealing Country Dance Club:

Set for ECDC

All four of these:

Mr Isaac’s Magic – The Big Ship

Plough and Harrow – The Girl With the Blue Dress

Artful Dodger – Rattle the Cash/The Plane Tree

Jacob’s Ladder – Cariad-Gan Y Sguthan/Crythor Llon

Two of these

Good Man of Ballangigh  – Hunt the Squirrel/Dory Boat

Lesley’s Longways – Major Malley’s Reel

Coronation Day (probably not this one)

Two or three of these

Push and Shove – A Tune for Patricia

Swirl of the Sea – Kitty Magennis/Bridget Cruise

Lord of Caernarfon’s Jig  – Jack a Lent

One or Two of these

Upon a Summer’s Day

Hop Picker’s Feast – to be learned!

Delia (not this one)

ecdc-set-23Download

Hunt the Squirrel

Hunt the Squirrel is a fantastic and widespread tune, with many different versions (I know three different versions of the B part!) and it dates back to at least the mid 1700s.

We will use this tune in our forthcoming appearance at Ealing Country Dance Club, pairing it with Dory Boat.

The alternative arrangement for Hunt the Squirrel was drone G/D for whole A part and drone G/E for 1st half of B then return to G/D, some melody players play an octave lower. The alternative arrangement for Dory Boat was using a simplified B part (removing notes) and some melody players playing the root notes of the chords. Please make your own notes/references for this!

hunt-the-squirrelDownload